This is one of my favourite places – I’ve been coming here for years.  The thing about the Kiewa valley, where this is located, is the ways it’s reinvented itself with a thriving economy now based on recreation (walking, mountain-biking and skiing) and locally grown produce. It’s a living example of the ways conservation, national parks and LoST ideas can contribute to local economies, mosaics of land-uses and community resilience.

Other huts have been used by the development of hydro-power, such a central part of Australia’s post-World War II development path.  Still others have been used by ski-tourers.

Wallace’s Hut

This short walk takes you to two huts – an original cattleman’s hut  (Wallace’s hut), and one which has been used for ski touring (Cope hut).  There is an easy track to follow.

You can begin this along the Bogong High Plains road – the track to Wallace’s hut is signposted at around 7.5 kms along the road from Rocky Valley.  Wallace’s is one of the original huts of the Victorian high plains.

After Wallace’s hut you can continue to Cope hut – one of the original ski-touring huts built in the 1920′s

Cope Hut

The whole circuit will take around about 2-3 hours or so return.  You can find further information on the circuit here. It’s a nice and easy introduction to some of the history that has shaped, and continues to shape, the landscapes of the high plains.

The Bogong region is unique in the Australian Alps. Ten of the 11 highest peaks in Victoria are in the area, and there is an abundance of well-signposted walking and mountain biking tracks (both in the foothills and on the High Plains themselves) that keep visitors busy for hours, days and weeks. In addition, the landscape provides a combination of natural and cultural heritage which the visitor can experience. The natural heritage is characterised by Peppermint and Alpine Ash Forests in the foothills, the snow plains and landforms of the High Plains, and a variety of fauna and flora, including the endangered Pygmy Possum. The cultural heritage of the area incorporates indigenous use of the landscape, the huts of the Mountain Cattlemen, and the Hydro-Electric developments which contributed so much to Australia’s post-Second World War development. In some of the villages close to the mountains, Australia’s gold mining heritage can be discovered.

The peaceful Mountain Creek camping ground, not far from the town of Tawonga, provides a base for exploration around the foothills of Mount Bogong as well as for more adventurous walks onto the Bogong High Plains. From Mountain Creek, it is possible to walk through tall forests and ancient ferns, follow well-maintained 4WD or park management tracks, climb to the roof of Victoria by ascending Mt Bogong, Victoria’s highest mountain, explore the Bogong High Plains, or relax at your campsite by Mountain Creek, the choice is yours.

There are a number of shorter walks starting here. The 30 minute ‘Shady Gully Walk’ takes you along Mountain Creek and through Peppermint forests. Keep an eye out for ancient ferns along the route, as well as the patterns cast by light and shade as you walk along the track. Getting closer to the creek you will feel the shadows of the trees and the ferns and see the moss-covered rocks. The shadowy depths of the forest begin to impact on the landscape – the cooler air, the softer gurgle of the creek and the emergent sounds of birds speak for the changing nature of the walk.

This walk can be extended quite easily.  All you need to do is follow well-maintained tracks and the information guides available.

Mountain Creek, at the camping ground

It’s one of my favourite times of the year in the Victorian mountains, and more generally up in the mountains of the Australian Alps, where the air will be particularly crisp and clear, with always an outside chance of early snowfalls (which have just occurred actually).  It’s a great time to get some camping and walks in before snowshoes come out of summer retirement.

Mt Buffalo is a great place for this time of year – a little lower than some other mountains, it got its name from early European explorers likening it to a sleeping buffalo as they approached it from the valley floor.  To be honest, I’ve never seen this particularly, and I’ve approached it from plenty of angles, but it does have a plateau and it rises from the valley floor, unconnected to the rest of the Alps. So who am I to question the aesthetics and the imaginations of early European explorers?

Of course the mountain was well known before then. Indigenous movements to the foothills and the plateau tended to be dominated by gatherings to feast on the Bogong moth. These included a range of ceremonies, both within the different groups who came as well as between them. There is still evidence of these gatherings if you know where to look.

Lake Catani. Notice the burnt snow gums – it’s quite a haunting landscape at various times of the day.

On top of Mount Buffalo is a beautiful camping ground – Lake Catani. It used to be that campsites were nestled in amongst snow gums. Many still are, but now, after significant fires around eight years ago, some of these snow gums have been burnt beyond regrowth – a testament to both the role of fire in these Australian landscapes and, perhaps, to climatic changes which have seen fires burn with an intensity previously unknown.

From Lake Catani there are any number of walks that can be done – some long, some short. Here is a fabulous short one – a walk to the Chalwell Galleries.

This well formed and well signposted one hour walk leads to a deposit of granite rocks and tors, a common characteristic of the Buffalo plateau landscape. The galleries are named after Ernie Chalwell, the stable master at the Buffalo Chalet in the 1940s and 1950s. The Galleries are a granite outcrop with magnificent views of the Buckland valley and out towards Mt Bogong, the highest mountain in Victoria as well as the NSW Alps.

On reaching the galleries, a granite playground can be found. You pass through crevices and chimneys to reach the other side. Or, if you like, you can pass through other crevices and chimneys because, well, because you can.

When you’ve finished playing, reflecting and looking, and you’re ready to get to the other side, you pick up the trail and the walk loops back to Lake Catani.  All along – the way up, the way down, playing at the top – you should keep an eye out for the views to the more classically Alpine-looking Mt Feathertop and the more rounded profile of Mt Hotham and the High Plains. Views of these are found at various stages as you emerge from chimneys and crevices – you get vignettes of the Alps, stretching through Victoria on one side and NSW on the other.  And of course, here are the valley views as you get closer to the edge of the Galleries.

Coming down from the Chalwell Galleries. Just over the top, views open up as you reach the edge of the plateau

As a package of things – camping at Lake Catani, then walking to the galleries early in the morning, for example -  it’s really hard to beat.  And of course you can add this to the Big Walk, my post of 10 February 2014 (see here) to really stretch the legs and take your time exploring.

Tasmania’s incoming Hodgman Liberal government has pledged to invite more investment within parks and reserves, improve access in the Arthur-Pieman coastline to unrestrained off-road vehicle access, and to log parts of Tasmania’s World Heritage Area.

Tasmanian old growth forest.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald

This is also against a backdrop of peeling away the so-called ‘green tape’ of environmental regulation to move towards a more deregulated system.

I must confess, I’m struggling to see logic to any of this and it seems to me that it is straight out a decision by ideologues with a default position of ‘free, unregulated market’.  The logic I’m failing to see is related to the following:

1. Ecotourism in Tasmania is worth more to the economy than logging – much more.
2. Tasmania has positioned itself as being a green tourism destination.
3. Logging will generate short-term income for major logging companies.  Ecotourism, done properly, will provide long-term jobs, income generation and, most of all, sustainability.
4. The Regional Forest Agreement that was developed to protect Tasmania’s forests had taken a very long time to negotiate. But the RFA is a platform for cooperation between logging, green jobs and sustainable futures.
5. The fact that the new Government is trying to get some parts of the World Heritage area de-listed means once again an Australian Government is pulling away from its international obligations.  As a wealthy country there is absolutely no excuse for this.

In addition to all of this, the story also discusses the need for some form of regulation of the ecotourism industry’s activities in national parks. Once again, the ‘de-regulation’ mantra comes out from Government.

What I find quite sad is that lot’s of my posts are critical of the ways Australian governments are turning back core sustainability initiatives – climate change responses, national parks, alternative energy etc. Gains over a lot of years that I would hope have mainstream support are being fundamentally wound back.

Soon we will be having policies on the basis that the earth is flat…

You can see the story here.

I’m writing this in reflective mode – I’m based in Delhi here in India at the moment and the heat is coming.  For some reason, I’m thinking of Autumn, the northeast and Mt Feathertop.

The last time I was there was over twelve months ago now – a time that feels like yesterday.  I took the easy way (a drive up to Diamantina Hut where the car was left, then a walk out and back in the day).  But the best way up, to feel the contours of the Feathertop landscape, is from Harrietville – a two day, strenuous walk taking you up from the valley to Feathertop’s summit.

Here are a couple of images:

On the high plains – along the way to Mt Feathertop

Looking out over the Alps, on the way to Feathertop

The track to Mt Feathertop. Feathertop is obscured by the mist

It sounds a really interesting place for a visit…

You can see the article and some images here.

There has been a lot written in the Australian press recently on national parks and the changes which are occurring in their management (see also various previous blogs of mine). It’s encouraging to see the number of stories critical of the potential undermining of the concept – not to mention the park’s protective functions, and their contributions to both sustainable local economies and sustainable landscapes.

An interesting article can be found on the ABC’s website (available here). The essence of the article can be summed up in the following:

No longer are national parks primarily there to preserve and protect our country’s precious natural heritage but now must be the venue for a vast array of potentially harmful activities.

This of course is the old ‘protection from and protection for what’ balance national parks have to deal with. Put another way, it’s the balance between conservation and biodiversity needs and economic development trajectories.This has been the case since the first national park was legislated (Yellowstone) for the protection of wild places from the onslaught of cities and civilisation.

That was over 150 years ago. There has been a lot of sophisticated thinking since then. At this stage in thinking, you’d hope we moved on from ‘either/or’. You’d hope that with a bit of creative thinking, we can actually move to something resembling ecological system needs being protected with a re-imagined vision for development trajectories.

Unfortunately, in Australia, judging by the number of changes occurring to what is being considered as ‘legitimate’ activities in national parks (for example, mining, forestry) and the various attempts to excise sections of parks, the ecological/landscape protection role is being undermined.

This raises some important questions to consider (at least in my mind):

• Where is any sense of the kinds of economic contributions parks make to local areas through tourism? Parks are well-known to provide important economic contributions locally. We certainly don’t want to see local economic benefits undermined.  This is usually the first point of analysis but I don’t hear much about it at the moment from Australia’s agencies.
• Where is any understanding that if you get sustainable tourism right, you will have sustainable jobs and  a sustainable economy (that is, the LoST approach)?To my mind, these changes are not only about the balance of ‘protection what/protection for’, but fit into broader conversations about sustainability, sustainable landscapes, sustainable economies and sustainable communities.  We can’t separate these. And there is enormous silence…
• Where is the recognition that parks originally were conceived as places for re-creation (that is, re-connecting with the living and the non-human worlds), and not necessarily recreation (that is, for hunters, for 4WDers)? I’m not saying it’s ‘either/or’, just that we need to have some discussions about it, rather than something imposed by governments.  Actually, all I’m suggesting here is some dialogue and some transparency…

As someone who has worked in the national park/protected area management field around the world, it is particularly sad to see a wealthy country like Australia losing the balance, a balance which is essential in economic, ecological and social ways. It’s a balance that needs to be right for local, national and international sustainability.  And, perhaps most importantly, it’s not just about losing the balance, but the mindsets, ideas, ethics and values which cause the balance to tip.

You can find the story here.

For those who want to really feel the contours of the Buffalo landscape, there is a walk that takes you from the bottom to the top – the Big Walk. It’s a great idea to spend some time at the top, camping at Lake Catani and exploring the many trails and rock formations of the plateau.

The Big Walk covers over 1 kilometre in height over 9 kilometres of walking.  Yes it’s a hard seven hours to the top, but it is one of the most scenic and fulfilling walks in the Mount Buffalo region. It’s no wonder it’s called the ‘Big Walk’.

The track to the top. The start of the Big Walk

Take the time to enjoy the walk and the bush of the Buffalo massif whilst getting to the top. There are vegetation zones to pass through as well as scenic lookouts and waterfalls to discover. You can feel the changes in the temperatures of the micro-climates, and smell the different vegetation as the trail passes through. The lookouts on the way can be visited and the extraordinary vistas from the plateau taken in. The Big Walk is a walk of the senses as much as an ascent to the top.

The walk is well signposted and so should not hold any surprises.  However it is an Alpine environment, though not as harsh as in other areas. Changes in weather can occur quite dramatically and quite quickly, so you need to be prepared for cold changes and snow at any time of the year.

The walk starts at the Entrance Station to the Park and goes from the Eurobin Picnic Area to the Gorge Day Visitor area at the top of the plateau.  From the Gorge it is a relatively easy walk to Lake Catani Camping Area for those who decide to stay at the top and do some further exploration of the plateau.

Eurobin Creek at the start of the walk

The beginning of the trail is at the north end of the Eurobin Creek Picnic Area. Walk across the swing bridge and begin the steep climb to Eurobin Point (reached after approximately 2.7 kilometres of fairly steep walking).

However once at Eurobin Point, the hard part of the walk is over.  Whilst it is still uphill, the climb becomes more gentle.  A visit to Rollason’s Falls is approximately a 2 km round trip (about an additional 1.5 hours) along the signposted and well-marked track.

Continuing on your upward journey, the main road is again crossed to reach Mackay’s Lookout.  Here is another lookout providing magnificent views of the valley below.  Further along, a short divergence (around 100 metres) takes you to Marriot’s Lookout, providing views back to the Buffalo gorge, the ultimate conclusion to the walk.

Lake Catani. Note the dead trees from intense fires in 2008.

It’s still up to Mansfield’s Junction (1350 metres) after 3 kilometres. Here there are two choices – a trip to Mansfield’s Lookout or to Reed’s Lookout. Both return to the Big Walk and to yet another decision – between following the Gorge Heritage walk or continuing along the track.

Either way, the end is the path to Crystal Brook Falls and the Gorge Day visitor area. This is the end of the sign-posted Big Walk.

Coming down from Chalwall galleries – an easy walk from Lake Catani camp ground

However, for those continuing on to Lake Catani and further adventures exploring this unique landscape, there are plenty of signposts.  And if you’re not? In the absence of a lift in a vehicle, just follow the path back down – it’s quicker than coming up!