Great idea for a thread.
Wife and I did GOW over two Easter weekends (across 2 years) really good time.
Would love to do Larapinta and the overland.
Beeripmo is our family getaway. My daughter did it overnight with a 6kg pack from 9years old. Itās such a convenient option if you live anywhere north or west of the CBD.
My friends live literally just over the road from there.
Spectacular view from their joint. Can see the CBD.
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Werribee Gorge Loop is the best walk Iāve done, Iāve done further, harder walks but this one is so good and at only 7.5kms is a great walk for anyone.
I would just say avoid doing it on the weekend because it can get busy and if you hit people coming the other way you may need to wait for them in a couple of spots.
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Werribee Gorge loop with Ironbark Gorge is a really good hike, but I prefer the Lerderderg Gorge to the north of the Marsh and you can walk all the way to Daylesford and see Joey and @jackie_mihocek, and maybe Tiffany !!
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Weāve been on a strenuously difficult hike to the milk bar most days.
#Covid
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From Daylesford you can get to Malden!!
Mackenzies Flat out to the weir is a great walk and bloody hard work, I prefer Lerderderg too, especially out near Blackwood.
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The whole Creeklands part of the Dandenong Ranges national park is in my 5km limit, so Iāve been doing a lot of walking there during lockdown. Pretty decent workout going up the side of the mountain to Olinda or wherever via the Ridge Track or Dacite Track, and itās really nice this time of year cos so many of the natives are flowering. I think my personal record so far is seven different species of wildflowers in a single photo. Iām honestly surprised thereās so little wildlife though. Birds are everywhere of course, but other than a single wombat burrow I havenāt seen even the slightest trace of anything else, no wallabies or roos etc.
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I camped out at Blanket Bay on Monday & Tuesdayā¦ and walked a bit of the Great ocean walk. Very quiet without international Tourists and school groups doing the expedition from Apollo Bay to The 12 Apostles.
Decided to come home last night as there was suppose to be snow fall last night, higher up in the Mountains and didnāt have enough warmth packed for such a cold night.
The wind was pretty intense, but it cleared a little yesterday Arvo and final got some sunshine when walking from Aire River to Cape Otway.
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One thing about Werribee Gorge, especially if youāve got kids along, is that you can spot fossils in the rocks while youāre walking. Thereās quite a lot of graptolites there, weird little geometric shapes in the rock.
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Yep it is fantastic, and you can walk as long or as hard as you like. There are alos a few places with aboriginal painting.
the Lerderderg is interesting also because of the gold mining that went on in the area, with some interesting old structure still remaining, and the remnants of an old railway line.
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My lockdown activity is now trying to get to the bottom of why the bracken is dying at an alarming rate in Sherbrooke Forrest.
Iāve spoken with park ranger friend of mine and a couple of plant physiologists and we all agree this is irregular behaviour for this time of year. So my daughter and I went in yesterday and took moisture and ph samples and on the weekend weāll grab some soil samples to check for pathogens
Even the water alone was interesting. Itās very dry in the areas we were testing the healthy bracken for point of reference. But not so low that you can put it totally down to water stress at this stage.
Either way heading into Summer this amount of dead foliage is a worry
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Dead bracken is Iām pretty sure normal where it frosts heavily. We used to see this at a place weād go to in the Goulburn valley after it frosted hard. Maybe your area copped it very cold this year, more than typical? If new green shoots grow through during spring, itās just a cycle but might be different (at that location) to some other years. Is there a difference between exposed versus sheltered areas, and in dips where cold air gathers? Dead bracken hangs around for yonks as itās high and dry so doesnāt collapse/rot like dead grassā¦
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Great thread.
Love me a big hike.
Tend to build a multi-day walk into our o/s trips, but havenāt done enough locally, so keen for tips.
I enjoyed You Yangs and Werribee Gorge with the fam recently.
Been meaning to check out Lederberg when we get back to some kinda normal.
In terms of o/s hikes, Iām a bit of a softy, and usually have the fam in tow, so tend to go for multi-day hikes where I get to sleep in a bed and someone transports my main luggage to my accom. This is a great way of immersing in local culture as well as landscapes. Some highlights over the years -
- Coast to Coast across Northern England
- Annapurna Sanctuary in Nepal
- Kumano Kodo in Japan
- Santiago Apoala in Mexico
- Milford Track in NZ
- Queen Charlotte Track in NZ
- Great Ocean Walk in Vic
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Itās the same everywhere, itās either all good in a cluster or all bad, itās dead in the open, itās dead in the shade. Iām finding it hard to find the common link tbh. Other than the pathogen possibility. The rangers have said they canāt remember seeing it like this and are quite under resourced at the moment to investigate further. Although pathogens affected plants tend to be more prevalent near paths this seems to be spreading right through.
Iām lucky that half my wifeās lab equipment is in our garage and glasshouse at the moment so I have the ability to get a few cultures going and work out whatās going on.
Gotta say the frost thing seemed to be quite feasible to me.
Been a really weird overly wet & cold year Weather wise,ā¦ and Iāve seen similar happen in the hills here after bad frost.
We had a lot more frost (and snow) last year and this didnāt happen. So itās hard to say
Fair enough.
Anyway, playing āBen FTI - Plant Detectiveā, is a way better lockdown activity to relieve the boredom than NetFlix, eh? 
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Yeah, itās a weird one. Iāve covered a lot of ground at the other end of the park in the last month or so, and Iāve seen nothing like that - thereās loads of bracken, it all looks healthy, and new growth is sprouting in the areas where theyāve been doing controlled burning. The fact that it looks to be so localised makes the pathogen scenario sound more plausible.