Carlisle Circuit, Great Otway National Park - August 2022

Climbing Raper Ridge Track - there is actually no single track on this walk.

After arriving home after my recent Gammon Ranges walk I fell back into a familiar rut, one that I've struggled to dig myself out of for the best part of the last three years now. After enjoying such a great walk, and enjoying such a wonderful companion in Joanne I was really struggling now I was back at work in Victoria with no big walks on the horizon. So when I awoke at around 4am on this rainy Saturday it was a little harder than normal to drag my sorry arse out of bed and head off through the late winter rain on the long road trip down to the Great Otway National Park. Thankfully though I did manage to to make my way down the coast, and by the time I'd arrived at the wet and grey car park I was in a little better head space... well, marginally better anyway!

The rain had pretty well stopped by the time I shuffled off this morning.

After following the Carlisle Gellibrand Road for a couple of minutes I swung left onto Old Carlisle Track.

While this walk didn't really promise any wow moments I was thinking that at least I'd get some fresh air and a little bit of exercise in, and really that's pretty well how the morning turned out. With the grey skies threatening to drop their load on me at any minute I locked the ute and shuffled off into the gloom, almost immediately veering left off the Carlisle Gellibrand Road onto Old Carlisle Track. Once I was on the sandy Carlisle Track I followed it west for over 4 kilometres, crossing Boggy Creek as I eventually made my way over to Raper Track.

Coral Ferns - Old Carlisle Track.

The sandy heathland was bleeding water out after another long and wet winter. 

Old Carlisle Track.

Sun's out and suddenly my day was looking up.

Old Carlisle Track.

The good news was that the sun had appeared now so I was able to climb Raper Ridge Track enjoying the feeling of the weak winters sun on my back, something that always cheers me up a bit. In even better news the local wildlife also looked like it was enjoying the sun judging by the number of Wallabies and Rosella's around. After a bit of a climb I swung left off Raper Ridge Track onto Rocky Creek Track and again dropped down to cross Rocky Creek. After climbing away from Rocky Creek the increasingly sandy track started to cross some beautiful heathland, the sandy soil bleeding out water today after what had been a fairly wet winter. 

I'm about to start climbing Raper Ridge Track - believe it or not this is my happy face!

Rosella's on Raper Ridge Track.

I'm guessing it's a Swamp Wallaby.

I passed through an old prescribed burn on Rocky Creek Track - if nothing else it looks like the grass trees were doing ok.

After following Peppermint Parade for just under 4 kilometres I once again swung left and started a longish descent down Cricket Pitch Road. The walk down the deserted Cricket Pitch Road back to the ute was around 2 kilometres and the gently descending track made for a very easy way to finish the stroll, with the rain once again arriving just as I pulled off my boots back at the ute. 

The sandy Peppermint Parade was arguably the best walking for the day.

The grass trees are a feature of this walk.

Peppermint Parade.

Heathland - Peppermint Parade.

Peppermint Parade.

The Dirt.

According to Alltrails I walked around 14 kilometres and climbed 443 metres on what I'd call a medium grade walk. As my notes had promised this was a fairly inoffensive stroll, while the scenery was nice enough it was probably the wildlife that made this walk a little memorable today. I'm thinking that winter is probably the best time for this stroll as the open heathland could be a bit exposed in the warmer weather I think. I used the notes out of the House of Chapmans book Walking the Otways along with my GPS topos and Alltrails App.

Relevant Posts.

Stevensons Falls Falls Circuit, 2019.

The walk finished with a gentle descent along Cricket Pitch Road. 

Time to head off home.