GDT - Wallaby walk
Easter (6-9 April 2007) and ANZAC Day (25 April 2007).
The Great Dividing Trail (GDT) is a 300km network of walking tracks linking the gold rush townships of Central Victoria. The GDT has 4 major tracks (Wallaby, Lerderderg, Dry Diggings and Leanganook), each of which is divided into several named walks. Our President’s ambitious goal for 2007 is to walk the GDT in 15 day walks spaced throughout the year.
The Wallaby Track is a 92km walk traversing the Great Dividing Range between Daylesford, Creswick, Ballarat and Mt Buninyong. This track was previously known as the Federation Track and was officially renamed the Wallaby Track by Steve Moneghetti in November 2006 to coincide with the addition of the Ballarat to Mt Buninyong section, and in recognition of the characteristic Black Wallabies found along much of the forested parts of the track. Our group saw wallabies on 3 days.
Mt Buninyong to Ballarat. - 6 April 2007
The Whitehorse Range Walk. 20km
Participants: David, Alan, Anthony, Bob, Hennie and Pam.
Mt Buninyong is an extinct scoria cone volcano, south east of Ballarat. The forested summit of the mountain is 745m high and from the top of the Lookout Tower we got superb views of the surrounding landscape. The GDT sidles the crater, which Alan thought would produce a fine sound shell for a Rock Concert, and then continues down the mountain and along country laneways bordered by stonewall fences. The track passed through the Buninyong Botanical Gardens, past the Court House and then the Crown Hotel, which obtained the first license for an inland hotel in 1842. Apparently Pam who went to university in Ballarat spent many hours of her misspent youth in the “Crown”. We had lunch in the town’s central park.
I cannot recommend the next 13km of the walk, except maybe to bike riders. The GDT follows a sealed bike track for 6km beside the highway in suburbia and apart from an unsigned stone kiln with a horizontal flue; there was nothing of interest to see. The last 7km was along a graveled track beside the Yarrawee River. There were a few families picnicking and 2 groups of men were panning for gold. I was foot sore and was glad to arrive in Ballarat where we first saw a very tall chimney and an old stone building probably a warehouse. We finished this section of the walk at the Ballarat Railway Station.
We erected our tents in the Creswick Caravan Park where we spent 3 nights. We decided to have dinner in the Farmers Arms where the meals were huge but the wine and company were enjoyable. We retired early.
Hennie and Pam have taken to wearing Dan Cruickshank (“Around the World in 80 Treasures”) scarves on walks, so I have taken to listing a Treasure for each day’s walk. i.e. Along the GDT in 15 Treasures.
Treasure No.1 - The Lookout Tower on Mt Buninyong.
Ballarat to Slaty Creek. - 7 April 2007
Creswick Miners Walk. 17.6km
Participants: David, Alan, Anthony, Bob, Hennie and Pam.
The day dawned fine and it was back to the impressive Ballarat Railway Station for the start of the walk. We continued along the Yarrawee River Linear Reserve, however, the vegetation was a lot better established than in the section we walked yesterday. The light was beautiful and the tips of the poa grass were glistening. We passed along laneways and quaint cottages abutting Black Hill. I asked Anthony what he thought of the management of this reserve and he was very complimentary of what had been undertaken and achieved. We passed under the highway and entered the forest.
Native Grass Trees were common in the bush, which had been burnt in the recent past. We stopped for morning tea in a clearing with furniture made of recycled plastic. There were many birds calling but the piece de resistance was when a male Golden Whistler landed on the branch of a tree just above our heads. We continued on mostly uphill to Nuggety Dam where we had lunch.
After lunch the track still led upwards and the ground was peppered with deep open mine shafts, quartz lying on the surface, long sluices and old dams.
It was quite a tiring day. Hennie and Alan left us and after showers we settled down to post-walk nibbles when a small flock of yellow-tailed black cockatoos flew over and landed in the adjacent pine trees. David put our first bottle of wine on the table, a [yellow tail] Merlot. It was a cold night.
Treasure No.2 - The morning tea spot with the Golden Whistler.
Dean to Slaty Creek. 8 April 2007
W G Spence Walk. 15.7km
Participants: David, Anthony, Bob and Pam.
I was sad to see that the Dean Hotel was no longer open for business as the last time I walked this section, Bev P and I had enjoyed a beer together in the pub.
The GDT led along country lanes/roads through flat open farmland with red volcanic soil. A gibbous moon was high in a clear blue sky on a crisp morning. Close by were low lying rounded hills which are “young” though extinct volcanoes and were first named by Major Mitchell, the Mammeloid Hills but are now known as the Maiden Hills.
We entered the forest and were soon at the site of William Guthrie Spence’s slab and bark hut. Spence was born in Scotland but was brought up in the hut. He was a Trade Union Leader and a founding member of the first Federal Parliament.
The track entered the Creswick Koala Park and like the Park on Mt Alexander, it does not contain any koalas. The bush was well structured and we saw yellow robins. We stopped for lunch at St Georges Lake. Many families were enjoying barbecues whilst individuals fished and played with radio-controlled yachts. A scarlet robin landed in a nearby tree and later we saw a flock of red-browed firetail finches and a grey shrike-thrush feeding on pine kernels.
We passed the vividly coloured Blue Waters and saw 2 wedge-tailed eagles as we approached Slaty Creek.
As we finished the walk early we showered at the Caravan Park and then wandered through Creswick and drank cappuccinos in a café before returning to the Caravan Park for dinner.
Treasure No.3 - St Georges Lake.
Sailors Creek Road to Dean. 9 April 2007
Andersons Tramway Walk and part of The Wombat Station Walk. 22 km
Participants: David, Anthony, Bob and Pam.
We were up early as usual and having breakfast by 7am. I wondered what our fellow campers thought as they saw us dressed in shorts and hiking boots and cooking breakfast on our small Trangia stoves, whilst they emerged out of their caravans to go to the toilet wearing fluffy slippers, silk pyjamas and dressing gowns.
The forest around Sailors Creek Road was delightful and provided easy walking. We soon arrived at the location where the GDT was launched on 24 October 1992 at the entrance to a high cutting through old bedrock on the Daylesford to Creswick main railway line. The cutting was followed by an equally high embankment with a circular brick lined culvert running through it, similar to the one we saw at the Domino Creek embankment on the Lyonville walk. We had morning tea at the site of the Wombat Railway Station.
Further on we saw a wallaby at Mullens Dam, which was completely dry. This was the location of the campsite that John L used several years ago when he organized and led a Club trip walking a very similar programme to that which we were currently doing.
Closer to Mollongghip we saw the regularly spaced imprints left by the timber sleepers of Andersons Tramway, built in the 1860s from Dean to Musk.
We left the forest and had about 6km to walk on gravel and sealed roads into Dean. I did not mind the walking as there was a green verge to walk on and we could see and hear lowing cattle and their aromas wafted across the road. The countryside was pleasant and close by we could see the Mammeloids.
Following the walk it was cappuccinos as usual, this time in the “Gourmet Larder” in Daylesford.
Treasure No.4 – Wombat Railway Cutting and Embankment with its circular brick lined culvert.
Sailors Creek Road to Daylesford. 25 April 2007
Finish of the Wombat Station Walk and side trip to Sailors Falls. 14km
Participants: Athol, Jill, Melissa, Terry, Ben, Paul, Hennie, Alan, Bob, David, Pam, Anthony, Bernie, Sandy and Denise.
The walk started in a recently burnt forest which was open with tall trees. The tracks were wide and the going was easy under foot. We made a short detour from the GDT to the Sailors Falls picnic ground for lunch but unfortunately the falls were dry. There were quite a few uphill sections after lunch and whilst resting to catch our breath we heard and saw spotted pardalotes. Closer to Lake Daylesford we started to see many people enjoying their day around the lake.
Afternoon tea was enjoyed in Frangos & Frangos in Daylesford. There was a retro feel in a pleasant bohemian room-my kind of place.
Treasure No.5 - Lake Daylesford.
Overall I was impressed with the signage on the GDT and I noted the newly erected Distance Marker Poles and the rotunda at the site of the Wombat Railway Station.
Thank you David for leading the walks and organising the accommodation and the complicated car shuffles.
Reference
Bob Jones