Werribee Gorge walk 26th June 2021
Leaders: Mick and Meri L
Werribee Gorge is a great location for a post-COVID walk, being so close to the city, but feeling quite remote. We had an enthusiastic band of 10 long walkers, and 23 shorter walkers. (As it turned out
not actually much shorter, but a bit less scary). Among those who came were 11 visitors, who were made most welcome to try out our style of monthly adventures. We even managed to organise good weather, albeit a bit brisk if you stopped for long in the breeze. A pair of Wedgetail eagles soared over our heads as we all set out.
The shorter walkers lead by Meri headed uphill to the pioneer farm ruins that are en route to the Eastern Lookout. At the first fork the advance party took an unscheduled diversion onto the Centenary trail. (Oops, Meri). Calling them out required a test of our walkie talkies communications, thus proving their merit. Beyond the Eastern Lookout we went on to visit Picnic Point and the Western Lookout, with all these places giving dramatic and expansive vistas, on this splendid day.
Returning to the Short Circuit turnoff, the Shorter Walkers found the unmarked faint track discovered in our check walking. It leads to the concealed site of the 1910 Shelter Shed, still there and useful after some wrought iron restoration efforts. Backtracking out from the Shed, we chose the easier descent into the gorge via the Short Circuit Walk and selected a lovely mossy spot in the sun near the river for lunch.
After the rest, we walked into the major section of the gorge, going upstream to the ‘cable’ pass that’s riveted to a rock wall. A dozen of our group had proposed they would brave the cable! On sighting the “cling on and don’t fall” passage this group reduced to four! The river was very high, higher than when check-walked, and the first aerial steps to grab onto the cable were a bit daunting. The intrepid four enjoyed quite an adrenaline rush, with one wet foot out of eight. Finally everyone came back along the gorge, marvelling at magnificent rock structures looming over the river.
Trail choices back to the cars saw some go up the road, and others doing a bit more cardio work on the Short Circuit return climb, passing by a nonchalant wallaby just doing his own thing. This Shorter Walk was about 12.5 Km all up, and it felt every metre of that.
The long walkers had 16 km of rather more difficult challenges prepared for them by Mick. They started the same way, first exploring the pioneer ruins and evidence of the dam and paddocks. The exploration intersected the Centenary track and they descended into the upper reaches of the gorge to visit Junction Pool. Oddly all declined the 3 km by 1:5 gradient climb to enjoy the Island Lookout, suspecting there might be a lot more fun in store for them. Coming back off the Centenary Walk, the Longer Walkers visited the historic Shelter Shed, and continued off-track into the rocky Chenopod Woodland that is laced with Yellow Gum, pig face and luminous green mosses.
A zig zag decent of the ridgeline linked up with the Gorge
Circuit walk. So, they too followed the gold digger’s sluiceway to the ‘cable’ rock wall, passing day-trippers turned back by the flooded gorge challenge. The group’s lead walkers pushed though. The more sensible of the group headed back out with Harvey who had been the Whip to this point. Mick and the gung-ho group pressed on. The cable wall proved to be the easy bit! Further along were sections of rock wall with toehold and crevice scrambling to stay above the water line. Some parts necessitated wet feet to boot. Mick actually did some of it in his boots! Luckily, he had brought dry socks and the others duly took note.
Coming through, many less experienced people were in some trouble and we helped a few. We advised small groups heading in of the risks ahead and wished there were “Warning Signs” posted. It was great fun for the Long Walkers, if not too easy with bare feet on wet rocks, the rushing river, and carrying packs and poles. But all the group enjoyed their success and were able to finish the Gorge Circuit via the three lookouts. Well done!!
I understand most if not all of us slept very well that night
