Grampians Flood revovery update

[CaptainC]

Grampians National Park – Flood Recovery Update 16 October 2012

Parks Victoria is happy to announce that road repair works are set to commence within the Grampians National Park. These roads were damaged during the Storm and Flood Event of January 2011.

After working through a challenging process, onground works are to commence on 16 October 2012. These works will repair damaged roads, restore and improve drainage, implement new structures at landslips, and ensure long term serviceability. Importantly, these works will restore visitor access to many roads that have been closed since January 2011.

Services South east have been awarded the contract to undertake works within the Victoria Valley Roading Package. They will commence work within the Grampians on Tuesday 16 October 2012.

The roads included in this package are:

· *&^%$#@! Ears Road
· Boundary Track
· Bullawin Road
· Glenelg River Road
· Greens Creek Road
· Hines Track
· Homestead Track
· Jensens Road
· Lodge Road
· Phillip Island Track
· Red Hill Road
· Rosea Track
· Sawmill Track
· Serra Road
· Syphon Road
· Wallaby Rocks Track
· Castle Rock Track
· Henham Track South
· Stony Creek Road



The Moora Sidecut will also be completed as part of this Roading Package. This section of the Glenelg River Road has been closed since January 2011.

Completion of this package is expected to take ten weeks. (The week prior to Christmas)

Miller Contractors have been awarded the contract to undertake works within the Kalymna / Wannon Roading Package. They are expected to commence work within the Grampians on Monday 22 October 2012.

The roads included in this package are:

· Cassidy Gap Road
· Emmett Road
· Fields Track
· Griffin Track
· Jimmy Creek Road
· Lynchs Crossing Track
· Lynchs Track
· Mafeking Road
· Mount Cassell Track
· Mt William Picnic Ground Road
· Redman Road
· Serra Range Track
· Seven Dials Track
· Spears Road
· Stockyard Track
· Yarram Gap Road
· Yarram Park Road
· Moyston West Road
· Kalymna Falls Track
· Mitchell Road


Completion of this package is expected to take ten weeks (Early January 2013).

All gated roads will remain closed until contractors have completed repair works. They will be immediately opened upon completion of repairs.

Please note: Roads that are currently open to visitors may be closed temporarily to allow repair works to be undertaken safely. Drivers are advised to watch for signs and visit Brambuk the National Park and Cultural Centre or a local Visitor Information Centre for up to date road information.


___________________________________

[Hallu]

How come does it take 2 years to reopen those roads ? I'd be happy to pay a fee in Victoria National Parks if it meant better and quicker road recovery, it's the same thing in Wilsons Prom' it's taking ages (and volunteers) to reopen those tracks, same in Brisbane Ranges NP with the Anakie Gorge

[north-north-west]

It takes that long because there are a lot of roads and tracks and the Parks service has a limited budget. Maybe if you got put there and saw the degree of damage and the amount of work that needed to be done, you'd have a better understanding of what was involved.
For instance, I did the Koonika/Speculation/Cobbler circuit this last weekend. Spent almost as much time clambering over and around fallen trees as I did just plain walking. It will take a track crew at least a week just to clear the walking track from Cobbler Lake to the junction with the Mt Cobbler track up on the ridge. Then there's the rest of the walking track, the Lake Road above the gate, and Speculation Road. And that's just one very small area.

[Hallu]

My point was why making the national parks in Victoria free, if it means taking so long to open them once a natural disaster strikes. During this time, it's pointless that they're free since the people can't enjoy them anyway.

[north-north-west]

You'd have to charge one hell of a lot to generate the funds to complete the required amount of repair work within a few months.

[Hallu]

Not if you create some sort of emergency fund, which is filled with all the fees from all the parks, and used only on one particular park when a disaster strikes. But neither of us is qualified enough to talk in realistic details about this, I'd be grateful to have the opinion of someone who is though. Now I know the parks were made free by John Brumby to encourage Victorians to "take the outdoors" a couple of years ago but I've found no article detailing how it was made possible, and instead I've found people saying that no more money has been raised for a situation that is supposed to increase the visits in Victorian parks... Instead, "He said that to ensure parks continue to be funded sustainably in the future, there would be a review of all the revenue streams and costs associated with park management, including tourism and recreational activities, weed and pest control, and essential infrastructure." That is basically "now it's free, we don't know what's gonna happen, but if it doesn't work we're gonna notice it".

Now I'm not saying Victorian parks are badly maintained, on the contrary, I've been to Tasmania, South Australia, the Top End and Western NSW, and honestly they're probably the best in terms of info/infrastructures/practicality (I'm not grading the scenery). I'm just afraid it won't be the case in a few years because of this "let's go in free for all mode" thing.

[Kinsayder]

It's a tough one. Especially when considering that natural disasters are only going to increase in coming decades. Personally I'd put a levy on the purchase of vehicles the emit over a certain CO2 level and put those funds into the National Parks. That's not going to happen though. I think park entry/membership is the most likely scenario to recoup increasing costs. Hopefully that doesn't create a sense of entitlement for dirt bikers/4WDers.

Either way I see almost 2 years passing before tracks are repaired in the Grampians as simply ridiculous (but in no way an indictment of Parks Victoria).

[Hallu]

Dirt bikes and 4WD should pay more than regular walkers when entering a park. After all, they have the money, and they're the ones using the tracks, I'm sure walking tracks cost less to take care of. Anyway, for tracks repairs, they could at least have put up a donation system on the website, it's doesn't hurt, and many people would have donated I'm sure. But I guess asking for donations is a confession of guilt regarding their financial inability to take care of the park...

[bmak]

Money isn't the only issue.
A lot of effort also has to go into proper engineering to help prevent future damage.
I've walked along many of the roads that still remain unfixed and some are more like dry river beds than a road so require more than just filling in a few holes and remove trees

[Kinsayder]

I'm not sure about the notion of 4WDers and dirt bikers having "the money," Hallu. Most of them (In my experience) are blue collar types, whereas hikers (also my experience) are more likely to be professional, educated types with a few more dollars behind them. A double tiered payment system might also tap into that entitlement that would be best avoided. Insofar as a donation system goes, I think organisations like the Victorian High Country Huts Association and Victorian National Parks Association probably fill that void to a degree.

Good points, bmak, although almost two years before action does strike me as still quite excessive. The engineers aren't necessarily the same people implementing the repair works, so it would be conceivable that they had a roll out beginning quite some months back.

[bmak]

Most of those roads listed would be low priority as the either lead nowhere or are 4wd use seasonal tracks anyway.
As a regular user I was quite surprised how quick most of the popular damaged road opened after the damage

[Hallu]

Yeah it's true, the more pressing matter is actually for Wilsons Prom', the tracks closed are major famous tracks that bushwalkers love, that's why it's surprising it's taking so long. The Nothern part is now (unofficially) reopened, and it's been cleared by volunteers... I thought they would have professionals to do that...

[north-north-west]

As for park use fees, there were very few NPs in Victoria that had them. Just the Prom apart from the snowfields at Baw Baw and Buffalo.

As bmak said, the scale of the damage is enormous. I've been on the closed section of Bluff Link Road recently, and there are three metre deep canyons on a couple of creek crossings. It's not just a matter of getting in a bulldozer for a day or two, there are road sections that effectively have to be completely rebuilt.
And as far as walking tracks go, only the most popular tracks get any sort of maintenance, much less rebuilding after this sort of damage. Roads and 4WD tracks get precedence.

[Snowzone]

Great News!!!

Both the Fortress and Major Mitchell Plateau Overnight walks have been reopened.

[bmak]

Great news as I was planning to head across the plateau soon

[Kinsayder]

Great News!!!

Both the Fortress and Major Mitchell Plateau Overnight walks have been reopened.

That is great news, Vicki! Does that also mean that the Sheep Hills Carpark to Mt William track is open?

[Snowzone]

Great News!!!

Both the Fortress and Major Mitchell Plateau Overnight walks have been reopened.

That is great news, Vicki! Does that also mean that the Sheep Hills Carpark to Mt William track is open?

Yes Chris, the Sheep Hills track is open.

The tracks on the Pomonal side are still closed at the moment although they are currently being worked on as Captain C pointed out. The graders were on Redmans Road last weekend.
Bomjinna campground will not be reopened and the facilities are being moved to Mt. William picnic ground so the track past Kalymna Falls will remain closed until these works are finished.
I'd take a guess that the track from Bomjinna to Mt. William carpark will not be reopened as there was a lot of damage to this track.

[Kinsayder]

Great News!!!

Both the Fortress and Major Mitchell Plateau Overnight walks have been reopened.

That is great news, Vicki! Does that also mean that the Sheep Hills Carpark to Mt William track is open?

Yes Chris, the Sheep Hills track is open.

The tracks on the Pomonal side are still closed at the moment although they are currently being worked on as Captain C pointed out. The graders were on Redmans Road last weekend.
Bomjinna campground will not be reopened and the facilities are being moved to Mt. William picnic ground so the track past Kalymna Falls will remain closed until these works are finished.
I'd take a guess that the track from Bomjinna to Mt. William carpark will not be reopened as there was a lot of damage to this track.

Yay! That must have been quite a job getting that bridge back in place!

[north-north-west]

Bomjinna campground will not be reopened and the facilities are being moved to Mt. William picnic ground so the track past Kalymna Falls will remain closed until these works are finished.
I'd take a guess that the track from Bomjinna to Mt. William carpark will not be reopened as there was a lot of damage to this track.

Now that sucks. Bomjinna was a great spot to overnight. As for not re-opening the track, that's unacceptable.

[Snowzone]

Bomjinna campground will not be reopened and the facilities are being moved to Mt. William picnic ground so the track past Kalymna Falls will remain closed until these works are finished.
I'd take a guess that the track from Bomjinna to Mt. William carpark will not be reopened as there was a lot of damage to this track.

Now that sucks. Bomjinna was a great spot to overnight. As for not re-opening the track, that's unacceptable.

Yes it was a wonderful camp spot. I guess it will be used for a lot of 'Bush Camping' instead now.

[Explorer_Sam]

Dad and I are heading to the Grampians today to walk from the Sheep Hills Carpark to Mount William. I've never climbed Mount William before, so I'm looking forward to it.

[Kinsayder]

Dad and I are heading to the Grampians today to walk from the Sheep Hills Carpark to Mount William. I've never climbed Mount William before, so I'm looking forward to it.

Good work, Sam. Let us know how you go.

[Explorer_Sam]

Hey everyone, just got back. We went unprepared and assumed we knew our way around enough to find Sheep Hills, but we ended up just walking from the Mount William Carpark, 2 kms from the summit. I'll save the other walk for another time. It was still a great day and I managed to get a couple of photos of a juvenile Tiger Snake and a Shingleback Lizard. I have tried uploading them but the files are too big Sorry.

[Kinsayder]

Hey everyone, just got back. We went unprepared and assumed we knew our way around enough to find Sheep Hills, but we ended up just walking from the Mount William Carpark, 2 kms from the summit. I'll save the other walk for another time. It was still a great day and I managed to get a couple of photos of a juvenile Tiger Snake and a Shingleback Lizard. I have tried uploading them but the files are too big Sorry.

Sheep Hills is just a little clearing on the eastern side of the road. It's pretty easy to miss. The walk from the carpark is steep but fairly sedate. I hope you had some nice views from up top. We were there in July and could only see white...