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

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