Southern Ranges conditions

[durks]

In a couple of weeks, I'm planning to walk up Precipitous Bluff from the New River Lagoon, and then out east to Lune River over the Southern Ranges. Does anybody have any current information about the state of the water supplies on this trip? I gather that the entire area can get dry at times, but I have no idea how hot or dry this Summer has been: I live overseas.

Any other useful information about doing this trip from west to east (I guess most people do it the other way) would also be welcome. Thanks in advance.

(I've read all or most of the relevant threads on this forum I think, including the relatively recent 'dogs on the southern ranges' one ... )

[ollster]

Yeah, beware of the dogs...

Was quite dry when we did it in Jan. My memory says you should find water at (going W>E):

(Worth noting there will probably be no water on the climb of PB - last water is Cavern Camp)
PB high camp and down to about halfway - Make sure you drink up! There's not much until...
The saddle after Kameruka Moraine (very small running "stream", only a few cms deep)
Leaning Tea Tree Saddle (a couple of ponds)
Side of Mt Wylly (small stream)

...after you get to Ooze lake you should be OK for water although I don't recall much between there and Pigsty Ponds.

[jimmyjam]

can also drop off the southern side of pindars for water, generally pretty dry though from a trip in March this year. soaks on pandani knob and on the traverse on the north slopes of pindars also.
love this place but the wind continues to surprise me.

[wobbly]

Was there early in March - went east to west
Going backwards I recall water at the foot of the cliffs as you climb PB and again at the top and about half way down on the east side- the water falls - Ollster refers to- no water at the camp at the eastern foot of PB- some pools on the Kameruka moraine about 1-2 km east of the camp. Some scungy water in the saddle below the moraine- No water on Wylly plateau but water on Mt Wylly - basically flowing down the tracks- it was raining at the time.
Quite a few pools in Learning Tea Tree and the next saddle towards Pinders Peak. LTT was the best.
None btn there and Lake Ooze.
None btn lake Ooze outlet stream and Pigsty Ponds
None btn Pigsty and Moonlight creek. EDIT- I do now recall some ponds between hill 1 and hill 2---
Other than Bullfrog Ponds none btn Moonlight Creek and Lune River- or whatever the creek is below the quarry.

Pray for rain and have a great trip

[durks]

Thanks for the replies - very helpful. I'll pray for *some* rain - not too much, but just enough!

[aryeah]

Just to add to wobbly's info, which is right. In the 2nd week of March, when it was quite dry, found water near PB Low Camp at a spot about 200m to the north west - there is a maze of rough tracks heading out of the campsite and one of them leads into the "gully" towards PB, wiggles through scrub passing a couple of very large rocks and ends up at good pools of clear flowing water. An old shirt hanging in a tree marks the spot.

[durks]

Ok, thanks for that.

[pazzar]

Just returned from an attempt at Pindars, got quite substantial rain yesterday, you shouldnt go more than 3 hours before you find water on that part of the track.

[durks]

Just to close the loop on this topic:

My wife and I did manage to do this walk a couple of weeks ago, in the course of a four-week holiday to Australia. (We just got back to the UK, where we live, yesterday.)

I *had* been worried about water supplies on the trip, as per the original post, but in fact that wasn't an issue: for the entire traverse of the Southern Ranges, we were battered by rain and high winds which just didn't let up - so getting water was no problem at all. Of course, we had other problems to deal with ...

A brief trip report is as follows:

Wed April 7: Fly in to Melaleuca; camp at Point Eric, Cox Bight.
Thu April 8: Camp at Louisa River.
Fri April 9: Camp at Little Deadman's Bay.
Sat April 10: Walk to Prion Beach; wade New River Lagoon; camp at Cavern Camp.
Sun April 11: Rained overnight; lagoon level up a bit. Up to PB High Camp. Weather threatening all day; high winds at PB High Camp.
Mon April 12: High wind and continual rain. Tentbound at PB High Camp.
Tue April 13: High wind and continual rain. To PB Low Camp, then along Kameruka Moraine; camp in the saddle after Kameruka Moraine. This was a short day, in order to get to a sheltered campsite.
Wed April 14: High wind and continual rain. To Leaning Tea Tree Saddle.
Thu April 15: High wind and continual rain. To Pigsty Ponds.
Fri April 16: Surprise, surprise: sunshine, and the nicest day of the entire trip! Pleasant walking to camp near the quarry roadhead at Ida Bay.
Sat April 17: Pickup by Evans Coaches. To Hobart.

We both found this a hard trip. Had we known, at the Prion Beach boat crossing, that the weather was about to go as bad as it did, we would have bailed out and just walked to Cockle Creek along the rest of the South Coast track. But the advance forecast we had didn't sound too bad, and we had no way of getting an updated one. What do others in cases like this? Would a portable radio be able to pick up a weather forecast at, say, Little Deadman's Bay?

[ILUVSWTAS]

If it's a good radio it will no problem. We usually have one in our group to get weather reports along the way!

[Liamy77]

been a while since i have done this walk but one time i have camped on the pindars side of the bluff with water and mud 1cm from the weatherseal of the tent floor( after climbing up a waterfall in the hail) and in summer it was really dry.
I hope you like scrub over that side of the bluff too - it was fairly thick last time i was there too