Paterson’s to Nelson, Day 7, 11th October 2019

A really wonderful day walking along high limestone cliffs by the Glenelg River, some forests and woodlands, in then out of South Australia.

Birdies too, a scarlet Robin. Farewelled the koala I watched yesterday; he had climbed up a different tree overnight.

Quite sunny and warm for most of the day (at last) except for the moment we walked down many stairs to Hirth’s Landing. Overall being able to follow our progress by the many landings on both sides of the river was great.

Then to Simsons for afternoon coffee and on to Nelson (where the pub shut 6 weeks ago and everyone needs to drive across the border 34km to Mt Gambia to buy grog). Great to have wifi outside the tourist office. Staying at the River Vu Caravan Park in their glamping tent- not a good choice in retrospect as it is so dark unless the canvas is open which is cold. I didn’t do all the laundry I had planned because of feeling annoyed by my decision about our accommodation. But feeling much better after a shower and meal!

Questions Day 6, Battersby to Pattersons 10th October 2019

Why do koalas roar?

Does Vic Parks prevent over-booking of campsites?

Has our walking companion Steve taken a short cut to get to Nelson to avoid sharing the campsite with another crowd of schoolkids?

Will we have our first camp alone since Steve isn’t here and we’ve been here two hours?

Will I see that koala in the tree who keeps calling out?

Are there so many fallen trees across the path because of drying weather and wild storms as a result of climate change?

How did I underestimate the food especially crackers which we will run out of even though we are a day ahead of schedule?

Are there platypus in the river here?

Battersby Day 5 9th October 2019

A beautiful riverside walk from Moleside, with diverse riverine and forest areas.

Brown stringybark, Eucalyptus baxteri https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyptus_baxteri
Perhaps a gastrolobium

Another school group here and possibly I wouldn’t have been able to book the campsite but because we skipped Coboboonee Camp we aren’t staying where we booked. So we’re at the canoe campsite with no shelter and I’m enjoying the sun and birds and wallabies!

Fitzroy to Moleside Day 4 8th October

Rained all night and although we were warm and dry in our tent, the tent and fly and groundsheet were wet and muddy. Left camp an hour later than usual because of on-going rain and cold and hard to pack up wet things.

Weather was rapidly changing the whole day with sun then cloud, warm then cold, windy then wet. However walk was wonderfully diverse geology and lots of spring heathland flowers.

Arrived Moleside campsite in beautiful sun and I have charged this phone on solar and dried our wet gear.

🦉powerful owl

Fitzroy Camp on from Coboboonee Day 3

Too short to the next campsite at Coboboonee so we continued another 12km to Fitzroy even though we knew there was a Duke of Edinburgh grouo here with 13 teenage girls.

Pink enamel orchid
Duke of Edinburgh group from Wenona College in Sydney filled the campsite

Two red bellied black snakes and wonderfully diverse ecosystems along the way. Intermittent drizzle and rain all day including now. Hopefully we’ll wake up dry after our first night relying on the tent as we can’t sleep under the shelter with so many people here.

Our green tent to keep us dry outside the shelte

So many birds Day 2 to Cut Out Camp

20191014_185748
We filled the entire shelter with our stuff

Amazing wildlife day.

Diamond firetail

Red-necked wallaby

Rufous bristlebird.

White-throated Tree-creeper

Bronzewing

Superb fairywren

White faced scrubwren

Forest is moist and mossy. Lots of big trees blown down and it was wild and windy last night.

Tiring during the walk but long afternoon to fill in the camp

 

 

Portland to Cubby’s camp Day 1

With my big pack – looking ahead to the Glenelg River

Windy on the waterfront which highlighted how effective the scrub is in breaking the wind.Coffee at Henty Caravan Park the up into the forest. Vegetation unfamiliar to me.We stopped for lunch just over the railway line and were passed by another walker, Steve who is likely to be sharing the campsites with us for the entire walk.He photographed a koala and I was very excited when we saw one too.

Cubby’s camp is nice and cozy, fully fitted out with shelter and water tank despite not being classified as an official Great South West walk campsite.

Great South West Walk Day 1, 6th October 2019. Portland to Cubby’s Camp

Portland… excellent tourist information centre as the staff knew about the town and region. Portland exports more woodchips than any other port in the world. And we will see koalas and gannets!

Portland woodchip exports

Getting here was unnecessarily slow because of train disruptions at Sunshine station getting to Geelong and from Geelong to Warranmbool.

Great South West Walk markers
Messmate, Eucalyptus obliqua