Long Walk Short Days Mt McLeod

Mt McLeod provides a commanding view across the Northern Buffalo Plateau and the Ovens Valley.

Mt McLeod trig and view accros the Ovens Valley

With the seasonal road closure adding 3.5km to the one way trip and the expected great weather I decided to make this trip a long walk over the two short days of the winter solstice.

Which way?

I was very happy with my gear, the sub zero temperatures did not bother me, although it was a long night in the sleeping bag, lucky I had packed an audio book to listen to.

Ice Crystals pushing out of the ground

A visit to the AAWT

I had been looking at the section of the AAWT that runs between Mt Speculation and The Viking for a while.

Too make this work we would need to treat this trip as an out and back, whilst this means we would be walking over the same country twice it makes the logistics of the walk easier.

The Mt Speculation track was much easier too drive down than expected this meant we drove to Camp Creek and walked the short distance to the summit of Mt Speculation, shame about the weather, clouded in so little chance for taking in the view.

Mt Cobbler and The Razor. On the way up The Viking

The next day we headed of to Viking Saddle via The Razor, there is no track out the The Razor, but if the weather is good I would recommend it.
There had been a few comments on the local bushwalking forum about the lack of water at Viking Saddle, they were right..... Water was a 3 hour return trip to the West Buffalo River.

The Chulte on The Viking

The next day had us heading up The Viking to take in the view before returning to Viking Saddle collecting our packs and head back to Camp Creek. This is a big day, but well worth the effort.

View South from Mt Cobbler (Mt Buller in right of shot)

The next day we did a short walk in the morning to Mt Cobbler; this summit provides a great look back at where we had just been and a commanding view over the Alps generally.

Day walk Mt Selwyn

Mt Selwyn looking East

Mt Selwyn sits on the Australian Alpine Walking Track AAWT, whilst it can be access via a 4WD track, we drove up the Selwyn Creek Road from the Buckland Valley, (this is a 2WD road) and parked in the saddle where the road crosses the AAWT (210.2km mark) we walked east out to Mt Selwyn. Great views and few steep climbs, but at 10km return this is a pleasant day trip. Day walk Mt Selwyn

The Twins summit Cain

Afterwards we headed via car to Mt Murray bypassing the rougher section of The Twins track by using the Mt Murray Logging Road. There is room to camp near the gate about 300m before Mt Murray. For the return trip we traveled out past The Twins to the Great Alpine road, of course walking up to the summit via the old jeep track which runs east from the road up a spur line to the summit.

Roper's Hut

Ropers Hut, rebuilt after the 2003 fires. About 10km from the Bogong High Plains road and makes a great spot for an overnight trip.

It also made a great spot give the Tarp Tent Moment DW a run.

Willie Wagtail



Keeping the eggs warm

The pair have set up nest in our garden.
There are three eggs in the nest and it will be interesting to see how many chicks we get.

Info on the Willie Wagtail can be found here

Leanganook track, Photos

Well as the title suggest this is a collection of photos I did not use in the earlier posts, mostly showing the old building works.

Burke and Wills Monument

Garfield water wheel

Retaining wall near Garfield water wheel

Stone Building

Tunnel entry

Tunnel Exit

Water Fall

Original channel where it crossed over a gully

This way

Spring Bloom

Stone wall of original channel

Leanganook Track, days 3 and 4

Day 3 saw me complete the descent down to the Coliban channel. I had arranged for a second water drop here which I collected before continuing along the channel. The channel offers some interesting old stone work and one has to wonder at the amount of work that was done without today’s modern efficient machinery. I finished day 3 at the designated camp site just off the Coliban channel in the Greater Bendigo National Park

Day 4 whilst this was my longest day it was generally downhill which made walking a little easier. Starting in the Greater Bendigo National Park the track soon joins the channel again which it follows until you meet the fence of the Sandhurst Reservoir. After that it follows a mix of tracks ranging from walking track, right though to concrete foot paths in the suburbs of Bendigo before reaching the Bendigo rail station.

Note on navigation and water, whist the guide book is quite detailed and the track is generally well marked there was a few places where I needed to check my position or check the direction I was heading. This was more often in the bush areas close to Bendigo and Castlemaine where there are lots of criss-crossing tracks, and also heading down the eastern side of the Mt Alexander Regional Park where I found the track to be less travel and thus harder to pick out in the grass.

The guide book also indicates there may be no water available along the track. Since I was walking in late winter I felt there should be water about, however as I could not guarantee both quality and quantity I arranged two water drops. Each day I did see water in creeks both small and large and (of course) in the aqueduct. Now I would not use any of these sources without treatment. So if you are planning this trip I would recommend arranging water drops.

According to my GPs I walked, day 1, 14.5 Km, day 2, 13.5 Km, day 3, 18Km and day 4, 21 Km.