Mt Wombat Creek walk

Mt Wombat and Garden Range Flora and Fauna Reserve, just 15 mins from Euroa, is perhaps the most well known nature reserve in the Strathbogie Ranges. Most visitors drive to the top of Mt Wombat for a great view over the Tabeland to the east and over the plains to the north and west. But few people venture beyond the track and car-park and fewer still explore other parts of the reserve.

As part of the Strathbogie Ranges Conservation Management Network’s series of 2019 activities, a walk was organized along Mt Wombat Creek, in the southern part of the reserve. The creek starts on Mt Wombat’s southern slopes, flows west and traverses a largely inaccessible part of the reserve; the reserve has few internal access tracks and is completely bounded by private property. Adjacent landholders gave permission for us to enter and egress the reserve through their properties.

The creek descends about 150 m along the 1.5 km reach we walked. The creek bed comprises a number of drops (water falls, when there is streamflow!), connected by more gently falling reaches generously strewn with large and small boulders and occasional extensive granite pavements. Massive walls of granite line many parts of the creek. It was delightful to not see a single blackberry bush along the reserve section of the creek.

The total walk (including the private property sections) took about 3 hours, which included several stops and discussions about local geology and ecology. Riparian vegetation along the upper section of the creek is dominated by Victorian Blue Gums and Blackwood Wattles, with sedges and some ferns in the bed of the creek. But the streamside vegetation is very narrow, changing to drier stringybark and box forest just meters up the rocky slope. In fact, the forest away from the creek was very stressed, with many Red Stringybark shedding leaves.

 

View of Mt Wombat towers from our starting point.

Our group of 25 heading off.

Patures are bare and dams failing – one of the hottest, driest summers on record.

Mt Wombat and Garden Range reserve in background.

It appeared these alpacas hadn’t seen many strangers.

A granite dome at the beginning of the walk.

The first of a series of dry waterfalls.

Sambar Deer scats.

Granite vug or vugh – cavity rich with well-formed crystals.

Vug in granite boulder.

Victorian Bluegums lined much of the waterway.

Curry Punk bracket fungus (Piptoporus australiensis)

Xenolith in granite, red with iron oxide.

A substantial waterhole – one of only a few.

Cordierite-rich granite.

Spectacular narrow gorges strewn with boulders.

Creek bed incised around resistant mass of granite.

Water-worn pot hole in granite with apparent wear where the grind stones exited.

Horizontal and vertical fractures in the granite walls.

Extensive granite pavements showing horizontal embedding of granite

We found several applite dykes.

This creek would roar after heavy rain.

House-size boulder in the stream bed.

Very streesed red stringybarks lower down.

The trek along the private property boundaary back to the cars.

Perennial native pasture of kangaroo grass – overgrazed but hanging on.

View across the Seven Creeks valley.

A near horizontal applite dyke intruded beneath previously embedded granite.

Last stop before dropping back into farmland.

Magnificent river red gum on the outwash slope below the ranges.

Our route from right to left.

For more stories on this site about Mt Wombat and Garden Range – click here.

The Strathbogie Ranges CMN does not condone wilful trespass. Entering private property requires permission of the land owner. This walk passes through a nature reserve where all flora and fauna are protected and mineral fossicking is not permitted.

This walk is part of a project funded by the Victorian Government and the Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority