Cathedral Ranges Walk

The forecast was hot. Damn hot, but thankfully the weather was mild to warm up at the Ranges. The trip notes classified this as a hard walk, and hard it was. In fact it wasn't really a walk at all to start off with; more of a scramble and climb.

The walk could be broken into three parts. The first part was the climb to the summit of Mt Sugarloaf via Wells Cave, which we commenced at about 10:40am. As I said, it was more a climb than a walk. The notes indicated a 30 minute walk, but we were scrambling up sheer cliff faces, and swinging off trees through and up craggy rifts.

We eventually passed through the cave giving this track it's name; a long and dark crevass that we had to squeeze through, pushing our daypacks ahead of us. Lucky none of us were too portly as the final part of the cave required sliding through sideways to fit.

One hour into our 30 minute walk and we were finally at the summit at 11:40, less two of our original party. No, they didn't fall off a cliff, it was just that they expected more walk than climb. The views from the top were spectacular and the timing was just right for lunch.

After half an hour resting and eating, the walk proper started. We followed the Razorback from Sugarloaf to The Farmyard. This was a beautiful walk; not too hard and with great views and some easy climbing over rocky outcrops.

The track descended after the Butresses through young forest and down to The Farmyard where we took a short break. The walk was marked as two hours, but we had completed it in 1 hour and twenty, making up some time from the Wells Cave climb.

The Farmyard is named such as the Lyrebirds in the area reportedly imitate the sounds of the stock from the Archeron Valley below.

With the second portion of the walk completed , we made our way down Jawbone Creek Track, passing a number of Lyrebirds along the way.

Jawbone Creek track was quite steep, our toes getting squashed into the fronts of our shoes as we made our way down past Jawbone Creek, which borrowed our path along it's way down the gully.

We made up time to arrive at the carpark on schedule, tired but pleased with an excellent walk.

Craigs Hut

Participants: Nidhi, Sampath, Pavan, Bhaskar, Suresh, Praveen & Mark

We departed from the city pretty much on plan; everybody being picked up and on our way about 8:00am with beautiful clear blue skies. We took the more scenic route as opposed to the fastest route, driving out via Healesville where we stopped for some last minute supplies and then winding our way across the Black Spur. The plan was to stop in Fernshaw for morning tea, but for some reason the place was locked up so went to Plan B and stopped at Dom Dom Saddle.

The instant we were out of the car we were greeted by a Magpie with his young chick, both very keen for food, and both also very adept at catching any food thrown at them.

We drove out through Eildon and climbed up and along Skyline Road, which offered some scenic views back into the Goulburn Valley as well as across over Lake Eildon which was much higher than my previous recent trips. We spotted a couple of Wedgetailed Eagles soaring over the ridge top and pulled over at a lookout to get some photos of the views across the lake.

The road then took us down to the lakeside where we got caught up behind some cyclists. We pulled over to take some more photos as the views were very scenic with the water so high and the clouds rolling across the valley; so far the rain forecasted had held off.

We stopped in at Mansfield and the bad weather chasing us from Melbourne finally caught up. It briefly hailed and then cleared up again as we drove out of Mansfield towards Mt. Buller.

We headed up towards Mt Stirling, passing a cyclist who had an extremely long and arduous climb ahead of him! Off to the right we had some views of Mt Buller, which still had some snow cover. Pavan had not previously seen snow so we were hopeful of coming across some today.

We drove down to Pineapple Flat on the King River, and the river was noticably higher and faster flowing than it had been on my previous visits. A quick chat with some people parked on the bank indicated that some other cars had recently crossed so we drove in and through the river, with water coming up over the bonnet we made it to the otherside where we setup for lunch.

The rain held off long enough for us to setup the tarp and picnic, and came down quite heavily as we sat under the tarp enjoying our lunches.

Soon after lunch the clouds cleared away again and we went for a short walk along the King River, with numerous wild flowers in bloom and the sun shining again.

The original plan for this trip was to drive along King Basin Track and up the Staircase to Mt Speculation and Lake Cobbler, but since the river was higher than normal and the rain had been falling heavily I decided against the 10 or so river crossings and the likely slippery Staircase climb that path would take us on. Additionally, Pavan hadn't seen snow before so I expected that going up to Craig's Hut would give us the highest probability of seeing some snow falling.

We drove out across King River again, and a few more times as well to get some good photos and then headed up to Mt Clear to visit Craigs Hut.

We arrived at Craig's Hut with the most beautiful views across the mountains with large fluffy white clouds rolling across the sky. There was a light dusting of snow as well, so Pavan received his wish!

We spent about 10 minutes enjoying the views and taking photos when almost instantly the views vanished as the mountain clouded over. An icy wind picked up and a light snow began falling. We sheltered in Craig's Hut from the wind and snow, enjoying the warm fire that was a new edition from our last visit.

The snow soon stopped falling and a lovely rainbow appeared near Mt Speculation.

A large group of trailbike riders arrived at the hut just as we were leaving and followed us as we continued on towards The Monument. We drove down Monument Track, which was very rocky in some places, and much rougher than my previous visit.

We stopped off at Bindaree Falls which was in good flow and then drove down to Bindaree Hut for afternoon tea.

We had a nice hot chocolate which was very welcome and warming before our long (very long) trip back home.

We drove along Upper Howqua Track then climbed out of the Howqua Valley along 16 Mile Jeep Track. This was reasonably steep and wet, though we made it out without any problems. We even spotted a few wallabies along the way.

Corn Hill Logging Road which climbs up to Mt Buller looks like a quicker exit from here but I'd like to check it out under drier conditions. It is marked as Management Only on the CFA maps though looking now on the Parks Website it is a seasonal closure track, and requires a crossing of the Howqua River as well as a steep climb with a number of switchbacks. Still, it's one to keep in mind for future trips.

So we continued up Bluff Link Road and out of the Valley at Refrigerator Gap where the mobiles were all working again. A few calls back to those waiting for us in Melbourne before heading out of the bush along Bluff Link Road, Brocks Road and then through Sheepyard Flat. On through Mansfield and Yea, we caught sight of the city lights past Whittlesea and had everybody dropped off home before 10:30PM.

---

Click here to see a satellite image of our travels. Note, large image(563KB).

Track Summary & Travel Times

Track Name	Surface	Travel Time	Total Distance	Avg Speed	Min Alt	Max Alt
Healesville to Eildon	Highway	1 hour 15 minutes	80km	64km/hr	97 metres	524 metres
Eildon to Bonnie Doon (Taylors Road)	2WD Gravel, beautiful views over Lake Eildon	1 hour 2 minutes	39km	38km/hr	234 metres	651 metres
Mansfield to Pineapple Flat	Highway/4WD Easy - Deep river crossing of King River	1 hour 38 minutes	58km	36km/hr	331 metres	1351 metres
Pineapple Flat to Craig's Hut	4WD Easy	51 minutes	33.9km	40km/hr	668 metres	1462 metres
Craig's Hut to Monument Track	4WD Easy	8 minutes	1km	7km/hr	1458 metres	1472 metres
Monument Track	4WD Medium/Hard(Wet) Moderate descents, loose rocks and rock ledges	16 minutes	3.6km	13km/hr	1341 metres	1534 metres
Bindaree Hut to Bluff Link Rd (Upper Howqua Rd/16 Mile Jeep Track)	4WD Medium - some steep sections	35 minutes	16.3km	28km/hr	786 metres	1288 metres
Bluff Link Rd to Sheepyard Flat	2WD Gravel	44 minutes	32.2km	44km/hr	557 metres	1297 metres
Howqua Track (from Sheepyard Flat)	2WD Gravel	20 minutes	16.8km	50km/hr	513 metres	576 metres

Crooked River Cup Weekend 4WD and Camping Trip

Well today was the end of our holiday, so time to pack up camp and start heading home. Our Tongariro Travel Bug had gone missing, last seen around James' neck the evening before so we spent some time searching around the campground unsuccesfully. Hoping he was already packed away in a bag somewhere we made our way downstream (and through stream) for the last time.

Henric was waiting at one of the river crossings to get some photos, so I thought it a bit of a laugh to drive up close and splash a little water towards his car. I completely misjudged, and sent a large wave of spray through his open driver's window. Ooops, sorry for that. Henric was quite good natured as he wiped the water off his phone, GPS, dashboard, etc...

We had one last view of Billy Goat Bluff Track as we started on the scenic drive down the Wongangatta Valley to Waterford. We passed a number of nice campsites along the river worthy of a future visit, and I expect the fishing here would be quite good.

The drive home was quite straight forward, though the rain came down well and truly just after we had stopped for lunch.

I had long planned of travelling to the Crooked River, and did thoroughly enjoy my visit here. This was a great place to stay, especially at this time of year when it was not too hot. I look forward to coming back here and exploring further at some time in the future.

Crooked River Cup Weekend 4WD and Camping Trip

We woke up to a morning where we didn't have to worry about packing up camp and jumping into the cars for a days driving. Lovely and relaxing, well except for Henric who couldn't sit still. I went down to the river and had a refreshing sit in the cool waters. Michelle also had a wash and felt quite civilised.

Cory cooked us all up the best, fluffiest pancakes and James and I went for a walk around the campsite, looking and finding a number of mineshafts dug into the hillside. There was even one right by the campside travelling into the hill beneath our tents!

Late morning we decided to take a drive up to Grant. We continued up the Crooked River Track to Stonewall and climbed the very steep and narrow Bulltown Spur Track. Another convoy was travelling down the track, and somehow managed to find a slightly wider portion of track to sit on, perched over the sheer drop into the valley, to allow us to continue up and past them. The track joined up with McMillan Road, a good quality 2WD road which we followed into Grant.

Grant was a large cleared area on the top of the hill, with signs (some with photos) marking out where the various buildings had been during the town's heyday. It was amazing to think of this large township perched on the hilltop in such hard times, now easily accessable via 4WD.

We drove out to the Jeweller's Shop Mine, which was full of water. I'd left my waders at home, not that I'd really considered walking into the old mine shaft. The picnic ground near the mine was very pretty with blossoming fruit trees and we were about to set-up for lunch when we could hear the rumbling of thunder. Not wishing to have to drive down the steep roads we'd climbed in pouring rain we postponed lunch and drove around the the cemetary.

The cemetary visit was quite rushed as the thunder grew in intensity and regularity. Looking at the map, McMillan Road continued back down to Talbotville, so hoping that it was the same quality all the way down as the short section we drove on we headed back to Summer Hill. The rain was now coming down quite solidly, and we had no intention of driving down Bulltown or Collingwood Spur Tracks when they were wet.

Luckily, McMillan Road was quite safe and well graded and we arrived back in Talbotville as the rain started easing off. We visited the cemetary here, and also a nearby geocache, and set-up for lunch on the grassy flats by the Crooked River. The crowds of people from the day before all mostly having moved on.

We returned back to the campsite, again making the multiple river crossings. If you like driving through river crossings, then this is the place to visit. Also if you like old mining towns and looking for old gold mines, again this is your place to go. There were multiple mine shafts right alongside the road, and many I'm sure, off in the bush.

Everybody was happy to relax around the campground for the afternoon so I had no takers for my offer to walk to the New Good Hope Mine site. So off I went by myself. The climb up the walking track was remarkably steep. As I approached the tailings from the mine, I could see the old steam powered battery sitting where it was left some 94 years ago. The mine itself was no longer visible, with the shaft entrance having collapsed and now being overgrown.

I made my way back down to the car and returned to camp where we relaxed (well, everybody did except Henric who still couldn't sit still). Henric cooked up the most fantastic roast lamb with all the trimmings in the camp oven; the culinary highlight (closely followed by the aforementioned pancakes) of the trip. We sat around the campfire into the evening while the kids watched 'All Aussie Adventures on the laptop' There had been a light rain through the evening, though the tarp kept us all comfortable. Not long after midnight, a thunderstorm sewpt through the valley and I fell back asleep to the sounds of pouring rain on the tent.

Track Summary & Travel Times

Track Name	Surface	Travel Time	Total Distance	Avg Speed	Min Alt	Max Alt
Bulltown Spur Tk	4WD steep ascents, sharp switchbacks	15 minutes	2.9km	12km/hr	414 metres	866 metres
Bulltown to Grant (inclusive of above)	4WD steep ascents, river crossings, sharp switchbacks	29 minutes	8.4km	18km/hr	3854 metres	1169 metres
Grant to Talbotville (McMillan Tk)	2WD Gravel	20 minutes	9.9km	30km/hr	388 metres	1199 metres