Day walks around Discovery Bay/Lower Glenelg ?

[Hallu]

Time for me to hit the last bit of coast I haven't seen in VIC : the portion between Portland and Nelson. I intend to do a walk at Cape Nelson Lighthouse and then at Cape Bridgewater to see the seal colony and the petrified forest, all on Saturday, but I'm pretty much at a loss for the Lower Glenelg/Discovery Bay part I intend to do on Sunday.

Climbing Mt Richmond doesn't sound too exciting. Lake Monibeong has mixed related info : on the VIC website to book the camping, it says 4WD only, same for the Explore Australia entry on the camping ground. On the Lower Glenelg & Discovery Bay Map Guide and the VIC Parks map, it looks fine. So I don't know if access is fine to 2WD vehicles (maybe it's fine to do the walk but access to the camping has some dunes or sandy areas ?). Is the walk around Lake Monibeong worth the 15 km/4 hours ? Or should I do the Gorge at the Lower Glenelg NP plus Livingstones Island, South of Nelson, instead ?

Access to the Princess Margaret Rose Caves and the Sandy Waterholes area isn't clear too. Is it possible for 2WD vehicle from Nelson via Border Road ? Or is it better from the Princes Hwy ? I'd like to try "The Gorge Walk", it's supposed to be 10 km, so doing it with Livingstones Island seem doable in a day ? There's a booklet with the details of the walks, but only at the Portland Visitor Center for 5 $.

Have I overlooked any other part of those parks that may be worthwhile ?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[peregrinator]

I had no difficulty with 2WD access to Lake Monibeong several years ago. It is shown as 2WD on the 2011 Meridian Lower Glenelg and Discovery Bay map. The walk from there to Nobles Rocks along the coast, then return via the inland route took 3 hours. It was very enjoyable in the autumn but would be a bit exposed to cold winds in winter.

From the northern end of North Nelson Road at the Glenelg River you can walk as far as you like to the west on the gorge track then return. There's no reason to restrict the walk to 10km. You could easily double that. The only unsatisfactory aspect is the distant view to to the north which includes pine plantations. (These are a blight on the landscape more generally in the south west.) The foreground view to the river may make up for that negative.

The Mt Richmond area was extensively affected by bushfires in 2008 and 2011. That's enough to deter me from going back there for a while, but it was quite attractive when I was last there before the fires.

Princess Margaret Rose Caves and Sandy Waterholes are surrounded by plantations so I've never been tempted to go to that area, but the aforementioned map indicates 2WD access from the south.

[Hallu]

Thanks a lot for the useful info. I had no idea about the pine plantations but after having a second look at the map, yeah they're huge... I think we're gonna have a look at Lake Monibeong and the nearby beach, then walk a bit near the Gorge and go back. I thought it was an area similar to Croajingolong in terms of wilderness feeling, but it seems not.