Upper Yarra Track Winter Route: Western Tyers to Tanjil Bren:

After you have camped the night, cooked and eaten your trout &/or crayfish, walk West along the Tyers. The Western Tyers Road follows the course of the old timber tramline which carried the forest’s products via Caringal to Collins Siding (Erica) and onwards to a wider market where they were used to construct houses and buildings elsewhere in Victoria – and sometimes much farther afield. In April Della and I walked the South Coast Track in Fiordland New Zealand. A feature of part of the track were huge trestle bridges which had been constructed from logs imported from Australia in the 1920s!

Percy Burn Viaduct, South Coast Track, Fiordland New Zealand.

There are a number of pleasant spots to camp along the way. I can’t tell you how many times my kids played on this old log as they grew. The oldest is now 34: she first went there when she was two! I have caught a couple of lovely crays or three underneath it. up

There are two campsites at Palmers. This is the first.

The second one where the bridge used to cross the river is where the tramline carried on to Growlers. It is still possible to walk along it – and the more who do, the easier it will be. You can continue on along the road, but the views of the river and forest are better from the tramway. nowadays.

A refreshing dip on a hot day will surprise you how very cold the water is on the South Face of the Baw Baw Plateau.

There are some wonderful rapids in this section of the river I used to enjoy when I was suicidally young and ebullient! There is also great fishing. The 2-3 km of the old railway is quite flat – a serene & peaceful camp could be made here and there along it. There is also a single pleasant camp where it rejoins the road just below Growlers, and multiple sites a little over a km further at Growlers itself.