Great Alpine Walk: day 5

Breakfast was 7:30am this morning and was continental with eggs, bacon, tomato and mushrooms. I forewent the cooked breakfast and settled for muesli and a slice of toast with juice and coffee.

For lunch today both Trevor and I selected a roast vegetable roll. I decided that fruit would suffice for morning tea as I had had food left over at the end of each of the previous days.

We left the hotel at 8:30am and, rather than starting at Biathlon Plain, we were dropped a little closer to Hotham and then walked back to Biathlon Plain. This is the area where the winter biathlon is conducted. There is a shooting range and a cross country skiing circuit going out from Biathlon Plain.

There were quite a few spots where we had views across the valleys and ranges.

We had a brief break at Paw Paw Plain, which provided great views, while we waited for the stragglers to catch up.

Continuing to towards Dinner Plain we were making reasonable progress when Maria, our guide, checked her notes and discovered that we should have taken a track to the right at the 4km to Dinner Plain sign. We backtracked 800m to the required sign and then a little further back looking for the track to the supposed track to no avail. In the end it was decided that we should continue along the track we had been on which took us through to JB Plain. The re stepping added 2km to the walk.

At JB Plain there was yet another hut. I did two circuits of the hut and failed to see the door. I think I was distracted by the water tank and the door was tucked in next to the tank. The inside was divided into two rooms. The first room was the kitchen and living area. It even had a kitchen sink. The second room contained bunks.

Phil standing outside the door to JBs Hut

A short distance away was a toilet which was well used by the group.

Today we were spoilt with tea, coffee and cold drinks at the hut before the group broke up with some returning to Dinner Plain and the rest heading off to Mount Tabletop with two guides.

The initial part of the walk tracked cross a grassed meadow. This was tough walking as the grass was very clumpy. We passed through the remains of a couple of corrals. These had been constructed by felling trees and clearing an area. The felled trees were used to form the perimeter of the holding yards in a similar manner to the corral next to Wallace's Hut however these corrals were a great deal bigger and were probably used to hold the cattle rather than horses. The structures are now fairly dilapidated but do serve to demonstrate how the cattlemen managed to contain their cattle, when needed.


Once we had passed through the meadows we entered a forested area. The under story contained a wide variety of flora and some of the plants had not been seen in the other areas we had walked through in the first few days.

The track then headed down until we reached Tabletop Creek. Crossing it was quite easy as it was not very wide and stones provided easy stepping points. Anne, one of our group, was short of water and Phil helped her fill up her bottles as well as get a drink using his "straw", a plastic tube about 600m in length which allows the user to readily drink from a stream or spring without the need to bend all the way down to the surface of the water. Very neat and worth adding to our walking kit.

From Tabletop Creek we had some moderate climbs and crossed a couple of other waterways, one with running water and one dry. The track generally zigzagged up the ridge. The heat was oppressive. When a breeze came though it was most welcome. I seemed to be drinking fairly constantly. I was very conscious of my dehydration when we did the Camelback walk and did not want a repeat.

The group quickly became strung out on the climb with the order of the party changing from time to time as people stopped to cool down and take a break from the heat and fairly constant upwards trudge.

There were views across the ranges from time to time. I have to agree with Michael's assessment that it would be a whole lot easier to see the views if only the trees did not get in the way.

When the climb flattened out the walking became quite easy with just the occasional uphill section.

The track was generally narrow and the foliage often intruded on the passage so that we walkers had to push through it while trying to keep our eyes on the uneven surface that we were walking over.

Yes, there is a track. It is littered with rocks.

Foliage completely covered the track in places

 As I neared the top of the climb I came across this interesting rock. There are horizontal fissures in the rock. I looks like granite so I am not quite sure why it  has cracked in the way it obviously has.

An interesting rock

It was a relief to get to the top and stop for a fairly late lunch. There was very little shade and Joan and Maria got to it first. The rest of us just settled down on the rocks to admire the view and enjoy our lunch. Walkers kept on arriving and taking up positions on the surrounding rocks.

The only patch of shade ... top of Mt Tabletop

The views were spectacular and there was no evidence of human intervention until about the fifth range over where some areas of exposure were evident. This may have been natural.

View from the top of Mt Tabletop

Trevor on top of Mt Tabletop

Refreshed by the break it was then a return across the plateau and down the track leading to the creek. The trudge up the slope to the meadows was quite onerous however the many interesting plants helped to keep our mind off the climb.

One of the many ferns we encountered on the climb up from Tabletop Creek

Phil was keen to get a shot of us coming out of the forest which did take a bit of organisation particularly as the participants were a rabble.

The climb was quickly forgotten as we crossed the clumpy grass covered meadows. This was hard work.

Back at the car park at JBs Hut we had the option of returning to Dinner Plain on the bus or to continue walking along the track we had used to get out to this point earlier in the day. Ian and I decided to walk and Trevor joined us. It was a pleasant stroll and mostly shaded. Even so, we were pleased to get back to our hotel and Trevor and I thoroughly enjoyed the cold beer we consumed out in the beer garden before returning to our room for a much needed shower.

All up we had walked 19.9km and climbed 536m with a fall of 537m more or less.

Dinner was not included tonight however the group had decided to go to the pub in Hotham so at 6:45pm it was back on the bus.

The pub was fairly crowded possibly because almost nothing else of note was open for miles around. Everyone seemed to enjoy the food. Trevor and I both had pasta.

The views across the ranges from the pub were fabulous and we watched the sun sink and provide a glorious sunset for us. I can just imagine how good the sunset would be in winter with the ebbing light reflected off the snow.

By the time we got back Rundell's at Dinner Plain we were all ready for bed. It had been a long day.