Fishers Loop Walking Track (Yarra State Forest/Bunyip)

[ornitorinca]

Hi there,

I was wondering whether anyone else knows of or has done this walk. It's Walk 87 in Daywalks Around Melbourne.

It sounds like an interesting walk however according to the book it wasn't going to be maintained by DSE.

Me and my boyfriend decided to check out the walk recently when we were camping in Bunyip State Forest but found Bunyip Valley Road very overgrown, although there did seem to be a narrow, distinct track in the overgrowth, and evidence of people having walked through. We turned back as it was too overgrown and didn't locate Fishers Track. We did see a female lyrebird, the remains of a rusted old tram and lots of wildflowers though

I'm curious to hear about anyone's experiences with this walking track, and if it still exists or not.

[BillV]

The last time I hiked in there was in January Via the Bunyip River road.......Yes it's very overgrown for the k or 2 to the river, I got cut to shreds and even lost the road it's gets so thick in places........There is a place just near the river on a small point with a feeder creek comming in from the East where I usually camp .....There are a few old logging relics around the place but they are getting harder to find as the regrowth gets denser......Had a lovely night there in Jan with Wild dogs in full chorus just out of fire light .......

[ornitorinca]

Thanks for your reply, BillV!

So would you say this walk is only for walkers with good navigation skills? I assume it would be given it's so overgrown and it's not on the DSE/Parks Vic visitor notes and maps as far as I can tell.

I checked the map I have (Rooftop's) but I can't see the Bunyip River Road that you mentioned. But Fishers Track isn't marked on it either and on one version neither is Bunyip Valley Road, just a note saying it's been permanently closed, although this is the road Daywalks instructs you to walk down to reach Fishers Track. It says you need to turn off onto Fishers Track however after some googling I came across a map of the area in a management plan for the park from a few years ago that shows Bunyip Valley Road turning into Fishers Track, as in one continuous road/track, that loops back around to (I think) Beenak Road. What's the track like in your experience? Do you need to find the turn-off along Bunyip Valley Road or does it just continue?

[BillV]

Sorry I meant Bunyip Valley rd......To get there turn off the Gembrook Launching place rd onto the Beenak rd East side.(Just near Shiprock Falls).....Follow that roughly 10 ks to the Basan Corner. There is a campsite on the N/W corner of the intersection of the Beenak, East Beenak and Hunters track. You can Park you car here........About 100 meters from the campsite on the East Beenak rd you will see a foot track heading East over the saddle and just over the ridge of the saddle you will come to the remains of the old Fishers track gate.....I haven't been down there for a good year and It was getting over grown back then .....The alternative is to follow the East Beenak rd around to Tomahawk Gap where you have the juncture of Bluerange rd, East Beenak rd and the Bunyip Valley rd and follow the Valley rd down........The track down here is easy until you go past the Switchback then it thickens up........I still havent been able to locate either track from the other and make the loop though I'd like to one day.........Navigation (Generally) is not a real worry as you are in the west end of the Valley and you are surrounded by roads on the rim. 7 Acre rock is also often visble to give a landmark..If in doubt head up and W or S/W and you can't go wrong....The big problem in here is the steep wet terrain and densness adding potential for injury when you get off the "defined tracks"

[madmacca]

Thanks for the hint about management plans - there is often some useful information buried in them (if you can get past all the bureaucratese_

[jjay]

I made of down the end of the road about 12 months ago...it was overgrown then....I then spent about 30 mins searching for the smaller track by the river but couldn't find much either.....it didn't look like anyone had been town there in years!

[BillV]

I made of down the end of the road about 12 months ago...it was overgrown then....I then spent about 30 mins searching for the smaller track by the river but couldn't find much either.....it didn't look like anyone had been town there in years!

I don't think too many people go too much past the switchback on the Valley rd or past where the track gets rutted and has little steep sections on Fishers track........The last time I was there in Jan via the Valley rd my previous campfire from a year or so before seemed undisturbed.............I get the feeling of real remotness when I'm down there.........

[GregR]

Has anybody had a crack at this walk since the last post?

I am planning to try on Saturday 23rd and wondering if anybody has any up date to add?
Cheers

[BillV]

I'd start from the Fishers track end for Nav reasons.......If you loose the track you can head south till you either come across Bunyip valley rd or Blue range rd which follows the crest of the ridge to the south........It is very overgrown.........

[GregR]

I'd start from the Fishers track end for Nav reasons.......If you loose the track you can head south till you either come across Bunyip valley rd or Blue range rd which follows the crest of the ridge to the south........It is very overgrown.........

Thanks Bill, that was my plan as well. I'll report back if I get up there in the next fortnight.

GregR

[ornitorinca]

I'd love to hear how you go, GregR, and how you find the track. Hope it goes ok!

[GregR]

I'd love to hear how you go, GregR, and how you find the track. Hope it goes ok!

Hopefully in one week i will be able to report back that it is doable- or I'll be sobbing uncontrollably in the corner..

[GregR]

I'd love to hear how you go, GregR, and how you find the track. Hope it goes ok!

Mission accomplished.

Four of us set out at 10am on Sat with maps,compass's, Gps x 3, an EPIRB and piles of enthusiasm..

Managed to get back to the car in just under 6 hours. This includes a deliberate side trip for lunch off the track down to the river for lunch, plus a 15+ minute search for a geocahe at the Tomohawk Gap and a 10 mimute medical patch up job at the same place to stem the bleeding of our main leech attractor(no gaitors!).

The track is extremely overgrown as we all know and very hard going. In some patches we wished we had bought a brush cutter to get thru the blackberry. We finished with multiple leech bites and it even appears I had one attached to my groin which I only discoverd this morning when I woke in my tent at Kurth Kiln-it was dead and I sorta wished I was too

One of navigators wore short sleeves and his arms look like he has been stung by a box jellyfish.

In some respects navigation was easy (or made to look easy by our 2 main navigators) but did become problematic when we reached the point where you leave the river to curve up to the Bunyip Vally road-I can see why anybody coming down that way would most likely miss the turn off. We spent most of the time very confident that we were on track and had a couple of minor delays waiting for the 3 snakes we encountered to get out of way- all 3 were spotted in resonably open areas on the way back up Bunyip Valley Rd.

If you aren't experienced in map/compass use and know your way around a GPS to boot AND prepared to smash your way thru spiky itchy leech ridden areas for 5-6 hours then I suggest you try something else.

As to the scenery it was awesome. The walk was the highlight of our weekend. I suspect once the innapropriate swelling goes down I should be able to walk normally again soon.

Cheers,

Greg

[BillV]

Oh well done !!...........How far from the Switchback did you get onto the River rd?.....The next Spur down?........Be interesting to see a map of the trip.

[GregR]

Oh well done !!...........How far from the Switchback did you get onto the River rd?.....The next Spur down?........Be interesting to see a map of the trip.

Hope this helps.

[BillV]

Yeah I though something like that........the Switchback being the horse head figure......there is a distinct spur that is visible from the switch back as well as 7 acre rock..........that extention off the end there do you think that is actuall track or later modifications? i'e fire access......

[GregR]

Yeah I though something like that........the Switchback being the horse head figure......there is a distinct spur that is visible from the switch back as well as 7 acre rock..........that extention off the end there do you think that is actuall track or later modifications? i'e fire access......

AS we came up the other way, it's a litle hard to say for sure. However, as we came thru the bush up from the creek area to rejoin the Bunyip Valley Rd it was an obvious sharp bend in the road (spur) that looked exactly as Glen Tempest described it ( ie easy to miss coming down) Saying that, it is only a small, maybe 50m section (probably less), of scrub in between the obvious BV Rd am the track leading back down to the creek. I suspect there is now a red marker in the vicinity. The track up from the river appeared to keep going but our GPS and Maps said turn right and after 30 secs oer so we saw the track up. I would have blundered on further otherwise.


The track back down from this point is clearly an old tramline or similar and would only become hard to navigate once you found and followed the river upstream.

I thought a pic of one of the clearer sections of track would motivate you to try again.

[BillV]

Yup one of the clearer sections...............I'd like to get down there again and investigate the area a bit more. I was there not long after the 2009 fire and there was still some signs of the old timber industry as in othe tramlines, cables and wheel parts etc off Fishers track .......I also found the remnants of another building, broken crockery,old bottles and a bit of Boiler not far from the end of the Bunyip Valley rd which I think maybe Big Mill that was burnt down in the 1926 fires........I can't help but think that there may possibly be some sort of link between that ruin and Freemans Mill just a few k's further down the valley.........