Yuonga Track
All photos
7-8km, 400m ascend, 4 hours, grade: hard
80 km from Melbourne close to Warburton
I felt the need to hike something different, more challenging. I decided to hike up Mt. Donna Buang, but this time all the way from Warburton. This would have been about 1100m ascend. Main reason to take the more eastern route was that I finally wanted to tackle the part Rainforest Gallery to summit. Long story short, that didn’t happen because this part was closed due to fallen trees. You will read why this is ironic a bit further down.
The Yuonga Track proofed interesting and challenging due to its thick forest and non-development.
Back to the Outback
Overlooking Coopers Creek
It has been more than 2.5 years since I’ve been “out there”, the Never Never, the great interior of this magnificent continent: the Outback.
Since I saw those harsh plaines first with their humbling vastness I couldn’t resist but feel a constant force pulling me back. I think explorer Ernest Favenc put it in much better words than I ever could: “Repellent as this country is, there is a wonderous fascination in it, in its strange loneliness, and the hidden mysteries it might contain, that call to the man who knows it, as surely as the sea calls to the sailor.”
Cathedral Range (north)
All photos for Cathedral Ranges
12-15km, ~600m ascent and descent, 6 hours, grade: medium (hard in summer)
120 km from Melbourne close to Marysville
The Cathedral Range is one of the few places around Melbourne with bigger rock formations. This makes bushwalking more challenging but also more interesting since many boulders have to be negotiated. The highest point in the range is Sugarloaf Peak (910m) at the southern end of the range which we skipped with this track. The north of the range offers the option to hike a bigger loop starting from Neds Gully (320m) leading up to Cathedral Peak (870m) and then over a rocky ridge with great views to Jawbone, back down to Cook Mill and finally along the creek to Neds Carpark.
Morley Track
All photos of Morley track
9-12 km, 4 hours, grade: medium
80km from Melbourne in the Yarra Ranges
The Morley track between Dom Dom Saddle and the Fernshaw Picnic Area traverses through an area affected by the massive wild fires of 2009. Most gum trees survive and start sprouting new leaves along their trunks after a fire, fern trees and grass trees protect their inner core and turn green quickly again. If an old or damaged gum tree falls its place is often taken by beech trees. Decades or centuries later the next fire eats away the unprotected beech trees and gives more space for the taller gum trees.
The track leads over a ridge in the direction of Mt. Donna Buang before it turns south into a swampy valley. It follows Watts river to the Fernshaw picnic area at the Maroondah Hwy.
Mt. Donna Buang
- Early morning fog
13-15km, 4.5 hours, grade: medium
90km from Melbourne in the Yarra Ranges
A beautiful Sunday in May - perfect hiking weather in Australia’s autumn. This time I went to Mt. Donna Buang (1250m) which included Mt. Victoria (1150m) and Mt. Boobyalla (1220m). Parts of the track feature beautiful bushwalking through cold tempered rain forest and the views from the top are stunning. There are also Lyrebirds to be spotted (we saw two - from the car!), look and listen.
Gotta love Australia
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