Climbing into Adventure

Camping & Walking Trip

As the new year rolls in, what better time to get away, back to nature for some peace and quiet. As part of my new year plan, I have decided to pre-book one weekend a month and dedicate it to camping. I'm still not sure where to go yet, but there are so many places to choose from!

For this weekend we chose Lerderderg Gorge. Only 1.5hrs drive from Melbourne and we found ourselves at the Upper Chadwick Campsite. We chose this over the O'Briens Crossing campsite as it was more remote (down a '4WD' track) which meant less people.

Setting up camp, we had a lazy afternoon walking up the dry river bed, reading under one of the many trees & enjoying a glass of warm red wine (as it was 35 degrees). Sleeping without tent fly on it was a suprisingly cool night. We had originally thought to leave the sleeping bag at home, but our decision to bring it for safety reasons proved very worthwhile.


Waking at the crack of dawn with the squarking cockatoos, we drove to the O'Brien's Rd / Cowan Track junction to begin our walk. Walking along the main road for a few hundred meters, we soon met the Short Cut Track which took us into the trees and then down down down. Such a steep decline - we were already thinking of the end of the walk and how hard it was going to be getting back up.

We soon reached O'Brien's Crossing and met the Lerderderg River. The next 3 hours took us to on an amazing walk with some beautiful views from within the Gorge. Walking quietly we managed to spot some goat (strangely enough) and a koala who was happy to pose for a few photos.

Just as we were thinking we had had enough of the river, we met the Cowan track which took us to a different type of scenery. Sparse trees on even wide ground compared to contouring on a reasonably thin track. Upsall Hill loomed ahead of us and up we went. The short 4 minute bursts of steep hills were actually not too bad as there was flat ground in between.


Meeting up with another walker as we were on the home stretch, he showed us a photo of an angry red belly blacksnake that he passed earlier. Making our way up our last hill together, we saw the familiar blue corolla waiting for us. As we had just reached the 5 hour mark, we were both very happy to sit down for the 1.5 hour drive home (with a quick stop in Bacchus Marsh for some well earned food).

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Tips on How to Climb into this Adventure:

• it is recommended you always carry a map with scale and contour lines to assist with any navigation (especially if you are not experienced)
• ensure that you take enough water for yourself (recommended minimum 1 litre for every 2 hours hiking)
• if you want to see wildlife try to be quiet whilst walking
• when walking in remote areas (especially in summer), be sure to brush up on your first aid skills (especially what to do in the event of a snake bite)