My work commitments are stacking up for later in the week, so I took advantage of a break in the weather to head on a long bush walk today. That’s one advantage of working just 30 hours per week.
Juliet drove with me up the One Mile Creek Road a few kilometres towards Mount Porepunkah. I walked from there to the summit, which took just over an hour.
I started early and walked in shade. There was a cool breeze above 1000 metres at that time of the day.
Using the local Victorian topographic map as a reference I wanted to come down along the Eurobin Gap Track, which intersects with One Mile Creek Road just below the summit.
As the map indicated there were three dips from 1100 metres to below 900 and up again. The track appears rarely used and simply follows the range. Two of the climbs were pretty steep, but I didn’t mind that after skipping part of the ascent up Mount Porepunkah.
After three mini peaks the track drops to 900 metres and levels out for a short distance. There’s a final high point, which offers good views across Happy Valley towards the Kiewa. The track then descends steeply to Eurobin Gap.
While walking down I could see rain coming up the valley and heard some thunder. I could also see it clearing in the distance. Apart from the possibility of lightning, my main concern was heavy rain making the steep track slippery. Fortunately the weather skirted around me and remained fine.
Eurobin Gap provides a link between Porepunkah and Havilah, used infrequently by a handful of farmers and forestry people. I planned to walk all the way back to town along the Porepunkah Gully Road and rail trail, but as luck would have it there were loggers at work.
A sign said the road was closed. I could see logs piling up ahead and decided to detour on Ortlipps Road, which follows the contour of the hill nearly parallel with Porepunkah Gully Road.
I shouldn’t say “nearly” because it actually loops away, dips and rises. Walking conditions were hard after the steep descent and it probably added 40 minutes to my trip.
So rather than walk into Porepunkah along the rail trail I called Juliet on the mobile and she met me along the Great Alpine Road. The total trip was six hours.
It was mostly through native forest, which I prefer, but I didn’t see much wildlife. There was one lyrebird, a few kookaburras and a big grey kangaroo along Eurobin Gap Track. I don’t think he sees many people. He just stopped and stared before hopping away without any concern whatsoever.
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