HELP!!! Western Victoria hints please!

there are heaps of places, Otways are nice, range of 4wding, Great ocean road and coastal areas right to the border are good, then in to the Grampians and Pyrenees, so much to choose from
nick

From all of the members here in Hamilton Vic welcome to our backyard . You will find plenty to see and do (hope you like dust;you will be able to souvenier plenty to take home inside your vehicle).Hope you enjoy your trip down from Brizvegas.

G'day Carlin, would be worthwhile to go to the westprint map site and ask there, I'm in Nhill between Big and Little deserts and water is practically non-existent there. Grampians are good, depends what you like to see, the temp. in 4 weeks time shouldn't be terribly hot anymore, but remember, Murphy's law applies at all times!! Good holidaying...

Great camps on the Murray at Hatta Kulkyne NP, between Robinvale and Mildura on the Vic side of the river.

You can do day drives to Pink Lakes in the Murray Sunset NP, Lindsay Is.

I was in Little Desert last December. The Wimmera River is dry, only a few pools in certain places. I camped at Horseshoe Bend and drove east to west across Little Desert in a day. Easily do it at leisurely speed in 8-10 hours.

The "eastern block" is the slowest and more difficult to navigate. Its quite sandy but just lower your tyre pressure to 20 odd PSI and you'll be fine in any half decent 4WD - patrol, cruiser etc. Probably be a little difficult to do in a "soft road" or SUV type of vehicle.

The terrain gets less difficult as you move into the "central block" and "western block".

The central and western blocks are more rocky surface and there is fields of "black-boys", don't know their politically correct name - but they look great. Emus a plenty also.

If you allowed a full day to traverse Little Desert you will see it fine but if you want to go on some of the nature walks etc, better add in an extra day.

Because you have young children with you and are alone be a little cautious about going too far out in the Big Desert area, it's remote enough that if things went wrong you could have issues.

I suggest you take a look at the Murrayville Track: it runs from Nhill to (wait for it...:) Murrayville and has a number of decent camping spots along it. There is a map called "Victoria's Outback" or similar which would be useful to you.

Also consider camp sites along the Murray River between Swan Hill and Mildura - there are plenty of them but try to choose those sites which are the maximum distance between towns.

Temperature in early April? Depends... if it's hot could touch 40C if it's cold might struggle for early 20s - best guess...? around 30C.

Mike Harding

Hello Carlin,

Everyone has given you lots of good info. I'd just like to agree with all the places mentioned and say that a trip that involved from the High Country to the Grampians, Mt Arapiles on to the Little Desert would be great.

I'd like to put in a suggestion of diverting around the dry lakes Hindmarsh and Albacutya....lots of good campsites around both lakes and at Albacutya there is a fun sand dune drive around the lake.

Wyperfeld NP would be a good day trip from Albacutya and then you could backtrack to the church at Pella, a beautiful old stone church with an historic pipe organ. From there a track leads out to the Milmed Rock Track and to the Murrayville Track. From there you're almost to the Pink Lakes and the Murray Sunset NP...a track leading to Hattah from the Murray Sunset, takes you out near the entrance to the Hattah Kulkyne NP and you can follow the Murray up to Red Cliffs and Mildura.

From there Mungo NP isn't very far and the Darling River roads would take you from Pooncarie, Menindie up to Bourke and then you could head eastward for Brisbane.

Whatever you do, I hope you enjoy every minute.

Best wishes,

Viv

Gaday Carlin. Map to buy is "Victoria's Deserts Touring Guide" & best book "Mallee Tracks". Together these give excellent detail on where to go & what to see that may be of interest to you.
My suggestion is to start at Hall Creek. Pick up a map at the local tourist information & spend 2 or 3 days in the Grampians depending on how much you like bush walking. Just a handfull of easy 4x4 tracks in the area. I wouldn't spend a great deal of time in the Little Desert as it's relitively featureless compared to further north. On the Murrayville track there is water available at Broken Bucket & Big Billy Bore both making good camps. Chinaman well track accross to the dry Lake Albacutya is interesting as is the drive around the outlet track to the Wonga Campground. This is National Park and has visitor facilities, walking trails etc for a small fee. The tracks via Lowan up to Eagle are sandy but not too difficult & lead to Pine Plains. Onto Wirrengren Plain you can spend a couple of days exploring the maze of tracks and lookouts including the "Snowdrift" dune. Up to Underbool and over the road into the Sunset Country depending on time you could go as far as Rocket Lake then back down to the unusual Pink Lakes. Cross the road again south another maze of slightly more challenging sandy tracks (not difficult) around White Springs & Big K Lookout. Head West to cactus Bore camping at one of the Gums then over to the Border Track. This is fairly challenging (not unlike a few dunes of the Simpson Desert) but has chicken routes on anything hard. Important to 1st check with SA Parks to ensure open. Unfortunately this track is only one way. (North/South)
Plenty of other options around this area as the Vic Desert map will show. Some of these tracks are getting into the slightly remote/rarely used catogory so the appropiate additional precautions are required when alone.
Temps on average from 8 at night to 28 during the day.
Heading North a camp on the Murray around Hattah is excellent but Mungo............well it's an aquired taste barely worth the trip out there IMHO.
Cheers Craig..............

But dont rely on finding water.

Take enough with you and then some! The Big Desert/Wyperfield is very remote. I was in Wyperfield in Dec and was 35C+. If something goes wrong you need to be self sufficient. Lots of water, tell people your plans, have a sat phone if you can.

In Wyperfield the Nat Parks guys monitor a UHF channel for emergencies. UHF 16 rings a bell but there's signs up near the visitor's centre to the park so check there.

Carlin, Nick R above said about the Pyrenees and I have to say it is a favourite that so few people get into. The tracks are close anough to any civilized place and are fun enough but safe too, taken with respect. Camp at Cameron's Track camp site or Waterfalls just 5 minutes from Avoca. Great district and wine industry for light relief to boot. Lovely area.