Shaz reports…

Shanti developed a limp during the week. Although he was mostly recovered by the weekend I took the opportunity to suggest our team do a route that has been on my wish list for a while - but one the isn’t dog-friendly. (Although based on on-the-ground evidence (aka DoC signage) once there it appears only to be a short access section over farm land that isn’t open to dogs…)

Anyway - we set off without dogs. We took elaborate steps, like collecting Mirjam down the road rather than from her house, not to upset Scruff - but that backfired when Mirjam realised she had forgotten her poles and had to return to fetch them.

Suffice it to say that Peak Hill is a popular day walk near Lake Coleridge. Despite warnings in other write-ups that the car park was easy to overlook, there was no chance of that for us. It was rather full - and the track was as busy as the full car park suggested - but the view was worth it.

We popped over the stile, walked along the fenceline on farm land, hopped over the second stile - and the ascent began in earnest. About 45 minutes later we popped out on the ridge to a decent view and picked the best spot, just off route, for a morning coffee break.

The group coming up behind us decided to stop and chat loudly for at least 10 mintues at the same spot. Talk about lack of respect for solitude and being out in nature - but that is the price of picking a popular trail on a weekend, I guess.

After they left we soaked in the view for a while longer and headed up the ridgeline to the summit to truly stunning 360 degree views.

After a lunch stop we had a quick debate and decided to attempt the old route back down - which is now unmarked.

Route reports had said it followed a fenceline - which it did. But finding the fenceline was initially a bit tricky. Fortunately the old route was on my InReach maps so it was easy enough to navigate along the mapped route until we found the fence.

From there the route followed the fence to a corner and then a second fenceline around the base of Peak Hill. The scenery to this side is nothing short of stunning and it is worth bashing through the bush and skirting barbed wire and possibly live fences for the view. It also turns a 6km walk into a 12km walk and the bonus is that nobody else was brave (or stupid) enough to return this way.

Above is some of the views going down. Double Hill, which we had done as part of the moutnain dog challenge is visible here. Below: Here we are dropping down the fenceline.

We were pretty pleased when we came to the corner and started the route around the base of Peak Hill. Nothing like being sure you’re on track and over the worst part (although not over the worst of the bush bashing).

The route reports we read had people heading to the road at various points and walking that back to the car park, with a mention of being scratched by the barbed wire fencing.

We were able to follow the fenceline all the way back to the stile. There were a few detours for puddles or where the path was too overgrown. Bulkier people would also find the gap between bush and fence a bit of a squeeze in quite a lot of places, but we mananged to stay along the fence and follow a semblance of a path.

Then over the two stiles and we were back at the car. Once at the car we watched a couple of walkers ignore the signs asking people to follow the fence on the farm land. They cut right across - probably totally oblivious that actions like that could, over time, ruin access to these areas for everyone.

Ah respect…