Moore River Circuit Walk

Trip reports, stories, track notes. Multiple/large photos are OK in this forum.
Forum rules
Posting large/multiple images in this forum is OK. Please start topic titles with the name of the location or track.

For topics focussed on photos rather than the trip, please consider posting in the 'Gallery' forum instead.

This forum is for posting information about trips you have done, not for requesting information about a track or area.

Moore River Circuit Walk

Postby stepbystep » Sun 21 Feb, 2010 1:07 pm

Hi All,

Have just returned from WA where as part of a conservation effort to preserve the Southbank of the Moore River from a massive housing development which will include a marina etc etc. I undertook several walks on the Southbank with the aim of organising more formal bushwalking tracks to promote and highlight the area.
A little background info. Moore River or the township of Guilderton is 100km North of Perth, just 40km North of the metro areas unstoppable urban sprawl.
The town is rising in popularity as a summer holiday spot, a place I have been going for 34 years - I have seen massive changes in the town but the Southbank has remained untouched by development and IMHO it would be a catastrophe if this were to happen.
I want to get an idea of how many people would undertake walks like this IF they were to visit the area A simple response to this topic or a PM would be greatly appreciated, the level of interest in terms of numbers will be passed on to FOMRE http://www.savemooreriver.org/index.php as part of their efforts to protect this area.

A quick trip report for a 2.5hr circuit walk on the Southbank.

Starting at the Mouth of The Moore River a wide sandbar is crossed(this is present 99 days out of a hundred - a couple of times a year the river will fill to bursting point and break the bank). This sandbar is home to pelicans, terns, silver gulls and several types of ducks and cormorants. There are often people fishing in the ocean for Tailor/King George and Sand Whiting, Herring or Flathead, on the river side people will cast in for the famous MR Black Bream.
MR river mouth startpoint.JPG

Locals.jpg

After crossing the bar a track leads up the dunes to the left above some limestone cliffs - from the top the views over the estuary, ocean and township are pleasing.
MR river mouth sml.jpg

Turning South you follow the ridgeline of the highest dunes on the riverside giving pleasant views up the Southbank as far as the first major bend in the river. The track soon swings back towards the coast and takes you through several glades of Eucalypt and Banksia's, there is some nice open camping spots in this area, although at this point this is not allowed to my knowledge. Through this area there is plenty of birdlife and lots of evidence of Western Grey Kangaroos.
Half an hour of travelling through this country which would be thick with wildflowers at the right time of year I chose a Kangaroo pad back in the direction of the river which eventually bought me to the bend in the river I previously described.
looking back to mouth.jpg

At this bend there are great views back up to the river mouth and east to the opening of Silver Creek a tributary of the MR, there is a stand of large Eucalypt's here and making my way around the bend to the South is a series of trees that can only be described as Cormorant and Pelican Heaven, countless numbers use these high dead trees and logs as a place to preen/sleep and hunt from, it is also directly across the river from an area where Heron's, Crane's and Ducks breed in the swamps around Silver Creek.
Cormorant tree.jpg
Cormorant tree.jpg (289.32 KiB) Viewed 59169 times
The idea of wilderness needs no defense, it only needs defenders ~ Edward Abbey
User avatar
stepbystep
Lagarostrobos franklinii
Lagarostrobos franklinii
 
Posts: 7707
Joined: Tue 19 May, 2009 10:19 am
Location: Street urchin
Region: Tasmania
Gender: Male

Re: Moore River Circuit Walk

Postby stepbystep » Sun 21 Feb, 2010 1:12 pm

Some more pics
The Desert 1.jpg

The Desert Pano sml.jpg

The Fossils.jpg

Highest Dune looking to coast.jpg

The Beach.jpg


Cheers, Dan
The idea of wilderness needs no defense, it only needs defenders ~ Edward Abbey
User avatar
stepbystep
Lagarostrobos franklinii
Lagarostrobos franklinii
 
Posts: 7707
Joined: Tue 19 May, 2009 10:19 am
Location: Street urchin
Region: Tasmania
Gender: Male

Re: Moore River Circuit Walk

Postby Taurë-rana » Mon 22 Feb, 2010 11:08 am

Hey Dan, welcome home. They are lovely photos and I can't believe "they" want to develop this area. Well, actually I can, considering what I see happening everywhere else, I'm just still amazed at the complete stupidity and short sightedness of humans in general. With the same mentality of "natural resources are there for humans to make money from, and beauty and natural eco-systems have no intrinsic value", Gunns has just been given 100,000ha of old growth forest to trash in the Tarkine.

I would go on a walk like the one you propose if I was staying there, and I would be far more likely to stay there if it stays as it is - if it's developed I would definitely bypass the place as it would be like everywhere else. I can say that with personal history to back me up, I've travelled extensively in Australia and almost always stayed at undeveloped places in preference to developed ones.

Rach
Peak bagging points: 170ish
Recent walks - Picton, Wylds Crag, Rogoona
User avatar
Taurë-rana
Athrotaxis selaginoides
Athrotaxis selaginoides
 
Posts: 1031
Joined: Mon 14 Jan, 2008 8:28 pm
Location: Devonport
Region: Tasmania

Re: Moore River Circuit Walk

Postby Ent » Mon 22 Feb, 2010 2:45 pm

While this is sad I suppose in many ways it is sad that much of the city and urban areas once were very pretty spots with creek names no longer appearing having been concreted in and often turned into sewers for a large part of their modern history. The big issue in Australia with probably WA being the most prone at the moment is urban sprawl. It starts with the five or more acre brigade that then later on sub-divide into smaller and smaller blocks. The big rush in Australia is city folk buying up beach front property and gradually changing the nature of a place. Stanley once was a working town but now is a postcard town having lost most "working" shops and undergoing pressure to expand along the beaches as the land is ridiculously cheap by major city standards. At least in Tassie we have the agricultural land policy that works in a strange way to protect some areas like this and also the coastal protection policy that is more specifically targeted at protecting such areas. The question though is economic "fairness" to the locals. They can argue quite validly that it is ok for an urbanite to develop land and make money but they are not allowed to. To-date no planning scheme or policy has given much thought to such "economic" cost to the locals and my belief is while this is ignore there will always be unrelenting pressure to develop such areas.

Best wishes with your struggle and hopefully some sensible solution will be found.

Cheers Brett
"lt only took six years. From now on, l´ll write two letters a week instead of one."
(Shawshank Redemption)
User avatar
Ent
Lagarostrobos franklinii
Lagarostrobos franklinii
 
Posts: 4086
Joined: Tue 13 May, 2008 3:38 pm
Region: Tasmania

Re: Moore River Circuit Walk

Postby stepbystep » Mon 22 Feb, 2010 4:31 pm

Thanks Rachel and Brett, agreed!

Somehow I managed to delete the 2nd half of the trip report :oops:

From the bend in the river you travel South through 'the desert' this is an area where families have enjoyed summers for decades(it provides shelter and pleasant swimming when the sea breeze kicks in), travelling along the shoreline for 500m or so I cut Westwards into the heart of 'the desert' as seen in the pano above. In this area are islands of what we called as kids 'fossils' - root systems that have eroded under ground and filled with limestone, fascinating structures, some hair thin. I would propose boardwalks around these islands to prevent damage.
Heading for the highest dune I spotted an old 4WD track through to the coast, this track also would be full of wildflowers in the right season, and delivers you to the beach for a 20min stroll back to the river mouth.

The walk could be extended quite easily to 4 hours or a one way walk from Guilderton upriver to the existing campsite at Woodridge would be fantastic.

Cheers, Dan
The idea of wilderness needs no defense, it only needs defenders ~ Edward Abbey
User avatar
stepbystep
Lagarostrobos franklinii
Lagarostrobos franklinii
 
Posts: 7707
Joined: Tue 19 May, 2009 10:19 am
Location: Street urchin
Region: Tasmania
Gender: Male

Re: Moore River Circuit Walk

Postby Liamy77 » Thu 13 May, 2010 8:40 pm

A gorgeous area!
I believe these places are well worth preserving as is productive farm areas... if we want to live in less sustainable concrete shoeboxes why cant we use other perhaps less fragile areas and preserve the rest for wildlife - our own and the furry type etc????
might be simple in theory but harder to practice i guess :(
I would definately walk in the area - planning the cape to cape walk at the moment in WA's south-west... http://www.capetocapetrack.com.au
i frankly cant see how Moore river is any less special than this national park region!
Taggunnah
GRAVITY... IS A HARSH MISTRESS!
knowledge's lighter than gadgets..but gadgets can be fun!
User avatar
Liamy77
Auctorita modica
Auctorita modica
 
Posts: 1593
Joined: Tue 20 Apr, 2010 4:36 pm
Location: Southern Channel, Tas.... but sometimes i leave n walk around elsewhere!
ASSOCIATED ORGANISATIONS: Woodbridge Organics
Region: Tasmania
Gender: Male

Re: Moore River Circuit Walk

Postby stepbystep » Thu 13 May, 2010 9:08 pm

Liamy77 wrote:A gorgeous area!
i frankly cant see how Moore river is any less special than this national park region!


Thanks Liam,
that means a lot to me - the beauty of this area is that for 9 mths of the year you are never more than 10 mins from a cooling swim and the wildflowers (particularly in spring) are totally unique. I didn't mention in the trip report that other than the birdlife there was plenty of evidence of Western Grey kangaroos and echidnas, all in the development zone. Plenty of great campsites between the coastal and river dunes too.
it is also a battlefront - the last stand nature can make against man. Mandurah is lost, Rockingham is long gone and Yanchep is almost gone as well, the Moore river can't be the next casualty of Perth's relentless expansion. To develop the South bank WILL kill the Moore River.
Cheers, Dan
The idea of wilderness needs no defense, it only needs defenders ~ Edward Abbey
User avatar
stepbystep
Lagarostrobos franklinii
Lagarostrobos franklinii
 
Posts: 7707
Joined: Tue 19 May, 2009 10:19 am
Location: Street urchin
Region: Tasmania
Gender: Male

Re: Moore River Circuit Walk

Postby Ent » Fri 14 May, 2010 3:35 pm

I often felt that town planning needs to be revisited big time in Australia as most planners and planning departments have very grey patterns of thought and no courage. When back packing around Europe I loved the compact cities and green belts between them compared to the sprawling mess that Sydney and Melbourne have become. Might be time to put limits on city size say no more than five kilometres between city centre and last urban type building density with smaller spans for regional centres and villages. Of course highly impractical and political sucide many would say but the underlying design factor of European cities was the distance a person could walk within a reasonable time. To me this creates more human cities and preserves the natural aspects of a region. Actually I like living close into a city rather than in the urban sprawl but sadly town planning and developers tend to make such living spaces unnecessarily terrible with tiny parking spaces and horrible feeling high density buildings. When will we learn that a proper park needs to be bigger than a suburban block and bushlands needs to be joined by corridors :idea: Such thinking would allow such areas to be considered green space.

Cheers Brett
"lt only took six years. From now on, l´ll write two letters a week instead of one."
(Shawshank Redemption)
User avatar
Ent
Lagarostrobos franklinii
Lagarostrobos franklinii
 
Posts: 4086
Joined: Tue 13 May, 2008 3:38 pm
Region: Tasmania

Re: Moore River Circuit Walk

Postby Taurë-rana » Mon 02 May, 2011 10:12 pm

Heading off on this walk first thing tomorrow before going back to Perth and home the next day :( (That's for the home not the walk of course - been enjoying the sun and beautiful scenery at Kalbarri, I'll post some photos of that amazing place when I get home.
Peak bagging points: 170ish
Recent walks - Picton, Wylds Crag, Rogoona
User avatar
Taurë-rana
Athrotaxis selaginoides
Athrotaxis selaginoides
 
Posts: 1031
Joined: Mon 14 Jan, 2008 8:28 pm
Location: Devonport
Region: Tasmania

Re: Moore River Circuit Walk

Postby Squeak » Wed 07 Oct, 2015 7:28 pm

anyone have more info about this walk? brochure, website etc...?
Squeak
Nothofagus gunnii
Nothofagus gunnii
 
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue 01 Sep, 2015 12:04 am
Region: Western Australia
Gender: Male

Re: Moore River Circuit Walk

Postby stepbystep » Thu 08 Oct, 2015 1:11 pm

Squeak wrote:anyone have more info about this walk? brochure, website etc...?


The issues around the development of the south bank are still at play, so no formal route exists. If you follow my notes you'll be fine. I'm heading back there early next year :)
The idea of wilderness needs no defense, it only needs defenders ~ Edward Abbey
User avatar
stepbystep
Lagarostrobos franklinii
Lagarostrobos franklinii
 
Posts: 7707
Joined: Tue 19 May, 2009 10:19 am
Location: Street urchin
Region: Tasmania
Gender: Male

Re: Moore River Circuit Walk

Postby Eljimberino » Sat 24 Oct, 2015 10:11 am

How long is the walk approximately?

Are you aware of any other walks in the area?
Eljimberino
Athrotaxis cupressoides
Athrotaxis cupressoides
 
Posts: 331
Joined: Wed 02 Jul, 2014 7:39 pm
Region: Western Australia

Re: Moore River Circuit Walk

Postby stepbystep » Sat 24 Oct, 2015 10:46 am

I think it took about 3 hours. If it's warm take plenty of water...

Other walks...the coast north of 'The Grone' is fantastic however 4WD-ers have free reign for the first 6-7km. There are old vehicle tracks leading north from the lighthouse, these are nice to explore as the wildflowers will be out and the tracks cut down to the coast also. None of these are signposted walks.

There is a walking trail from Silver Creek along the northern shore of the Moore River, lovely at sunrise.
The idea of wilderness needs no defense, it only needs defenders ~ Edward Abbey
User avatar
stepbystep
Lagarostrobos franklinii
Lagarostrobos franklinii
 
Posts: 7707
Joined: Tue 19 May, 2009 10:19 am
Location: Street urchin
Region: Tasmania
Gender: Male

Re: Moore River Circuit Walk

Postby Eljimberino » Sat 24 Oct, 2015 3:55 pm

Wasn't there once a walk all the way along the Moore to Gingin?
Eljimberino
Athrotaxis cupressoides
Athrotaxis cupressoides
 
Posts: 331
Joined: Wed 02 Jul, 2014 7:39 pm
Region: Western Australia

Re: Moore River Circuit Walk

Postby stepbystep » Sat 24 Oct, 2015 7:29 pm

Eljimberino wrote:Wasn't there once a walk all the way along the Moore to Gingin?


Not in my memory, I've been going there for 38 years. Upstream almost all the land on the rivers edge is private property. No doubt it was a route for thousands of years before we built fences...
The idea of wilderness needs no defense, it only needs defenders ~ Edward Abbey
User avatar
stepbystep
Lagarostrobos franklinii
Lagarostrobos franklinii
 
Posts: 7707
Joined: Tue 19 May, 2009 10:19 am
Location: Street urchin
Region: Tasmania
Gender: Male

Re: Moore River Circuit Walk

Postby Eljimberino » Sun 25 Oct, 2015 9:54 am

Some overnight walks north of Perth are needed.

Apparently the original Bibb track was meant to go from Gero to Esperance. I sometimes wonder what route a track would take Kalamunda to Gero.
Eljimberino
Athrotaxis cupressoides
Athrotaxis cupressoides
 
Posts: 331
Joined: Wed 02 Jul, 2014 7:39 pm
Region: Western Australia


Return to SA, WA & NT Trip Reports & Track Notes

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests