Nolan Creek Circuit

Nolan Creek Circuit - 12 Kms

March 11, 2021

U3A Hike No 141

Hike Report by Ian E

Gordon’s introductory notes for the Nolan Creek Circuit walk, ‘This walk is in a remote location deep in the Wombat State Forest’, sounded somewhat ominous when combined with his advice that ‘The walk is hilly and includes the highest point in the Wombat SF, 250m above the level of the starting point’. It turned out that the ‘remoteness’ of Nolan Creek was one of its bonuses, with a mixture of high dry forests and shaded valleys with tree ferns and, throughout, an abundance of towering eucalypts.

Although there were plenty of hills right from the start as we ascended the Nolan Ridge Track, which was also named the Nolan Valley Track at the top end (I guess it depends which way you’re going), there were also some nice downhill and relatively level stretches later on. All of the walk was on bush tracks/roads of fairly good condition, but quite rocky in some places on the steeper sections.

The undergrowth in the dry forests was mostly sparse as there had been fires in recent years, much like on some of our other recent walks. There was a mixture of bracken fern, some sort of prickly acacia that was adorned with an orange-coloured lichen over large areas (please note, I’m not a botanist, so don’t quote me) and areas with small shrub-sized banksia with new flowers in their characteristic lemon-yellow. There weren’t a lot of other flowers to be seen, but I think everyone was impressed by some magnificent orange fungi growing in layers at the base of a large tree. Mark, where were you?

About a third of the way into the walk we came to the turn off to Mountain View Track which we had passed on the drive in, and this provided an opportunity for another hill climb. As we only had eight walkers on the trip, Ken was excused from his usual role as whip and took advantage of this by leading the way on the climb as everyone else took it easy, to the extent that we had to call out to him to slow down and stop for morning tea.

After our break we got onto Pumphouse Track and enjoyed a pleasant gradient for a while and even some downhill. I think this part of the walk had some of the largest trees, including the remnants of one which had a circumference of around four metres. We also passed the twin chimneys remaining at ‘Balts Camp’. Gordon informed the group that the Balts or Refos, as they were known at the time, were some of Australia’s early, Baltic, immigrants and were employed in these timber milling areas as part of the deal for coming to Australia. If you want to see the chimneys, without the walk, I understand that they feature on our website.

Once back at the start at Nolan/s Creek picnic ground we had the obligatory coffee/tea and lunch in very pleasant surroundings with beautiful bird calls in the background (perhaps Whipbirds, definitely a couple of Kookaburras and maybe even some Silvereyes flitting about). The stream close-by provides a wonderful environment for them to thrive.

As we still had plenty of time after our cuppa and bite to eat, we did an extra 300 metre loop to the Pioneer Sawmilling Camp in the Creek valley and saw a large trench where they used to cut logs using a cross-cut saw, one person on top, and one down below. I think the person down below must have gotten the ‘short straw’ as well as plenty of sawdust in their eyes! There was also a large pile of saw dust from when things became more mechanised, but apparently they still had a boy who used to cart the sawdust to the pile in a wheelbarrow. A sign also warned of ancient pit toilets in the area and the dangers of falling in...

All up we walked around 12 kilometres, including the loop, in around four hours for those who like the stats.

Many thanks to Gordon for a lovely Autumn walk in a beautiful part of the Wombat Forest. It would seem that there is lots of potential for more walks in this area.