Thursday, March 17, 2011

Julian's tour of Gandys Gully

Another Thursday night, another tour, this time by Julian around Gandys Gully.

Gandys Gully


A gentle but steady climb up to the stone cairn on the summmit near Coach Road, then wander back down the fire track to the other stone cairn and down the hill. We've often done this hike in reverse, doing the steep walking track up to the first peak and cairn, then down the gentle descet in the valley. Again, plenty of blackberries and the odd koala.

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Stats

Gandys Gully
Thursday
17/03/2011
Distance 6.17km
Start Time 6.01pm
End Time 7.39pm
Moving Duration 1h38m
Overall Average 4.0km/h

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Quiet here? No way!

Well, it might have seemed from how quiet things were around here that I hadn't been doing much hiking. That's not so!


I've done plenty of hikes, and even a two day kayak trek, since returning from my four month Magnetic North trip around WA and the NT.

Here are all the hikes and trips I have just added:

In addition to the one blog post I did make since returning:




Sunday, March 13, 2011

Hot, hot, hot

The hottest day ever? Well, hiking maybe. It was hot out in the sun and there were plenty of hills. By midday though it came over with full cloud, and a light rain started. Soon the temperature had dropped by eight or nine degrees, oh the relief.

Kersbrook, Mt Crawford Forest


This hike from the Push the Bush book is very good. Apart from a little main bitumen road walking at the start, it is almost entirely in native bushland or plantation forest, with the occasional small dirt road.

We only got a little lost once, and it was easily overcome. We got lost just before Point 3, we were following the creek from the main fire track which we had left at the first valley. After a 200 hundred metres, there was no obvious tributary turning sharp right. Consulting the GPS, we decided to make the short climb up out the valley onto the parallel fire track which we think is where the tributary would have led (if it existed.)

In this same area, on this warm, early Sunday morning, and off of any tracks, we saw small group of hikers battling their way through the undergrowth. It turned out to be Julian and Colin walking with some friends doing a reccie walk for ARPA. So funny to meet them not on a track.

Due to the heat, we didn't do Point 12, we stuck to the main bitumen road back into Kersbrook.

  • Have you walked here before?
  • Have you done any other walks in the Push the Bush book?
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Stats

Kersbrook - Push the Bush
Sunday
13/3/2011
Kersbrook loop, Mt Crawford Forest
Distance 23.6km
Start Time 8.36am
End Time 2.37pm
Moving Duration 4h33m
Stationary Duration 1h19m
Moving Average 5.2km/h
Overall Average 4.0km/h

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Chambers Gully

Back to Chambers Gully with the Thursday group. A couple of good hills and bush bashing, some of it made up as we went.

Cleland Conservation Park


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Stats

Chambers Gully
Thursday
10/03/2011
Distance 8.01km
Start Time 5.59pm
End Time 7.42pm
Moving Duration 1h35m
Stationary Duration 6m
Moving Average 5.0km/h
Overall Average 4.7km/h

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Kayaking on the Coorong

The water is up, the birds are in. With water flows in the Murray up, the Murray Mouth is open, and the Coorong full. There are birds everywhere.

The Coorong, Coorong National Park




We hired a couple of sea kayaks from Adelaide Canoe Works, chucked them up on the roof racks and headed down to the Coorong for the weekend. Camping at Marks Point, on a dirt road south of Meningie and the Narrung ferry, we set off out on the water bright and early. Already, we had been treated to a gorgeous sunrise with pelicans and many other birds flying overhead.

Much of Saturday was tough paddling, it was a head wind. We made quick work of getting to the far side of the Coorong, into the shelter of Younghusband Peninsula. We paddled in 45 minute blocks, pulling up on a beach or reed bank to rest at the end of each block. It was hard, we certainly couldn't just stop paddling, the current and wind would take us downstream too quick. We managed about 3.5km/h, our first leg crossing the open Coorong we had only achieved 3.0km/h.

Water was lapping at the very edges of the banks, there were no salt plains to be seen, no dry crusty stuff - contrasting sharply with scenes we saw in 2008 (here and here.)

We camped on the Younghusband Peninsula, a nice campsite beside the Coorong. We wandered the kilometre or so over the sand dunes to the beach, the long, windy and isolated beach beside the rough Southern Ocean.

Sunday we awoke to a calm day, which made the work of paddling much easier and more enjoyable as we glided easily through the water. We crossed back to the mainland side of the water. I didn't realise much of this coastline is also included in the national park, I had always thought that the farmland abutted the water, but in many places it does not. There were many beaches, cliff headlands - it was all pretty interesting stuff.

The calm day did not last though, the wind picked up, this time we had warm northerlies - rather than yesterdays cool southerlies - and yep, that meant once again we were battling a headwind. We were pretty glad to make it back to Marks Point and the car. A single kayaker there was just coming back in, he had been out for a few minutes but the waves and wind were too much for him, so he was heading back home to his nearby farmhouse.

We'd only managed to get 16km down the Coorong, we'll have to come back another time to explore further south, I think it would get more interesting as the Coorong narrows.


  • Have you paddled on the Coorong before? Where?
  • Have you done a multi-day trek on the Coorong or Murray before? Did you do a there-and-back or in one direction only?




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Stats

Coorong National Park
Saturday Sunday
05/03/2011 06/03/2011
Marks Point to beyond Long Point Beyond Long Point back to Marks Point
Distance 16.7km 15.7km
Start Time 8.02am 7.55am
End Time 3.51pm 12.49pm
Moving Duration 4h45m 3h19m
Stationary Duration 3h07m 1h29m
Moving Average 3.5km/h 4.7km/h
Overall Average 2.1km/h 3.2km/h
Oodometer 16.7km 32.4km