The Grand Strzelecki Track is a 93km collection of walking tracks, and fire and forestry trails, in the eastern end of the Strzelecki Range – all conjugated into a nature lover’s expeditionary artefact. Craig made contact with us in October 2021 advising he was commissioned by Wild Magazine to write this artefact and finally ventured onto the Track in January 2022 once he had up to date and relevant information and advice. His artefact has now been released on the Wild Magazine website. Read more at https://wild.com.au/features/grand-strzelecki-track/
Track Chat
Walks of discovery in the Great Forest, National Parks and hidden wild places of the Strzelecki Ranges.
In preparation for an event in a couple of weeks up at Mt Buller where I will cover 100km in 2.5 days, I have been doing lots of kms and in planning my final hit out for this weekend, I wanted to double check I haven’t missed any trail closures. I contacted Grand Strzelecki Track with my proposed itinerary for any feedback. On day 1 (Friday), I planned about 30-35km starting and finishing at Fernholme (Tarra Valley Caravan Park) following the Tarra Valley Link Track, Diaper Track and Great Forest Walk up to Balook, then out to Drysdale Road, Goombala Road, Duncan’s Track, Butlers Track, and back onto Great Forest Walk, Diaper Track and Tarra Valley Link Track back to Fernholme (using Map 3 – Tarra Valley Loop). I was advised that the Tarra Valley Link Track was not cleared as yet, so I may bypass it using Tarra…
Story and images by Matthew Hassam Chapter 1 – Day 1 Having arrived in Victoria fresh from spending two months exploring the wilds of Tasmania, I was keen to get back out into nature as soon as possible. But with one week left of summer school holidays I had to find somewhere a little off the beaten track to avoid the crowds that would no doubt be lingering anywhere within a stone’s throw of the coast; so where to go?!? The Strzelecki Ranges, of course! And I wasn’t about to let my lack of wheels get in the way, so after hopping off the coach from Melbourne in Yarram, I shouldered my 20kg+ backpack and headed for the hills. 2km down the road I stuck my thumb out for the first time, and sure enough the very next motorist passing by happened to be heading to his home about…
This 11km hike takes in parts of both the Tarra Valley Loop and the Mount Tassie Loop, and uses Goombala Road from the junction of Mountain Hickory Track to Drysdale Road via the West Face Track. The start of this hike is 2.7kms along the Grand Ridge Road from the Tarra Bulga National Park Visitor Centre carpark to Goombala Road (opposite Pattison Rest Area). This is a little hard on the feet on the bitumen. Within the first few hundred metres on Goombala Road, there are distant vistas to the west of Tarra Valley and to the east in the plantations. This hike descends for a few kms before ascending the rest of the way. The hike distance is 6.7km to the start of the Telecom Track, which is the final stretch back to the Tarra Bulga National Park Visitor Centre carpark There has been 80mm rainfall since…
Today was a great walk along the Forest Track and Scenic Track in the Tarra Bulga National Park, located in Gippsland, Victoria. The temperature at 10:30am was a brisk 4.5 degrees and rose quickly to 9 degrees by 12:30pm. These tracks are an easy but undulating terrain steep in sections, of 7.5km, taking 2 hours return to the Visitor Centre, including time to take photos. They are just two of the many within the national park, combined with the Grand Strzelecki Track, totalling 110kms. Both the Tarra Bulga National Park and the Grand Strzelecki Track are seriously worthwhile visiting, but always check the website for track conditions and forestry operations ahead of your visit. If planning to do long walks, or even stay overnight, read the ‘Information for walkers’ page and initially purchase the planning map, or if topographical information is needed, purchase the set of printed maps. Georeferencing maps to install on…
Richard’s Story – 7km Quickie on Road 57 to the old track to Yerrang Falls 2020 Although I have done the three loop hikes from Tarra Bulga NP in the eastern section of the Grand Strzelecki Track many times, I have not done any section of the Park-To-Park in the western section. This section links Tarra Bulga NP and Morwell NP. It starts at Goombala Road opposite the Pattison Rest Area, onto Mountain Hickory Track, as does the Tarra Valley Loop, then heads to Morwell NP via Road 57, Road 31 and Billys Creek via the Jumbuk Rest Area. My plan today was of interest to see if the old track that leads to the Yerrang Falls at the reserve was accessible from Road 57 about 1km from Mountain Hickory Track instead of much further down at Traralgon Creek Road. It is a short cut to Traralgon Creek Road…
Story and images by Matt King I recently decided to take advantage of a rare free weekend during crazy festive season and head out hiking and undertake a section of the Grand Strzelecki Track, Mount Tassie Loop. This particular section of the Grand Strzelecki track starts in Balook at the edge of the Tarra Bulga National Park, approximately 2.5 hrs drive from Melbourne. I commenced the hike from Tarra Bulga Visitors Centre and headed along the Telecom Track which was quite wet under foot from the recent rain and muddy in a couple of sections, but picturesque nonetheless with beautiful Tall Ash trees and ferns. After a short distance, I arrived at the Drysdale Road turn off, where you can either continue straight on and complete the out and back trail via the Duff Sawmill Heritage Trail or complete the circuit via heading clockwise in a westerly direction down…
Mount Tassie Loop Story and images by Richard and Jane Florey This time, Richard, the local resident of Balook (Tarra Bulga NP) and volunteer on the committee management of the Grand Strzelecki Track, headed onto a reverse direction of the Mount Tassie Loop, and was accompanied by his wife Jane, who is also a committee member, but who rarely gets a chance to do these longer hikes due to work commitments. We completed this loop in an anti-clockwise direction, the less comfortable way according to the printed map. But it was with the idea of conquering Mount Tassie first and spend most of the time heading downhill. But also that Mount Tassie would be a perfect location for morning tea, followed by lunch at Forget Me Not Falls, and finally Morningside Homestead site Rest Area for afternoon tea. Although a great hike, timing of lunch did not go to…
This really cheered me up after a summer of destruction and despair Story, image and video by Dan Musil Here I was, for a little (too rare) walk and search for trout in the lovely Morwell National Park, not too far off the Grand Strzelecki Track, when I met this stunning little tiger snake, who I think was also on the hunt, probably for frogs(?). Thanks to some welcome above-average January rain, the creek was flowing really well, and this beautiful banded friend was just so mesmerising in its swims up and down the creek and around my feet, I had to capture some on my phone (though, excited Dan did this in portrait mode…saaarry). And so taken I was, at a friend’s suggestion I slapped together a quick take of a slide guitar track inspired by these snake times. I hope you enjoy this snapshot as much as…
Grand Ridge Road on the Tarra Valley Loop Story and Images by Richard Florey I last walked this loop in the summer of 2018 when it was a 37 degree day. Beside that, I am a local resident of Balook in Tarra Bulga National Park and also a volunteer on the Management Committee of the Grand Strzelecki Track. One would think I that should have done this loop many more times in between. But things get busy and time passes before you know it. I have however done both the Mount Tassie and Macks Creek Loops in between, so I don’t feel too guilty. Although I have been asking for your stories to publish and share, well here is my story of hiking the Tarra Valley Loop in an anti-clockwise direction because I like short steep downhills and long gradual climbs. However, this did not quite go to…
If you would like to share your experience of a hike, please contact us to have it published.
TESTIMONIAL
“Hi, I’m Aki and I am 10 years old. I walked the Mt. Tassie Loop on 20/12/13 with my family. We started at the Tarra Bulga National Park Visitor Centre and got onto the West Face Track. Then we climbed to the Mt. Tassie Picnic Area and finally took the Duff Sawmill Heritage Trail and finished at the Visitor Centre. It took us seven and a half hours to walk the 18kms.
One of my favourite places was the waterfall where we stopped for some food and a drink. There were beautiful trees round it and the waterfall is beautiful although it is small. My other favourite place was the picnic area. The track was steep and I thought it would take forever.
The view from the picnic area was beautiful because it was high in the mountains. We had lunch there while admiring the view. There was a blackwood forest on the Duff Sawmill Heritage Trail. I felt great, because of all the birdcalls. I found a pair of Lyrebird feathers. At first I thought they were dead fern fronds and I was surprised when I noticed they were Lyrebird feathers. Everyone was very impressed.
Around the end, I realized my heels were hurting more than at the start so I decided to have a look at them and found big blisters on both heels. There were a still a few kilometres to go so I pushed on and got to the end. I felt like a hero to have finished an 18 kilometre walk! Apart from my blisters it was fun.
The most fun part about it was the stunning sight from the highest points on Mt. Tassie. In all I was happy that I finished the walk.” by Akitoshi Harvey.