I’ve just added a new trip report from our journey through the Little River Gorge in East Gippsland. Not quite canyoning and not quick bush walking. Maybe we need a new hybrid canyon walking or something like that. Anyway check it out here.
Little River Gorge trip notes
Posted by 
Mick Beckers 
Re your Southwest cape walk – Do you have to boil the water? And are the hill references their height? How do you get these? (are they marked on a map, or from a GPS device?)
Cheers
Hi Rod, thanks for the interest in my trip notes. Well done if you read through the whole southwest cape right up because it fairly long. The Southwest cape bushwalk is awesome and will not disappoint. The water was mostly fine to drink straight up and we didn’t treat it. The area is remote and not visited by huge crowds. Some water holes we did treat, particularly standing pools. And we did have to walk inland a bit near the estuaries to find water that wasn’t salty. I’ve referred to unnamed hills by their heights as indicated on the 1:25000 scale maps that the Tas government publishes. Cheers. Mick
Thanks mate! : )
Yeah I read the lot! Was good value. My dream is to get down to the south west one day..
Are those topo maps alone sufficient for navigation (no need for GPS)?
The topos are great and with a compass will get you through the area no worries. Grab the topos and track the route through on google earth. The patches of veg are fairly distinct on google earth and it’s easy to match the topo features to the satellite view and find the gaps between patches of scrub. While there is no marked or managed track to speak of, there is a faint foot pad for most of the route. Bits of the foot pad can be seen on google earth. We did take a gps as back up but only used it in a couple spots between Murgab Creek and Window Pane Bay. A gps would come in handy when crossing the west cape range which is notorious for getting fogged in, making it difficult to pick the features to aim for with a compass, but with that said, stick to the high ground and you can’t go too wrong. A gps is a good tool but I wouldn’t rely on it. Hope that helps.
Thanks Mick
Can you access google earth on the walk itself? I would’ve thought no coverage. Or you mean check it out before you go?
Cheers
Rod
Absolutely no coverage! The nearest phone is the ranger station at Melaleuca. I’ve just emailed you some google earth data.
Sorry, yep, check it out before you go.
Thanks so much!
Don’t know when I’ll get there, but definitly one day!!
Sent from my iPhone
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