Castlemaine to Bendigo
I don’t believe the GFT will ever make it on to Victoria’s most iconic bushwalk list, but for anyone thinking about a multi-day walk for the cooler months then I suggest you have a look at it.
I selected the Leanganook section (Castlemaine to Bendigo) as it had (IMHO) the best transport and camping options. I will post a summary of my trip later, but for now I have summarised what I believe to be the Pro’s & Con’s of this section below;
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| Penny Weight Flat Cemetery |
Pro’s
Great multi day winter / early spring walk.Easy access using public transport, in particular on a train route that runs more than once or twice a week. This easy access to public transport allows for the use of one car and removes the need to do a car shuffle at the start and end of a walk
Interesting look at some local history.
The big climb (about 350m over 8 km) is over and done within one day.
It’s in Victoria (so no long road trip)
A very well produced guide book and a well marked track, thus easing the pressure on navigation
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| Garfield Water Wheel |
Con’s
Lack of reliable waterThere is some walking on roads; most of these roads are either 4wd tracks or MVO tracks thus resulting in little or no traffic being seen.
The aqueduct is your constant companion for about 20 km. The aqueduct does have a couple of tunnels and some very interesting construction features which do add interest.
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| Orange Road |
I love the comment "Easy access using public transport, in particular on a train route that runs more than once or twice a week. " Here there would be a major outcry if trains only ran once a week. If a train or bus is 10 minutes late you can contact the responsible company and ask why and then complain. Looking forward to the full report. BTW carrying water here in Denmark for dry campsite is also required.
ReplyDeleteHi NB, Well I can’t speak for the punctuality of the metropolitan train services here, but certainly some of the rural services only run a few times a week.
DeleteOk on the dry camp sites in Denmark, according to the guide book there was no water available at all, so I had to arrange water drops for all of my water requirements.
Hey Wazza, this is a timely post, as I've tinkered with the idea of this walk in the next few months. I was leaning towards the Daylesford to Castlemaine leg of the Goldfields leg. You might be able to convince me otherwise?!
ReplyDeleteDid you use your car at all? I was tempted to leave it at one end, but there's the old business on my mind about leaving it somewhere safe...
Hi Greg, I started by looking at both the Leanganook and the Dry Diggings sections of the GFT, I settled on the Leanganook as I preferred the camping and transport options.
ReplyDeleteThere is plenty of services running between Castlemaine and Bendigo so my original plan was to use only public transport for the trip. However as I needed to get a friend to do the water drops for me, they gave me a lift from Bendigo to Castlemaine, but I did use VLine to get to and from Bendigo.
Yes it is always a concern leaving a car and heading off for a few days walking.
Thanks for posting, Wazza. Notwithstanding Nielsen's concerns about the laid back attitude of our public transport services to schedules, :) I like the idea of being able to avoid a car shuffle. Sounds like it just needs a bit of planning to avoid a long wait!
ReplyDeleteAndrew
Thanks for dropping in Andrew, transport and solo hiking do not go well together. But this walk would be one of the best for public transport, with about 18 train services a day running from Bendigo to Castlemaine it was easy to make it work.
DeleteOf course as you point out you are at the mercy of the timetable which can make planning a little harder.
Hi Wazza, just wondering if a) you know if the channel runs all year round and b) was there any water availability along the walk?
ReplyDeleteHi
DeleteIt has been a little while since I did this trip so my memory is a bit rusty.
I commented on at the end of the post I did for days 3 and 4 of this trip a comment saying I had seen water every day. The largest source and therefore most likely to run all year were; near Expedition Pass Reservoir, on the day the water here was a little brown colour, and of course the Aqueduct. As I comment in the blog, I would be treating water from all sources on this trip.
There were a couple of small creeks I passed before reaching the Aqueduct but I would not rellie on these during our warmer months. Equally I would not recommend this as a summer trip, far too hot and the fire danger through that area would be too high in summer to bushwalk.
A post on the bushwalking forum at, http://bushwalk.com/forum/ may also get you some feedback.
Good Luck, Wazza.