SiC – David Sidwell

Currently reading the somewhat forgotten 1939 (!) masterpiece

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Borrowed from the local library. Thanks to Marieke et al on the First Tuesday Book Club for pointing out this wonderful book

The Mt Macedon Loop walk is a great one to do, but it can be a bit daunting for those who may not like 16+ km, including the climb(s) and descent(s).  So I’ve been planning a hybrid walk, involving a 2-car-shuffle. It’s not that complicated; basically one car ‘up the top’ (on the summit)  and the 2nd ‘down the bottom’ (Mt Macedon village)

After putting the cars in their right places:

Car 1 near Memorial Cross 

Car 2 in main st of Mt Macedon village, near Douglas Rd

Then off we go, walking unless noted:

• Douglas Road (Mt Macedon village) climbing up to the Memorial Cross
• (Drive, Car 1)  Cross to Camels Hump Picnic Ground (PG)
• Explore Camels Hump
• (Drive, Car 1) Camels Hump to Sanatorium Lake  PG Car Park
• Explore Sanatorium Lake area
• Sanatorium Lake PG to Zig Zag Track
• Zig Zag to Hempills Track, then down the great Mount Towrong Track to Mt Macedon village (and Car 2)

This is a good compromise. The Car 1 bits are – to be honest – a bit of a drag if done by foot. Pretty much an hour+ of walking on level ground. 

Did it today and it works very well.  As I only had one car, I got a lift to simulate Car 1 (thank you to the bloke who helped me, if you somehow are reading this!).  Walkers really need good boots and a pole or stick to help with the steep, rocky descent of Mt Towrong. But apart from that, I’d vote it a Yes.

Currently reading the recent ghost story book. Set in post-WWII England.

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Borrowed from the local library. Thanks to the First Tuesday Book Club gang for this one too

Read the science book

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Overall, disappointed. Could do with a decent bit of editing. It’s a difficult enough topic to get across, but to have Illustrations without explanations nor being referred to in the text… unforgivable.

Used some maps and planned a new, shorter version of the earlier Mt Dandenong walk.  Basically the best bits and hence the name.  Today was the day to walk it to see how it goes.

Had a great time.  However, it became pretty clear that my ‘shortcut’ back to the car (Glasgow Track – see below) was so steep that it really wouldn’t have been enjoyable had others been with me.   Here’s a Google Earth image, showing the walk. Note the height exaggerated by 2 for impact:

A) Car is here near Kyeema cairn (Melways 66 E-1)

(pink line)  Along the top and then a zig zag down to

B) Doongalla site (66 D-5), lunch/break then explore this great area and then along…

(aqua line) almost level along the front of the mountain until…

C) The Climb (red line). Straight up the front of Mt Dandenong on Glasgow Track. Wow. I’m told this is used by those preparing for Kokoda. (update: and here’s some further info on this)  Rocky, dirt, mud in places. No polite zig zags to ease the gradient.

To give you some idea, these are direct from the GPS and not exaggerated by 2:

Pink line 2.3 km long and descends 280 metres

Red line  0.5 km (500 m) long and ascends 200 metres.

If you look you can see that Glasgow Tk continues down the mountain; seems to merge with Glasgow Road. And yes, I missed it whilst on the aqua line bit. It has no signs and is only about 1 metre wide or less.  I had a map and was able to loop back and pick it up at point C.

Mmm. Need to think more about how to get back from Doongalla to the car. Maybe just double back.

Anyway here’s the Google Earth file to explore in 3D.

<Oct 4th 2009>