Walhalla to Mushroom Rocks, AAWT, Baw Baw National Park - October 2017

A slightly dishevelled Feral Walker about to set off from Walhalla. The AAWT starts at the rotunda behind me.

So the day had finally arrived, after an early morning drive up to Walhalla I was finally setting off on a walk that I’d been waiting decades to do. As usual my excitement was tinged a little with sadness due to me leaving Sam alone for weeks at a time, but today there was also a little apprehension at the back of my mind as well as there was no guarantee that I’d actually be able to complete this walk. With my walkers breakfast of Maccas toasties and coffee barely digested we arrived at the impossibly cute mountain village of Walhalla and it was time for us to say our goodbyes. After the standard ‘before’ photo I headed off up past the rotunda and I was on my way, climbing to the old tramway above town that would be my initial easy introduction to the AAWT. Waving good bye to Sam as she drove out of the deserted town below me, I was now alone, and didn’t I feel it!

There goes Sam, I'm on my own now for around the next 14 days.

The old timber tramway above Stringers Creek makes for a very easy, if somewhat deceptive start to the AAWT.

Initially the route passes through a few of these damper gullies.

The weather forecast for today was for late rain and storms, but this morning everything was good as I ambled my way along the very gently descending old tramway. I’ve walked this section many times before so I kept the photo stops to a minimum along here. The old tramway initially sidles the step valley of Stringers Creek before crossing Mormon Town Track and heading north along the sides of the Thomson River valley. The track may of been easy but I was already starting to feel the heat a bit, it had been a long time since I’d had to carry six days food as well as all my other gear.

Crossing over the Mormon Town Track I started heading north up the somewhat drier Thomson River valley.

The weather this morning was a bit on the warm and humid side.

Reaching the old Poverty Point bridge I crossed over the Thomson River, the track now getting a little rougher as I continued up the river valley. The views down to the Thomson River getting better and better the further along I went. I’d be crossing the Thomson again in a couple of days, only next time without the aid of a bridge so I was checking out the river with some interest. On day one of such a long walk I was, somewhat neurotically really, conscious of every little ache or hot spot, thankfully though I was actually feeling pretty good….well for a fat, old bloke! Leaving the Thomson River for my first climb of the AAWT up Fingerboard Spur was a rude shock though, suddenly I wasn’t ambling along anymore, I was now down to my usual Feral shuffle as I climbed the 300 or so metres up to Thomson Valley Road.

The Poverty Point bridge has just come into view.

The Poverty Point bridge is around 13 metres above the river.

The Poverty Point bridge is one of only two decent walkers bridges over the whole length of the AAWT, the other one is the suspension bridge over the Mitta Mitta River at Taylors Crossing.

I was interested to check out the Thomson River up stream of the bridge as I'd have to wade it in a couple of days.

It looks like The Flintstones may picnic here.

One last look at the Thomson River before I started my first real climb of the walk.

The road was actually a bit of a milestone on the walk, I wouldn’t cross another sealed road until I was only a few kilometres from Mt Hotham, over two weeks walk away, actually I’d only meet a handful of any kind of open vehicle tracks over the next two weeks. Crossing over the road I plunged back into the scrub and headed down to O’Sheas Mill Site for a late lunch which was interrupted by a few light showers scudding through. O’Sheas Mill Site is sometimes the first nights stop for AAWT walkers but with my early start I decided to push on a bit. The climb from O’Sheas Mill to the top of Mt Erica at over 1000 metres is a serious haul, so I was keen to get some of the way today and break the ascent up a bit, Mushroom Rocks was my aim.

The climb up Fingerboard Spur allowed me a few views of the Thomson River valley through the trees.

My first climb and I'm already stuffed.

Thomson Valley Road, I wouldn't meet another sealed road for around 14 days until I was almost at Mt Hotham.

The forest dropping down to O'Sheas Mill is pretty dry, there is even a few termite mounds.

O'Sheas Mill, some walkers spend there first night here.

Leaving the picnic come camping area at O’Sheas Mill I rock hopped my way across the small Eastern Tyres River above a small waterfall. After a few hundred metres my route left the river and started to climb up Firebreak Track, a climb that would keep my heart pumping until late tomorrow morning. Last time I’d walked Firebreak Track it was fairly over grown towards the top but I was pleasantly surprised to find it more or less free of scrub today, making it a fairly pleasant climb. The bigger trees and wetter forest towards the top of Firebreak signalled my imminent arrival onto Mt Erica Road and soon enough I emerged out of the bush onto the quiet road.

I crossed over the top of these small falls to pick up the continuation of the AAWT when I was leaving O'Sheas Mill.

Firebreak Track marks the start of the real climbing for today, at least the weather was still holding for me.

The lower section of Firebreak Track passes through pretty open and dry eucalyptus forest, rising fairly easily.

Higher up Firebreak Track it gets a bit steeper and starts to pass through damper forest.

The Mountain Ash are a beautiful tree.

I’d been lucky so far with the weather, in fact if anything it had been a bit warm and humid on the climb, but wandering up Mt Erica Road my luck ran out. I could hear the thunder coming as I climbed and was hoping that I might make Mushroom Rocks before it arrived, I didn’t! Trudging up the road the rain arrived and my world turned into a watery wonderland. With my shirt already soaked in sweat I didn’t worry too much about putting on my gortex jacket instead enjoying the cooling rain…for awhile anyway. By the time I got to the car park at the end of Mt Erica Road I was starting to get a bit cold and with the rain looking like it was going nowhere I utilised the tiny toilet shelter to do a quick change and put on my wet weather gear.

The notch in the huge stump is where the old time loggers inserted a platform to stand on while they chopped down the tree.

With thunder rumbling over head I took a bit of a break once I was on Mt Erica Road.

.... and then the rain arrived.

Suitably attired in my water proofs I set off and climbed the last kilometre or so up to Mushroom Rocks, the last section only punctuated by a few stops to try a take a photo with my waterproof camera (with only average results). Reaching Mushroom Rocks in the late afternoon I quickly found my self a small rocky overhang to give me a bit of shelter to cook under next to a nice grassy spot for my tent. With the tent up and all my dry gear safely stashed in the tent out of the rain it was time to cook dinner, a task punctuated by numerous heavy showers passing through. My first day on the AAWT was coming to a damp end, there would be no lingering taking sunset shots tonight, straight after dinner it was into the tent. After the last couple of hours of rain it was nice to be out of the weather at last, after getting a quick text message away to Sam I was asleep even before night overtook day.

The last kilometre or so up to Mushroom Rocks makes for nice walking.

The Dirt.
I walked 22 kilometres and climbed 1175 metres on my first day on the AAWT, this was hard days walking for me (a rating that will become repetitive as the AAWT posts roll on!) Water was available at the Eastern Tyres River and a handful of spots along Mt Erica Road when I went through. Camping is available at O’Sheas Mill and Mushroom Rocks, it would also be possible to pitch a tent at the car park at the end of Mt Erica Road but I’m thinking that it’s not strictly legal so you’d have to be discreet. I used John Chapman’s notes and maps, I also carried the relevant Rooftop map on this section in case I wanted a bigger overview. I got a Telstra signal at Mushroom Rocks.

Relevant Posts.
Walhalla Train, Tram Trail, 2016.
Walhalla Town Walk, 2017.

A damp night 1 at Mushroom Rocks on the AAWT, at least I could cook under the overhang and keep pretty dry.

Wet and still dishevelled, but still happy.

Hattah Nature Walk, Hattah-Kulkyne National Park - August 2017

This is quite possibly the shortest walk that I've ever written up I think. A one and a bit kilometre nature walk through some Mallee scrub is going to present a few challenges if I want to make this even slightly interesting. This walk is near the main entrance to Hattah-Kulkuyne National Park and I guess it would make for an informative first introduction to the park, particularly if you haven't experienced the Mallee country before. Of course being the Feral walker meant that I'd driven past this walk on the way into the park in the wee hours of the morning and instead of walking it first up I was actually checking this small walk out as I left the park on my way home, slightly backwards I know but hey, no one ever accused me of being particularly smart!

There are no real navigational issues on this walk.

Being a nature trail the walk was punctuated by quite a few of these information signs.

With Sam staying in the ute I headed off with just the camera and the GPS, reasonably confident that I could complete this walk without mishap. The short loop track heads off west from the sealed access road and then slowly arks around to parallel the main Robinvale Road as it heads back to the car park. After passing the information board at the start of the walk I was soon back in what is for me fairly familiar country, chances are if you've travelled a bit in Australia then you've experienced a bit of Mallee scrub on your travels. Mallee Eucalytus forests stretch from Western Australia through South Australia into Victoria and New South Wales so you might say that they are fairly extensive. In my opinion the mallee scrub is best appreciated on foot, as from a moving vehicle the country can appear as a bit of a drab green smudge. Once you're on foot though you can appreciate the contorted trunks of the trees, the many animal tracks in the sand, the anti social porcupine grass along with the wildflowers scratching out a short existence.

Judging by the foot prints in the soft sand I don't think the walk sees too many walkers.

While it resembles a grass this Iron-grass is actually a Scented Mat-lily.

Trudging through the soft red sand I was soon heading back in the direction of the ute, the odd car on the nearby Robinvale Road reminding me that I wasn't really that far from civilisation. This area was extensively burnt in a big fire back in 1972 but being Mallee scrub the bush has regenerated extremely well, in fact after the fire numerous plants germinated here that hadn't been seen in years. After passing a small patch of Iron-grass I soon arrived back at the ute. Taking off my walking boots for the last time today I settled in for the six hour drive home.

I had great weather on this visit to Hattah.

The Dirt.
I walked 1.3 kilometres at an average speed of 2.8 kph and with an anorexic 16 metres of climbing you'd definitely have to rate this as an easy stroll. This walk is easily do-able by the elderly or the very young. I suppose that the only real issue is the soft sandy track, although in the cooler months that isn't really much of a problem. Parks Vic have heaps of information online and the Daly's have written up this short stroll in their Take A Walk in Victoria's National Parks, either of these resources are enough to safely complete this little adventure.
Relevant Posts.
Lake Mournpall Circuit, Hattah-Kulkuyne National Park, 2017.
Tyakil Nature Walk, Wyperfeld National Park, 2016.
Wyperfeld Walk, Wyperfeld National Park, 2016.

My short stroll is coming to it's end....time to head home.

The walk starts to the east of the car park in the middle of the photo, you can just make out the track wriggling through the scrub on the west side of the entrance road.

Mount Ida, Heathcote Graytown National Park - July 2017

Lake Eppalock from the ridge leading to Mount Ida.

The somewhat modest Mount Ida looks down over the small central Victorian town of Heathcote, while the mountain isn't huge it does have a few things going for it. The open box-ironbark forest is pretty good country to walk in, the open forest with it's grassy under storey allow for easy off track walking and plenty of views. My walk today would indeed feature both an off track section and extensive views, but the main reason I decided to head up to central Victoria today was that the weather promised to be a little better on the north side of the Great Dividing Range, a prediction that turned out spot on. After sailing straight past the access road I hung a u-ey and parked the ute in the small car park just off the Northern Highway, I've done this little stroll at least 3 times before so you'd reckon that I would of remembered where the car park was!

This walk starts with an easy stroll beside rural farmland along Mount Ida Road.

Mount Ida Road

This stroll starts off with a walk along the quiet Mount Ida Road, with rural farmland to my left and native bush to my right this dirt road made for an easy start to the day. After gently climbing beside the farmland for twenty minutes or so Mount Ida Road suddenly changes direction and starts heading east, climbing a bit more solidly. The trick here is to keep an eye out for a rough 4wd track heading north east off Mount Ida Road, once on this rougher track there were no real navigational issues until until I reached the summit. Once on the rougher track I continued my climb, the loose rocky surface requiring a bit of concentration on the last steep pinch as I reached the crest of the ridge.

If you are following Mr Tempest's notes, this is the old fire track that you need to turn onto.

I don't mind this dry, open type of forest every now and again, it doesn't make me feel as claustrophobic as some of the more densely vegetated bush does.

The last short section before I crested the ridge that I would then follow all the way around to the summit.

Once on the crest it is a beautiful walk all the way around to the summit, the old fire track more or less keeping to the very crest which allows for numerous views through the open forest. The ridge top walk also passes through increasingly rocky terrain as it makes it's way towards the summit, some of the larger rocky openings allowing views down over the plains towards Lake Eppalock, shimmering in the weak winter sun. With the communication towers on the summit of Mount Ida getting closer the old fire track once again met up with Mount Ida Road. Passing through a locked gate I had one last climb and I was on the summit. Now while the ridge walk had been very nice the actual summit is a fairly underwhelming spot, the communication towers with their generators and the fire spotters tower don't make for much of a natural feel.

There was a little bit of weather around today, you gotta expect that in Victoria in the middle of winter I suppose.

The ridge walk section of this stroll is very good.

The closer that I got to Mount Ida the rockier the ground became.

The communication tower on Mount Ida comes into view at about the same time as I met up with Mount Ida Road coming up from the valley.

The good news is that almost immediately after leaving the summit the walking was once again very good. My route now involved an off track descent off the mountain, initially following a high ridge across some rocky high saddles before it dropped steeply down a spur. The upper parts of the ridge gave me the views and the atmosphere that I didn't get on the actual summit, with the rocky turrets making for a convenient spot to check out the view of Heathcote in the valley below me, although it was the dark storm clouds draping the Great Dividing Range in the distance that drew my eye the most. 

I didn't linger on the summit of Mount Ida, with all the infrastructure it's a bit of an uninspiring place I reckon.

My route down Mount Ida was along a wide, rocky spur.

Heathcote, from the top of my descent spur.

Looking south towards the Great Dividing Range, I copped this weather on the drive home.

As I started to drop down the fairly open spur I started to pick up a bit of a pad, it appears that since I was last up here a rough mountain bike track has been built. The rough track made the walking a little easier than I remembered but really the open forest and rocky slabs have always made this off track section pretty easy anyway. Nearing the bottom of the spur the mountain bike track started to head a little to far to the south, so leaving the track I set off through the light scrub to intersect with another fire track that runs parallel with the Northern Highway just inside the park boundary. You couldn't get lost on this short off track section as not only do you have to just keep heading west and you'll meet the fire track but you also have the traffic noise on the nearby Northern Highway to guide you down. Once on the boundary firetrack it was just a few metres of easy walking through the light scrub before I met up with Mount Ida Road, my outward route. The stroll was now quickly coming to its conclusion, once on Mount Ida Road I walked a few metres and I was back at the ute. 

This is about as easy as off track navigation gets.

Lower down the spur I picked up what looks like a mountain bike track.

The Dirt.

I walked 7 kilometres at an average speed of 3.5 kph today. With 225 metres of climbing and a bit of off-piste action I'd rate this as a medium grade walk I suppose. On this visit I used the notes and map out of Glen Tempests Daywalks Around Melbourne book. Parks Vic have also got a lot free stuff online, including a map. If you're a Melbourne walker and you are looking for a bit of a break from the towering mountain ash and wet temperate rainforest walks then this drier open box - ironbark forest makes a nice change, my theory is that a bit of variety keeps things interesting. 

Relevant Posts.

Mundy Gully, Spring Plains Nature Conservation Reserve, 2017.

Macedon Ranges Circuit, 2016.

Bendigo, 2015.

Kilmore, 2014.

With the mountain bike track heading a bit far south I left it and headed more westerly through this light scrub.

After a very short scrub bash I emerged onto this fire track that runs along the western boundary of the national park.

Time to head home after another nice walk.

Lake Mountain Snowgum Walk, Yarra Ranges National Park - February 2006

Lake Mountain

I recently stumbled across these old photos lurking on a scratched CD. At first glance I figured that there was nothing of much interest and consigned them to history. Something made me have another look though, you see this area of Victoria got well and truly torched in the Black Saturday fires and I'm thinking that the scenery up at Lake Mountain has probably changed a little since our visit in 2006. Now I haven't been back up to Lake Mountain since then but all the photos that I've seen of the area feature forests of stark dead, bleached white tree trunks crowning the hills like stubble, not the beautiful snow gums that I remember from this visit.

The wide grassy cross country ski trails make good walking trails in the warmer months.

On another stinking hot summers day Sam and I headed up to Lake Mountain, we'd figured that the altitude would take the edge off the heat a bit and that proved to be true. Lake Mountain is fairly quiet over the warmer months and I remember parking at the almost deserted Gerratys Carpark before heading off into the snow gums. This walk largely follows a series of cross country ski trails and the open grassy tracks made for nice easy walking today. First up today we very gently climbed up towards The Camp past Echo Flat and a few nice tarns. The Camp sounds interesting but is basically just a junction of ski trail, after that we continued on still gently climbing to Panorama Lookout which had some distant views of The Bluff.

Echo Flat features a few tarns.

Plenty of snow gums on this stroll, always a good thing in my eyes.

Mount Bullfight Lookout

The easy walking continued this afternoon as we swatted the flies away, soon reaching the northern extremity of todays walk at Bullfight Lookout. This lookout is the highest spot on the Lake Mountain Plateau at 1480 metres so it made a good spot to stop for awhile and take in the alpine scenery from the top of the large granite rock that is the lookout. After having a bit of a break and checking out the remains of the old Boundary Hut we started our walk back to the car park. With the extensive number of ski trail up here it was fairly easy to walk back following different tracks, therefore avoiding the dreaded re-trace. Our route back this afternoon largely followed Muster Trail, an avenue of grass through the snow gums that made for a very pleasant way to end the day. I'm thinking that I'll have to get back up to Lake Mountain and do another post soon, it will be interesting to see how the country is recovering from the fires, I suspect that it won't be quite as pretty as what we found back in 2006.

All that's left of the old Boundary Hut now days.

Sam, heading back to Gerratys Carpark down Muster Track.

The Dirt.

According to my old notes Sam and I walked around 11 kilometres this afternoon, I haven't got a metres climbed figure but I'm guessing it wasn't much, probably around 200 metres all up I'd think, with all that in mind I'd rate this as a easy walk. I used a set of Glenn Tempest's notes out of the 2005 edition of Daywalks Around Melbourne. The walk is a nice way to experience some nice alpine scenery without a huge drive from Melbourne. Lake Mountain is (was?) a bit of a ghost town in summer so don't go expecting much in the way of food or drink, the open grassy meadows would make a nice post for a picnic though.

Relevant Posts.

Cathedral Range North Loop, Cathedral Range State Park, 2016.

Cathedral Range Southern Circuit, Cathedral Range State Park, 2015.

Hey hey, this walk even featured an igloo.