Easter 2016 . Northern Prom circuit.

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Easter 2016 . Northern Prom circuit.

Postby paidal_chalne_vala » Wed 30 Mar, 2016 6:53 pm

Hi
I took 4 VNPA hikers around the Northern Prom circuit during the Easter break. Generally the weather was perfect for trekking. Not too hot , partly overcast and just a few showers.
Day one was Good Friday . We walked from 5 Mile Car park to 5 Mile Beach. We took lunch at Barry Creek which is flowing.
We camped in the tea trees. The water at the 5 mile spring was just flowing as a trickle. I pumped it up and filtered it and it went straight into my water bladders and it was fine. We all carried water from 5 Mile Car park just in case the spring was dry.
We set off at about 8.30 am on Sat . for Johnny Souey cove. The track was a bit hard to find and quite overgrown in places but not too bad really.
The water was again a trickle at Johnny Souey cove. Pumping it and filtering it was the only way we could get it to fill any container. We carried extra water because the trek ahead to Tin Mine Cove camp is as tough as it gets and fresh drinking water is not available en route after Johnny Souey cove.

The worst section was just as bad as last year.
From JS cove to 3 Mile beach via 3 Mile point there is NO TRACK, NO MARKERS , NOTHING BUT IMPENETRABLE THICKET and virgin bush. We gave up and headed for the rocks . The tide was out and we did battle with the evil rocks of 3 mile Point. We covered 3 kms in 3 hours and used up 3 days worth of energy!!
There are no positives attached to that .It was murder.
There was a sea kayak team taking a break when we finally reached the sand after a taxing session on the rocks. Fatigue leads to errors and I slipped and managed to grab a hand hold and thus avoiding a nasty fall on the granite boulders, I survived unharmed.
We took lunch at the Beach just before 3 Mile Beach . We were shattered and still had 12 kms to go.
We made it up Lighthouse point , hauling ourselves up on the rope that is there , attached to a tree. We made it to that point before the tide came all the way in and swallowed up the sand on 3 Mile beach .
We slogged it over the tin mine track and reached the Tin Mine Camp at 6.30 pm . Thankfully the track from Chinaman's long beach to Tin Mine Camp has been cleared and tagged.We were all beyond shattered, just rogered beyond words.
The stream at Tin Mine cove is flowing well.
The next day we packed up and headed along Chinaman's long Beach . With the tide all the way out Corner Inlet was just a mud flat and the walking was easy.
The track from there to Lower Barry creek was hard to find and we got lost in different places as compared with last year. I still think we did better this year . I was using a topographical map & compass and another member of our group had the route loaded onto his GPS device.
Without the GPS we would still be out there.
We were pushing through the dense almost impenetrable scrub looking for markers ,posts, tape, tags, anything !! esp. after we crossed China Man's creek. The Creek and the swamp were dry. I only saw one snake that day which was on Sunday.
We finally located the track, we were only 150 -200 metres off course and made good time to Lower Barry Camp. We were the only ones there whereas Tin Mine camp was at capacity on Sat. night. The water is flowing well at Lower Barry Camp.
Monday , day 4 we packed up early and headed for the 5 Mile road. The track on this section has been cleared and tagged and we had no trouble getting back to the road in good time.
In short I don't have to do that again. It was physically and mentally very taxing . I have now done it twice, two years in a row. If somebody cleared and tagged the section at 3 Mile point then I might think about doing it again one Easter. Otherwise forget it . It is insane and we were scratched up and our gear copped a hammering too, bush bashing and pushing through the overgrown bush.I swear Bear Gryllis would have wept and wanted his mum at certain points along the hike! :shock: :D :cry:
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Re: Easter 2016 . Northern Prom circuit.

Postby fairman » Wed 30 Mar, 2016 8:56 pm

Yikes that sounds absolutely brutal! Good on you for getting through it. I've been tempted by the northern prom but must be honest, this has put me off a little!
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Re: Easter 2016 . Northern Prom circuit.

Postby paidal_chalne_vala » Mon 11 Apr, 2016 9:59 pm

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Re: Easter 2016 . Northern Prom circuit.

Postby icefest » Tue 12 Apr, 2016 9:46 am

paidal_chalne_vala wrote:The worst section was just as bad as last year.
From JS cove to 3 Mile beach via 3 Mile point there is NO TRACK, NO MARKERS , NOTHING BUT IMPENETRABLE THICKET and virgin bush. We gave up and headed for the rocks . The tide was out and we did battle with the evil rocks of 3 mile Point. We covered 3 kms in 3 hours and used up 3 days worth of energy!!
There are no positives attached to that .It was murder.

If you follow the track with rope up at the southern end of Three Mile Point and try to stay nice and high it isn't too bad. The scrub higher up is quite thin and there are large gaps that you can just walk through. Then on the north end you just drop down following one of the ridges with less thistles. I did it last year for my first go and it only took just over half an hour.

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Re: Easter 2016 . Northern Prom circuit.

Postby paidal_chalne_vala » Tue 12 Apr, 2016 2:36 pm

We did not see any rope up or down 3 mile point over Easter 2016. We had to scramble up on our hands and knees from Johnny Souey cove.

I heard it through the grapevine that some volunteers are planning to cut and tag a new track over 3 Mile Point this ANZAC day long weekend(2016). Until they do I will stay away from the Northern Prom . circuit. That section is a nut cracker and it would have made Bear Gryllis have a "sooky la la " tantrum and made him start to cry . :-0.
We went over the rocks ,luckily which were exposed at low tide , after aborting any plans to try to bush bash any further. We were not getting anywhere with that!!
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Re: Easter 2016 . Northern Prom circuit.

Postby icefest » Tue 12 Apr, 2016 4:21 pm

Maybe the rope was on a different headland... All I remember was ropes on every hill.

Personally a bit more tape would be more useful in chinaman swamp. That area has so many side trails that compass navigation is crazy fun.

That circuit is probably the closest I've come to SW tassie scrub bashing in Victoria (excluding rogaining) - definitely no beginner walk.
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Re: Easter 2016 . Northern Prom circuit.

Postby PedroArvy » Tue 12 Apr, 2016 4:29 pm

I've done this walk twice, quite a while ago but in the opposite direction and never had such issues. Not sure if it was the track condition or the opposite direction is better.
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Re: Easter 2016 . Northern Prom circuit.

Postby paidal_chalne_vala » Tue 12 Apr, 2016 11:41 pm

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Re: Easter 2016 . Northern Prom circuit.

Postby paidal_chalne_vala » Tue 19 Apr, 2016 8:40 pm

I just spoke with an Iraani woman who was part of the volunteer team who did some track work clearing the way from 5 Mile Beach to 3 Mile Beach. If anybody goes out there soon please report on if they have hacked and tagged a new route over 3 Mile Point.
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Re: Easter 2016 . Northern Prom circuit.

Postby yohans » Fri 25 Nov, 2016 10:13 am

Interesting, thought I was a long ago registered member here, but couldn't logon. New registration - all ok.

I just had an absolutely amazing time on this walk during Melbourne cup w/e just past.

We were a group of 4 friends, 2 women and 2 men, and walked anti-clockwise in 4 days/3 nights. We some incredibly wild weather especially on the second day.

Rather than a boring trip report I’ll only comment on certain aspects of the trip that I think people will find interesting and have asked about.

5 Mile beach to Johnny Suey cove - track is well marked (mix of orange reflectors and pink tape) and easy to follow. Got lashed by wind and rain on this section.

Getting over 3 Mile Point was interesting. There is a cleared track tagged with pink tape which contours around the point (up high) for about half the distance to the next beach section and then abruptly drops you down onto the rocks. The second half of the distance to the next beach section is then over the rocks. It was fairly easy scrambling as we were in-between the tides and it only just slowed us down a bit. Now this track does NOT follow the track marked on my map, the Rooftop’s Wilsons Promontory National Park Forest Activities Map which is on the reverse of the Rooftop’s South Gippsland - Wilsons Promontory Adventure Map OR any gps track log that I’d been sent or found on the web during my planning.

Getting onto the track at Lighthouse Point was way more challenging. The tide was coming in and one of the friends wasn’t too keen to be on the wet rocks so we couldn’t get far enough around the beach to the track where the rope is. It took about an hour to get to the navigation beacon tower from the beach by forcing our way through the thick scrub to pick up the track. Steep sandy cliffs and sinkholes also slowed us down a bit here.

There was as expected plenty of water in the Chinamans swamp but wading through it was ok. It wasn’t any higher than about crotch high. We had to be careful with navigation in this area as it was really easy to lose the track. We had 3 or 4 times when it took a little while to pick the direction and confirm the track and 1 time when we just walked a bearing to intersect the track. Strangely, the last ~2 kms to Lower Barry Creek camp lost the wilderness feeling a bit as there was too much pink tape spaced too closely together. Too many we thought.


All camp sites were great and there was plenty of drinking water to be found.

Any questions, just ask.
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Re: Easter 2016 . Northern Prom circuit.

Postby paidal_chalne_vala » Sat 26 Nov, 2016 10:32 am

We are doing this trek again during Easter 2017. The 3 mile point track was not there at all.What track ?! . It was hell on a stick. Any track clearing work and tagging done since March/April 2016 would be an improvement.
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Re: Easter 2016 . Northern Prom circuit.

Postby Iryna1805 » Tue 05 Nov, 2019 9:46 am

Hi guys!
My husband and I are planning to do the northern circuit in a few weeks so I'm looking for any updates from people who have completed it recently. Any information would be much appreciated (i.e. water supply, tracks condition etc). Just wonder if anyone can advise how much of a problem creek crossing would be this time of a year, given it's been raining heavily lately..
Thank you all in advance!

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Re: Easter 2016 . Northern Prom circuit.

Postby paidal_chalne_vala » Tue 05 Nov, 2019 12:36 pm

Take a GPS with the route loaded up onto it. I have the co ordinates. The swamp crossing may be chest deep in water . It will be a 'commando course' and you won't be able to see the snakes in the water :-0. I strongly suggest doing this hike during Easter which is the best season to attempt it. The Buller / Howitt area is better for pre Xmas walking . Lots of water and wildflowers.
Last edited by paidal_chalne_vala on Tue 05 Nov, 2019 5:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Easter 2016 . Northern Prom circuit.

Postby Iryna1805 » Tue 05 Nov, 2019 2:33 pm

Thanks heaps for the advice! We were actually hesitating between Wilsons Prom and Buller/Howitt area but strangely enough we haven't explored Wilsons Prom at all so it's very tempting.. Maybe we should walk southern circuit first, it sounds like a nice and easy walk but we are not really big fans of those popular places that are packed and crowded, although we're planning to start on Thursday morning so maybe it won't be too busy on weekdays and during off peak season
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Re: Easter 2016 . Northern Prom circuit.

Postby paidal_chalne_vala » Tue 05 Nov, 2019 5:16 pm

If you do the Mt.Clear/ Chester's Yard/ King Billies/ Lovick's Hut / The Bluff - Loop and return to the car at the Upper Jamieson river via Refrigerator Gap Track I doubt you will encounter many people on the segment from Clear Creek until you reach King Billie Saddle. The Buller/Howitt area has a lot terrain and room for everyone. Just try to find a way to avoid the 4 WD tracks some of the way if you can. Certainly the section from King Billie 1 to Mt. Speculation is challenging and spectacular. You will find water at Hellfire creek , Mac. Springs and Camp Creek if you walk out that way. It has been wet and the spring conditions are not too hot. The risk of bushfires is less during November.
You should be able to get a 2WD down to near King hut and hike up Muesli spur, visit Mt. Speculation and then trek over to Lake Cobbler and Mt. Cobbler. That is also a good hike with plenty of water about before Xmas.
The Circuit road and the first section of The Speculation road down to the King River Bridges on Mt. Stirling should be open as of tomorrow.
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