Two bike rides in Gippsland

I decided to ride the Gippsland Plains rail trail and add on a visit to Ninety Mile Beach.

12 February Train to Traralgon, very cold wind when I started riding the rail trail. Very open, a few pockets of bush, lots of cows, timber bridges, long straight stretches made some of it rather boring, everywhere dry unlike mud last time (October 2022, my first overnight trip on this bike). Checked out Heyfield wetlands, visited bakery in Maffra, good tailwind. stayed campground by the river in Stratford and ate at pub. 66 kms

13 February Long straight roads to Sale. Toured around two lakes on edge of town, lots of waterfowl and cockatoos. Continued on a lovely trail across Sale wetlands: Latrobe River and marshes with tea tree. From Longford I took a road for a couple of hours to Golden Beach, just farmland with a few views of the coastal lake network, highlight was a group of emus in a paddock. Golden Beach (a tiny place) on the far side of a big dried up lake was on Ninety Mile Beach, stunning golden sand and turquoise water.

I went along the road behind the beach - no sea views from the road but many chances to leave the road to get to the beach including rusted wreck of the Trinculo almost completely buried in the sand. Left the road for the final campsite before Seaspray but no space so went back to previous one. Sat on the beach, very windy but a beautiful blue sky all day 78 kms

14 February Left early and continued on shoreline road to Seaspray, passing dry Reeve Lake and saw a couple of emus. In Seaspray I made breakfast at the surf club and sat above the beach. Then another long road back towards Sale and I turned off at Longford for Rosedale. I had a tailwind again. Not very interesting, just fields on one side and pine/eucalypt plantation on the other, until I got closer to Rosedale and I could see a misty blue line of mountains on the horizon. I went to the bakery in Rosedale. There wasn't any sign of activity at tiny Rosedale station and I was amazed to see the train arrive dead on time. 63 kms

Total 207 kms

The following week I went back to Gippsland to ride the rail trail from Bairnsdale to Orbost with side trips.

18 February I had a pie in Bairnsdale and set off on the East Gippsland rail trail. It was in a narrow corridor of bush passing paddocks with cows, lots of gates to manoeuver through. Before Bruthen I came to the first trestle bridge in a field. In Bruthen I stopped at the bakery. After that the trail was almost all in forest with long gradual climbs and descents, very pleasant. I had a rest at the junction with the Discovery trail and decided to continue to Nowa Nowa. The most impressive trestle bridge of the trip, high above dry Stony Creek, relatively intact, was the day's highlight.

I went on to Nowa Nowa: the pub had closed down and the shop was just closing, and found the quirky caravan park with a cute collection of retro caravans; my pitch overlooked another trestle bridge. There were two bike riders there and we chatted. 61 kms

19 February The trail remained in the forest similar to yesterday, already very warm. There was a partial trestle bridge in the forest just outside Nowa Nowa and another fragment of bridge at Wairewa.

A couple of small kangaroos ran across the trail, then another. The trail went alongside dry or stagnant creeks. Coming into Orbost I detoured to the lookout on Newmerella Hill for a view over the Snowy River floodplain and rode a short restored stretch of the iconic Snowy River railway trestle (several kilometres long ending at the former Orbost station) then rode into Orbost, crossing the Snowy River where it was wide and shallow with sandy beaches. The last part was by the river. First time I've been to Orbost when things have been open! I went to a cafe at the top of the hill. 

Then I went on to Marlo on the road with occasional bits next to the river and good valley views to some distant mountains. There were two nasty hills before Marlo, a quiet little place. At the jetty a pelican sat on top of a tall pole.

I went a little way beyond Marlo to see the Snowy River mouth and it was a curious sight: the river spread into several channels running parallel with the coast and coastal dunes and the actual mouth was quite narrow. Everything was very calm, gentle surf along the beach.

I biked alongside the coast until there was a path I could use to get across two of the channels to reach the beach, a long beautiful stretch of sand backed by dunes and too hot for me.

I rode back to Marlo and had a wind assisted return to Orbost, enjoying being next to the river. I stayed at the caravan park and went to the pub, and on my return I somehow snapped the tent pole. 84 kms

20 February I rode the trail back to NN; it felt quicker in this direction but wasn't. I stopped at the shop for lunch and a local farmer was very chatty. An hour out of there (a very hot hour) and after stagnant Cockrells Weir, I left the rail trail for a gravel road through the forest which was nicer, a bit cooler and less straight. Lots of good downhill and more downhill when I joined the sealed road. At the highest point I could see the sea then I descended quickly to Lakes Entrance. I crossed one of the town's lakes to look at the main beach. I booked a campsite at Eastern Beach. It was a still evening and I ate fish and chips by the lake at sunset watching the swans diving then went to see the evening colours at the ocean beach. 76 kms

21 February Back up the steep hill out of town and I went into the forest on the Discovery trail. At first it was beside the road then there was a long downhill and I rode alongside a (stagnant) creek deep in the forest, it was a lovely trail with lots of twists and turn, a few hills and just the sounds of rustling leaves. Several fallen trees to negotiate. I stopped at the Log Crossing picnic area and at the former quarry and then climbed to rejoin the rail trail. It was downhill almost all the way to Bruthen. Very hot again. 

From Bruthen I took a road that soon followed the Tambo River, not visible at first then I was surprised to see a section of river with high limestone cliffs on the far bank.

The road was hilly in farmland and views of rolling hills. At Swan Reach I went on the highway then a dirt road that climbed onto a ridge; on the ridge I rejoined the rail trail for a descent to Nicholson, wide river and high railway bridge. Pub. 63 kms

22 February Even hotter from first thing. I took a circuitous route back to Bairnsdale, pretty countryside and then several parks on the outskirts of the town and along the Mitchell River to finish. 24 kms

Total 308 kms

Great South West Walk short loop

To escape the Melbourne heat once again I drove to Cape Bridgewater on the Great South West Walk to do a loop that included a beach stretch along Discovery Bay I hadn't done as part of my through hike ( https://juliathorn1.blogspot.com/2019/04/great-south-west-walk.html ) and a return on the inland alternative (which I had previously done in the opposite direction).

24 January I parked at the blowholes parking area and went out to a blowhole platform but there was no activity. I did the short walk on the cliffs alongside the petrified forest to the Springs campsite, it had cooled down a lot and wasn't windy there. Other people. Warm night. No stars. Blowflies. 2.8 kms

25 January I continued on the open cliff tops for a while, the water quite rough, and went into low bush on dunes. Then it was time for a very long walk on the sand as the clouds disappeared and the sky turned blue.

It was a beautiful beach backed by low dunes and low sandstone formations in a few places, misty in the distance, some fishing debris and absolutely nothing to sit on. I had a light tailwind and it wasn't baking hot but was still energy sapping. I stopped several times, too windy to make coffee. The tide was high and it was hard to find firm sand, and a few times I got wet feet when the water took me by surprise. When I left the beach to cross the dunes I was on dune buggy tracks and then passed a very busy dune buggy club campsite near mine (Swan Lake). Really windy at the campsite, luckily it had a protected shelter. I checked out the little lake sandwiched between the dunes and farmland. Some kangaroos bounded through the campsite in a great flurry. Cold starry night. 23 kms

26 January The kangaroos made a quick visit again. I set off on a roller coaster up onto a ridge with views of the dunes and coast beyond. Some paddocks and then into light forest for the rest of the day. It soon became hot and there was little shade on the trail as the trees were stunted and sparse. Lots of ferns and grass trees. A snake slithered off the path. I found a scrap of shade to stop for a coffee. I went up Mt Richmond (no view at the summit, just a hot picnic ground) and rested for a while. Then predominately descending in forest on a grassy trail, very still and hot, to Tarragal campsite, surrounded by grass trees.

There was a koala high in a tree. 23 kms

27 January The koala was gone. There were lots of birds around. A bit more forest with banksias and ferns (kangaroos thumping away but hidden from view) then I went along the edge of paddocks to a high point above the Bridgewater lakes with good views of the lakes and the beach I had walked.

I passed the ridge with the Tarragal caves and walked up to the largest, cavernous, one.

I stopped by one of the lakes for coffee. It was hot already. After a bit of dune bush I was back on the cliff tops (from where I had gone down to the beach two days ago) among the curious low sandstone caves and formations with the tide high over the rock platforms below. I went up and down in the hot sun (after an initial cool sea breeze); the cliff scenery was great: jagged headlands, eroded cliffs, but I was overheating and needed to finish. 15 kms

Richards Tramline Walk

It was going to be a stinking hot couple of days in Melbourne so I decided to go for an overnight walk above Warburton where it is never hot. A loop using Richards Tramline was my choice because the days are uneven: 8 kms on the first (extremely hot) day and 22 kms on the slightly cooler day. 

7 January I parked my car at Big Pats Creek (38 degrees) and asked a couple of SES workers if it was ok to walk the trail to Starlings Gap; they said it was quite hot for doing that! I set out on the first section of the Walk into History trail which is all uphill in this direction. Not hard walking but it was certainly hot and there was no water once the trail climbed away from the creek. It was windy in the tree tops and there was plenty of debris on the trail. I took a few breaks just sitting on logs and was pleased to reach Starlings Gap camping area. Unlike last time I was there, just after Covid, the site was deserted. I put up my tent and spent the rest of the afternoon sitting in the shade at the picnic shelter. Gradually several lyrebirds came out to stroll around and the trees had a number of kookaburras, sometimes zooming across the campsite at high speed. At 8pm two people arrived by car.

8 January I left early and walked on gravel roads through the forest with a few parrots then had a nice stretch on a service trail through the trees still climbing a little. I stopped for coffee. The trail returned to the gravel road at the junction with Richards Tramline track. At first this was a wide cleared track but it soon became a single track, overgrown with blackberry, and so much bark and debris that I kept tripping. As I descended the heat became more oppressive but it was beautiful forest, tall mountain ash and king ferns. Logs from fallen trees I could see far below were massive. I had another break at the former Mississippi tram crossing, must have been a very steep tramway. I went around the curves at the end of Richards Tramline and was surprised to emerge right by my car.

Baw Baw Plateau hike, Victoria

A new year. This was a walk I hadn't managed to do last year, on the Baw Baw plateau in Gippsland. I'm not a fan of out and back walks but I couldn't see any alternative.

1 January I left the car about a kilometre up the 4WD track from the Erica/Rawson road and started a long uphill walk to Mushroom Rocks car park, lovely fern and tall mountain ash and quite steep. Tiny creeks beside the track. It was just over an hour to the car park then I joined the real trail, climbing through mountain beech and gum trees to the rocks, total climb over 500 metres. Soon I was passing large boulders by the winding path but at Mushroom Rocks the boulders were much more dramatic: huge, clustered and some with overhangs that had sprouted above the base to give a real mushroom appearance.

There was a good place to camp on grass near some of the lower boulders, unfortunately no water. I was surprised how cold it was when the sun disappeared. The wind in the tree tops was loud. 7 kms

2 January I continued my climb up Mt Erica reaching beautiful dense forest of mature snow gums. Just past the summit I was pleased to find a good creek near Talbot Hut ruins to fill up and have a second coffee sitting in the stillness among the snow gums. I went over Talbot Peak in the snow gums towards Mt St Phillack descending then climbing with a few window views towards other peaks and small clearings of tea tree and mountain correa, many boulders. I stopped at the rock shelter, a low tunnel formed by a rock with its overhang reaching another rock. Over the summit (1569 m) near grassy St Phillack saddle I met several groups of walkers. I turned towards Baw Baw village and went down the trail as far as Tanjil Creek in a large clearing of scoparia and tea tree to get water and had a long sit for lunch. 

I went back up to St Phillack saddle and over the summit to the turn off for Mt St Gwinear to check on the water situation for tomorrow, then I tried to reach a camping possibility nearby but the prickly bushes were too thick and I couldn't get through. So I went all the way back over St Phillack summit to a grassy clearing I had seen and put up my tent. Lovely sunny late afternoon, awful mozzies but warmer even though I was much higher. 16 kms

3 January Back past the rock shelter for the short distance up Mt St Gwinear with views of St Phillack across a wide tea tree gully on the way. The summit of St Gwinear was granite with great views to the mountains around Mt Buller

then I descended on a sometimes open grassy trail, sometimes in forest to a car park. Coming back up I took another path through thicker forest which bypassed the summit but along the way had a very similar view to the summit view. I stopped for coffee where there was the view towards St Phillack. Windy. 

I had another break by the rock shelter because it was a nice heat trap and started the long descent to the gully below Talbot Peak; I only climbed this yesterday but I didn't remember it being an especially long climb! I stopped at the clearing at the bottom. Soon afterwards I saw a snake lurking in the grass beside the trail, its head upright as if frozen.

I stopped again to sit on a boulder for lunch, and walked up Talbot Peak

At the creek I turned off for the campsite at the hut ruins (just a chimney) and put up my tent. In a few minutes it was raining, got heavier and then thunder and another hiker arrived. We chatted. 16 kms

4 January I left the campsite with perfect blue sky and had breakfast by the creek then made the descent down Mt Erica

to Mushroom Rocks, had another look around.

Below the rocks I was in thick mist, very still. I had a coffee at the car park and went down the track to the car, it was completely overcast below the mist. 9 kms

Total 48 kms