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Our trip began with the goal of showing two very excited Sydney friends (Dan and Joanna) Wilsons Prom. We roped in another Melbourne based mate (Wade) to do the Southern Circuit. Joanna is a teacher, so we locked in a school holidays date. We were all excited, talking about our gear, planning side trips etc.
Feathertop summitAll photos by Paul Ireland
Feathertop via Wilsons Prom
Stacey Ireland
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View from Feathertop summit
Twelve days out we received an email from Parks Victorian - The Prom is closed! There was 200 mm of rain in one day, causing extensive flood damage, so overnight hiking was closed while they repaired the damage. With moving dates not an option due to the need to go in school holidays, we frantically began searching for other options. Grampians? Dan and Joanna were coming from Lakes Entrance … too far. Gippsland? We didn’t have enough time off work, too far for us …
We only had one overnight hike under our belts, so we are somewhat newbies, but our adventurous spirit is definitely in the “old soul” bucket.
My husband Paul thought, what about Feathertop? He’s been wanting to do a Feathertop hike ever since we moved to Melbourne a couple of years ago. So we were frantically on the laptops – Paul searching for GPX recordings of people doing hikes around Feathertop, and me on Bushwalk.com to my trusted advisers!
Paul found a loop that looked like it was about the right length for us.
Day 1 Diamantina Hut along Razorback to Federation Hut.
Day 2 Down Diamantina Spur, up the West Kiewa, over the saddle and down to Dibbins Hut.
Day 3 Up Swindlers Spur to Hotham.
I checked with the crew, and everyone was happy to do that, we booked the tent platforms at Dibbins and an apartment after the walk, locked in.
Then I started looking at the actual track and asked Bushwalk.com about it. Diamantina sounded hard! I have a dodgy knee that I’d been at physio for, so I was nervous. Some full on reports on bushwalk scared me, but some others told me I would live. After much advice and back and forth, I talked myself into it. That advice would prove invaluable later.
Three days before we were meant to go, the weather forecast turned nasty. The “polar blast” was here. The forecast was for 90 km/hour winds, below zero temperatures and snow - it was not looking good. Cue research #2 for alternatives – we decided it would just have to be a one nighter if the weather turned bad. Secretly, Paul was hoping it did snow!
On Sunday, the day before we were to leave, the weather forecast turned in our favour. Sunday was meant to get snow, but Monday to Wednesday was to be fine, cold, but no rain until Wednesday. We were back on again!
After a 5 am start from Melbourne, picking up Wade on the way, we drove up to Hotham via Bright. As we came up the very windy road to just below the top of Mount Hotham, there was snow everywhere and it was very cloudy. We were thinking – are we even going to see any views along the famous Razorback? We met Dan and Joanna at Diamantina Hut, and amazingly, the cloud lifted. We all jumped out, full of nervous energy, popped our names in the book and got going.
“Three days before we were meant to go, the weather forecast turned nasty.
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Wade, Stacey, Dan and Joanna at Dibbins Hut
Day 1 – The Razorback, Federation Hut, FeathertopThe walk along The Razorback was incredible. An easy walk, with amazing vistas made all the more beautiful from the dusting of snow that had arrived on Sunday night. Our timing ended up perfect! Wildflowers peeped their heads out of the top of the snow, but the track wasn’t covered. Just enough to make a beautiful view without making it too much of a challenge for these newbies!
We arrived at Federation Hut, refilled water from the tank (thanks to the snow, there was water in the tank) set up tents and then did the summit of Feathertop. What a good decision to do that on day one (again, a tip from the forum well needed) as day two proved to be a real physical challenge. The view from Feathertop was incredible, we got some unreal photos with the sun peeping through the clouds, and it just felt amazing to be able to see so far and not see another person. It really felt like we were in another world, and actually reminded me a little of the volcano ranges in Indonesia.
We descended and had dinner in the hut with a number of other people. Double checked the forecast for the next two days – it looked okay, so we were good to go! I was glad of my -4 °C sleeping bag; we had -3 °C overnight and I slept in thermal socks and my beanie!
Day 2 – Diamantina Spur, West Kiewa River, Dibbins HutTuesday morning woke to a beautiful sunny day, and tents covered in ice from the condensation. A good old Chux did wonders scraping the ice off the tents before we got going.
We stopped for a group photo at the top of Diamantina Spur thinking if we die along this spur, at least there will be evidence of us! Joanna had read the horror stories of this walk too, so we all mentally braced ourselves.
The first two hours were fine, we loved the view back to Feathertop from the spur and it was great to be able to see where we had come from. We started to hit the steeper descent, and thanks to some great advice of the forum, when we got to the rock scrambling bits we definitely went down backwards! There were only really two short sections like that, and for us 30-somethings, that was all a bit of an adventure. Cue the obligatory selfie on the rock section! The constant steep downhill after those rock sections was a killer. I completely understand why we were advised against it – I wouldn’t call that an “enjoyable” section. About
“The constant steep downhill after those rock sections was a killer.
“Joanna had read the horror stories of this walk too ...
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12:30 pm we were all really hungry and there seemed to be no end in sight to this downhill section. We played psychoanalytical games and sung terribly to keep our minds off the angle of the decline. The track I mean, not our minds. Around 1:15 pm we reached the bottom of the spur – at last! We dragged our exhausted bodies to the river and plonked ourselves down to have lunch. We were all stuffed – but proud that we had done it.
After a fuel up we walked to the Dibbins Hut campsite, arriving around 4 pm, very very tired. We were happy to have booked the tent platforms – it was windy when we got there, but the way the platforms were set up, our tents were completely sheltered from the wind. The river ran right past the tent area and the whole “campground” was just stunning; the scenery there is really magical.
We walked 300 metres from the tent platforms to Dibbins Hut. Dibbins was much nicer than Federation – Dibbins is an old style log hut, although the window needs to be fixed. Dan and Joanna collected wood and got a fire in the pot belly stove in no time. As Joanna and Dan were making tea, Joanna knocked the handle of the boiling water all over her leg. Cue rush to the river and 20 minutes of scooping freezing river water over her burns. She never winced or cried – what a trooper! Note to self – handles go inwards.
We were happy to be in the hut – the wind was really howling as we had dinner. A can of red wine for me and whisky for the boys really went down well, we were all zapped of energy. A round of cards and we were all in bed around 9 pm.
Day 3 – Swindlers Spur, Derrick Hut, Loch car parkOn Wednesday morning we had a slow start, and were punished for it as it started sprinkling right when we started packing up the tent. The Chux came in handy again! Today we were going up Swindlers Spur back to Hotham. Swindlers was steep for the first few hours, with lots of loose shale – we
had been warned about this on the forum so we were prepared. It was good to get us going and warm, as we had strong wind and light rain, so the exercise got us warmed up nicely. We stopped at Derrick Hut for our feast of a lunch – the more we ate, the less there was to carry the last leg of the trip! So down went chocolate, more whisky, biscuits, tea, and fruit! Derrick Hut was really cute too, although camping nearby in wind wouldn’t be great as it’s very exposed. We had been warned that from Derrick back to Hotham was also exposed, so we rugged up before leaving the hut.
We wandered back to Loch car park from Derrick, being blasted by the wind, but we knew we weren’t far from hot showers so it didn’t matter. As we reached the skifields, we could see our entire walk, from the start of The Razorback all the way to Feathertop, and the Diamantina Spur. It was pretty incredible to see the whole thing and think we had just walked all of it.
It was amazing that from such a bad start, to a Plan B choice, then a terrible weather forecast, to that we ended up having almost perfect weather and the added bonus of the dusting of snow on the first day. The alpine regions are just stunning and we can’t wait to hit up the rest of it soon ... but maybe after winter!
Stacey is a reluctant adventurer, spurred on by her intrepid and fearless husband Paul. Her parents took her on bushwalks as soon as she could walk. She is originally from Sydney but is loving exploring the amazing scenery in her new home state of Victoria.
“We played psychoanalytical games and sung terribly to keep our minds off the angle of the decline.
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