South Coast Track - a bit of rain one night

[frank_in_oz]

Just got back from wandering around the Louisa Bay and Melaleuca area for 9 nights. This trip was originally planned as a "through" trip from Melaleuca to Cockle Creek but because of my wife's feet blistering early (worth a full separate post!) her and I decided to explore the Louisa bay area and ended up staying in there 3 nights. It was well worth it and we had a great time, not seeing anyone for 3 days.

On the way out we camped at Louisa Creek with the plan to head out early the next morning to Buoy Creek at Cox's Bight for another day exploring this fantastic area.

About 7pm on Monday 23rd we were cooking dinner and a bit of thunder and lightening started around us. We were well set up and as the rain started we retreated to the tent and tried to get some sleep. The rain continued all night and my wife was getting increasingly concerned as first her "Crocs" and then boots started to float in the vestibule of the tent. I was getting "a bit cross" with her as she was constantly unzipping the tent and checking on the water level (about 3" deep on her side while dry on mine). FINALLY we got some sleep as we (she) got used to the heavy rain and what sounded like wind in the trees.

We woke early keen to head off as the rain had stopped. Upon arising we worked out what the "wind" sound was, it was the Louisa Creek in ?full flood. Boy that little, foot deep stream had risen overnight. It was now a 2.5 - 3 m torrent.....

We wacked a marker stick in to gauge if the river was rising and within a couple of minutes the water had risen beyond the stick and was heading to our tent. Discretion being the better part of valor and finally agreeing with my wife that "yes dear, the river could flood our tent", we moved to higher ground and check out the crossing.



Early in am at Louisa Creek- the river ended up running though our site at about one foot deep an hour later



This one is downstream from our old site to the new river crossing steps and rope



The picture above shows the top step of the new river crossing at Louisa Creek about 7am. There are about 10 steps down to the "usual" crossing depth. Within the next hour the water was about a foot above the top step and running through our original camp site. We decided to retire for breakfast......

Over the next 4 hours we watched the level gradually retreat until 7 steps were visible. Below is Sue, checking out the steps on the Louisa River side of the "creek" and the rope. The water would have still been over a metre deep (and running "rather quickly")



As the river level at Louisa Creek has fallen a lot, we decided at about 1200 to walk the 700 m over to Faraway Creek and check out if it was possible to get across that day. When we arrived we were STUNNED, we thought the level would have dropped at around the same rate as Louisa Creek but this one was even higher. I think we were so stunned we forgot to take a picture but the water was a foot above the flood warning sign and RISING rapidly. Faraway Creek was running even faster and stronger than Louisa Creek.

We retreated to Louisa Creek and lunch (well a modified lunch, we were thinking if the rain kept up we might need to stretch our food out for a few days.....) It was again raining heavily On our return, Louise Creek had risen to the top of the steps again. Boy these rivers are responsive to rain!

We waited until about 4pm and Louisa Creek had fallen again so we walked over to Faraway Creek again and discovered it had fallen DRAMATICALLY AND there were about 20 South Coast Track hikers on the other side........ After about an hour the level had dropped enough to warrant an attempt to cross and I ended up getting 3 of the more adventurous across (including a non swimmer). We made a snap decision to head back to our gear, pack up and get across.

By now, 6 people in total had crossed and the rest had decided to camp on the Melaleuca side of the river until morning. (There are no designated campsites on that side of the river) We crossed pretty easily (about a metre of very fast water)



Looking back after getting across. The water was about 2 feet above the top piece of step you can see on the far side.

We headed through the temporary village that had been created at about 7pm and walked on for about 2km in our Crocs , finding a great spot next to the track and set up for the night, VERY happy to have the last major river crossing behind us.



Next day we did 23km into Melaleuca and had a couple of nights around there. I ran into a guy who had flown in to check out the area after I think, abandoning a walk at I THINK 5 mile creek in the Arthurs area. They woke to water filling their tent in the middle of the night and a VERY CLOSE NEAR DROWNING incident. He recalled standing with his pack on, water to his chest with no where to go. He thought he was going to die and the look in his eyes told us it was true. The party lost 3 cameras, multiple gear including boots etc. He was VERY happy to be out.

LESSONS:
1) Chapman is right, you must leave spare time in case you are held up by high rivers etc
2) Spare meals are very handy
3) It can be VERY boring watching a river drop, take some cards or a good book and chill.
4) It is TOTALLY out of your control, accept it (we talked to some very cross people who now had to flog themselves across the track to finish at a certain time) We had 2 spare days.

I am sure there are plenty more but work calls.
More on the trip soon and maybe a pic for the comp!

edit - spelling etc

[Son of a Beach]

Nice work. Sounds like you had quite an adventure, even if it wasn't quite what you'd planned.

[Penguin]

We were up at low camp on Precipitous Bluff the same night. A very rough night, but all tents survived. More report on this later. Two days later we did the trip down New River Lagoon. It also was in flood and so waist deep all the way for 5.7kms and the creeks we passed/crossed were in flood. Apparently there are beaches on the lagoon. We could feel the sand underfoot!!

A full report on the gear eating trip along the Southern Range and out through the SW Coast track soon. The Track Granite Beach and South Cape Rivulet is a disgrace. It is just an eroded mess. For a major track it is an embarrassment for the state. I can cope with the bogs on the Loddon and Moonlight Plateau. But a track that is a muddy goop between exposed tree roots is bad planning. I am sure when the track was cut it was a good track, with a few muddy bits. Now, some thousands of boots later, the track has just disintegrated. Would we cope with that many potholes on Highway 1?

P

PS Frank I look forward to your full informative report.

[JohnM]

G'day, first post after discovering this forum (and what a good one it is too!)

I'm from Victoria, so we've forgotten about this thing you call 'rain'. But these pics and story are fantastic... kinda makes me pine for the days when our creeks were more than dried-up rock-laden meandering tracks.

So for my 'getting flooded in' story, I have to go way back well over a decade ago. My G/F and I were walking through Wonnangatta-Moroka NP, and stopped for the night in a large valley. Picked the highest spot (in between two exceptionally small tiny little creeks) and put up the trusty Olympus.

Two memorable things happened that night. Firstly at dusk, a lone Brumby walked up to a nearby hill and let it be known loudly that we were camping at his favourite watering hole. Pretty special to see a wild horse, and hear its braying echoing all around the empty valley.

The second thing was that it started to rain. And rain. And rain. We went to sleep, and it kept on raining. We woke at about 6.30am, and it had stopped. This was good. Open the tent, and see that save for about 5 square metres of earth around our tent, the entire valley is flooded, and rising.

Quickly pack our stuff and make for the nearest high ground, which is about 800m away. So it's wading through chest-deep water all the way... trouble is, this was the last year that cattle grazing was allowed in the NP. So, what we also had was about 10,000 dinner plate-sized dried poo's... floating around and hitting us in the chest, as we wade on outta there.

Needless to say, we made it out. But not before spending a good hour and a half negotiating floating poo-mines, flooded creeks, and fairly substantial debris floating all over the place.

I've only walked in Tassie a few times, and I've been pretty lucky with the weather. But by the sounds of things, I'm thinking that maybe I'll wait until it rains again in Vic before I venture on down again. Because despite maybe getting out 20-30 nights a year, I seriously can't remember the last time I've had to put up my tent, or cook, in the rain. And I suspect I'm seriously out of practice.

Going down to do the last half of the Great Ocean Walk this long weekend though, and it's forecast for... "a shower or two". So hey, you never know.

cheers

[frank_in_oz]

G'day, first post after discovering this forum (and what a good one it is too!)

Going down to do the last half of the Great Ocean Walk this long weekend though, and it's forecast for... "a shower or two". So hey, you never know.

Hi John,
Thanks for posting such an interesting story and welcome to the Forum. I reckon you have picked the best end of the GOW, the views at the far end are the best. Can't really say I hope it does not rain as I am in Geelong and we REALLY need it.
Have a great weekend

[Kainas]

Great story, and great pictures...floating crocs indeed!

[the_camera_poser]

I'll be the first one to say it- I'll bet your wife was, and is thinking the whole time "I told you so I told you so." I just read this to my darling spouse, and she said you would have been out of the tent and in the water! LOL

Great story, and VERY useful info and experiences.

[tas-man]

Frank's story brought back vivid memories of my south coast track experience over Easter 2008, where we had planned a rest day to enjoy the environs of Osmiridium Beach, bask in the sunshine etc . . . . . it was not to be! We had great weather from Melaleuca, camping at New Harbour beach/New Harbour Range/Bouy Creek/Louisa River. When camped at Louisa River, we had a spectacular thunder and lightning show that night, followed by wind and rain, and were thankful we crossed the river to camp (as is always recommended). The next morning was grey and overcast but the cloud was high and we still got good views as we climbed the Ironbounds, but as we reached the high point of the track, a cold front arrived from the west and that was it. We were in the middle of howling wind and cloud and sleet! We decended as rapidly as we could into the forest and did not stop for lunch, only scroggin and drink pauses. This part of the track seemed to go on, and on, and on . . . . . and we arrived on dusk at the Deadman's Bay campsite, with just enough energy to put up tents in the rain, cook a meal and flake out. That we thought was "IT" we were over the major challenge day of the walk, so slept soundly looking forward to the "crusiey" days ahead and our rest day on the beach . . . . it was not to be! The rain started again through the night, so it was hard to get motivated to put on our wet gear, pack up in the rain and get moving again, but we did. Within minutes we were challenged by the effect of the rain. The tiny creek at the end of Deadman's bay was flowing madly and where you would normally walk across the outfall where it flowed across the beach, the torrent was rolling half metre size boulders over the beach into the ocean! We back tracked into the forest and found a mossy log over the creek that allowed us to get across with some gymnastics. It was then kilometer across muddy button grass to the next unnamed creek where we stood in amazement at the raging torrent. As we watched the level rose a few centermetres and continued to rise, as we stood there. We retreated back to a level spot on the track and rigged up a ground sheet to shelter under and brew a hot drink and review our plans. Over the next hour we monitored the creek level which continued to rise, so the decision was made that this was our rest day! We cleared two patches next to the track wide enough to erect our tents and hibernated for 24 hours. The rain eased but the wind increased during the day and overnight, so we were hopeful that we could cross the next day. I didn't get much of a sleep that night as I had camped between trees just inside the edge of the forest belt that adjoined the creek. The trees were being buffetted by the wind from the south west and their surface roots were moving the ground under my tent, creaking and grinding constantly, adding to the howling of the wind. I remember trying to reassure myself that these trees had withstood worse condition that this and were not going to fall on my puny tent! Scarry! The next morning we found the creek level had dropped to covering the second step of the stairs, so we were on our way again.

Creek in flood and rising!

Nice spot for a rest day in the wilderness!

[PeterJ]

This is a tale about rising rivers

As you move inland from Bathurst Harbour the Old River squeezes between the Norold and Ray Ranges until it meets the Solly. At this point the country starts to open out onto plains leading to the next series of ranges, as is particularly wide and extensive in the catchment of the Solly. We camped here not far from the the junction and it had rained solidly all the afternoon and were pleased to have a good campsite. To get water it was a climb down a bank with the aid of a tree trunk and the camp spot was about 2 metres above the river level.
During the evening it rained with a vengeance and it was late the next morning before we bothered to venture outside. It was quite a shock to see the river up to the top of the bank not that far from our tent, which meant it had risen a good metre and a half overnight. With the river still rising we all moved to higher ground at about 5pm, which meant fattening out sites under the trees. We retired for the night feeling confident that we were well above any possible rise, especially as conditions had eased considerably.
Very little rain seemed to occur overnight, so we were stunned on getting up that day to find that the river had risen considerably higher. Our sites of the previous night were a good metre under water, but what was an even greater surprise was the discovery of the high water mark which was a mere half metre in distance and even less in height from the tent.

All up the river had risen some 5 metres. When we returned to town we learnt that a person had drowned in the Davey River and was found in debris way up in a tree.