Bushwalk Australia

Thanks for the replies guys. I will go out and buy some of those water purification tablets tomorrow. So will boil the water if possible otherwise use some of the tablets.
Those are some pretty amazing pictures Ryantmalone. Thanks for sharing!

mattmac24 wrote:Thanks for the replies guys. I will go out and buy some of those water purification tablets tomorrow. So will boil the water if possible otherwise use some of the tablets.
Those are some pretty amazing pictures Ryantmalone. Thanks for sharing!

No probs! Its a great walk, enjoy!

Hi folks,

Looking to do a nights walk-in camp at Lerderderg this Wednesday with the family. I was thinking of trying Shaws Lake or O'briens. Will take in some water but is there any water about that we could boil up? Any other tips appreciated as we have not been to either of these areas previously.

bulldogboy wrote:Hi folks,

Looking to do a nights walk-in camp at Lerderderg this Wednesday with the family. I was thinking of trying Shaws Lake or O'briens. Will take in some water but is there any water about that we could boil up? Any other tips appreciated as we have not been to either of these areas previously.

Cant confirm 100%, but there has been a fair bit of rain here lately, so there should be a bit of water about.

Bring some purification tabs as a failsafe, and you'll be right.

Thanks Ryan. Had a quick read of your blog post and really enjoyed it! Will read the rest when i get a chance.

bulldogboy wrote:Hi folks,

Looking to do a nights walk-in camp at Lerderderg this Wednesday with the family. I was thinking of trying Shaws Lake or O'briens. Will take in some water but is there any water about that we could boil up? Any other tips appreciated as we have not been to either of these areas previously.

I've just come back from traversing the gorge (O'Briens to MacKenzies Flat) and thought I should mention the state of water in the park in the hopes that someone might benefit from it.

The river is not flowing at the moment and sections from Spanish Onion track and down steam are very dry. However there are sufficient pools of water available to be able to fill a bottle from.

The campsites (listed on the map and improvised) that I passed all had decent pools of water in them or withing walking distance from them.

So if you're heading in, bring something to pre-filter and treat your water. On the plus side, it makes walking the river easier, straight up the guts and little to no wading.

Thank you. Enjoyed my revisit and here is the link to the report http://dztrek.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/a ... tions.html

Looks good Dplanet. Been wanting to go up Bears Head for a bit. That campsite looks nice too, might make a weekend of it soon, before the river fills up too much

You will enjoy it and please do take your time. Thanks.

I did this hike yesterday my first solo overnight hike it was fantastic , I thought it was a bit slippery to go back down spur track due to the amount of rain overnight so I stayed on the track that left the weir and went back to Mackenzie Flats. Met some members from Geelong hiking club who were at the weir also. Overall I had a great hike and will do it again take some mates next time.

I thought I'd just bump this thread for a minute. I did the walk (marked on map at start of thread) today as a day walk. I was just thinking, I really should have followed everyone elses idea and done it as a two day job. Talk about a struggle.

A sadist was at work designing Link Track No.1. That descent absolutely smoked my knees.

Thanks a lot for posting this walk, we just arrived from it, enjoyed tops, very steep but totally worth it, lots of people with dogs though, oh the fireplace near the weir is awesome.

Out_Walking wrote:I thought I'd just bump this thread for a minute. I did the walk (marked on map at start of thread) today as a day walk. I was just thinking, I really should have followed everyone elses idea and done it as a two day job. Talk about a struggle.

A sadist was at work designing Link Track No.1. That descent absolutely smoked my knees.

haha Greg, you should walk down Link Track 2 one day for S@#!'s and giggles.

If you loved walking down Ah Kow, and Link 1, you're sure to have a ball with Link 2!!

Thanks for posting up this walk! I've just finished packing my rucksack and am doing this same walk tomorrow as a 2-nighter. It seems an ideal way to ease myself back into hiking after a few years off, hahaha!

With a couple of spare days over Easter I ventured into the Lerderderg Gorge. I had the luxury of a drop off and pick up so walked from O'Briens Crossing to MacKenzie Flat over 2 days. For the first couple of hours walking is relatively easy following the East track along the river to the junction with the Cowan track. A bit of flood debris to avoid but nothing too difficult. After the junction I followed the river bed. The water level was very low and only a trickle in places. Plenty of pools of water to get drinking water but it would be prudent to treat it. The low river levels made walking in the river bed easier and while it is rough and hard on the feet and ankles I managed to avoid getting wet feet despite the numerous river crossings to find the best route.

I reached the junction with the Lerderderg track (11kms) in about 3.5 hours. Then headed down to Ah Kow mine site - 14.5kms. A good level campsite with plenty of room. As it was still early afternoon I pressed on to my overnight campsite at Bears Head Range track. 17 kms for the day over 6 hours. Plenty of wildlife during the day - birds, wallabies and goats. Despite being a sunny day I didn't see any snakes. The camp site at BHR on the true right of the river was small but fantastic. Good level grassy site, well constructed fire pit and well sheltered. Settled down for the late afternoon and evening with a magazine and some red wine - all of sudden life is less complicated!

Day 2 brought cloudy skies with a chance of rain. A brief shower made the river rocks very slippery and foot placement became much more important. This would be very tough and slow going if you did it in the rain. The gorge would also be a very dangerous place to be during or following heavy rain. It was about 4kms to the weir at Long Point where the river was dry. A brief stop for a snack then pressed on to the junction with Spur track - just under 4 hours for 10.5 kms. From there the river walking ceases and there is a track that follows the river to Mackenzie Flat. Day 2 covered 13kms in just under 5 hours.

I would highly recommend this walk. Despite being close to towns you felt fairly remote in the gorge. After leaving O'Briens Crossing I didn't see another person until almost to MacKenzie Flat. Although the river walking was hard due to the uneveness it is all downhill. If you chose to leave the gorge by one of the side tracks it is very steep to climb out. All up - 30 kms and total walk time of about 11 hours. I used the Merdian Lerderderg and Weribee Gorges map which was very accurate. Navigation is obviously fairly straight forward and the Emergency markers make it easy to keep track of where you are along the river. I used a SPOT2 tracker to keep the better half happy while I'm hiking solo and it had no problems getting fixes and sending track points. Mobile reception in the gorge is patchy and although I did manage a couple of messages from the overnight campsite it is not something you should rely on.

Thanks very much for that Drummo. Sounds like a top walk and is very high on my list of first walks in VIC!

Well I'm looking at doing an overnighter in Lerderderg next weekend. What's the go with booking a site? There appears to only be one bookable area on the website - what if I don't want to stay here?

This from the Parks web site -
http://parkweb.vic.gov.au/explore/parks ... do/camping

"Campers should be prepared for a basic bush camping experience and be self-sufficient with drinking water. Carry it in or know how to make untreated water safe for drinking.

Vehicle based camping is permitted at Amblers Crossing. Fires are permitted only in the fireplaces provided. Advance booking and payment is required for Amblers Crossing. Book online or call the Parks Victoria Information Centre on 13 1963.

Walk-in bush camping is permitted in the Conservation Zone, but solid fuel fires are prohibited. No bookings or fees apply to walk-in bush camping."

Thanks Neil! I obviously missed that part