Cape Woolamai, Phillip Island, Victoria.

Take me to your leader.

The savvy reader will notice I've already written about Cape Woolamai on Phillip Island before. Look, I'll even show you where to find it. This post isn't about the walk though, as the loop over the highest point of Phillip Island is incidental. It's all about the weather!

Last week I was suffering from a meltdown due to the balmy autumn heat, but come Monday, what happened? Yes, glorious biting wind and heavy rain showers had me high-fiving myself in the mirror. I like Melbourne to have Melbourne weather, so winter is my favourite time. The only thing the place lacks is icebergs in the bay. How great would that be?

Anyway, the fickle weather contained the best combo for photography. Showers. A sky of grey is pretty plain to photograph, but if showers are rolling through it's a different story. At the last minute I decided to head to Phillip Island, as a coastal area is always my first choice once the weather turns. Cape Woolamai stood out as I knew what sort of clear views I'd have as I climbed the small peninsula.

So, there you have it. Within an hour or so I was donning a day pack and heading off towards the beach in my wet weather gear. The heavy showers around were encouraging...

...as I walked towards a rock feature called the 'Pinnacles', which stand alone next to the cliff-line. They were lit by the sun, as a rain cloud passed by.

I was still in sunshine, as I trudged along a narrow stretch of sand with high tide receding. What I noticed straight away though, was the amount of corpses on the beach. There's a colony of Short-tailed Shearwater birds on Cape Woolamai and I assumed these were the remains of a few who didn't make it.

I'm telling you, it wasn't one or two dotted on the beach, but hundreds. See all the black lumps in the next photo? They're nearly all individual birds.

It was a feathered graveyard, but that wasn't all. There was even a dead wallaby lying on the sand. I assume he'd fallen off the cliff above? Anyway, I guess there's always casualties of birds when they breed, but this was something I can't say I've seen before. Amongst the dead, juvenile Pacific Gulls wandered around...

...and horror of horrors, they were eating the dead birds. Cannibals!

Plodding along watching my step, the weather wasn't too bad, but potentially rain was to come when I glanced behind me.

I left the beach and began strolling the marked path which circles Cape Woolamai. A bit of sunshine broke through, as I continued the casual climb...

...but looking back where I'd walked indicated something was brewing. Talk about a photo exposure nightmare, with the bright reflections off the water and black clouds overhead.

It was quite windy and I was expecting some solid wave action at the Pinnacles. When I got there though, it was choppy, but not epic. Huh? Obviously the wind was coming from the wrong direction? This is a weather post anyway, so I concentrated on photos of the sky. Looking beyond the Pinnacles there were some nice clouds out to sea...

...combined with rain.

The initial part of this walk is very exposed and I was certainly feeling a bit of windchill. I couldn't even think of the last time I felt cold? A year ago?

I continued to climb, passing a lookout which gave a good view of two sea caves. I'd like to row a kayak into them for some exploring, but the trade off would probably be being torn into pieces as the waves dash me against the rocks? What a bummer.

On I climbed, whilst frequently looking behind me, as that's where the weather action was. The rays of light from Gnowee pierced the clouds.

So far I hadn't felt a drop of rain, even as I seemed to be surrounded by it. I must say though, I was feeling a little perturbed as the light faded dramatically due to a huge, black cloud slowly making it's way towards me. I reached the beacon indicating the highest point of Cape Woolamai and its most exposed point.

Finally I stopped for a breather. After a dry run, surely I wouldn't get soaked now, just as I reached the most exposed position of the place? I looked around and this was in the sky, with your humble narrator in its firing line.

Talk about an impressive sight. Clouds fascinate me and this pendulous beast was definitely an amazing sight, with the sun lighting the rain falling behind it and the dark mass slowly soaking up any light until it was almost dark. I couldn't have been at a better spot to capture it and it was something you'd expect a spaceship to come out of.

So, one of two things happened next. Can you guess what it was? Out of the cloud came this...

...or was it rain like this?

How did you go? Yes, unfortunately it was the latter.

Isn't it sad though, that it's not the former? As a lover of all things mythical, whilst crouched down under the soaking rain, I thought up a worthy scenario if a spaceship had flown out of that black mass and landed next to me. Remember my Beeripmo Walk post and how I'd treat a Yowie if I came across one? I don't like to discriminate, so any aliens would also cop the same treatment.

Just think of it though, as a lesson for any intergalactic traveller. Through my actions I could give the alien a, 'History of mankind in only ten seconds'. You know the drill.

Approaching the alien whilst moonwalking (popular culture) I'd reach out whilst smiling to shake hands (human interaction) but just as we do, I pull him towards me whilst clasping one hand on his shoulder (betrayal) and raise my knee at such a velocity, there's an audible crack as the sound barrier is broken (science) and is driven into the alien doodad (humour).

Whilst his eyeballs pop out of their sockets (cartoons) I then lift him above my head, pause for a second and scream, "Booyah bitchez!!" (language) (Is it possible to have some brackets after brackets? Anyway, remember, if you want to stay hip with the young kids, always replace 's' with a 'z'. You know, 'drugz', 'trollz' and 'potatoez'.)

Then bodyslam him to the ground (gravity) whilst combining an elbow drop (violence) and immediately slipping into a step-over toe-hold (wrestling). After he taps out, hop up and walk away whilst removing hiking wig and beard (subterfuge). If Gort strolls out to investigate, I'd stick to my lifelong work philosophy, 'Say nothing, deny everything, demand proof' (how to stay out of the shit). There you have it. The history of mankind in only four paragraphs.

Don't worry, there's no more mythical creatures to confront on hikes, so you're safe from me waffling about them. Not unless I go to Scotland and visit Loch Ness. Mm...

Whilst marooned next to the Cape Woolamai beacon, I'd stored the camera in a dry-bag and then hunkered down under my raincoat until the worst of the rain passed by. The cloud continued on, leaving a morsel of a rainbow behind it.

In its place was lovely sunshine and numerous cumulus clouds out at sea...

...and rays of sunlight over Woolamai beach.

Late afternoon was fast approaching, so it was time to head back down. I strolled down an inland track, passing numerous wallabies who always appear here as the light begins to fade.

I've done this walk twice before, but usually ignore a sign to an old quarry which lengthens the walk by a few kilometres and return straight to the carpark. Not on this occasion. It was time for something new, so I peeled off the main track and made my way down to Cleeland Bight where the old quarry is situated.

A short walk later and I was down on the sand and it's not a bad spot either. Pink granite was the aim of the quarry and remains of it sit on the beach.

This section of the cape was also protected from the wind, so I now had a comfortable walk on the sand for a few kilometres back to the carpark. Oh yeah, if you think of doing this walk, there doesn't seem to be much of a mention that this beach section can't be completed at high tide. I didn't know this and in sections there was only a narrow strip of wet sand to walk on, which happened to be soft as butter. Real boot sucking stuff.

Talk about a slow slog, but there were plenty of weather related delights to photograph. This rainbow was colourful...

...but no matter how much I tried, couldn't capture the entire thing in the frame. A 24 mm lens on a full frame camera just wasn't enough and it had me dreaming of something a little wider.

I continued on, passing trees sticking out of the sand which under the setting sun, made nice photo opportunities.

Strolling on, passing showers of light rain had me scrambling to protect my camera, but I still managed to get a few shots when I could.

After quite a slow struggle through that sand, I reached an inland track leading me back to my car. I was soon crossing Woolamai Beach Road with the sun set and rising sliver of moon in the sky. Actually, I was reading something the other day and this bloke was getting all poetic, but he kept calling it the 'slither of the moon'. Huh? Isn't that what snakes do?

Then I was back. A short walk of some pretty intense weather was completed. I took a couple of shots from the carpark of clouds out to sea off Woolamai beach.

That's it! Do you want the GPS route? There's not much in it, but here it is for you GPS addicts.



Is that it? No, don't be silly. I wasn't done for the day even though it was dark.

My latest project is night photos, as I want to perfect shots of stars. Man, talk about a steep learning curve and I haven't remotely got the sort of photos I can imagine in my brain! I've also found the sky is not really 'dark' at the locations I've gone to so far. There's so much light pollution, I'll have to head a lot further afield to do it properly.

I set the camera up on a cliff top on Phillip Island and attempted a few shots of the Milky Way which was directly above. Unfortunately clouds kept whizzing by...

...before I finally got a shot that was clear. You know what though? A photo of the Milky Way seems to look a lot better when there's a ground feature to make sense of the scale. Mm... Oh yeah, again there's the problem of a 24 mm lens not being wide enough, so in order to do it properly, I'm considering investing in something like a 14 mm prime. That's of course when the bank balance can budget such as a lens, as they're definitely pricey.

Anyway, on the night I couldn't do any better than this.

Oh well, this is a work in progress and soon I'll do a night shot post with all of my nocturnal trips put together. I took one last photo of Phillip Island with the light pollution shining and clouds drifting by.

Mount Alexander, Victoria

Langs Lookout, Mount Alexander

If you asked me four years ago where Mount Alexander was, I'd have directed you to the road with the same name which runs through Moonee Ponds. Don't forget though, I came from a background where all I believed a bloke needed in life was a fast car and hot chicken.

Anyway, once I realised it was an actual mountain, I'd been meaning to get up there and take a look. Even then it's taken me a couple of years to organise a day hike to the place, but once I did, I liked it so much I've been there twice. Once on a steaming hot summers day and the other last week on a balmy autumn day. In fact, the weather has been so mild in Melbourne I don't think there was much of a temperature difference between the two trips!

There were also a couple of things I missed on my first trip which left me keen for a second look. How about not even being on the actual summit? Huh? I assume when you climb a mountain and get to the top where lookouts and massive television towers are, that'd be the top? Umm... No, it's not. There was also an old granite cottage tucked away in the bush, which I'd missed on my first trip, so that was something which needed to be inspected.

So, what you'll find in this post is a combo of photos from both trips. The Parks Victoria map has the walks starting halfway up the mountain, but I followed the notes from 'Victoria's Goldfield Walks' which begins lower down at McQuillans Road.

This has been one hell of an overblown intro, but it's over and the walking has commenced. There's one noticeable thing about this area. It's dry as a chip and on both trips, there's not a lot which is green. Talk about a lack of rain. On that note, I noticed the long term forecast for the next three months is warmer than average. This isn't good for a bloke whose maximum output efficiency is achieved in temperatures below 15 °C. Anything over and you'll find me flaked out on the couch.

The start of the walk...

On the stroll up between the fences I did notice something of interest. A discarded skin lay among the grass which I assume was from a snake?

Following the skin sighting I was now watching every step through the grass, as the track headed uphill. As I've always said before, there aren't many walks where there's a casual intro. This was the same and the initial climb had me cursing I wasn't carrying a defibrillator with me. Then suddenly a structure appeared, which had been delivered by the hiking gods. A chair.

I collapsed onto the seat and noted two things. My heart was racing so fast I couldn't keep count of the beats and the view is fantastic. In fact, the vista is so good, it took my mind off an impending stroke.

Chair view.

There's a lot of walking to come, so I couldn't stay seated for too long. The track winds it's way up, passing some nice, curved bark trees...

...before reaching a spot called 'Dog Rocks'. As you can probably guess, there's lots of rocks here. Not just any rocks though, but massive ones...

It's a great spot and judging by the remains of the odd fireplace, other people think so as well. Camping amongst these huge rocks would be quite an enjoyable night out, but there's no water here. Actually, is there any water any where lately?

The odd tree has had to grow around these boulders...

One can't stop though, as the fearsomely named 'West Ridge Walking Track' has to be tackled. I'm not really sure what happened next, as it's only 2.7 km from Dog Rocks to the top of Mount Alexander, but it took me decades to walk that piddly distance. It's uphill, but I think the undulating terrain weaving up amongst rocks was the cause of my sloth-like speed. It has plenty of sights though and incongruously, tree ferns appear in this parched landscape.

The hillside is also steep at times...

...but, it's not always nature along here. I spotted a 'ye olde' steel tin lying amongst the grass. Was it a relic from the days of the goldrush in the surrounding area? I couldn't really tell though, as upon closer inspection it was full of bullet holes...

Oh well, you can't have it all. There were plenty of fallen trees around which always look nice under filtered sunlight.

On my summer trip I stumbled across an echidna at the side of the track, but unfortunately didn't spot him until the last minute, so my biblically loud foot-stomps had him burying himself as I arrived. His face was well hidden for protection.

Armour deployed.

The track continued up, passing the boulders of 'Scorpion Rocks'...

...before the landscape opened out near the top. There's one thing about this park though, which shows Parks Victoria don't have two cents to rub together. This obliterated sign was untouched on both trips and I'm pretty sure it'll remain this way for the next 200 years. Yes, 200.

I could hear the buzzing sound of a generator, so I knew the top was close. Unfortunately this is another mountain covered in enormous masts. I've no idea what they service, but no doubt it's for something important?

Anyway, stumbling onto flat ground at last, I located 'Langs Lookout' via guess work...

... and descended to the large flat rocks for a much needed rest. It's not a bad spot for a breather either.

On both occasions, I spent well over half an hour lying on warm rocks, with the wonderful thought it's all downhill from here.

Well, maybe. After leaving the lookout, my walking notes throw in a tricky doosra. The descent veers off the Joseph Young Drive which leads to the top of the mountain and instead plummets down the 'Goldfields Track' for a while. This is nice, but the catch is after steeply descending, it rises back up an old 4WD track to the road again. On my summer jaunt, I followed this method and found myself almost vomiting from the sudden drop in height, which is then regained in about ten feet. I didn't really find much to look at either. Unless you're into shotgun shells...

This also created a reason for the second visit. I hadn't been to the top of Mount Alexander at all. I assumed by getting to Langs Lookout I'd summited, but the highest point is actually next to the road a short distance away. I'm not going though horror without bagging the summit, so the autumn tilt had me avoiding the 'Goldfields Track' and instead following the road down.

It's far nicer walking for the lungs as well, and as road bashes go, it's not bad. On both occasions I barely saw a car, so it's quite comfortable, but best of all, it's downhill! Actually, the summit was insanely easy to reach, as it's right next to the road. The sign indicates the lofty heights I was standing at...

...and a short distance away is the summit cairn, which is a peculiar beast. Part chimney looking and part something, the peak was successfully bagged.

Mt Alexander summit cairn.

With one of the attractions I missed out on in the first trip completed, I continued down the road. There's plenty of curves for photo opportunities...

...the odd feather...

...and friendly wallabies who wave as you pass by.

"Hi!"

Next up was the old granite cottage. On the summer visit I was intending to track it down, but found myself thoroughly wrecked from the heat, so abandoned the idea. The ruins sit off the road and tracks, so a bit of work is required to find it. For some reason it's not even mentioned on the Parks Victoria blurb for the area...?

Anyway, after descending I headed off the road at a point where I thought it was nearby. It was actually quite easy to find, as it appeared through the trees...

'Daywalks Around Melbourne' by Glenn 'Guru of Good Times' Tempest, has this particular walk described as well. The book is over eight years old though, so a trip down to the cottage is not included in his GPS route for the walk. I guess it's because the ruins sit near an old track which although marked on the Parks Victoria map, appears to have vanished? What confused me more was earlier in the day I walked on the west side of the mountain on West Ridge Walking Track. Now on the east side there's the track which has now vanished and it's also called the West Ridge Walking Track. Mm... Tricky.

Anyway, I looked online and couldn't find anything about this building other than what's in GT's book which he describes as,

"...remains of a silk factory belonging to a Bladen Neill. It was started in 1873 with the intention of employing local women, but the enterprise closed in 1877..."

So, that's as much as what I know about the place. All I can say is it's kind of tiny for a 'factory'. It was late in the day on my autumn trip, so the low sun was creating a nice golden glow through the old window...

I'm not sure what made it collapse over the years, but I assume it was cannibalized at some point?

A number of old red bricks also lie around the area. Do you realise in my running days I'd go for runs with half a brick in each hand? That sure was a crowd pleaser in the places I used to go running, as I took the 'running wanker' to extremes. Anyway, holding this brick up took me back to those supremely fit days...

With one last shot taken from the other side of the window, I left leaving the ruins behind...

...and made my way back to the road and track which joins up with the trail I'd followed earlier in the day. Light was really fading now, as I reached the chair from the hiking gods. A blazing red sky...

...had me wanting to wait until the sun vanished though...

...just so I could get some photos of the afterglow in the sky...

...and the clouds around.

The only trouble was it was almost dark and I was still half-way up the mountain. Luckily with about half an hour of light left I zipped down the hillside. If you look at the GPS route later though, you'll notice I took a wrong turn on both occasions I descended. The track is not clear in places, but the direction is, so getting down isn't a problem.

In autumn I reached the car in almost complete darkness. How about summer though? Oh yeah, it was a complete difference. The sun was still blazing as I passed this old tree...

...and guitar. Guitar? Yes, of course, a guitar...

I find some crap on walks, but I can't say I've seen any musical instruments before.

In autumn I drove away with the headlights on, but in summer I motored on with the smell of smoke in the air. Smelling smoke in summer whilst out bush is a hikers nightmare, but even in the car it was disconcerting, especially as it seemed to be getting stronger.

I dropped my speed and as I climbed a hill the sky was full of smoke. A grass fire was speeding across the paddocks next to me...

...and sirens of the fire brigade were ringing from all directions. I found out later this fire was accidently started by a local using some machinery. The flames were heading away from me, but it was amazing how fast they were moving...

It reached the nearby Calder Highway, but I don't think it jumped the road.

Since the Black Saturday bushfires, I try to avoid hiking on a hot, windy day, as this little grass fire reinforced. Flames being fanned move insanely quick, so I don't want to be anywhere near them. Not unless you want a new blog, 'Burnt Ass Fiasco' to start up?

That's it then. In GPS terms, you get a 'two for one' offer. Here's the first trip...



...and here's the second...



You can see in the second trip the variation where I trundled down to the cottage ruins. It also shows why this walk is a little painful in spots. 663 metres in climbing for the day is enough to get the heart rate up a little, but it's a great walk. It's so good, I've done it twice!

If you ask me now where Mount Alexander is, no longer will I direct you to Moonee Ponds, but instead to just outside Castlemaine. I suppose I should leave with another sunset photo...?