Bushwalk Australia

I had a walk planned in the prom 29th - 1st... and due to some very unfortunate circumstances with one of my friends, she can't make it along. However she will be back in Melb and free on Sunday the 31st, and since we've taken leave till the 2nd we are wondering about what we could do.

At this stage we are thinking about staying a little closer to Melbourne, perhaps around 2 hours. Staying somewhere as a base camp with car etc for a night, then either doing a smaller over night hike or perhaps just day walks. I had a look at Cathedral Ranges, but those walks look pretty intense! We have done a few overnight walks, but not sure if we are up for some Grade 5 action yet! Any suggestions?

(note that we just did the Beeripmo Walk a couple of weeks back, so something different would be nice).

2 suggestions:
1. The walk into History (near Warburton). Drive to Starling's Gap campsite, setup tent, walk to the Ada tree and return in a day (or crash at Fed. Mill or Ada No. 2 mill sites and return next day to car if you want an overnighter with possible Lyrebird chorus). Or Drive to Big Pat's Creek, take the gentle stroll Up to Starting's Gap campsite, setup camp, then walk to the other places with a day pack. Return to Big Pat's the day after.
2. Camp either at 'The Gums' in Kinglake NP and drive to walks like Masons Falls circuit/Wombalano Falls/etc. Or camp at Murrundindi Scenic reserve and do Wilhelmena falls or Toolangi as a day walk (or any walk in Kinglake NP because they're all within a shortish drive while camping at Murrundindi).
So camp at 1 of those places and smorgasbord the walks to your liking).
Both campsites cost. Murrundindi is $7 (basicallly on an honors system, but you'll be in the company of trail bikers who may celebrate their trail biking at night), The Gums is very much a 'family's first campsite' affair' and costs $30 if I remember.

Baeng72 wrote:2 suggestions:
1. The walk into History (near Warburton). Drive to Starling's Gap campsite, setup tent, walk to the Ada tree and return in a day (or crash at Fed. Mill or Ada No. 2 mill sites and return next day to car if you want an overnighter with possible Lyrebird chorus). Or Drive to Big Pat's Creek, take the gentle stroll Up to Starting's Gap campsite, setup camp, then walk to the other places with a day pack. Return to Big Pat's the day after.
2. Camp either at 'The Gums' in Kinglake NP and drive to walks like Masons Falls circuit/Wombalano Falls/etc. Or camp at Murrundindi Scenic reserve and do Wilhelmena falls or Toolangi as a day walk (or any walk in Kinglake NP because they're all within a shortish drive while camping at Murrundindi).
So camp at 1 of those places and smorgasbord the walks to your liking).
Both campsites cost. Murrundindi is $7 (basicallly on an honors system, but you'll be in the company of trail bikers who may celebrate their trail biking at night), The Gums is very much a 'family's first campsite' affair' and costs $30 if I remember.

Awesome! Yeah I actually spotted something similar to Option 1 on AllTrails, and was trying to work out a good route using those campsites. I'll go over that one on a map, it might be a goer! Cheers.

Plan A walk with your friend. Plan B, it's just you. Promise you plan B is a good plan.

Speaking of plans changing....I was at Gunammatta beach yesterday as the boys love to splash in the surf.
I rolled on my foot in the carpark (there's a big pothole I'll report to Parks so they can fix it), did a bit of a tumble, and lost a bit of skin off my arm and hand, but got up and had a splash in the surf.
The foot started to swell in the evening, but I just assumed a bit bruised.
It got worse by this morning and Hospital says broken metatarsal and need to rest & moonboot for 4 weeks.
So, no planned trip to Prom in two weeks.
I can't take a trick with bushwalking at the moment!

crollsurf wrote:Plan A walk with your friend. Plan B, it's just you. Promise you plan B is a good plan.

Well, it's a group of 3 of us and 1 can't get there on time. So it's more a case of putting that walk on ice until we can all enjoy it together. I'm not super keen walking alone. Mostly because I just prefer to have someone else there to reflect on it, and share the trip with. Otherwise I'd be debriefing with people who weren't there and don't care that much haha. It's hard to explain, but probably the same reason I can't see myself going off to the movies alone. I don't care about being a loner, but just like to discuss it afterwards and have someone to share it with - if that makes sense. I know a lot of people love the solitude and to a certain level I think I probably would too. But if it's a choice between going on the walk there alone, or doing a short trip with friends... I'd rather do the later.

Baeng72 wrote:Speaking of plans changing....I was at Gunammatta beach yesterday as the boys love to splash in the surf.
I rolled on my foot in the carpark (there's a big pothole I'll report to Parks so they can fix it), did a bit of a tumble, and lost a bit of skin off my arm and hand, but got up and had a splash in the surf.
The foot started to swell in the evening, but I just assumed a bit bruised.
It got worse by this morning and Hospital says broken metatarsal and need to rest & moonboot for 4 weeks.
So, no planned trip to Prom in two weeks.
I can't take a trick with bushwalking at the moment!

Oh man! What terrible luck.

I'd imagine a metatarsal break doesn't cause too many complications though? At least you didn't do your ACL or something. Get well soon.

Thanks!
No complications, it just need time to mend.

You could probably modify your trip (depending on bookjngs/availability) and do a shorter version of the prom. It's nice enough that it won't 'ruin' the possibility of coming back later to do the full loop.

CraigVIC wrote:You could probably modify your trip (depending on bookjngs/availability) and do a shorter version of the prom. It's nice enough that it won't 'ruin' the possibility of coming back later to do the full loop.

Yeah we thought about that. But I guess since plans were going to change we decided to have a look around at options. Starling's Gap looks like a cool place to base ourselves. Have to say I don't mind the idea of a nights car camp with a few beers as well

Cathedral ranges isn't that bad, especially if you are just doing the northern circuit with only a day pack and camping at the parks site at the bottom.
I took a couple of teenagers and some more "newbies" a few weeks ago, and as long as you are fit it should be ok.
Take lunch, heaps of water and start early.
It's hard, but if you've done overnights it's probably not as bad as you think.

[quote="Baeng72"]Speaking of plans changing....I was at Gunammatta beach yesterday as the boys love to splash in the surf.
I rolled on my foot in the carpark (there's a big pothole I'll report to Parks so they can fix it), did a bit of a tumble, and lost a bit of skin off my arm and hand, but got up and had a splash in the surf.
The foot started to swell in the evening, but I just assumed a bit bruised.
It got worse by this morning and Hospital says broken metatarsal and need to rest & moonboot for 4 weeks.
So, no planned trip to Prom in two weeks.
I can't take a trick with bushwalking at the moment![/quote

That sucks. Just over a year ago almost to the day I did the same thing, I was running and landed on a bad bit on a concrete foot path, no fall and thought I'd just rolled my ankle so I hobbled home but within an hour I was in agony and off to the ER. Fith met fracture and moon boot for about 10 weeks.
All I can say is see a physio as soon as possible, the one at the hospital did alot for me. I also used crutches instead of the boot around the house and on the really hot days.

Take care and apologies for hijacking the thread.

Baeng72 wrote:2 suggestions:
1. The walk into History (near Warburton). Drive to Starling's Gap campsite, setup tent, walk to the Ada tree and return in a day (or crash at Fed. Mill or Ada No. 2 mill sites and return next day to car if you want an overnighter with possible Lyrebird chorus).

Just wondering what the water situation is like around this area. I'll bring some water containers into Starling's gap to fill up before we leave, but if we turn it into an over night walk is there any creeks to collect water to filter / treat that you are aware of?



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I haven't been up there for a while, so someone with more recent experience might be able to help out with recent info.
There may be water near Starling's Gap, walk a couple of Hundred meters towards Big Pat's, you'll come to a set of planks that are there because water flows over the track when it's wet.
If you're near Ada 2 mill site, there's the Ada river, which would have water you can collect.
To get to Fed. Mill site from Starling, you have to pass through the 'Crossroad' at about 8km and Ada 2 site is only a 500 m detour.

Baeng72 wrote:I haven't been up there for a while, so someone with more recent experience might be able to help out with recent info.
There may be water near Starling's Gap, walk a couple of Hundred meters towards Big Pat's, you'll come to a set of planks that are there because water flows over the track when it's wet.
If you're near Ada 2 mill site, there's the Ada river, which would have water you can collect.
To get to Fed. Mill site from Starling, you have to pass through the 'Crossroad' at about 8km and Ada 2 site is only a 500 m detour.

Yeah I thought Ada 2 looked to be the place to stay as it had some possum boxes to protect your food, a fire pit, and platform.
It seems like the trail crosses a number of creeks that flow into the Ada River (screen shots attached with the creek crossings), but it's one thing seeing them on a map, and another finding water in them. I noticed there's a picnic area further on (Ada Tree carpark). There's some loos there, so perhaps some water as well.
I was thinking of doing the short walk to Ada 2 after the drive and base camp setup at Starling Gap, then the next day walking around the Ada tree area, and then back to Starling Gap. I'm happy enough taking in two days water, but would rather not carry the extra weight if we don't need it. Ada River might be an option too if that is usually flowing and not too hard to access.

I haven't been to Ada Tree carpark, nor New Federal Mill sites.

I was at Ada 2 site in March 2019, which was dryer than current conditions (was a bushfire just south at Bunyip State park which made it spooky), and there was water in the Ada river.
It's very close to the campsites at Ada 2 millsite (or if you walk towards the south, a bridge crosses it).

Last time I was at Big Pat's/Starling's Gap was September 2019, so I'm not going to declare there's water willy-nilly as I have no idea.

There are other creeks/soaks that you cross between Starling's and the Crossroads.
I just have no idea of their flow or viability at the moment.

The walk to Ada 2 is about 8km one way, and if you're doing Ada Tree the next day, you're doing the same walk up to the crossroads from Starling's Gap.

Yeah no worries. I'll carry enough unless I hear differently from someone.

Yeah we will backtrack, usually I prefer loops but everything looks a bit different in reverse . There looks like theres's a trestle bridge not far off the track that we might check out on the way down. Looks like a pretty interesting place. Thanks again!

I did Starlings to Ada tree and back late December 2019, camped at Ada No2. There's a swampy section with duckboard over it between Starlings and the crossroads, and another perhaps 100m before you get to Ada No2. Both were flowing well but shallow.

Between the crossroads and New Federal Mill site there was a crossing of the Little Ada River which was much more substantial. There were rocks to cross on but appeared to be at least knee deep and strong flow.

Baeng72 wrote:

WIH.JPG

What software / mapping service is this, if you don't mind me asking?

Thanks

indented wrote:I did Starlings to Ada tree and back late December 2019, camped at Ada No2. There's a swampy section with duckboard over it between Starlings and the crossroads, and another perhaps 100m before you get to Ada No2. Both were flowing well but shallow.

Between the crossroads and New Federal Mill site there was a crossing of the Little Ada River which was much more substantial. There were rocks to cross on but appeared to be at least knee deep and strong flow.

Thanks for that. Good to know. Might be interesting crossing at the moment given there's been more rain.

ccar wrote:

Baeng72 wrote:

WIH.JPG

What software / mapping service is this, if you don't mind me asking?

Thanks

I believe it's just the map from this PDF.

https://www.visitwarburton.com.au/sites ... ory_lr.pdf

Dexter is correct, I took a screen grab of the map from that document.
Similar maps available in these documents: https://www.ffm.vic.gov.au/__data/asset ... istory.pdf, https://www.ffm.vic.gov.au/__data/asset ... df-map.pdf

Cheers guys

Spotted a report on Facebook (Hiking & Bushwalking in Victoria group) for Starlings - Ada tree this past weekend. Many downed trees, lots of leeches and the water was above the stepping stones at the Little Ada crossing after the crossroads.

Yeah can confirm all of that. Just got back and saw no one the whole time. It was bliss! Apart from the leeches that is.

I spoke to a couple of maintenance crew at Starlings Gap. They said they haven't got around to doing any clearing for 12 months and asked me how it was. Told them there's a lot of climbing over trees and branches. They said they'd be clearing in the next week or two. Beautiful walk though. Highly recommended.

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Thanks for the update Dexter!
Sounds like you had a good walk.

Baeng72 wrote:Thanks for the update Dexter!
Sounds like you had a good walk.

Cheers! We had a great time. We ended up changing our route a little, but plan on going back to do the full 'walk into history'.