Bushwalk Australia Fire and Fury Volume 39, February 2020 2 | BWA February 2020 Bushwalk Australia Magazine An electronic magazine for http:// bushwalk.com Volume 39, February 2020 We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of this vast land which we explore. We pay our respects to their Elders, past and present, and thank them for their stewardship of this great south land. Cover picture Cape Woolamai, Victoria Hallu Editor Matt McClelland [email protected] Design manager Eva Gomišček [email protected] Sub-editor Stephen Lake [email protected] Please send any articles, suggestions or advertising enquires to Eva. BWA Advisory Panel North-north-west Mark Fowler Brian Eglinton We would love you to be part of the magazine, here is how to contribute - Writer's Guide. The copy deadline for the April 2020 edition is 29 February 2020. The Great Dividing Trail, Victoria 6 Bacchus Marsh to Castlemaine Warning Like all outdoor pursuits, the activities described in this publication may be dangerous. Undertaking them may result in loss, serious injury or death. The information in this publication is without any warranty on accuracy or completeness. There may be significant omissions and errors. People Australian Alps who are interested in walking in the areas concerned should make their own enquiries, Walking Track and not rely fully on the information in this 10 publication. Fastest known time The publisher, editor, authors or any other entity or person will not be held responsible for any loss, injury, claim or liability of any kind resulting from people using information in this publication. Please consider joining a walking club or undertaking formal training in other ways to ensure you are well prepared for any activities Photo gallery you are planning. Please report any errors 24 or omissions to the editor or in the forum at Stunning set of images BWA eMag. Crater Lake Competition: Tasmania February 2013 Iandsmith BWA February 2020 | 3 2019-20 Bushfires overview 42 Effect of bushfires on bushwalking Kosciuszko fires 48 2019-20 A personal story Four Mile Hut 52 In memory of Protecting your privacy 54 If you use a route mapping app Scones 58 Bake at home scones and camp scones Any trip will do 61 Dawn reflections 4 | BWA February 2020 From the Editor Hi, I hope this email finds you well. What a mixed summer it has been. Hot, dry and windy conditions have fanned many horrific fires across large parts of Australia. The fires have claimed 33 human lives, razed nearly 2000 homes, killed around a billion native animals and pushed 700 insect species to the edge of extinction. With around 97,000 square kilometres burnt so far, we need to remember that we are still only partway through our fire season. As with all tragedies we see awesome acts of humanity. Firefighters working tirelessly on the front line as well at the people working to keep them safe, feed and up to date with the latest information. Communities supporting each other in crisis and recovery. People standing up to those in power when dumb things are said. We have also seen the NSW government make really positive steps towards carbon-neutral economies. We also saw historic efforts to protect engaged ecosystems such as those that nurture the Wollemi Pines. Bushwalkers have done well listening to the safety messages and changing plans to avoid fire-prone areas. We still do not know the full extent of the losses but do discuss some of the high country huts lost. We are starting to see fire- effected parks open now and will get a better sense of the total losses in time. In this edition, we look at both impacts of the fires and some great walks, including the fastest traverse of the AAWT. Sonya also cooks up two batches of scones, one at home and one on the track, yum. Happy walking Matt :) Matt McClelland (aka Wildwalks) [email protected] Declaration The bushwalking community is a small world and paths often cross. To improve transparency I thought it would be helpful to list my associations within the outdoor community. In many cases I approached the authors of the articles included in this edition and suggested the topics. The opinions stated in articles are those of the authors and not of those involved in the production of this edition. The authors are mostly people I know through Bushwalk.com. I operate Bushwalk.com and Wildwalks.com and have written several walking guide books, published by Woodslane, I have also written for Great Walks. I contract part time to National Parks Association NSW on an ongoing basis to coordinate their activities program. I have had a partnership with NPWS NSW and have hosted advertising for Wild magazine. I have also partnered with a large number of other organisations in environmental campaigns and have a regular bushwalking segment on ABC regional radio. There is some commercial advertising through the magazine. I have probably forgotten something - if you are worried about transparency please either write to me or raise the issue on Bushwalk.com. BWA February 2020 | 5 Video Federation Peak in a day Jen Brown and Justin Boocock ran 47 kilometres in less than 24 hours, up one of Tasmania's most remote and exposed mountains in the wild South West. Overland Track App An electronic guidebook for planning and walking the Overland Track. Download this app for loads of information about planning, gear, food, accommodation and much more about the Overland Track. You will also find topo maps, terrain profiles and track notes for offline use. 6 | BWA February 2020 The Great Dividing Trail, Victoria Bacchus Marsh to Castlemaine David Bell The mysterious severed wallaby tail was lying on the track not far from our first campsite in Lerderderg State Park. We hadn’t noticed it on the way to set up camp and so we assumed it had been left there during the night. Who or what had left it there? A dog, a hunter, a mad axe murderer? The explanations became more sensationalist and lurid as the morning went on. Maybe someone was watching us from the scrub! However, we put all that aside, finished breakfast, packed up and continued our walk along the Lerderderg Track. Day 1 - Ascending a hill outside Bacchus Marsh All pictures by David Bell BWA February 2020 | 7 The Great Dividing Trail (GDT) is a network We eventually found the edge of Bacchus of over 200 kilometres of tracks in Central Marsh but with no track markers we Victoria stretching from Ballarat in the south proceeded over a fence and up a grassy to Bendigo in the north. The GDT covers hill where we stopped to look back at the some wild and remote country as well as Melbourne skyline 40 kilometres away. Once striking reminders of the gold rush days. It over the hill we found a track marker and isn’t an area any of us were much familiar took a road up to the edge of Lerderderg with so what we came across during our State Park where Karen had left a water walk would be a pleasant surprise. drop. This was extremely useful as the first two days of the Lerderderg Track stays on The walk would take us from Bacchus Marsh high ridges and water would have been hard to Daylesford along the Lerderderg Track and to find. then the Dry Diggings Track from Daylesford to Castlemaine. The total length is about 150 Incidentally, the word “Lerderderg” is an kilometres and we took eight days. There Anglicised amalgamation of two Aboriginal were five in the party. words which was given to the name of a nearby pastoral station. Getting away from Bacchus Marsh was a little tricky as the southern end of the After the encounter with the wallaby tail, we Lerderderg Track has now disappeared continued along a high ridge with great views under housing development. This is one of of the Lerderderg Gorge below us and more Australia’s fastest growing locations and the views of the region from Mount Blackwood. housing expansion around here is relentless. Day 2 - Lerderderg Gorge 8 | BWA February 2020 Late on day two, and after a close encounter with a tiger snake, we reached the Lerderderg River and set up camp at Amblers Crossing for our second night. There was plenty of water here and enough for a wash. Day 3 - Following a water race along the Lerderderg Track up camp, though we were later distracted by a dog that appeared out of the bush. The colouring was un-dingo-like so we assumed Day 2 - Crossing the Lerderderg River at Amblers it was a town dog which had gone feral. Crossing Needless to say, no one left their food bags or shoes outside the tents that night. Day three saw us stick with the river and head upstream along an old gold mining Day five took us away from the river to water race to the village of Blackwood where ascend a long spur to eventually reach Balt we stayed at the local campground. Water Camp, our highest point of the walk at nearly was crucial to the type of gold mining carried 900 metres. Balt Camp is an old forestry out here and water races were an ingenious workers’ camp. All that is left are some method for moving water to the mine sites. chimneys and building foundations. By now we had left Lerderderg State Park and had Blackwood also afforded us our first entered Wombat State Forest. Formerly nice opportunity to “take the waters” from the forest to walk through has tracks that have mineral springs that occur throughout this been badly cut up by trail bikes.