Coloured slate on the slopes of Anakie Gorge, near Nelson's Lookout
Set off for a wander through Anakie Gorge, in the Brisbane Ranges, on Friday, expecting a very wet day, and was pleasantly surprised with just a few spots of rain and even some lovely blue sky! A short section of the Gorge Walk remains in need of repair following flash flooding in January 2011, but is still entirely passable and an easy walk, though your feet would definitely get wet if there had been any water in the creek, as there are numerous creek crossings. Deb and I decided to vary the simple return walk with a short, steep scramble up to Nelson’s lookout, the path becoming indistinct in places as it traversed some beautiful coloured slate. Anakie Gorge is incredibly ancient – geologists estimate that some of the folded rock formation in the gorge were formed around 500 million years ago – almost as far back as we go as a planet! The 3km long Gorge track brings you out at the lovely Stoney Creek picnic grounds, which was totally rebuilt following the devastating bush-fires in 2006. The manna gums and other flora has regenerated lushly since then, and the Gorge remains a really beautiful, very wild, and highly accessible walk – a terrific one to do with kids.
Stoney Creek Picnic grounds at the end of the Anakie Gorge Track
Melbourne Walks 
I’ve been meaning to have a look at this walk, but I thought it was shut! Not the case by the looks of it!
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Hi Greg – well, yes, officially there is a sign at the start advising it is closed due to flood damage (in January 2011 – poor Parks Vic and their lack of adequate resources) – which applies to the short section between the car park and the start of the climb to Nelson’s Gorge Lookout. This is my 4th visit in the last 12 months, and each time I had been waiting for it to be repaired, but to no avail, so I decided to have a peek this time. However, what the closure means is that the track infrastructure on this section which made it previously accessible to those with assisted wheelchairs (ie flat footbridges to cross the shallow creek etc), has been washed away – and impressively. The track itself however, is still very flat, even and well defined and you now use stepping stones or wade across the very shallow creek (though there is no running water in it at present, despite last week’s rain. The track is now (despite the flood damage) as good as it was years ago when I did it, prior to all the infrastructure being installed). It is definitely NOT wheelchair/pram accessible in its current state, but entirely walkable. If you wish to avoid this section though, you can drive into Stoney Creek car park and walk down to Nelson’s Lookout turnoff instead of coming up the Gorge from the opposite direction. It raises questions about the closing of tracks, for sure – when I walked Falcon’s Lookout in Werribee Gorge a week or so ago, there was a simple but clear sign placed there by Park Vic noting that the track had suffered some flood damage in recent rains and that walkers needed to be aware of this and walk within their capabilities. This is by far my preferred approach to track management when the damage does not make the track impassable. I am all for people taking responsibility for themselves, using their own judgement and not choosing to litigate at the first turned ankle! All that aside, it’s a really stunning walk.
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That’s a very valid point about long term closure of walks. I can understand that some get shut, but it irritates me when walks are closed for over a year! You’d think a nuclear blast had occurred and obliterated the area! Kalimna Falls is one I’m thinking about. You’d be familiar with it wouldn’t you? I walked it when it was closed due to a damaged bridge, but it was easily negotiated. The trouble is, that walk is still closed and I walked it over a year ago. Parks Vic must be on a shoestring budget, but it would be nice to have some other option than ‘closed’ signs everywhere.
I feel like a wild man entering closed walks, but what do you do? I reckon enter, but be prepared to turn back if it’s not accessible. Pretty frustrating…
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Hi Greg – I did exactly the same walk to Upper Kalimna Falls in November – still closed, still with only very minor damage to the footbridge railing where a tree had fallen across, just as you describe, but otherwise the path was in excellent condition. It really is a quandry – but I am with you, when tracks are closed with no end in sight, in terms of using your better judgement and making a call. I guess the only positive thing we can do is lobby for better resourcing for Parks, better (and more easily accessible) communication from them (the Anakie Gorge walk is not currently showing as shut on their website for example, and the previous time I had been there, a pair of Canadian travellers turned up, going to great expense hiring a car to get there for the walk, only to find it all taped off and understandably a bit flummoxed and annoyed that they had not known it was closed). And finally, more reasonable signing…
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Not meaning to be picky, but the planet’s probably ten times as ancient as that (defining the at what point the formation of a planet has completed is a bit arbitrary). 5-600 Ma would place it in the Cambrian which is an exciting period in its own right though.
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Happy to be updated from what the Park Info signs revealed – such gargantuan time scales just help to remind me of what a momentary speck each of us represent in the earth’s history, don’t they!
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