Bushwalk Australia

I did a 3 day circuit of Mounts Cobbler, Speculation and Koonika just after Xmas. I camped at Lake Cobbler the first night, having a look at the Dandongadale Falls. On the second night I had gusty winds on Mt Speculation, which created a few problems for my pyramid tent.

Scrambling down the crags off Mt Koonika is fun; however there is some very thick vegetation around the mid section of the spur and travel through this section was excruciating. My GPS was taking me below the main spur in these sections; whereas I found the top of the spur was generally much easier going.

There is more info in my blog post of the trip.



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Great report.
Might get there one day....

Enjoyable reading, Andrew.
I am interested in your SPOT sattelite doovelacky as I am looking for something similar although had not heard of this particular brand.
Could you give me some pro's or con's about the product? ease of use...etc?
I too have a concerned family every time I undertake a serious solo walking project.

Thanks, Dale.

Which way did you go in to King Hut Andrew?
I was up that way a couple of weeks before Xmas at Pineapple Flat and the roads to King Hut were still closed for repairs.
I also think that while you were on Cobbler we were on Stirling on our inaugural test out the gear overnighter.
It was a bit windy but magic all the same and great to finally get out for a trial overnighter.

Neil.

neilmny wrote:Which way did you go in to King Hut Andrew?
I was up that way a couple of weeks before Xmas at Pineapple Flat and the roads to King Hut were still closed for repairs.
I also think that while you were on Cobbler we were on Stirling on our inaugural test out the gear overnighter.
It was a bit windy but magic all the same and great to finally get out for a trial overnighter.

Neil.

Hi Neil

I went in via Telephone Box Junction, Circuit Road and Speculation Road.

Mt Stirling is another top spot!

trickos wrote:Enjoyable reading, Andrew.
I am interested in your SPOT sattelite doovelacky as I am looking for something similar although had not heard of this particular brand.
Could you give me some pro's or con's about the product? ease of use...etc?
I too have a concerned family every time I undertake a serious solo walking project.

Thanks, Dale.

Hi Dale

I wanted a device that could serve as both EPIRB (for when TSHTF) and remote comms tool (to let the family know I am ok). For a little extra weight (160gm) if gives me and mine peace of mind for when I head into the back-country for a solo man adventure. I bought it for $170 from http://www.skyshop.com.au about 18 months ago. I also pay $115 a year for the "I'm ok" service, which lets me send an sms and/or email to nominated addresses and/or facebook update, with text and a link to map with my position. See below. For an additional fee you can get a service which tracks your position regularly on a map similar the the one below.

There has been some extensive discussion on this forum in relation to SPOT devices and how they compare to EPIRBs:
- Emergency Help Devices - EPIRB/PLB, Sat Phone, SPOT, etc [sp
- SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger

andrewbish wrote:Scrambling down the crags off Mt Koonika is fun; however there is some very thick vegetation around the mid section of the spur and travel through this section was excruciating.

?????
I did this circuit the other way around at the end of October and, while there were some sections of scrub, nothing difficult, and nothing that couldn't be avoided by just detouring around it by some ten or twenty metres.
You don't have to travel in a straight line, you know/

north-north-west wrote:?????
I did this circuit the other way around at the end of October and, while there were some sections of scrub, nothing difficult, and nothing that couldn't be avoided by just detouring around it by some ten or twenty metres.
You don't have to travel in a straight line, you know/

Thanks for that, NNW. I did try a bit of zigging and zagging and eventually found a easier route, but it certainly wasn't something I would describe as 'nothing difficult'. I met a couple on the spur who'd spent 6 hours bashing their way up through this section. I met another couple on the road at the bottom who'd tried to walk up but found the scrub too challenging.

Happy to acknowledge your route finding ability and all-round hardiness , but I reckon it's worth letting other people know that this particular section of the high country is more challenging that most.

A

Maybe I just lucked out and stumbled on the easiest line by accident. Stranger things have been known to happen (although not often).

north-north-west wrote:Maybe I just lucked out and stumbled on the easiest line by accident. Stranger things have been known to happen (although not often).

Hmmm I think you have a habit of being lucky. Ever thought about carrying some pink ribbon on your walks..?

I don't do pink. Not for anyone.

Great report, great pictures - thanks for posting, gives me inspiration to get back out there. I've been using the Dunlop KT26 runners for years. After trying many different and expensive walking shoes i found them to be by far the most comfortable for my wide feet. I rarely get blisters and they are cheap! Unfortunately they don't last long. I normally only get 2 or 3 long overnight walks from a pair, they then become junk shoes for around the house and garden.
Cheers Mitch

Howdy,

I'm thinking of doing this circuit over Australia Day weekend (if it's not too hot).

2 Things I'm wondering:

Will my Golf make it to Kings Hut okay?

How's the scrub?

Thanks.

Hi,

I last went up King Spur a year ago and like NNW didn't encounter any difficult/thick scrub. I don't remember there being any evidence of track, but just followed the path of least resistance up the spur. It's really a delightful spur. However Queens Spur is a different story...

Cheers
Andrew

Thanks Andrew, good to hear. Any thoughts on the road condition?

Cheers,

Drew

Thanks for that, NNW. I did try a bit of zigging and zagging and eventually found a easier route, but it certainly wasn't something I would describe as 'nothing difficult'. I met a couple on the spur who'd spent 6 hours bashing their way up through this section. I met another couple on the road at the bottom who'd tried to walk up but found the scrub too challenging.

Happy to acknowledge your route finding ability and all-round hardiness , but I reckon it's worth letting other people know that this particular section of the high country is more challenging that most.

I'm with Andrewbish on this one! I did this walk over the long weekend, descending King Spur on the last day. The scrambling descent was a little more adventurous than I'd expected (good fun for me, less so for others in the group), and there was definitely plenty of this scrub to be bashed through. We had trouble finding the track/spur from where it swings north-west from the 1427 knoll, so there was a lot of bushbashing in that area before getting on the right track. Once on the spur there was actually a track, but thick daviesia scrub growing over it and lots of fallen trees, so it came and went. It turned into a bit of an epic day, taking 6 hours or so from Koonika to the road. At least there were blackberries at the end!

The way that the walk is described in Glenn van der Knijff is a funny one. Obviously it was written before the fire that caused all that regrowth, but still, he suggests one day of tough climbing up a rugged spur, followed by two days mostly road bashing on 4WD tracks. We went up Muesli Spur instead of taking the road - definitely a better option.