Melbourne to Rawlinna, March 1999

"Where's Rawlinna?" I hear you ask (we'll I would if anyone actually read my waffle). Rawlinna is a tiny siding on the Trans Continental Railway Line more commonly known as the route of The Indian Pacific, on the western side of Nullarbor. We decided to head over to visit a friend who was working as a caretaker for the old railway houses that were left there, an interesting bloke who was also a roo shooter with a heart, he'd bring orphaned joeys home to his family and hand raise them.

Now the easiest way over would be to head across the Eyre Highway,turn off at Cocklebiddy and after 150 kilometres of dirt we'd have been at Rawlinna, an easy two or three day trip. We had a bit more of an adventurous route in mind however. With our mate Graham in his 75 series ute and Sam and I in the troopie, we decided to head to Rawlinna via the Anne Beadell Highway, before turning south on the Connie Sue Highway. Now the word  'highway'  is a bit misleading, both these tracks are lucky to see a few 4wd's a week, in fact according to the log books we were the 3rd and 4th 4wd's to traverse the Anne Beadell that year, fairly remote country!

Vulkathunha-Gammon Ranges NP.

So with permits in hand two clean 4wd motored out of Melbourne with our first nights camp on the Murray River near the Hattah-Kulkyne NP, a short day at only 528 kilometres, we arrived early enough for time for a swim. The next day saw us heading over towards South Australia, first to Mildura, and then up the Silver City Highway, after around 100 kilometres we turned to the west and followed station tracks past 'Loch Lilly' station to eventually call stumps on the banks of a dry creek near 'Lilydale' station a grand total of 346 kilometres today. The weather had been a little damp today so it was into the tent nice and early.

At the open cut, Leigh Creek.

The troopie was feeling the strain.

Next day dawned fine and we were soon packed up, hitting the bitumen at Yunta we re fuelled and then pointed the trucks north towards Vulkathunha-Gammon Ranges NP, we have returned here many times over the years, its spectacular and remote country, I've written a walking journal if anyone's interested. Our first stop in the Gammon Ranges was Weetootla Gorge, we wondered through for a few kilometres before returning to the trucks and heading over to Grindell Hut for the night, todays grand total was 370 kilometres. We were now getting into more remote country, our fourth day saw us head out to the bitumen at Leigh Creek, where we headed north enjoying 30 kilometres of bitumen before once again taking to the dirt. Lunch was had at Marree checking out Tom Kruse's old mail truck, then after a beer at William Creek Hotel we headed towards Coober Pedy on the William Creek Road. After making a side trip to check out Lake Cadibarrawirracanna (you should try typing that with one finger), we pulled up stumps on a dry creek bed next to an old abandoned truck. Todays kilometres were 517.

Lake Cadibarrawirracanna.

Access track to Lake Cadibarrawirracanna.

Breaking camp the next day we headed to the big smoke, Coober Pedy. Here we filled up all our water containers, topped up with fuel and supplies and then headed off on the Anne Beadell Highway into some very remote country. The first 50 odd kilometres to 'Mabel Creek' station was a good dirt road, but from there to Rawlinna, still 5 days away, was all slow going with the hubs locked, mostly in high range, but also with some long sections in low range. Passing the homestead the track immediately deteriorated, the corrugations being the worst and most sustained that I have experienced, it was just a matter of dropping my tyre pressures as much as I dared and stopping frequently to tighten anything that was about to be shaken loose off the truck, you know the corrugations are bad when they start to blur your vision! Our first stop on the Anne Beadell was in the Tallaringa Conservation Park, no worries about finding a discreet spot, we hadn't seen anybody since leaving Coober Pedy this morning. Today we did 356 hard won kilometres.

Crossing the Ghan Line on the way to 'Mabel Creek' at the start of the Anne Beadell Highway.

Anne Beadell Highway

Next day we broke camp and continued our journey west, today we travelled through Maralinga Tjarutja Lands, famous for the atomic bomb tests that were carried out here in the 1950's at Emu. A lot of the roads we were travelling on owe there existence to the atomic bomb testing, Len Beadell having been contracted to push the roads through the deserts so that the scientists could monitor the blasts. We checked out totem 1 and 2 the sites of the two atomic blasts, however I wasn't keen to linger and we pushed on to make camp at Vokes Hill Corner, before we got a radioactive tan. The corrugations today were still bad and we were now starting to get sections of sharp limestone to contend with, not something to hit at speed. We managed 285 kilometres today, haven't sighted any other people for a day and a half now.

Red sand was heaps better than corrugations.

Len Beadell's original signpost, Vokes Hill Corner.

From Vokes Hill Corner we travelled through the Mumungari Conservation Park, the country got a lot more interesting and the driving more enjoyable, we were now travelling over and along small red sand dunes, with Spinifex and Red Gums giving the country the appearance of a park. The sandy track was a relief after the limestone and corrugations, now we had to be careful of Spinifex building up around the tail shaft and exhaust, its highly combustible and this is the last place you'd want your truck to burn to the ground. Crossing over the Western Australia border late in the day we made camp at the beautiful Serpentine Lakes, now over half way across the Great Victoria Desert we celebrated by listening to an AFL match on the radio that we picked up after the sun went down. Today we travelled 170 kilometres, haven't sighted another person for two and a half days now.

Beautiful desert scenery, well into the Great Victoria Desert now.

We had to watch out for the spinifex collecting on the tail shaft and the exhaust.

They stayed up all night to come up with this name.

A bit of erosion on the Anne Beadell Highway.

Continuing west the next day we past the site of the 'Ilkurlka' Roadhouse, unfortunately we were years to early as the roadhouse was still a long way off in 1999. Pushing on we made a side trip to the site of a light aircraft wreck, it'd be a long wait for help out here, but I suppose a least they weren't swimming. It was on this little trip that I got my only puncture for the trip, so I supplied the nights entertainment pulling the tyre off the rim and patching the tube, who needs TV hey. We were camped near Neale Junction that night, 352 kilometres from our last camp, oh yeah that was three and a half days since we had seen another person.

Trust me!

They would of had a long wait for help.

The evenings entertainment.

Today at last we turned south along the Connie Sue Highway towards Rawlinna. A low pressure system caused by a cyclone had dumped a lot of water here over summer, so we had to contend with quite a few wash outs and some long sections of mud, it was just on dark when we sighted a few lights on the horizon that had to be Rawlinna (don't forget these were in the days before Sat Nav). Pulling up we were quickly made to feel at home, being shown to our own abandoned house to use. Today we covered another 197 kilometres and after four and a half days we finally saw another person.

We turned south onto the Connie Sue Highway.

Graham next to the sign to Warburton on the Connie Sue Highway.

The next day, after making friends with all the Kangaroos hoping around, Sam and I decided to go and check out Lake Boonderoo, a fresh water lake filled over summer by the rains from the cyclone. Armed with a mud map and permission from the station we eventually located the lake and spent a relaxing day swimming and laying in the sun, feeling a million miles away from the real world. That'd be another 210 kilometres on our rest day! Heading back to Rawlinna we caught up with Graham and started to plan our return journey to Melbourne, it'll pop up on the blog one day!

The locals at Rawlinna.

Lake Boonderoo was a beautiful place to relax for the day.

The Dirt
We travelled 3161 kilometres on our convoluted route to Rawlinna including one stretch of 1500 kilometres without fuel or water (we still had another 150 kilometres to go for fuel).
Both trucks were 75 series Toyota Landcruiser's, I was able to carry 270 litres of diesel in my tanks, Graham supplemented his tanks with jerry cans. I carried 100 litres of water in various containers, including a 65 litre tank. We used a HF Radio (No Sat Phones in those days). I used the first edition of the West Print Map, from memory I think Graham got a copy before it was even published.
The only mechanical on the trip was a flat tyre, easily patched as I was running split rims.
Both these tracks are very remote, even by Australian standards, it would be somewhat easier nowadays with the roadhouse at Ilkurlka but it still a very serious trip. The first couple of days on the Anne Beadell had the worst sustained corrugations I've experienced, however.......  this was almost 15 years ago and conditions change quickly out there so it would pay to get up to date info if planning a trip along these tracks. Also, Rawlinna has no facilities, I just finished my blog there as that was where we turned east and started to head for home.

I've just finished part two of this trip, click here if you want to check it out.

Wonderland Walk, Grampians National Park, 5th April 2014

What to do this week, the forecast for Saturday was a little ordinary in Melbourne so we decided to head north west for about 300 kilometres to Halls Gap in the Grampians NP. As usual it was a late start, we didn't leave home until 10:30am, by the time we pulled into Halls Gap it was well and truly lunch time. By the time I'd finished the paper, a steak sandwich, and two coffees it was almost 3pm, better get walking!

The way a lot of my walks start.

Off we go.

Having walked here numerous times over the years I wasn't to worried about the late start, we were planning on doing the Wonderland Walk as written up by John Chapman In the first edition of his Day Walks in Victoria book. Due to the late start I decide to do the walk in the opposite direction to his notes, mainly to have the sun at my back on the climb up to The Pinnacle.

Rock turret along Stony Creek.

Some of the new infrastructure post floods.

Elephant Hide.

Firstly we meandered up the valley of Stony Creek, the track and indeed the creek being completely rooted re routed due to the huge floods that swept through a couple of years ago. Parks have obviously put a lot of time and effort repairing the track, but its going to take time for the banks of the creek to re vegetate, erosion has deeply scarred Stony Creek.

The Elephant Hide above The Venus Baths.

Passing the kids swimming in the Venus Baths we continued up Stony Creek, passing over some deep erosion scars in the steep valley. After going past another couple of potential swimming holes we got to the turn off to Splitter Falls, judging by the lack of water in the creek I figured that the falls would be a little underwhelming and I wasn't wrong, after inspecting the bare rock wall we headed back to the intersection and continued up to the Wonderland Picnic Ground.

The slightly optimistic Grand Canyon.

The top exit of the Grand Canyon.

Escaping the crowds at the car park we headed up through the slightly exaggeratedly named Grand Canyon, Parks Vic have spent a fortune on hardware between here and The Pinnacle to make the track fairly family friendly, but no matter how many ladders and stairs they put in you still have to climb them. After negotiating the Grand Canyon we kept climbing, at one stage passing an old post and rail fence, I'm not sure of the history of that.

More hardware on the track to The Pinnacle.

The old post and rail fence.

Silent Street was our last obstacle of any note before reaching The Pinnacle, a small slot canyon that gets narrower the further in you go, eventually depositing us back in the sun light a stones through from The Pinnacle. We kicked back on top for awhile taking in the view, with me scurrying around the rocks taking photos in the late afternoon light. It was close to 6pm when we eventually left and headed down the direct route along the escarpment to Halls Gap.

Mt Rosea from The Pinnacle.

Lake Bellfield with Mt William behind.

Looking down towards Halls Gap, from The Pinnacle.

Heading down the track to Halls Gap.

Sam was feeling a bit crook and the million over size steps were taking a toll on her as we descended, being slightly vertically challenged has its advantages but negotiating large steps isn't one of them. Needless to say it was slow and steady on the way down, I was happy because it gave me plenty of time to take photos, the setting sun lighting up Boronia Peak on the other side of the valley. The more mellow light also bought out the colour in the rock turrets that we threaded our way through as we descended. After what seemed like a million steps we eventually got to the bottom and re joined our outward route at the Halls Gap camping ground.

A rare soft section of track, the majority of the walk is on rock.

The steps, stone to begin with.

Then metal.

More steps.

The sun setting on Boronia Peak.

Parks new child free policy!

After getting a tourist photo of the roo's grazing in the caravan park, we jumped in the car and headed off on the 300 kilometre return journey, two tired walkers getting home at 11 pm.

Did I mention that Sam loves steps.

The Dirt

We followed the notes out of John Chapmans Day Walks in Victoria walk number 4. I have the first edition of the book and since then there has been some changes due to natural disasters, large sections of track have been re built and re routed and the side track up Mackays Peak isn't there any more. The walk itself is 10.08 kilometres according to my GPS, and we climbed 683 metres. With the climbing taken into account I suppose  the walk would be rated easy-medium, the track is well marked and there's a lot of hardware making the route easy to negotiate, in what is fairly rugged topography.

About to meet the outward route, going down more steps.

Kangaroo's grazing at the Halls Gap caravan park.

Wilsons Promontory Southern Circuit, May 1999

We're going way retro on this post, way before digital, so I've had to break out the scanner. I'm a little hazy on the exact date, probably a bit of dementia kicking in.

Almost at the lighthouse, South East Point.

What I do remember is that this was our first walk on the Southern Circuit after the new track from the lighthouse to Waterloo Bay had opened, it was also before the prom had been ravaged by fire and floods in recent years.

Wobblies grazing on the lawns of the Lighthouse.

There was three of us on this walk, Sam and I, and our friend Dave. After parking at Telegraph Saddle we wondered down the fire track to spend the night at the lighthouse. From memory the day was overcast but dry, it was our first time staying in the lighthouse cottages and it was a welcome change to have a hot shower and a soft bed at the end of the 19 kilometre walk.

Looking back to the Lighthouse from the new track over to Waterloo Bay.

Next day we were up early on our way to Refuge Cove, first we had to complete the new section of track over to Waterloo Bay. The new track was a vast improvement on the retrace back up the fire track that we had come in on. We crossed a couple of beautiful streams, followed a bit of a hanging valley, and then topped out looking down on Waterloo Bay. The descent was steep but the track workers had made it as painless as possible with plenty of reinforced rock steps. We also crossed a beautiful stream towards the bottom

Sam and Dave taking in the view over Bass Strait.

Lunch was taken at Little Waterloo Bay, before we headed over to Refuge, the track between Little Waterloo and North Waterloo was a bit of a bitch in those days as it wound in and out of the Tee Trees. It was rough and just a little bit to narrow to get through without your pack snagging all the time, just before North Waterloo the track traversed along the top of some rocks before finally hitting the beach. Nowadays the track sidles the slopes a lot higher up.

Looking back towards Little Waterloo Bay.

Waterloo Bay.

Sam and me on Kersop Peak, the Lighthouse in the distance.

From North Waterloo we headed over Kersop Peak and then down to Refuge Cove. In those days we had to traverse the length of both beaches at North Waterloo before climbing up a steep eroded gully at the northern end of the beaches, the track then took us directly over the top of Kersop Peak, nowadays the track leaves North Waterloo at the rocks halfway along the beach and makes a well graded climb to the saddle below Kersop Peak, where you can leave your packs for the Currawongs whilst you summit pack free. From the top we had a easy ramble down to the sheltered camping area at Refuge Bay.

We didn't have digital but we had timers. On North Refuge Beach.

Looking back at Refuge Cove

Our last day was clear again, we headed around Horn Point where we got our first look at Sealers Cove and Five Mile Beach. After taking in the view we headed down to Sealers for an early lunch. After lunch it was the final leg back to the car at Telegraph Saddle. This has to be one of the prettiest walks in Australia, with kilometres of duck boards through a Jurassic swamp complete with massive ferns and crystal clear streams. Arriving at Windy Saddle we downed packs and had our last break, in those days the views east and west from Windy Saddle were extensive, these days there are no views due to the re growth. An hour later we were in the car and on the way home, satisfied after another good walk.

Five Mile Beach from Horn Point.

The Dirt
The walk as we did was around 56 kilometres, the Lighthouse is a beautiful place to spend a night or two. The new track is now well and truly bedded in and the prom is gradually recovering from all the natural disasters that have befallen it. Parks Vic have a mud map and plenty of info online, as well almost anyone who's written a guide book for walking in Victoria will have included all or some of this walk.

Sealers Cove coming into view from Horn Point.