Bushwalk Australia

Hello!
I will be spending time in the two areas mentioned above during November and hope to get out and do some day walks...
Would love to know of any walks that fit the bill that you know are great as i'm finding it hard to get much info on the net.
Thanks!

I grew up in Geelong, so the GO Road area is quite familiar to me.

For some shorter walks, I'd suggest places like Blanket Leaf Gully, Melba Gully (although better to go at night, to see the glow worms), Lake Elizabeth (near Forrest), Stevenson's Falls or Little Aire Falls. You can also link some of these up for longer walks. Try the Vic parks and Wildlife website for maps? There used to be quite a good map of the Otway area, but I can't recall what it was called. Try some of the outdoor shops in Geelong for maps/advice, etc.

Near the 12 Apostles (which is little more than a crowded public dunny these days ) is Gibson's Steps, where you can walk down the cliff face and onto the beach. Also, just opposite the turnoff to Glenaire Farm, if I recall correctly, is a gate (on the ocean side) that you can go through, and drive up the hill just past an old quarry. If you park there and walk up, there's a path through the dunes down to a beach that's very secluded.

If you turn off at Mogg's Creek and head up towards the old Girl Guides camp (Tallawalla), there used to be a track there up the Gentle Annie hill, which has pretty speccy views.

One of my favourite camping spots is on the Otway peninsula, at Blanket Bay. Turn left off the Ocean Road at Otway lighthouse road, after 9ks, take a left at the Blanket Bay road. Sheltered campsites right on the beach, great little cove for swimming, protected from the swell by a reef.

frank_in_oz is also very familiar with this area, I do believe ..?

Awesome Clownfish, thanks so much. We'll be camping so will definitely check out Blanket Bay.

If you decide to head North to the Grampians, there are some great day walks.

A favourite is right up the northern end of the range at Mt Stapylton - some really 'interesting' walks
Starting with a climb up the inside of Hollow Mountain - and if you are game - the ridgeline traverse in this photo - the route climbs up on the RHS and traverses to the left.


This is part of the route - with a few options - the feet on top are going to straddle the crevice ahead - while the ledge route leads into the crevice


Those trying to clamber through the crevice [which involves some interesting scrambling] get to see the route over the top

There are at least 3 crevices to negotiate - first is easy. Second is as shown and the 3rd you have to climb into and then up the other side.
There is also the more sedate normal route from Flat Rock car park which ends at the top with this view:


I should caution that we did this traverse as a practise run before getting on the boat to Tas in Dec 08 - this is an untracked route, but we flew up and back in 2 hours.
However the normal route is well marked and is still quite 'interesting' - including a sloping ledge walk over a large drop. You should allow 2-2.5 hours return if going on the normal route.

There are many other worthwhile day walks in the Grampians - with a number of guide books available

Near Halls Gap (Middle Grampians) you have
- the Wonderland area with the Grand Canyon & the Pinnacle [but this area was burnt out 2 summers ago - so still recovering]
- Boronia Peak with a great rock jumble at the top
- Mt Rosea - a longer walk to the highest peak in the Sierra Range
- Mt William (which can be a road walk - but it is the highest point)
- MacKenzie Falls - a very easy but delightful track past a number of waterfalls

Near Dunkeld (south Grampians) are a number of nice mountain walks - including Mt Abrupt

See also http://www.visitvictoria.com/displayobject.cfm/objectid.000E4F8A-3D52-1C46-8F8580C476A90000/

Thanks Eggs, that traverse looks awesome... we're primarily on a climbing holiday so will have just spent 5 days at Arapiles before driving south through the Gramps and onto the GOR then back to Melbourne. With those scrambling bits it looks like it could be a good compromise between climbing (boyfriends love) and walking (my love).
Thanks again.

The Stapylton area has a lot of routes for the rockclimbing community.

I believe their websites will give a bit more detail on the possibilities - including some walks.
http://www.chockstone.org/Grampians/Grampians.htm

I thought i'd bump this topic back into action... Anyone able to tell me about good camping sites within the Grampians NP? It's so hard to tell what will be nice and not infested with bogans from the info on the NP's website.
Thanks!

That's a hard question dee_legg.
There are lots of unmanaged bush camping sites, and I suspect the bogan issue is more defined by when you are there, rather than where you are.
If you are there outside of school holidays, I suspect it will be reasonably quiet.
There are free camping areas at Mt Stapylton and on the other side of the range towards Halls Gap.

There are also commercial camping grounds - with a nice one at Roses Gap. Many years back we had a delightful stay there with our kids - and we were about the only ones there due to our timing.

Yeah, it is hard to answer isn't it? Sorry about that, just looking for some personal experience i guess. I reckon we'll end up somewhere near Mt Stapylton if we end up climbing in that area. Pretty keen on the cheap parks managed sites or the free unmanaged sites as we are tight students ahaha.
Thanks for your advice though Eggs!

There was a place we used to camp at, basically on the side of the road, at the headwaters of the Glenelg.

But then, that was twenty years ago

I'll mark it on Google maps and send it to you.

That would be lovely, thanks Clownfish!

Here's a google "mud map" - I think that's the place, although bear in mind that it's been 20 years, and long drought means that waterways are less of a landmark than they used to be.



I also found this free camping list, which might be useful:

http://ozcamps.net/freecampinglist.php?st=VIC

My 2 favourite walks in the Gramps are The Mount William/Major Mitchell plateau walk and the Chimney Pots day walk.
The MW/MM walk is a stretch for a day and making it an overnight walk gives you heaps more time to enjoy the views. Theres a great campsite on top of the Plateau with a toilet and only 5 or 10 minutes from the cliff edge making catching sunrise/set and easy job, if you do the Plateau instead of just the Mt William and back, it'll give you an opportunity to get away from the usual tourist routes and experience a measure of remoteness which can be difficult to do in the Gramps especially at this time of year. As a day walk it will be fairly demanding but still well worth the effort.
The Chimney Pots, previously known as the Temple, is located in the Victoria range which is on the western side of the Gramps which is a much less popular, hence less populated area, this is no way due to its appeal, but perhaps associated more with the lack of bitumen and proximity to Halls Gap. The Temple is a great day walk for people with some Climbing ability. The walk itself is only about 5 or 6 K's but at it's highest point you have the option of scrambling to the top of the Temple which from the front displays some impressive 230 m cliffs, but from the back its probably a 100 m scramble/boulder hop/walk/grade 6-8 climb to the top. The grade 6 - 8 climb is easy but if you stuff up you will be in trouble. Once on the top you have some great views, if the weather permitted it would be a great place to camp. It's a great and adventurous walk in a much less touristy area of the Gramps.
Also in the Victoria Range you have the Fortress and Mt. Thackery and some Aboriginal Art sites.
In close proximity to Halls Gap you also have the Elephants hide which is a great 3 to 4 hour scramble to a bluff overlooking Halls Gap and Lake Bellfield, which is a great short scramble if you have a few hours to kill in halls gap.
If you want more info on any of these walks get in touch and i'll do what i can.

Good camping sites in the Gramps? Here's a few to consider...

Try:
Northern Grampians - try the Stapylton campground, good facilities, excellent bouldering you can walk to, water, loos, just climbers hangin out slacklining and chillin'
Central Gramps - a few options - try heading up the Roses Gap road a few k's past the horsey place and on the eastern side you will finds lots of bush to camp in, open and with very handy access to the bright lightsof Halls Gap (no loos but just use HG or the pub - assuming you're gpoing there of course )
Central Gramps - also try Troopers Creek campground - excellent for access to Mt Difficult - official Parks Vic campsite, has loos, lots of bouldering near camp. Or you could pay real money and camp at Roses Gap
Southern Gramps - try Strachans campground - good access to the Victoria Range, Fortress, etc. Pretty basic but haslots of shade. Just pack an esky to keep those beers chilled.

Hope this helps some some

Campsite along the Great Ocean Walk between Apollo Bay and the 12 Apostles:

Well, official hikers camps are located at:

Elliott Ridge - walk in
Blanket Bay (northern end of the campground away from the car campers)
Cape Otway - walk in
Aire River (in the tea tree up the hill from the loos in the western campground and away from the car campers in the eastern and western Aire River campgrounds). BTW avoid Aire River east - it may look nicer but has a noticeabloe 'yobbo' factor because of its ease of access. Just a tip ...
Johanna ridge - up the ridge through the gate and fence past the western end of camp. Its about an 800m walk in from the cvar park and totally separate from the Joey campground and surfers hangout in the pines
Ryans Den - walk in, has THE BEST view of the southern ocean from the grassy knoll behind campsite No 8, so pack in the wine and chill there over sunset
Devils Kitchen - walk in - another loo with a view

Car camping:
[list=]Blanket Bay
Aire River East (no shade). Good fun to be had bombing off the bridge, or walk to the mouth of the Aire River for some unreal swimming.
Johanna - no shade, bit of a surfies hand. Be warned the rips here are mega so it's recommended for swimming.
Heading west your next car camping is at Princetown or Port Campbell.[/list]

Caravan Parks: Some of the better ones are:
[list=]Marengo - great swimming off the point. Swim out to the reefs and play with the seals. Watch the surf crashing on the point when a big swell hits.
Apollo Ground footy ground - not that flash but cheap. Next to the Barham River, so popular with fishing types but of coyrse there's the mozzies. Oh it's a n easy walk into town.
Skenes Creek - very basic but you can get to the beach without crossing the road so great for those morning or evening swims. Popular with families. Cheap.
Kennett River - a cool spot. Great surf and great for kids. [/list]

Hope this helps

This link is to a pdf guide to walks in the Grampains.

The ratings are a bit on the light side but its gives you some extra ideas.

http://home.vicnet.net.au/~dvbc/grampians.htm

John R

Lake Elizabeth is another nice option for a day walk. It is 7km out of Forrest (northeren side of the Otways i.e. not coastal.

There is an easy walk around the lake with a high probability of seeing Platapus. Further around the area there a longer more challenging walks. There are a couple of pictures Here

The Geelong Bushwalking Club has an excellent guide called "Walking the Otways" - it is in it's 3rd addition and has just been released with new notes for the Great Ocean Walk.

This guide seems to be readily available in Geelong, along the Great Ocean Road or you can get it online from the Club - $23.00 well spend as there are many walks. This is the link: http://users.pipeline.com.au/~peterm/book.htm

The important thing with Lake Elizabeth, as we discovered many years ago, is to walk the circuit in the right direction, so that you finish the walk with a steep downhill section, rather than start the walk with a very (even by Tas standards) steep uphill.

Mind you, this was in the late 80s/early 90s before they "tarted up" the walk, and it was still pretty wild. On the return leg of the circuit, the track disappeared entirely. We bushbashed the rest of the way, figuring, hey, if the lake is on our left, we'll get there eventually! Luckily we found the log crossing -on the other side of a substantial blackberry patch - just before complete darkness. The bonus of the rest of the walk was seeing glow worms all around us.

soulfree wrote:Johanna - no shade, bit of a surfies hand. Be warned the rips here are mega so it's recommended for swimming.

Ummmmm, you might want to rephrase that . . .

OK ... meant to type it's a but of a surfies' hang (out)

I actually meant the bit about swimming and rips.

Ahhhh yes left the 'not' out ... ooops

Hi all,

On our most recent trip to the grampians (last summer) it was soooo hot that we couldn't bare hiking for more than a couple of hours! We did a few short ones instead (about 6 actually) to see rock paintings and waterfalls... You can see them all here - http://bushwalkingblog.blogspot.com/sea ... nal%20Park

We were staying in Ararat (long story) so we were also close to Langi-Ghiran State Park where I did the 1.8km Lar-ne-Jeering Walk - http://bushwalkingblog.blogspot.com/200 ... state.html

I haven't done any big ones down along the Great Ocean Road yet either but we did a bunch of short ones in the Great Otway National Park on a recent trip to Apollo Bay - http://bushwalkingblog.blogspot.com/sea ... nal%20Park

Cheers
Neil

manofunreal wrote:Hi all,

I haven't done any big ones down along the Great Ocean Road yet either but we did a bunch of short ones in the Great Otway National Park on a recent trip to Apollo Bay - http://bushwalkingblog.blogspot.com/sea ... nal%20Park

Cheers
Neil

Looking forward to three day walks along the Great Ocean Walk,from a base at Apollo Bay during the October long weekend. Checked out the commercial sites and selected the following:
D1 Ryan's Den to Johanna Beach
D2 Cape Otway to Castle Cove
D3 Parkers Inlet to Cape Otway

All walks were selected because of their ease of access from the GOR on asphalt roads.

PS we have a new car!

Just out of curiosity, how do you work your non loop day walks. I.e. do you walk from each end and pass car keys half way.

When my wife & I walk we have, in the past, dropped her at the start, I've driven the car to the end and then ridden the mountain bike back to the start. The pass the keys doesn't work as her navigation is terrible, even on well delineated tracks

That only works when the roads back aren't too long but a couple of walks recently have been 40-50km rides for a 20 km walk and being old & fat, I'm not up for that, so we now walk with her going half way, then back to the car & pick me up.

Always looking for other ideas so we can walk together

jcr_au wrote:Just out of curiosity, how do you work your non loop day walks. I.e. do you walk from each end and pass car keys half way. Always looking for other ideas so we can walk together

Well I'm afraid my partner doesn't enjoy walking enough to do the moderate to difficult day walks of the GOW., so she's happy to drop me off and then come back to get me each day. Its only a short distance from Apollo Bay for most of the walks.

There are several companies who run shuttle buses in the area

Bush_walker wrote:
Looking forward to three day walks along the Great Ocean Walk,from a base at Apollo Bay during the October long weekend. Checked out the commercial sites and selected the following:
D1 Ryan's Den to Johanna Beach
D2 Cape Otway to Castle Cove
D3 Parkers Inlet to Cape Otway

All walks were selected because of their ease of access from the GOR on asphalt roads.

PS we have a new car!

Hi Bush_walker,

I did three days of the Great Ocean Walk in June between Aire River and The Gables (via Johanna Beach and Ryan's Den). The walk from Johanna Beach to Ryan's Den took us around 5 hours with packs; however, we had a LONG lunch at Milanesia Beach which included a half hour nap . If you're a fast walker you might be able to extend the walk and go from Ryan's Den to Aire River in one day. If you don't want to walk that far but still want to extend it a bit there is the opportunity to be picked up from the Castle Cove lookout, I think this would have taken us ~2 hours to walk with packs.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy your walk; Ryan's Den is especially spectacular !

optdyl wrote:
Anyway, I hope you enjoy your walk; Ryan's Den is especially spectacular !

Thanks I'll have a look at your timings compared to those on the map and use them to adjust all.

Bush_walker wrote:
There are several companies who run shuttle buses in the area

Since I posted before I've seen an ad in the Vic Bushwalking federation for a place that has accommodation, and includes a shuttle service, with its own caravan park area so I think we''l go there for a couple of days after cup day & check it out with a view to a longer stay in the future