Unfortunately  with a busy life, sometimes Hike Australia like most hobbies, gets prioritised down the list somewhat. I haven’t even been on an overnight hike in 5 months, Heck I haven’t gone bush in two! Its been a busy year, with our new puppy Lilly monopolising afternoons for walks and training. On top of that, those who know me well enough know that I’ve got other things monopolising nearly every weekend that I have available and that takes a lot of time away that I would normally dedicate to this site and  outdoors in general. It feels like only a couple of days ago that I published the Airspresso article. I have had tried to put aside time to do a video on the Airspresso working but there seems to be something that pops up just as I get the time!

With these things in mind, I would really like to ask for some of you out there who read this site, to put forward a suggestion on an article. If I think we can make it work on Hike Australia, I’d like to publish it here, along with some background on you and where you come from.

If you are interested in publishing an article here, please email me on ben(at)hike-australia.com with Your name, your website (if you have one) and  a brief overview of what you would like to write about pertaining to outdoors.

The first impression I had upon opening the box and getting the machine out was the sheer workmanship and quality of the device. I find that usually hiking coffee machines fit into one of three categories, finicky and lightweight, heavy and robust or the third sad lonely category: make a terrible coffee (think coffee bags or instant). I must stress here , if you don’t care about “terrible” coffee, go buy your Nescafe international roast dry freeze and take a hike. So glad I finally got to make that joke, I have been sitting on that since I started the site.

Nice round 250g

How it works:

The Airspresso works using the extraction style that is pretty much the same as most coffee machines, with a twist. Basically you load the base with coffee and tamp, screw into the main body and fill with boiling water to the water line. Once the Airspresso is assembled, you use a bike tyre pump to pressurise the air pocket above the water, which starts the extraction process. The tiny holes made in the main body of the machine allow for consistent pressure across the whole puck which leads to an even extraction.

Airspresso state that by suing hot water rather than steam, many of the bitter extracts that are flushed out of the grind and into the coffee are left behind, which results in a better sweeter Crema.

Something you might have picked up on is that you will need a bike pump to work the machine, yes; this is true, but don’t worry they have thought of that too.

Weight:

It was much to my surprise that the Airspresso looks, feels and is sturdy, but weighs in at a nice round 250 grams. For those really worried about weight, you can also ditch the tamp and use your thumbs, a spoon or another flat object you have with you. This will bring the weight down a further 59g to 191 grams. You’re going to need that bike pump too, and Airspresso have two lightweight different ones that do the job, the one im using is the slightly heavier one but at 89g its hardly your biggest worry! So, with a total weight of just on 330g, I think you’ll agree its very reasonable.

Full kit and caboodle incl pump and tamp

Durability / Quality

For what it weighs, the Airspresso is incredibly sturdy and feels like proper machine. When compared with my 200 grams GSI Espresso maker, which fits in the light and flimsy category, it feels bomb-proof. The Airspresso is made of machined and anodized aluminums with a heat resistant medical grade plastic used for the middle. While it is heat resistant after making the third coffee in a row on the machine, i did use a tea-towel to hold the plastic centre as it did get quite hot. On the whole, It feels very solid and I get the distinct feeling that even if you were to use this regularly, you will have it for a very long time.

The quality of the workmanship is impeccable, its Australian made which is always a nice bonus and you can buy all the parts to replace lost or damaged components should it come to that.

The valve the pump screws into is a standard Presta valve, like the kind you would see on most bikes in a tour de France. The distinct advantage to these over a Schrader is the fact you can field service the valve, which means you’ll not be without coffee if you are unlucky enough to drop it in the dirt. They’re also bog standard so you can buy one at a bike shop if you break it.

Bare minimum to make the machine work (no coffee and water though)

Coffee quality

Cracking! If I had to give the Airspresso a 1 – 10 rating, and 1 was a bad instant coffee and 10 was an award winning coffee in Melbourne CBD, I’d comfortably give it a 7, on par with most good home coffee machines. You can enjoy a nice crema, and its consistent. One of the biggest challenges I have with the GSI is the inconsistency of the coffee, there are so many variables that come in to play when you’re in the bush with a steam driven machine like the GSI or any percolated coffee pot for that matter. I was able to make more than 10 consistently good coffees on recent trips without messing a single up. Call me whatever you like but this tells me its idiot proof, and I’m a fussy guy that pours at least one coffee down the sink in a week because I’ve messed it up on my machine at home and I make 10+ coffees a week on that thing!

Ease of cleaning and Water efficiency:

The coffee basket is machined and annodised aluminum, the coffee comes out easily and rinses even more easily, the top cap is the same so no worries there. The White medical grade plastic however did get dirty after my weekend away, and I think its just going to be a fact-of-life that the white plastic gets a bit brown and stained, personally I really couldn’t care less.

In terms of water efficiency, apart from the very little bit you lose when boiling the water, and the couple of mls that are left in the puck, you will get every drop back as coffee. Rinsing wise if you were really pressed for water, I think wiping down with a dry cloth would work fine.

Time to Coffee

Time to coffee; from start to finish for a single coffee, see the video link here on Hike Australia – in the next few days. This shows the whole process from taking the machine out of its case, preparing and finally the coffee itself. I think you’ll find the longest wait will be the water boiling. Until then, you can see the step by step at the bottom of this article!

I would like to add to this, that due to the way the coffee machine works, if you’re aiming to make more than a single cup the Airspresso gets more and more ahead of percolator style coffee and you can boil the water all at once and line up coffees to be made quickly.

Cost / Replacement parts:

This is the only real stumbling step I had with the Airspresso and its not a huge one; The price, compared with something like the GSI which costs roughly $50; the Airspresso clocks in at a $139 for the basic package, up to $199 for the full RRP kit and caboodle, and both packages still require a bike pump for somewhere between $28 and $39.  However, due to the amount of cash that people like me spend on hiking equipment I just don’t think its that much of a difference, especially over the life of the gear ,to complain about. This comes down the age old “You get what you pay for”.

Once you have the kit, you probably wont ever need a new one; in fact your kids might even end up fighting over it. Ther are a few replacement parts, With replacement O rings coming in at a whopping $2 for two and the Presta valve at $6.

You can find all the info required on the Airspresso page.

In Conclusion

While the cost for the Airspresso is more expensive than many of the options out there, I suggest that you do not discount it on this alone. We in the hiking world regularly spend the extra dough to get the highest quality and I think that it is definitely worth thinking about doing in this case.

My feelings are that the Airspresso is a long term investment for a coffee lover that wants to have consistently good coffee in the bush. It is relatively lightweight, very compact and sturdy. This feels like a piece of equipment that you will have long after your down sleeping bag, brand new ultra lightweight tent and titanium spork have all been retired.

See below for a step by step process

Putting coffee in the Airpsresso basket

Tamping the coffee down

Always very important to not over-tamp the coffee

screw the base into the assembly

Pouring boiling water into airspresso

Maker sure that you have the Presta valve round the right way!

Pump the coffee!

Airpresto! Coffee-de-jour

Thankyou for taking the time to read the review! If you have any questions you can contact me by email or by commenting in the section below!

Taking Lilly for a walk at Wombat State forest

With Lilly’s young age and puppy behaviour, we didn’t really want to go on a very long hike, but we both felt it was important to get her out in the bush, experiencing and being trained in an environment that she isn’t used to so that as she grows, she will be capable of dealing with more camping and hiking, which is an integral part of our life.  This decision led me to do some more investigation into dog friendly camping areas, which are typically locations that I haven’t spent much time around in the past. That leads me to Carrolls Spring in the Wombat State forest.

Carrolls spring isn’t anywhere as near as beautiful as many of the campsites I have stayed in over the years, although I’ve stayed at worse! I think that when you’re staying at Wombat, you’re there for a purpose other than just camping. The site is spread around a large open field that has several 4WD tracks running through it and I think that this is where Wombat State forest would shine. The park appears to be covered in 4wd tracks that criss cross the map, there are huge muddy areas, river crossings and roads leading all over the place. I have absolutely no doubt that if you’re into 4wd this would be a fantastic location for a trip, as Wombat is only about an hour and twenty minutes out of Melbourne.

Lilly laps up some water at the river near Carrolls track

The site is a DSE managed location, so you can enjoy no park fees, limited access to firewood and the ability to camp pretty much anywhere within reason. There is water down hill from the site, presumably it is Carroll’s Spring, but good luck if you decide to drink it. I had a look, it is a treatment only kind of pond, it would highly recommend bringing your own water. The Spring itself is actually looks like it would be very slow to replenish, so you might find that if you do decide to use the water, you might have to wait at intervals to re-fill.

A small walking track near Carrolls spring

The nearest towns to the site is Daylesford, so if you’re rained out and a lot further from home than I am when camping there, you’re in Spa country and could easily enjoy a retreat from the rain at one of the many places in the area. There is also a track that runs along the river, but because we had Lilly we only walked a very small 4km return section.

Any questions about the location, let me know.

The third and final day in which we would would both walk the longest distance we have ever covered by foot in a single day, a whopping 22km over Sand and rock crossings, and it was good if quite tiring.

If you haven’t read the preceding two days, I suggest you start here

The final day in my opinion was not as difficult as Day two. The toughest of the rock crossings had been completed, and Wingan campground through to Thurra river, is pretty much all flat, although its a very large amount of walking on Sand. After waking in the morning I was sure that I was going to find it hard to move; incredibly it seemed that those golden dumplings and some kind of magical restorative properties, because I actually felt good. (Could be all that exercise I had been doing?) Heading out along the board walks, we were delighted to experience the walk back to the beach in daylight with Morale at a new high. I was unable to secure any spare batteries for my GPS so unfortunately again the GPS was not going to be much help. I did however have the foresight to bring my phone along with me, (yeah, yeah, I’m one of those people that carry their phones hiking. You just never know when you might need it! #caseandpoint!?) I turned off all non-essential features and ran Runkeeper for the entirety of the day. So with that in mind I was able to provide you with start and end points for each day, and only had to reconstruct one day worth of GPS info.

I strike a dashing pose

Rame head; you don't look so bad from this angle...

 The first 10 Kilometres are actually quite easy although you will spend some time fighting with the bushland along the track over Rame head. Unfortunately the bush has reclaimed large portions of the track here too, meaning that you have to be especially careful to keep an eye on where you are waking. Even with the over grown track, Liz and I managed to chew through the first 6.5km before lunch, enjoying the sight of stretching beaches in the distance. We quickly ducked behind a dune to eat and avoid being blustered and battered by the wind for the next 20 minutes while we scoffed down our Nasi Goreng.

A trail marker at the point that rame head track meets the beach

After lunch, we started along the beach depicted above and below, this would be our entire world for the next few hours. Depending on your constitution, this component of the walk could require lots of rests. We found that we suffered from an attrition to our speed over the walk until we were walking almost as slow as 2km an hour on flat sand. I would say that it is very important on the sand to have regular rests and you won’t know you’re knackered till you stop.

Sand in-front, Sand behind, sand on my behind.

The beaches along the coast here seem to stretch on forever, it does tend to play with your head a little, by roughly mid-day we could see our final destination, this was a blessing and curse, we knew where we were headed, and could see the land we needed to cover, but it did feel at times like we were basically not moving. The day itself is a great test of your mental and physical fortitude, and asks a lot of the hiker. There is a heavy going component of rock crossings for about 2km at 10km into the day (i.e. Km #11 and 12 are rock crossings), this precedes the longest stretch of beach I have ever walked (something like 12km of unbroken sand.) with a full pack.

Me: "It doesn't look that far away..." Liz: "what doesn't?"; Me: "The lighthouse, see that spec in the distance?" Liz: "..."

There are several dunes that split stretches of the beach. They are also the only thing that lets you know you're actually going anywhere.

There are some incredible views each time you hit a new beach, with each dune opening up a new angle as you walk along the semicircular bay.

Back toward Wingan

The claw prints of a very large seabird!

As we closed with Thurra, we realised we hadn’t taken many photos all day, I took a few just before we walked back into thurra camp, but what you see above is the majority of the photos taken that day. We saw some incredible vistas and some huge Sea birds as well as quite a few dingo tracks, though no actual dingoes .

Toward Point Hicks lighthouse at Sunset, taken at the mouth of Thurra River

We came into camp around 8:30pm on that day, as the sun was setting, within an hour we were chowing down on a very tasty roast, Thanks Mum and Dad for that one epic foresight!

This was an excellent hike and a fantastic experience for me, I haven’t done much coastal hiking, but let me tell you; when its 35+ degrees and you’re walking along the beach in full sun, it certainly doesn’t hurt to have a sea breeze. I will be doing more coastal hikes, with the Great south western walk next on the agenda I think!  I hope that you have enjoyed reading this, taken something from it and maybe if I am really lucky, you will be inspired to do it yourself and share it with us here!

I would like to finish by saying, if you have any questions, please let me know via email or in the comments, I try to respond almost immediately which I can usually do; and will definitely do it within days. (Unless I’m out hiking!).

If you haven’t read the preceding day, I suggest you start here

Waking up early, we were on the way after a quick brekky; no time to mess about, we wanted to make sure that we made it to Wingan Inlet before sunset. After the first day, and the incredible speed in which we tracked across the terrain, I was quite confident that we would be able to get to Wingan in good time. Hopefully if everything went well we could be at Wingan by 6pm. That was the plan anyway, unfortunately the thought ” how long could 14km take us anyway?” was quite far off the mark. Firstly it was actually 16km, contrary to the map, I suspect that the discrepancy comes from the fact that the 14km is to the actual inlet, whereas there is roughly 2km in from the beach to the actual site. This meant an additional 2km to the quoted distances on both days 2 and 3. Although I had no idea about this until we arrived at Wingan Inlet.

Thats me, with Sandpatch point in the background

Secondly I haven’t done many coastal rock-crossings as tough as the ones that were in store for Day 2 of our hike. Benedore river to Wingan inlet ended up taking us approximately 10 hours; unfortunately when re-packing my bag at Thurra river before leaving, I checked I checked I had spare batteries for my GPS, why unfortunate? because I put them on the table instead of back in my bag. Early in Day 2 my GPS died, so we don’t have real GPS data for that day, except for the start and end points. (ill explain how I did day 3 later!)

Now, I know that 10 hours seems like a long time to complete a 16km hike, but wait until you try and do rock crossings like the ones below; then you will start to understand. They are slow going, especially with large packs, and on Day 2, there are a few kms of crossings. Again, I’m going on what I remember rather than GPS facts as I missed out on the data for this day. (Frustrating!!)

Its definitely worth noting that just after crossing the first beach out of Benelong, there are some stairs up to the Sandpatch track. Just near those stairs is access to a small spring. As with all natural water, its no doubt transient, but we hadn’t had any rain for a while, and it had been blisteringly hot. So the fact there was water there is definitely a good sign. This would be a good place to fill up if you were so-inclined.

The Stairs at the start of Sandpatch Wilderness track, and the small spring in the background

Be careful, Snakes love to hang out near water on hot days. A group we were talking to ran into a Tiger snake right here

Sandpatch point has a great feel, and is relatively easily to traverse which was a definite blessing. There are open areas along the bluffs that are similar to the ones near Seal Cove but also some great enclosed areas with heavy tea tree and gums. One bummer is that quite a few parts of the track on day 2 are quite grown over, this is probably due to the fact a lot less people walk this component of the track, but also might be a bit of neglect from Parks Victoria. In particular the Easby and Sandpatch tracks were quite dense is parts. Its probably worth noting that these two tracks are most of the walking you will do on day 2 thats not beach or rock crossings.

The track along Sandpatch Point; Its not that bad, but it got a lot more dense than depicted here!

Once you’re along the Sandpatch track, there are a few parts where you’ll have to go slow to figure out exactly where the track is heading, the track does a few strange turns due to fallen trees and heavily overgrown track forcing people to walk around obstacles. The best thing to do along here is just make sure you’re aware of where you need to be going. There are a few splits in the track, but they are all well marked. Make sure that you know what the next river or campsite is so that you’re always heading in the right direction. Most of the Sandpatch track is far enough back from the point that you won’t see much of the coast until you are almost on-top of Red river, which is when you will get this view.

No prizes for figuring out why its called "Red River"

From there its a matter of going up and down a few dunes and coming out just east of the mouth of the river. It was closed while we were there, but there is always the potential that any of these rivers can be open and feeding into the ocean. If thats the case, you’ll find its most likely no more than knee deep, so its just a matter of being smart about where you cross and you’ll be on your way before you know it. Red river has another set of campsites, if you are spacing these differently to how we did, you can potentially stop here and camp. The site is nice, and I have no doubt that the water would be fresh enough to drink if you head a kilometre or two upriver. My caveat here is that you should still make sure you’re prepared for the possibility that the water is too brackish to drink or cook with. I recommend having at least a day of spare water at any time. (I carried the water for the whole three days to be sure).

From red river, its another beach crossing to Easby creek, potentially another crossing here, again it was closed when we arrived but there is no guarantee. Finally after crossing Easby you head up the easby track. The track was unnervingly hard to find, a few times I thought that I might have over-shot the track access, which wouldn’t have been ideal but eventually we found the Totem Pole sticking out of the beach. The Pole is basically a treated pine pole about 3 meters tall which stands out of the scrub. It has an orange reflector on it so it should be pretty easy to spot once you are in line of sight. You can cross along the rocks again from Easby to Wingan, but I suspect this will take you a lot longer  and may even be further. Ill make note again that the easby track was in relatively poor condition with a lot of over-grown spots where it was hard to even see where we were putting our feet. It wasn’t that hard going, but I would be aware of critters on the track.

I have absolutely no idea how Liz spotted this amazing leaf

Once you finish the easby track, you’ll be standing on the bank of the Wingan Inlet, most people we know of flag down a boat if they can. There is nearly always people out on the inlet so catching a lift into Wingan might be on the cards if you’re lucky enough. We however weren’t. The wingan inlet, unlike all the other crossings doesn’t close. Its a lot larger and considerably deeper, this being said it can still be traversed by well prepared people. So, 14KM into our hike, and as the sun was beginning to set, Liz and I prepared to cross Wingan Inlet. We’re both strong swimmers, and I strongly suggest that if you’re going to try crossing, you are too. While your feet will be on the ground, there is quite a strong current (especially around the late afternoon when you will arrive) and it would easily be possible for somebody to be swept out toward the sea.

It got deeper than this, roughly arm-pit depth for me and oh-my-goodness it was cold!

The Wingan Inlet boardwalk (taken in daylight)

After crossing Wingan Inlet, we head along the beach to the access trail which goes the 2km along the western side of the Inlet up to the campsite. This final two kilometres is not too bad, its almost flat and in parts its actually board walk. So put your poles on your pack and trudge the final stretch to the campsites. The overnight campers sites are right at the far end of the campground so follow the track right down to near the jetty and you’ll find the overnight campground. Its spacious which allows for some room, but its not very private and is shared with car-campers.  There used to be a small seepage which filled a cradle with water near the over-night camping but this has dried up in recent years, so be aware that filling up here might not be possible and don’t rely on it unless you’ve checked with Parks or the host on site and they have assured you of water.

When you arrive at Wingan make sure to have a chat with the camp host, they will ask about wildlife you have seen recently and where it was, so try to keep an eye out and remember where you saw it. This is important as there are a few marsupials that appear to be returning to the Wingan area, which could be great news. Apparently, I spotted one such creature, though its name now escapes me it was some kind of marsupial mouse that hasn’t been spotted in the area for years a good sign indeed for the local wildlife.

Id like to say a big thank you to the two ladies who brought us some Golden dumplings when they saw us trudging into the campsite after sun-set. I’m almost convinced that those dumplings are the only reason that I’m alive today.

Thankyou for reading day 2 of our Croajingolong trek, we will hike on soon with day 3.

Wow, Thats so much more concise than trying to find the info in paragraphs, But thats where my charm is! So ill write on. I heard lots of differing opinions, and read even more online about how long it would take to do the stretch of Coast between Shipwreck creek and Thurra River. So; when I originally looked at this hike I was planning to do it over 5 days. Luckily I struck gold and Petra over at the Mallacoota Parks office was able to give me some real information to help de-mystify the whole thing. So; Thank you so Much for that Petra, you really helped us out a lot!

There are plenty of campsites along the wideness coast, and they are situated roughly 5 – 7Kms apart in most cases. This means that you can break the walk up considerably more than Liz and I did and do it over a few more days, if you’re not in to hiking 15 – 20km per day. The First day is relatively easy; and thats what i’ll be covering in this post.

Shipwreck Creek

The first day is quite easy, with a paltry 10km, if you’re interested in making the walk slightly longer, you can start at Mallacoota instead, and that will increase the first day of walking to a more athletic 18km, the majority of which is along roads (which is why I didn’t bother!). The only real reason I can see for doing that component is for starting further up the coast in the NSW section of the Wilderness coast walk.

The beach down at shipwreck creek, the first of many beach crossings

This first 10km winds down to shipwreck creek and walks along the beach, before heading back in-land on the other side and along the headlands to Seal cove. The first 3km are pretty easy, and there are only slight gradients at each end of the headland.

That first 3km over this kind of terrain will go very quickly

Seal Cove mouth

Arriving at Seal Cove you can head a little up-river to find your first possible campsite, hang on! You have only walked 3km!? Thats not for us today, heading along the cove, you will head up Little rame head, which will take you all the way to Benedore river, where we will be laying our heads for the first night. Again, this is pretty easy; the trail is wide-open, flat and well marked. Quite a pleasure to walk, I think that quite often there are groups whom make a round trip consisting of this portion of the track. Its much easier going than the other two days, and it seems like it had considerably more traffic over it.

The first day; I thought I was doing it tough, carrying 14L of water so as to have enough for all three days along with my full pack. I was pretty convinced I was carrying 30 – 35KG on my back. I was proud as punch that I was coping so well with the weight, until I saw what I can only call a most tenacious gentleman I have ever seen hiking. Justin, if you read this, I cannot ever state how impressed I was. Justin is a pretty new dad, two kids under 5; He has always enjoyed the bush, and wants to instil that same love into his kids. A most worthy goal, to achieve this he had them both in an bush stroller; basically like normal stroller but with bigger wheels and an aluminium frame and fly nets. He was pushing them along over Little Rame, with a full pack on his back when we came the other way. Thats right, he was taking two kids under 5 hiking with a full pack on his back and them in the stroller. Again, Mate; Well done.

This is the kind of environment you can expect on Little Rame

Roughly 1/2 way along little rame, you will have the opportunity to turn off to the left toward the coast and actually walk up the head, because of time constraints and the fact that we were pretty over-loaded in terms of weight, Liz and I decided to keep heading toward Benedore.

Once you conquer little rame and head down the other side, the bush will clear slightly into a campsite. The Benedore east sites are well separated and cleared while being right on the water, they are fantastic little sites. A strong westerly meant that camping on the east would most likely spell a very windy night, we decided to cross to the east.

Benedore river East campsite

Benedore river Delta

To cross Benedore and finish the day, you will need to head back toward the cost from the east campsites. There is an obvious track that heads back up one of the dunes and out toward the coastline. While we were at benedore the river was down and closed, so no crossing was required. All that you need to do is head across the mouth, then head back inland once you reach the other side of the river. The western sites are well cleared and you can happily camp 15 – 20 people (about 3 or 4 groups) in the clearing. If you’re really keen; and brought a rod, the surf coast around that area will provide Australian Salmon and gummy sharks. If you just have a reel and line, you could try catching something the the estuary, it was definitely deep enough for Brim or some Perch, but I didn’t fish there so don’t hold me to that!!

It was here at Benedore west that we decided to lay our heads for the night. The whole 10KM including a few short rests took us no longer than 3 hours, so this is easily a half-day walk for most people. For those looking to do a short over-night, this could be a good option. Walk to Benedore and return; but that wasn’t our plan. We went to bed early ready for the next day, where we would tackle the next 18KM of our hike to Wingan Inlet before finally on our third day completing the final 22kM to Thurra river.

Its worth noting that if you walk down the coast a little toward sandpatch point, just before the stairs that head up the point and begin the sandpatch track there is a small creek that provides potable water. I would still recommend treating it however if you have the means. Also keep in mind that snakes like to stick around on rocks near water. When we were there; a few other hikers saw a tiger snake near the water.

Tomorrow would take us over sandpatch point, today though, photos were enough

Benedore River from the West, roughly where the access trail to the west sites are

Thanks for reading day 1 of our Shipwreck creek to Thurra river hike, Continue reading Day 2 here

The best way to get there from Melbourne is via the Princes freeway all the way to Cann River, once you arrive at Cann River its a right hand turn down Tamboon road simply follow that all the way to Thurra.  Google Maps link here, just change “Melbourne” To your address. If you’re heading from Sydney or Canberra, I suggest the Monaro Highway, as the Monaro highway actually goes straight to Cann river (where it finishes).

Getting to Thurra is a fair old slog of a drive, at roughly 6 hours from Melbourne to Cann River it will consume the majority of a day getting there, then halfway down Tamboon road, it turns to dirt. Its about a 40 minute drive along the dirt to the actual campsite, this means you don’t really want to head back in to town very often, if at all!

The low down:

Thurra river campground is a fantastic ground with 46 sites, that is wedged between Thurra river and the south east coast along Point Hicks. The luxury of choosing between the warm river and the far cooler coast, means that regardless of the temperature, there is always somewhere you can go for a swim and have a laze about in the water.

At the top of Point hicks is the Point hicks lighthouse, this lighthouse has been in operation since 1890, when the remote light house keepers cottages were completed. These cottages can still be hired for stays today, If you are interested in hiring these cottages, you can find more info here. Disclosure: These cottages are managed by friends and family of mine. 

Thurra features is own Dune walk, which is roughly 5km return, taking you to the top of the first large dune and looking out on to the rest from there. I will be writing an individual article on this beautiful walk, which I will link here, and attach GPX track notes for your viewing.

There is also a short walk to see the SS. Saros from the lighthouse, which crashed on-to the rocks on its voyage to Sydney  on a foggy night in 1937.

My cousin and Uncle whom are great fishing aficionados love fishing off the coast here, apparently there is some great beach fishing, with plenty of Australian Salmon, Gummy Sharks and other tasty sea-life. Make sure that if you do go fishing you are both licensed to do so, and are aware that there is a marine park on the western side of point hicks other side of the lighthouse from Thurra which is protected and off-limits. Thurra is also roughly 2.25km west of Muller inlet, which is another estuary well known for its fishing, My brother and I caught some decently sized Brim in there during dusk later in my stay.

According to the Lighthouse keepers, and the Point Hicks information,The point got its name from Lieutenant Zachariah Hicks, whom spotted the point first. Captain James Cook wrote : “I have named it Point Hicks because Lieutenant [Zachariah] Hicks was the first to discover this land”.  - April 19, 1770.” 

Thurra River is a beautiful place, during the summer around the Christmas period, typically there are a lot of families down there, riding their new bikes, playing at the beach or the river, generally having a good time. The sites are well separated so while you can be sharing the area with up to 200 people, it doesn’t feel like you’re under each other’s armpits.

 The fire pits are communal, but there are plenty for everybody, remember; its a national park; so you will have to bring any fuel that you want to burn on the fire. Remember, its almost 40 – 50 minutes to drive back to Cann River from Thurra and almost two hours to Mallacoota, so if you do plan to have a fire you will need to bring sufficient wood.

 The River water out of Thurra river is drinkable after treating though quite full of tannin. I would recommend that if you can’t stomach a slight muddy taste, or the fact that your water will look like weak tea, you may wish to bring sufficient water for cooking and drinking. If you are like me, and find this preferable to chlorine and fluoride, then I think a water pump like a Katadyn or even just tablets should do the trick if you can’t be bothered to boil all your drinking water. There are plenty of locations up river of the jetty that are perfect for collecting water, however you should always keep some water in your car anyway just in case it is brackish for any reason. This has never been the case as far as I’m aware, but there is always a chance of this when camping on an estuary that occasionally opens into the sea.

Thurra River is home to some very interesting Wildlife, for those of you whom are not familiar see below for some pictures of Lace Monitors and what I’m pretty sure is a type of Bearded dragon.

The most important thing to remember when dealing with wildlife like Lace Monitors, Possums even Kookaburras or any wild animal for that matter, is that they are wild animals.No matter how friendly or domesticated they might appear, things could get nasty if you try to interact with them like you would a pet.

Managing the way you dispose of food, and making sure that your rubbish is out of reach are critical to making sure you don’t turn around to a huge lace monitor standing between you and where you want to be.

A bearded dragon (I think?)

Thurra is a great place to use as your base of operations for an extended hike, as you can almost guarantee water access, and due to its prime location, its the largest site inside Croajingolong. I would recommend spending at least 3 or 4 days down at Thurra, as there is plenty to see and do.

As always, If you have any questions, Please feel free to email me, or make a comment in the section below.

First and foremost, getting there is a tedious long 6 hour drive along freeways, nearly the whole way. Be ready to change drivers as there is not so much as a turn or a lane change for more than an hour some times. This is a guideline of the location versus melbourne; as usual all you need to do is Change the address from Melbourne to yours and you have a pretty good guide on how to get there. Click here for a google map. Once you make it to the marker just past Unberbool, you will need to turn right into the park. This is well marked with huge Tourist Signs (the brown ones) so you should have no trouble whatsoever finding it.

Murray Sunset National Park is one of the most photogenic places I have ever been. I actually filled my camera while I was there. I always try and avoid uploading too many photos of a place, after all part of exploring it for the first time is the wonder and the beauty of the nature in the area; I would hate to steal that experience from anybody. That being said I saw what is one of the most amazing sunsets I have ever experienced on the Pink lakes in Murray Sunset.

The place is pretty amazing, and really something else considering that we’re still talking about inside (barely) Victoria. Park access is via a well sealed dirt road, and I was able to drive down it without considerable worry in a 2wd though it will shake you up a bit. The pink lakes main campsite is located not far from the entrance of the park; (relatively speaking) They are named as such as the salt lakes that form around the area are turned a vibrant pink colour at the end of summer, this is from the Algae that grows in the water secretes a pink-red dye called Carotene. Interestingly this is the same dye that gives Flamingos their pink colour, though they absorb it through blue-green algea consumption in their diet. There are no flamingos there though so don’t get to excited!

The main campsite is on what is basically the shore of Lake Crosbie. The lake itself is incredible to see, the water was very shallow during april, you should be able to get a pretty good idea of just how shallow from the photo below taken at sunrise:

 The campsites are well spread, though it was awfully busy there over Easter, I envision this location being an incredible place to stay for a few days, with the added bonus of some beautiful day walks around the lakes; including a great walk that shows you some of the old equipment used by the Salt Miners who used to mine the Salt lakes around the area, including Lake Crosbie itself. There are even a few multi-day walks within a short driving distance. The secondary site for Lake Crosbie is also the starting point for a 3 day 66KM hiking extravaganza; I have the walk in my sights, and hope to do this within the next 12 months. The Semi-arid nature of the area means that if you’re a Victorian like me it will be a very different camping experience to what you are used to.

The area is full of wild-life that has adapted to the environment, with Bright pink Major Mitchell Cockatoos, Hopping Mice and more lizards than you can shake a stick at. If you’re lucky you might even spot a Bearded dragon, Unfortunately I wasn’t lucky enough to see one. Lake Crosbie isn’t the only pink lake in the area, there are two others in close proximity known as Becking and Kenyon, the latter of which is depicted below:

During my Overnight stay, I managed to see quite a lot of the surrounds, and went for two walks, one the aforementioned Salt Mines walk and the second was a wildlife stroll that took us down by Lake Kenyon and let us see some great views of the landscape and the wildlife living on it.

Murray Sunset National Park is an incredible place and definitely worth the drive, I look forward to heading there again soon, and will be walking out in to the wilderness zone to truly get amongst the incredible un-touched beauty and wild nature of the park. I thoroughly enjoyed my short stay there and would recommend anybody to head there for a couple of days without hesitation.

To give you all a bit of an idea, when I started this site, I used to see traffic of around 60 users a month. I wrote anyway, it was more of an enjoyable exercise, with a cathartic feel to it.

Today, I receive emails daily, Traffic has sprung into the hundreds, I see more than 1500 unique visitors every month; and this number is constantly rising!

I just want to thank all my readers, for their questions, interest and help over the last 12 months. Without the constant interest and enthusiasm that you have all provided me for this work, I think Hike Australia would have been a shadow of what it is now.

I hope that that was entertaining, engaging and helpful. I do want to cover the pack in more detail with some photos but I have decided I will do that in the field when the pack is full, sot that you can all get a better idea what it feels, looks and performs like when its actually in action.