Bushwalking, Orienteering and Rogaining Destinations
Day Trip Destinations
- Macedon Ranges Walking Track
- Werribee Gorge
- Lerderderg State Park
- Blowhard Circuit, Lake Eildon National Park
- Ada Valley Circuit, Yarra State Forest
- Tanglefoot/Myrtlegully Walk, Toolangi Forest
- John’s Hill Walk
- Mount Dandenong Circuit
- Ferntree Gully Forest/ 1000 Steps/ One Tree Holl
- Mornington Peninsula, Two Bays Walk
- Mount Worth
Weekend Trip Destinations
- Wilson’s Promontory
- Mount Buangor State Park – Beeripmo Walk
- Powelltown – Yarra Ranges Overnight Bushwalk
- Mount Bogong
Multi-Day Trip Destinations
Last Updated: May 17, 2018
Werribee Gorge
Mount Alexander
Mount Alexander offers easily accessible climbing on large granite boulder in a nice forest setting. It consist of two main areas Dog Rocks and Wabbit Wocks.
Type of climbing: Slab and Cracks, with mostly trad protection and the occasional bolt. Some Sport routes.
Grades: easy (1-12) 17; intermediate(13-18) 39; advanced (19-24) 36; expert (25-33) 14
Beginner friendly: yes
Top Rope friendly: yes
Day Trip friendly: yes
Walk in: Dog Rocks 5im easy; Wabbit Wocks 25min steep
Camping and Facilities: no
Distance from Melbourne: 130km; 1h30min
Lerderderg State Park
Mount Alexander
Mount Alexander offers easily accessible climbing on large granite boulder in a nice forest setting. It consist of two main areas Dog Rocks and Wabbit Wocks.
Type of climbing: Slab and Cracks, with mostly trad protection and the occasional bolt. Some Sport routes.
Grades: easy (1-12) 17; intermediate(13-18) 39; advanced (19-24) 36; expert (25-33) 14
Beginner friendly: yes
Top Rope friendly: yes
Day Trip friendly: yes
Walk in: Dog Rocks 5im easy; Wabbit Wocks 25min steep
Camping and Facilities: no
Distance from Melbourne: 130km; 1h30min
Wilson's Promontory
Larapinta Trail
Larapinta Trail is one of the most iconic hiking trails in Australia. This 230 km trail offers a spectacular bushwalking experience with a variety of terrain, from flat red desert to some rocky rainforests. It’s not only challenging physically but mentally too. However, it is a trail worth hiking in your lifetime.
Macedon Ranges Walking Track
18km walk which takes 7-8 hours. Starts with a steep climb to the summit of Mt Macedon then the rest is fairly gradual. It’s a mix of native (including rainforest with ferns) and exotic forests. A good time to do the walk is in autumn when Macedon is a blaze in colour. Leeches do exist. See Day Walks Victoria (Chapman & Siseman)
Blowhard Circuit, Lake Eildon National Park
21km/6.5 hours unofficial walk (but along official tracks and roads) described in a few guide books. This is probably the least national park of any in the state. Nothing much is natural about it. It features a man made lake and former farmland, now reclaimed bush. Even still it’s a nice walk with some good views (including snow capped mountains in winter/spring) and a historic hut along the way. The best part is probably the wildlife. We saw kangaroos, a little echidna that insisted on sniffing our shoes and quite a few wombats (around dusk). Don’t rely on the township of Alexandra for bakeries; it has two and they’re both closed on Sundays. Of the two pubs in Alexandra I’ve heard one is good and the other isn’t, but I’m not sure which is which
Ada Valley Circuit, Yarra State Forest
13km/5 hr walk through beautiful myrtle beech forest with ferns. Start at Starlings gap camp ground and following the ‘Walk into history’ walking track to a four way junction. South of this junction is the overnight campsite we used for the overnight walk, where you could have lunch. For an extra 7km of walking, take the track west from the junction crossing the Ada River (stepping stones which can be slightly challenging when submerged), to Federal Mill campsite then through more amazing mytle beech forest to the giant Ada Tree (mountain ash), also a good lunch spot; retrace your steps to the junction. To complete the circuit, head north from the junction towards New Ada Mill (site), following the signage back out to Big Creek Road but don’t get lost in the logging coup areas (stay right/don’t head south at all junctions until you get to the signposted main road). Return along the road. See Daywalks around Melbourne (Tempest)
John's Hill Walk
Starts at Hermons Saddle Reserve, Selby in the Dandenongs. – The least bush of all walks here, but it’s nice to get out of the city for a walk in some of the most scenic areas of country side around. At about 12km long, it’ll only take 3-4 hours to complete, but the best part is the pub you can go to afterwards, the Paradise Valley hotel (go to the bar not the bistro). The first part is a suburbia of sorts with massive CUB type houses, nice gardens but less typical are the giant mountain ash trees growing along the road side. Some great views towards Mt Donna Buang along the top (apparently also as far as King Lake, etc.) then towards Port Phillip and Western Port bays in the other direction. Johns Hill can be windy and unpleasant but the track down a disused road reservation to Menzies Creek is quite a surprise. The walk along Menzies Creek is also a treat with all the ferns. Who knows you may even see Puffing Billy (we did). See Day Walks Victoria (Chapman)
Mount Dandenong Circuit
15.5km/5 hours. Start at Kalorama lookout (which coincidentally has a good view towards Silvan Reservoir). Enjoy the views from Skyhigh Lookout for free (usually $5/car). Then walk through some really beautiful lush Sassafras forest (before that the DC-2 Kyeema crash site is also interesting). After taking Zigzag track down the hill a bit to Dacite track be careful not to descend too much more, but instead take the steepish track to the left at the next junction which is Dandenong Creek track. This takes you out to The Basin/Olinda Road, turn right follow the road and right again at Dodds Track, then at Doongalla Road turn right again and walk up the hill to Doongalla estate. This is quite an impressive little garden in the middle of the bush and the picnic area is a good spot for lunch. Follow Camelia/Fireline tracks and Old Mountain Road back to Kalorama. Mt Dandenong Hotel is a reasonable country pub if you need a good meal afterwards. See Take a Walk in Victoria’s National Parks (Daly) or Day Walks Victoria (Chapman & Siseman)
Ferntree Gully Forest/ 1000 Steps/ One Tree Hill
There are a few options here ranging from 6 to 10km circuits. But first of all, the Thousand steps are overrun with bloody fitness fanatics who think its a gym and use it to run up and down again. What should be a pleasant little walking track through a ferny gully can be anything but. Just hundreds of metres from this track the peace returns, except for the odd stray thousand stepper taking another route down the hill. See Take a Walk in Victoria’s National Parks (Daly) or Day Walks Victoria (Chapman & Siseman) for exact route details.
Mornington Peninsula, Two Bays Walking Track
Suggesting you can walk between the two bays in just 26km is a bit of a lie. The 26km is actually measured starting from Latrobe Pde Car park to Cape Schanck car park. Don’t start/finish at Dromana beach, after walking 26km you don’t really want to be walking that extra bit along a suburban street. Also don’t be tempted to do any extra walking at cape Schanck before you start. There’s no drinking water available anywhere along the route, despite what the Parks Vic map shows. If you haven’t got two cars for a shuffle, you could call a taxi which would probably cost about $30-40.
Mount Worth
Starting from the Moonlight Creek picnic area, there are two circuits that can be done, one that is 8km and the other 3.6km, which gives you a combined total of 11.6km or 4.5 hours. For the 8km one take the Moonlight Divide track, who climbs steadily for the first few km, before decending down the link track and returning along the Moonlight creek track (do check out the small waterfall near Bromfields mill site). For the 3.6km circuit you can take the track to Gardiners mill in the vicinity of which there are some particularly beautiful tree fern strands, then Trevorrows mill, then take the giant’s circuit detour. Both circuits had quite a few leeches (if you take the 1.8km giants circuit + 800m return walk to Maslins mill you probably will avoid then due to the well made gravel paths rather than mud). The mean feature of this area are the amazing tree ferns and blackwood forests. See Day Walks Victoria (Chapman). Daywalks Around Melbourne (Tempest) lists an additional 8km circuit you can do. Although its a detour, the Grand Ridge Brewery in Mirboo North is an excellent place for a meal afterwards.
Mount Buangor State Park
Beeripmo walk – This is an excellent overnight walk for beginners. At 21km length, this might be doable as a day walk, but there’s a nice walk in campsite with fire places and toilets. It’s a nice walk all up with fern gullies, sub-alpine plateaus and views across the western plains including the grampians. At 2 hours drive from Melbourne it’s also nice and close, so you can depart Saturday morning and return by Sunday afternoon. See DSE notes
Powelltown - Yarra Ranges Overnight Bushwalk
33km requiring a car shuffle (economical even with low numbers due to close proximity to Melbourne), officially titled Walk into History which doesn’t really do justice to this nice little walk. Start at Big Pats and finish at the Powelltown pub. Following some old tramway routes, it takes you through a mix of Damp sclerophyll forest, Wet sclerophyll forest dominated by the majestic Mountain Ash and Cool temperate rainforest dominated by beautiful Mrytle Beech (Nothofagus cunninghamii) and/or Southern Sassafras (Atherosperma moschatum). All are rather ferny and some parts are leech infested (not such a problem with adequate leech protection). Although walking along a flat tramway may sound boring, it’s challenging enough with steep drops into gullies where trustle bridges previously stood and plenty of logs to hop over/under. The first section is an unrelenting but gradual uphill climb to Starlings Gap, then it’s a nice easy walk through the Ada Valley (see day walk above). The easiest campsite is Ada No 2 mill, but if necessary there’s another little spot to camp just across the creek from there. After a steep descent down high lead, the last section of walk shadows the slightly noisy Noojee Road, but leaves the road for some final serenity as you cross between the Latrobe and Yarra valleys. In fact you could probably cut out about 1-2km of not such great walking by leaving one of the cars where the walking track runs out just to the east of Powelltown. See DSE notes or Weekend walks around Melbourne (Tempest).
Mount Bogong
The highest mountain in Victoria. A good walk is about 30km over two days. Start at Mountain Creek campsite just out of Mt Beauty. Staircase Spur is the biggest single ascent in Victoria, taking you from about 500-600m elevation to 1,986m. Actually, I’d probably prefer to climb up Eskdale Spur which is steeper and go down Staircase as it’s slightly kinder on the knees that way. Weather can be highly variable and unpredictable on the top. If it’s clear then visit Mt Bogong on the first day; it may be your only chance! If it’s fog then save it for the second day. Walk along the ridge to the awesome Cleeve Cole Hut which makes a good campsite for the night (you could also camp on the summit or at Michell or Bivouac huts; which would make the walk about 24km return in that case) before descending on the second day. Take a copy the Bogong Alpine Area and refer to Bushwalks in the Victorian Alps (Van der Knijff)
Mount Speculation - Viking Circuit
Starting point is View Point car park. 40km, which can be comfortably completed over four days, camping at Mt Speculation, Viking Saddle and on the Wonnangatta River. The section from Viking Saddle down to the Wonnangatta River does not officially exist as a trail according to Parks Victoria so you are on your own and must navigate with a map/compass. Can walk up Zeka Spur 4WD track back to the top of Wonnangatta Spur (probably best when it is closed to vehicles) or bush bash through untracked thick scrub.