Walks in Little Desert NP

Victoria specific bushwalking discussion.
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Victoria specific bushwalking discussion. Please avoid publishing details of access to sensitive areas with no tracks.

Walks in Little Desert NP

Postby Hallu » Fri 19 Oct, 2012 2:28 pm

Hey guys,
I'm going to Little Desert this week-end, I've seen a couple of topics mentioning this park, but never detailing the walks. There are several short walks listed on the Visitor Guide from Parks Victoria website, but none longer that 1 or 2 hours.

I've seen mentioned the Salt Lake Loop ( http://www.takeawalk.com.au/LittleDesert.htm ), 7 hours, anybody's tried it ? I guess I can make my own circuit from the Visitor Guide's map ( http://parkweb.vic.gov.au/__data/assets ... l-Park.pdf ), I just wanted your opinion on the best areas.

I think I'm gonna camp by the river at Horseshoe Bend/Ackle Bend, unless you guys tell me Kiata Campground is better. Apparently there are signed walks starting from those campgrounds, and some brochures detailing them available there, I just wished they were available online as well. If I find some, I'll scan them and post them here (unless it's illegal), it might help other people plan their visit to the park.
Hallu
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Re: Walks in Little Desert NP

Postby Hallu » Mon 22 Oct, 2012 8:31 am

So I ended up doing a nice week end over there. First day I set up camp at Horseshoe Bend Campground, it's a nice spot by the river, with kangaroos nearby, but it was a little busy there, whereas there was only one person at Ackle Bend, taking the best and only spot by the river. If you go there, I'd advise you to stay at Ackle Bend, and try to take that spot. Both have toilets, fireplaces, and non-drinkable water.

I did a walk by the River Track, it was very nice to follow the river. No luck in the reptile department, but I saw some emus and plenty of birds. It was pretty hot, so I got swarmed with flies pretty quickly (even swallowed one). So I think it's better to go there between June and September. The so called Discovery Walk starts to be signed after a couple of bends (it's on River Track for this section), and where River Track stops (after about 1h30 of walking), a new walking track appears, and then the walk is nicely signed with yellow poles (otherwise you'd get lost really quickly). I hadn't much time, so I walked the track only for about 500 m, it's really nice and secluded, apart from sand track taken by motorcycles (I hate them, they're so noisy and they diminish your feeling of remoteness, they should be banned in all national parks). On the way back I took the walking track parallel to River Track, which is about 500 m from the river. Nice and secluded, but not much to see, it must be good at sunset though.

At dusk, the campground was full of birds, and there's a little walking track near the campground with a lookout, it's a nice spot to relax and wait for sunset (until a couples of drunken Aussies on their boat started whistling at me just because I was sitting there, reading, enjoying nature. Apparently they couldn't understand that.

The next day I decided to do some short walks and drive around the huge park. I did Pomponderoo Hill Nature Walk, short walk with a pretty cool lookout, nice view with the morning mist, but sun in the eyes, so if you want a nice picture, do it later in the day.
Then I went East and did Sanctuary-Keith Hateley Nature Walk. Don't open the brochure box, there's a big spider in it lol. Short walk as well, not much to see except an unused Mallee Fowl mound.
I then went to do Stringybark Walk, which is next to the Little Desert lodge, there are 3 connecting loops, so you can do a 20/40/80 min walk depending on which time you have. Nice vegetation, some roos. If I go back to the park again, I'll stay at the lodge on the Friday night, and then do half the Discovery Walk in a 2 day section, it would be nice I think. And they can even arrange pick-ups/drop-offs.

Then the Visitor Guide mentions Yanipi School Reserve. On the road, you can miss the sign pretty easily, and then it's a 4WD track leading to it... which is mentioned no where so I couldn't go there. There's nothing online about this reserve, apparently there's a self guided walk you can take, but I have no idea how long it is or how nice. This part of the Visitor Guide should be more detailed.

On the way back to Melbourne, I stopped at Mitre Rock and Mount Arapiles, they're really nice sights on the road, easy to climb on foot, or for Arapiles you can drive all the way up there. I just wished they hadn't put those Telstra towers on the top, it destroys everything...

All in all a very nice weekend, very nice parks, some drawbacks but nothing serious. I wish there were more info on this park. I didn't even find the Discovery Walk brochure, the guide mentions there is one, but it's nowhere... I only found this : http://www.flickr.com/photos/borderbush ... 284949373/ . I think it's a great walk that many members of this forum would love. It's on the Eastern block only though, I have no idea what's going on in the central and Western blocks of the park, no info on this anywhere. If you guys have some, it'd be great.

I think I'll come back to this park, but this time I'll use the Desert lodge as a basecamp ( http://littledesertlodge.com.au/ ), gather as much info as I can from the guys over there, and try to see what's doable in terms of interesting day walks, 2 day walks, and what's going on in the central and Western blocks. Honestly I didn't go to the lodge because usually anything called "lodge" in a National Park is really expensive, but this one is quite cheap, organizes tours, has a Mallee Fowl program etc... Looking back I wished I had a look at their website first.
A couple of pictures :
Attachments
615494_4722483150452_233299954_o.jpg
View from the lookout near Horseshoe Campground.
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Kangaroo near the campground
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Wimmera river
615254_4722444749492_130826003_o.jpg
Anybody knows this bird ? Couldn't find what it is.
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Around Desert Discovery Walk
Last edited by Hallu on Mon 22 Oct, 2012 8:39 am, edited 2 times in total.
Hallu
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Re: Walks in Little Desert NP

Postby Hallu » Mon 22 Oct, 2012 8:33 am

Some more pictures.
Attachments
134703_4722513751217_2118258774_o.jpg
Mitre Rock
665129_4722526671540_1671735750_o.jpg
View from Mount Arapeles
Hallu
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Re: Walks in Little Desert NP

Postby neilmny » Mon 22 Oct, 2012 8:42 am

Nice report Hallu.
The bird is an Eastern Rosella.
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Re: Walks in Little Desert NP

Postby Hallu » Mon 22 Oct, 2012 9:06 am

Thanks Neil, how about those two (male and female it seems) :
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Hallu
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Re: Walks in Little Desert NP

Postby neilmny » Mon 22 Oct, 2012 10:31 am

I reckon they are Red Rumped parrots, I hope someone who knows a lot more than me can varify that. :?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Redrumpedparrot.jpg
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Re: Walks in Little Desert NP

Postby Hallu » Mon 22 Oct, 2012 10:49 am

Thanks it definitely looks like them, although I couldn't see their red rump. They weren't shy at all, unlike the eastern rosella which was hard to capture.
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Re: Walks in Little Desert NP

Postby Hallu » Fri 26 Oct, 2012 11:10 am

Parks Victoria was kind enough to send me all the info on the Desert Discovery Walk. I've attached the .doc files to this message in case someone is interested.
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Hallu
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