1-2 night walks, closish to Melbourne

[pazzar]

Hi everyone.

I'm heading over to Melbourne for a few months in a couple of weeks and was just after some ideas for some walks I could do that are within a reasonable distance from Melbourne. I typically would like something quite challenging. I'm going to have a go at Mt Feathertop when the snow settles in over winter. I'm willing to drive as far as say the Grampians or Otways. Can anyone suggest some hardish walks in those areas??

Cheers,

Jared

[dplanet]

Just to name a few:
Briggs Bluff - Mt Difficult (Northern Grampians),
The Fortress - Mt Thackery (off track optional) and Major Mitchell Plateau (Central Grampians)
Mt Kooyoora and Melville Caves off track (northwest Bendingo). Carry water.
Strathbogies Ranges (North of Melbourne). Some info can be found via my bushwalk hiking blog.

[north-north-west]

I'm willing to drive as far as say the Grampians or Otways. Can anyone suggest some hardish walks in those areas??

Get some maps and go off-track, it's about the only way to get a decent workout.
Major Mitchell's good, especially if you go up Duwil from Bomjinna. You can do almost the entire Mt Difficult Range track, including Gar and Briggs, as a long daywalk, but by extending it with Beehive and a bit of off track stuff it can be made into an overnighter. For something a bit different do the off-track unofficial route from Hollow Mtn to Stapylton, there's some enjoyable rock work in that.
Go in the other direction from the city and do Ligar - or even the Tamboritha/Ligar circuit via McMillans. This starts from the Breakfast Creek campground on the Tamboritha Rd, just north of Licola. Might be a bit of snow on the higher ridges, but not enough to be an issue.
Or leave the Licola Rd at Mickeys Creek and head into the Avon Wilderness - very rough rugged country with the 4WD tracks mostly officially closed due to fire damage. Just don't blame me if anything goes wrong.

[pazzar]

I'm willing to drive as far as say the Grampians or Otways. Can anyone suggest some hardish walks in those areas??

Get some maps and go off-track, it's about the only way to get a decent workout.
Major Mitchell's good, especially if you go up Duwil from Bomjinna. You can do almost the entire Mt Difficult Range track, including Gar and Briggs, as a long daywalk, but by extending it with Beehive and a bit of off track stuff it can be made into an overnighter. For something a bit different do the off-track unofficial route from Hollow Mtn to Stapylton, there's some enjoyable rock work in that.
Go in the other direction from the city and do Ligar - or even the Tamboritha/Ligar circuit via McMillans. This starts from the Breakfast Creek campground on the Tamboritha Rd, just north of Licola. Might be a bit of snow on the higher ridges, but not enough to be an issue.
Or leave the Licola Rd at Mickeys Creek and head into the Avon Wilderness - very rough rugged country with the 4WD tracks mostly officially closed due to fire damage. Just don't blame me if anything goes wrong.

Thanks for that! Somewhere to start I guess. I won't have a lot of free time, but I need something to replace my Tassie scrub cravings!!

[north-north-west]

Right, now that I've had a little sleep and relaxation:
in the Grampians, Thackeray and the Fortress have a reputation as being a bit of a challenge by Victorian standards. Never done them so can't comment from knowledge. One area that you should find interesting - if all I've heard is true and from the little I've seen it may well be - is the Seven Dials. I'm not sure about access these days, the old routes may be closed due to fire damage, but it's not far from Halls Gap and is pretty spectacular country that can be scrub-bashed from either the east or the west. If you get in there, let me know what it's like, it's still on my 'must do before moving back to Tassie' list.
Abrupt and Sturgeon are decent if shortish daywalks, and Abrupt in particular can be very challenging if the weather's a bit iffy.
Down at the Prom you have the northern circuit, which a fit, strong young chap like you might be able to knock off in three longish days. Or there's the Vereker Range. Track to the lookout and you're on your own from there. I know it gets done on an infrequent but regular basis, but never found anyone willing to admit to having done it. I've followed a pad for about two km up from the lookout and it seems to continue.
Like most Victorian scrub, both these areas are fairly open by Tassie standards. Regrowth can cause some issues but for the most part the vegetation is not the problem. Water is, both quantity and quality.
The Tamboritha/Ligar circuit is two moderate days, three short days, or one long one and a half. You can extend it if you go counter clockwise by continuing along the ridge over the Sugarloaf and Bruni Knob, and then curve back down to the road on the most convenient spur. That's good fun - steep hillsides but generally open enough to be reasonably easy going.

As for Feathertop, Bungalow Spur is a walk in the park - very gentle consistent grade pretty well all the way up. To make the walk more fun (if the track & bridge are open) you can do a circuit from Harrietville, going up Bon Accord Spur (always one or two downed trees, the issue here is the footbridge before you start climbing) and along the Razorback. Plenty of good snowcamping sites from there on, especially around High Knob or up near Molly Hill's if the weather's not too bad.

[paidal_chalne_vala]

Going Near Mt Ligar / aka the Crinolene outside of daylight savings period is asking for trouble. The weather can quickly turn to poo... up there and the going is very slow with horrid post bush fire regrowth , slippery rock scrambles and some very slow 1 km per hour sections which can be rough if it starts to rain, snow and sleet as it did when I went with the VNPA in May 2012 .Indeed hiking from Tamboritha saddle in light snow to the summit of Mt Ligar , & camping overnight on Long hill plateau in freezing wet /icy weather was well outside of my comfort zone.