There are many impressive locations in Gippsland, and with Ben Cruachan Walking Club members hailing from many regions within Gippsland, a recent trip to Wingan Inlet was a great success.
Having booked the free campsites, hikers stayed Friday and Saturday, and due to impending rain left on Sunday.
The campground is well maintained, with toilets, shared campfire areas and creek
water gushing from a constructed wooden trough.
Wingan Inlet is situated in Croajingalong National Park and is one of Victoria’s largest and most diverse coastal parks.
Together with Cape Conran Coastal Park to the west and Nadgee Nature Reserve (NSW) to the east, they form the largest continuous coastal protected area on the south eastern Australian mainland. It is home to a vast array of native plants and animals, many of which are rare and threatened in Victoria.
The Wilderness Coast Walk is 100kms stretching from Bemm River to Mallacoota.
On Saturday the group walked part of the track from Wingan to Petrel Point Beach.
Friday night brought a cacophony of sound from nocturnal creatures.
Some of the group could identify, bats and possums, some sounded like cattle mooing but they later realised it was the barking of seals out on the Skerries.
Below is a report from the two days of hiking.
Day 1 – The group set off at 8.30am to follow the Wilderness Coast walk to Petrel Point Beach.
They started their walk on the Fly Cove Walking Track which leads from the Wingan day visitor area. It is 1.5 kms to Fly Cove along boardwalks that follow the edge of the inlet and pass through paperbark forest.
The track ends at the ocean beach with views of the Skerries and its loud and substantial seal population.
They headed west over Rame Head and took a diversion to the Rame Head trig point which was well worth the steep sandy scramble. They stopped for morning tea and enjoyed expansive views to Point Hicks, Thurra and Petrel beach.
The wooden stairs were destroyed in the fires, but the chain remains which was useful for some of the group to haul themselves up.
The Wilderness Trail continues on heavily vegetated dunes (although the upper storey has not recovered from the fires in the more exposed sites) to Petrel Beach for lunch and a swim for some. It was pretty hot by the return trip and they all jumped in for a swim on return to camp. One hiker enjoyed a kayak in the still, peaceful water.
All up it was 15.5 kms for those who walked all the way to the end of the beach and 14.5 kms for the rest of the group.
They saw dolphins, a seal surfing the waves, a sea eagle and a tiger snake.
Day 2 – Six of the walking group took a trip to Elusive lake, five kilometres return.
The walk commences at the small carpark on the West Wingan Road, three kilometres from the campground and meanders through eucalypt forest burnt in the Black Summer Bushfires.
It ends at a white, sandy beach, difficult to traverse due to fallen dead trees.
Up to 21 metres deep, Lake Elusive is the deepest dune blocked coastal lake in Victoria. It was still, quiet and felt like no one had ever been there before. Well worth the steepish track down.
Ben Cruachan Walking Club invites those interested in checking out the club to look at the Upcoming Walks section on their website. Guest walkers are always welcome.
