Great Alpine Walk: day 3

The morning was clear and sunny. A good omen. Today offered a number of longer walks so the good weather was most welcome.
Breakfast was served at 7:30am again. This morning I opted for scrambled eggs and tomatoes with orange juice, toast and coffee. Trevor had cereal followed by scrambled eggs and bacon.

The bus departed at 8:30am and we trundled out over the dam wall and around the edge of Rocky Valley Storage to Langfords Gap where the walked commenced. Today we followed the Langfords East Aqueduct.

One of the glorious views near the start of today's walk

We came across some delightful vistas (and I hope the photos do them justice) as well as some glorious birds and flora. The first birds of note were Gang Gang Cockatoos. These were followed by Scarlet Robins. There were other birds and at this stage I don't know what they were.

Photographing the scenery. Note the "ghost" trees beside the path. Trevor is front and centre in the white hat.

The group broke up very quickly with some in the front, a middle group and a number of stragglers. This really slowed down progress as we kept needing to stop for the back markers to catch up.

We only managed just on 3km an hour for the first 8km. Considering that the up slopes were generally very gentle as were the downs this was a very slow speed indeed.

By the time we arrived at Fitzgerald's Hut it was after 11:30 and it was decided that this would be our lunch stop.

Trevor lunching at Fitzgerald's Hut

Fitzgerald's Hut has been restored after it was accidentally burnt by a school group. The current building gives a good idea of the type of huts that were used by the cattlemen during the summer when their cattle were up on the high plains. I suspect that my father stayed in one of these huts when he was helping with the muster at the end of summer. He talked about going up to the high country by horse. I wish that I had paid more attention to his tales.

Note the corral visible in the middle of this photo

Fitzgerald's Hut sits in a clearing in a field of grass and flowers. Huge gums form a ring around the clearing. There was a collapsed corral adjacent to the hut which would have been used to hold the stockmen's horses in days past. Today it would not hold anything. Repairs would definitely be needed.

Leaving Fitzgerald's Hut: meadow and views across the ranges

On leaving Fitzgerald's Hut we headed across the meadows and were to link up with the Australian Alps Walking Track at a place known as "The Park". From their we should have followed the Australian Alps Walking Track until we picked up the track to Edmondson's Hut. By the way, lunch was supposed to be at Edmondson's Hut! Our guide was looking for a particular marked pole, 740, I  think. We did see 739 but were then sent along a track which later proved to be the Washbed Creek Track which took us back to Rocky Valley Storage! Oops!!! The 740 marker would have been on the Australian Alps Walking Track and this track was clearly marked with yellow triangles yet we were sent along another track. I was not at all happy. Actually, I was pretty pissed off.

Initially it was decided that we could walk around the road circling the dam to the track up to the Roper Lookout. Part way along this walk we were picked up by our bus as it had been decided that walking along the road was too risky.

We were driven to the start of the Roper Lookout trail and proceeded to climb to the lookout which provided great views over Falls Creek.

Falls Creek from Roper Lookout

Back at the bus we were offered a number of options. We could walk back to the Village and the lodge; we could be dropped in the village or at the lodge or we could do the Frying Pan Spur walk from Howman Gap back to the village. Most of the group opted to be dropped in the Village. Ian and I opted for the walk. The bus trundled through Falls Creek and headed out to Howman Gap but Phil could not locate the start of the walk. It was decided to return to the Village, drop off everyone who was not doing the walk and then do the walk from above the Village out to Howman Gap. So we dropped most of the people in the village.

Phil, Ian and I were dropped at the spot were we had started the last part of the walk yesterday. Up on the ridge Ian opted to follow the track we had walked along yesterday as he had dropped his phone and was still looking for it. Phil and I continued on. The first part was relatively flat as we headed out on the spur. So far so good.

View from the top of Fryingpan Spur

Once the ground fell away it was not so straightforward. Picking up the track down was not obvious. There was a line of poles which were going in the right direction and we followed them until they ran out. From there on it was challenging picking up the track. The insect life was obvious. Lots of spinders and other bugs as well as mozzies. At least the flies were absent. It took us about 45 minutes to do the descent. We heard one of the "ghost" gums fall during our walk. An eerie crash in the forest. There were a heap of fallen trees to negotiate: over or under.

In many ways the final walk of the day was the most fun. The terrain was rough and we needed to watch our feet as well as the many hazards in the surrounding bush. While there was evidence of fires through the area there was significant regrowth and, near the bottom, trees that had survived the fire. I suspect that we were seeing a different species as these were much more robust than the snow gums which stand today as ghosts throughout the Falls Creek area.

Phil pointed out some of the plants which were unusual. He also demonstrated the action of the trigger plant. This is a small purple flower that attracts insects. When the insect starts to feed on its nectar a trigger is tripped and it snaps out and leaves pollen on the insects back. The flower uses the insect to transport the pollen to other flowers. It was very neat.

The track was quite challenging to find. It was fairly tough going down hill as there was a lot of litter underfoot. We concluded that it would not be suitable attempting to do the walk in reverse as had originally been planned.

Phil called Maria when we had about 50m to descend and the bus was indeed a welcome sight as we emerged onto the road.

All up Trevor did 20kms today and I did and additional 3.5km. My elevation gain was 544m and the loss was 784m..

Back at the lodge I showered and changed.

There were nibbles at 6:30 and Trevor and I joined the rest of the group in the lounge.

Lisa served another very nice dinner (apart from the coriander in the salad which Trevor did not appreciate).