Bushwalk Australia

Hey folks,

I've moved down to Melbourne in the last year, after living in Brisbane. I'm really looking for interesting, difficult hikes that include anything from scrambles, scree slopes, exposure and climbing. I was hoping with the wealth of experience you guys have, you could offer some suggestions, as the Parks website is pretty limited in finding this stuff.

I like multiday hikes, but am really looking for overnight hikes or day hikes. I'm also happy to try interesting routes/spurs/gorges up well known features.

I recently did the first opened section of the Grampians Peak Trail - and found that while the features were pretty impressive, the route itself was fairly bland. Especially with the way Vic Parks seems to need to add staircases in all the interesting parts.
The Wells Cave route on Sugarloaf Peak was much more interesting - something along those lines or more challenging would be great.

For reference - anything at least similar to or harder than the difficulty of Cradle Mountain (TAS) / Mt Tibrogargan (QLD) / Sugarloaf Peak Wells Cave Routes (VIC).

Thanks for reading, and if you have any ideas for a track that suits, please send it my way!

Many people mention Helicopter spur as being a tough scramble up or down to/ from the upper Howqua campsite in the Alpine N.P.. I have not done it , yet.
Some ascents and descents in the Alpine N.P. are just arduous and require legs of steel and a good supply of fluids with rehydration salts dissolved into them to get the job done. There was a thread on this forum about tough hikes. Some are tough because of the bush bashing , the rock scrambles, the elevation changes or a combination of all three, and so on.
The Crinolene circuit in the Alpine N.P. has a bit of all of these factors in one hike.

Scrambles, scree slopes, exposure and climbing? Sorry, we don't have those things here in Victoria. Save your bickies and go to New Zealand. There's some nice off track routes in Mt Aspiring National Park. Try the circuit across the Olivine Ice Plateau http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~ande/my ... e2004.html

Try Cathedral Ranges just north of Healesville - some good challenging walks can be tackled in a day, just a few hours out of Melbourne.


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Gref, welcome to the forum. Most park management websites will not have informatoin categorised to search for the things that you want.

I rate the Wells Cave route on the Sugarloaf - bypassing the cave one or two terraces down then up - as a bare medium, one or two unroped non-exposed moves. The ridge north of there is harder, and has been the scene of several rescues, including a mate who was lucky not to be killed. Big plunge factor.

As far as I'm aware there's no scree in Victoria. Loose rocky slopes yes, not scree. There are boulder fields, best avoided.

How do you feel about base camping and doing day trips in light scrub and on tracks? If so, there are parts of the Grampians that have medium-hard day trips. The Grampians also has good overnight walks that meet your requirements. Can you navigate off-track without a GPS?

Tamboritha - The Crinoline is nice, but needs two cars for a slightly long car shuffle. There's plenty of places in the Snowy Plains, north of Heyfield in Gippsland.

Helicopter Spur near Mt Howitt is steep and rocky. Best ascended and not descended. The Bluff near there is rocky and steep, good views, not that hard except on skis.

I saw a scree slop , visible from a point on the Mt Loch car park to Derrick's hut section of the AAWT.

Cathedral Ranges is a classic. Prickly vegetation, high elevation gain for Australia (800-1000 m), some scrambling, and some crest walking (sometimes a bit awkward). In summer with the heat and the flies it sure is a tough one. I haven't done much remote walking in the Aussie Alps, but I heard that the hardest walks are on the North-West corner like the Cobberas Range or inside Snowy River National Park. If you want pure elevation gain there's Mt Bogong (1200 m I think) but the track in itself isn't hard. Otherwise, Tasmania has harder mountain walks, it's probably here you'll find happiness (you could start "easy" with Mt Murchison to gauge your level).

In the Grampians I know there's one where you have to leap above a deep chasm, is it at Mt Difficult ? Can't remember.

For me it's usually the conditions that make the walk hard or not. The Razerback to Mt Feathertop isn't really hard, but I had constant rain and the chafing on my clothes got to raw skin and made it incredibly painful. I also find that walking for hours on a beach is one of the most difficult things there is (especially if you do it in march flies season).

In the Northern Grampians, the unofficial track from Hollow Mt to Mt Stapylton is untracked and can be more or less difficult depending on your choices at the time.
Glen Tempest rates it as the best walk in Victoria. see photo and description at http://osp.com.au/?p=329
I have done it twice [but avoiding the step over the crevice ] - the last attempt was stymied by Parks road and track blockages due to the area being burnt out.
The official route up Mt Stapylton [which is open] still has some nice scrambly bits on it though.

I have descended Helicopter Spur and there is a bit of scrambling up that - main problem is finding the route, but I think it is easier to find on the ascent than on the descent.
But there is scrambling up the face of Mt Buggery on Queens Spur as well, and I suspect there are a few sections in that area that would be similar.
I understand that the ascent of the Viking involves climbing up within a cave.

eggs wrote:In the Northern Grampians, the unofficial track from Hollow Mt to Mt Stapylton is untracked and can be more or less difficult depending on your choices at the time.
Glen Tempest rates it as the best walk in Victoria. see photo and description at http://osp.com.au/?p=329
I have done it twice [but avoiding the step over the crevice ] - the last attempt was stymied by Parks road and track blockages due to the area being burnt out.
The official route up Mt Stapylton [which is open] still has some nice scrambly bits on it though.

There's distinct exposure on that walk, may need a rope and a good head for heights. The bottom tends to be a tad touristy.

eggs wrote:I have descended Helicopter Spur and there is a bit of scrambling up that - main problem is finding the route, but I think it is easier to find on the ascent than on the descent.
But there is scrambling up the face of Mt Buggery on Queens Spur as well, and I suspect there are a few sections in that area that would be similar.
I understand that the ascent of the Viking involves climbing up within a cave.

Agree, easier up Helicopter Spur than down; this applies to many steep spurs. King Spur to Koonika, Queen Spur to Buggary and Stanleys Name Spur aka Thorn Spur are also scrambly in places. If memory serves The Viking is more of a steep gully on the north side, cannot recall what the east side is like. Steep and more steep.

The Crosscut area may be an option, two or three days. Park at about 623916 road junction - if it exists. My maps are old! Up to The Pimple, up Quen Spur to Buggary, north to camp at Speculation. Day two, follow the ridge to Koonika, down King Spur and hope to find a good line to the creek south. The distances are not great but the terrain is challenging. Good views, brilliant campsite at Spec, and you go to Buggary. Parks Victoria encourages straight people to visit this mountain.

If you want a short though very hard day hike. Mt Juilet is the way to go. It is just outside of Healesville and is a walking track up the hill to a Trig Point. I did it to collect an old Geocache up there and wow i was in pain later that day. My legs were burning.

There are no real view on the hike and the track did have quite a few trees over it. Though still easy enough to see where you are going. Once at the top you are rewarded by a very impressive rock cairn. Which i still dont know how people were convinced to carry them all up there.

http://bushwalkjournal.blogspot.com.au/ ... anges.html

PTC wrote:If you want a short though very hard day hike. Mt Juilet is the way to go. I..........

Oh yeh, that is a hard climb. I had the same problem with sore legs too.

The Gold standard for torture is the NW spur of Mt Feathertop. The horror , the horror....

If Juliet is on the right side coming from Healesville and has a largeish cairn on the summit, yes, steep. I didn't find it that hard going up, but the descent was not good for the knees. NW Spur on Feathertop is very steep at the bottom. The cable cars will avoid that nicely.

Mt St Leonard - Donnellys Weird just outside of Healesville is an absolutely belter. The first section up Mt St Leonard will test your legs, but is worth it in the end when you get to the top and can climb the lookout tower.

http://www.bushwalkingvictoria.org.au/w ... -weir.html

Lophophaps wrote:If Juliet is on the right side coming from Healesville and has a largeish cairn on the summit, yes, steep.

That's it. With a bunch of fallen apart boots at the base. Short and sweet climb, that one.

PV don't really publicise the more challenging walks, partly through not wanting to encourage people to try things beyond their skill level.

Some great suggestions in this thread already.

The Cathedrals are a good challenge close to Melbourne.

A Crosscut Saw/Viking circuit should defiitely meet your more adventurous criteria. There are a number of ways of accessing it - try up the west face of Mt Koonika.

Dimantina Spur up to Feathertop.