Four Brothers Rocks - Hiking on the trail

A perfect Sunday morning greeted us as we ventured out to Bunyip State Park. It was double hiking weekend following a hike up Mt Donna Buang the previous day.

We started at Mortimer Picnic Ground, which also had a camping area. We headed up Triangle track onto windy point track towards Windy Point, there was a gradual incline, but on wide fire trail path. Surprisingly, Windy Point was not very windy that day! 

We continued along Windy Point track then left turn onto Burgess Track along to Four Brothers Rocks, a beautiful formation of rocks with picturesque views. We enjoyed a short lunch stop while sitting on the rocks and basked in the afternoon sun. 

We returned up Burgess Track approx 500m until we turned left onto Nicols Hut Track and descend down into the valley, there was a short steep section to navigate then joining up to Silvertop Ridge Track and onto Ferres Track, this section had been overgrown across the path at the time of hiking and definitely worth keeping an eye out for snakes in summer, and then back to Mortimer Picnic Ground. The hike was approx. 13.6km, would allow 3-4hrs to complete.

Coffee tip

Enjoy a coffee at Spencers Store in Gembrook before or after your hike.

Your shoes

Your shoes are your story.

As I laced up my new asics trail shoes for the first time today.

I thought it doesn't matter what kind of shoes you wear, the colours, styles, everyone's shoes are unique but their shoes are part of them.

When you buy a new pair of shoes, free of mud, stains and scuff marks, you are beginning a new story.

However, soon enough they will become dirty and well worn, things you can’t clean, no matter how hard you try. Or things that you do wash off, but still leave a shadow of the mark you tried to remove.

Each forms part of the new adventures you will share in the shoes, the path will different to the shoes before, a new set of stories.

This pair's new story starts now...

Hiking on the trail: Wilsons Promontory lighthouse circuit via waterloo bay

After enjoying the East Prom Coastal hike last year, thought it would be great to head back and explore another section of the beautiful Wilson Promontory National Park.

We decided to choose the Lighthouse circuit via Waterloo bay as an overnight hike. The suggested direction is to hike in a anti clockwise direction for a more moderate gradient, but we chose to go in a clockwise direction due to plan complete a longer first day hiking to arrive at campsite at Roaring Meg.

We were up early and arrived at Tidal River at about 9am. The day was going to be a hot one with temperatures projected to hit the low to mid 30 degrees Celsius, slightly cooler along the coastline.

We caught the free shuttle bus up to Telegraph saddle car park and headed off down the hill towards Telegraph junction, we started a very solid pace completing first 6km to Telegraph junction in just over 75mins. We took a short morning tea break and then headed towards Waterloo Bay.

It was a perfect day with barely a cloud in the sky and a slight breeze as we arrived at Waterloo Bay. We all collectively gasped in amazement as we saw how blue the crystal clear water was at Waterloo bay.

The water was so enticing to go for a swim but with an 15km+ to go with decided not to. We continued our walk along the beach and then taking the trail up along the ridge line towards the lighthouse. However about kilometre or so into the climb i literally hit the wall, not sure if was the heat, not enough food or water but we decided to stop to have lunch break on the trail. The short break definitely re-energised me as we traversed the coastline and we finally got a view of the famous lighthouse.

We took a few photos and then hiked along the trail until we reach the point where the path split towards the Lighthouse and our camping spot for the night. It is about a kilometre with a very steep climb up to the lighthouse so we decided to leave our hike packs hidden off the trail and continue to the lighthouse. The lighthouse and the views were stunning, the cottages are now used for overnight accommodation and in a former life a school existed at the lighthouse.

We arrived back at our hike packs to find them strewn across the ground, with our food bags thrown on the ground. We were unsure if someone had gone through our bags, but nothing appeared to be missing.

We continued along the coastline for a short distance then headed inland towards our camp site at Roaring Meg. We arrived about 6.45pm and set up camp beside the local creek. There were a few other hikers camping nearby. We enjoyed a feast of rice and vegetables, it all tasted great after long day hiking. We all crashed into bed pretty early that night!

The next morning we didn’t rise super early, but enjoyed a quick breakfast with coffee and packed up our camp and were on our way. We headed up past the 2nd camping area at Roaring Meg and then along the walking track which meandered through the trees. There some short ascents and descents in this section as we joined the Telegraph track and the track opened up with views across the Prom. It was great to see some of the old Telegraph poles. Just trying to imagine how difficult it would have been to install the poles hundred plus years ago. The track opens up from being single track to a wider fire trail and we hike past Half way Hut campsite which positioned right beside the track.

We enjoyed a morning tea stop at Telegraph junction and funnily enough we saw the same group of hikers at this same spot as we did at morning tea yesterday.

We continue on the last 6 or so kilometres back to Telegraph Saddle car park, remembering the last k’s are a good ascent up the fire trail road, which i think we were all much better prepared for this time around. We were very happy to arrive at the car park an wait for the bus back into Tidal River.

When we arrived back at Tidal River we decided to report the incident with our backpacks and strewn food across the trail. The park rangers said it was most likely birds and has occurred quite a few times previously. That pretty amazing that’s the case as they managed to open the zippers and clips on our bags to get access to food.

Overall, another great weekend of hiking approx. 40km around Wilson Prom, such a beautiful place to visit.

Related Reading

Hiking on the trail - Wilsons Promontory - East Coastal Prom Hike

Hiking on the trail - The Grampians