This walk was organised and led by me as an irregular CBC Tuesday walk:

(Tuesday 10 April - Mavis Ridge - Overlook Little Creamy Flats - L/R,X One day I’ll find a weekend to get to Creamy Flats Creek, but until then I’ll have to be satisfied overlooking it. In via the Nursery Swamp Walking Track, the taped footpad to the saddle and down across Rendezvous Creek. West and up nearly 500m to the Mavis Ridge to overlook Little Creamy Flats. I have no idea of what’s there, except I’d suspect scrub, granite and views! Back down via the N side of the drainage line and so home to a hot shower. Around 16km and 900m total climb. Strenuous walking for a fit and experienced party.  Map: Rendezvous Creek 1:25000. Limit of 8. Leader: John Evans – jevans@pcug.org.au, (h) 6288 7235; contact me by 6pm the previous Sunday to discuss options. Transport: ~$10. Further details at www.pcug.org.au/~jevans.).

The route was amended on the fly to cover a little more territory.

I've been in further SE down the Mavis Ridge to Mt Mavis and Mt Herlt. This one should be good. Allow for 10hrs of walking.

If we feel like it and time/terrain/vegetation allows, there's the option to go down onto Little Creamy Flats. This will involve and extra km or so and 200+m climb back out.

2 of us drove from Canberra to the Nursery Swamp car park.

Walk

With just two of us walking, things happened quickly. We were away by 7.55am, Dick bounding up the Nursery Swamp walking track like some great long-legged English hound. I was panting to keep up with him. The 1.7km to where we left the walking track and headed towards the pig trap near the start of the taped pad to Rendezvous Creek was over in 30mins.

This time, I only lost the way 6 times on the way to Rendezvous Creek, so I'm getting better. There by 9.10am, so 45mins for this 2.6km leg.

We began the climb to the Mavis Ridge on 216°M and headed gently (initially) up for around 700m (that's across the ground). Must be someone else's route, too, as we passed one pink marker tape. The plan then was to turn W and head to the ridge top N of the white cliffs and just N of SH1607 on around 262°M, but the way looked long and steep, so we chose the shorter route to the ridge top on the same bearing. We were to pay for this later on the other side of Mavis Ridge! Some solid climbing and belts of regrowth. By 10am we were at 1375m altitude and by 10.45am we were exhausted and just short of the top at 1630m. We pressed on for another 10mins to reach the top for morning tea, 10.55-11.10am. 2hrs (including MT) for this 2.7km leg climbing nearly 600m.

We were, of course, overlooking Big Creamy Flats, were I'd camped before on 10 Jun 06 and 30 Sep 06, and overlooked from Mt Mavis on 23 Sep 06. The view was fabulous, from SE to NW including Mt Gudgenby in the distance, Mt Burbidge a little closer, Mt Namadgi and the Namadgi Ridge over Big Creamy Flats; Coronet Peak over Creamy Flats Creek; Bimberi Peak and others on the W horizon and, close by, the Mavis Ridge extending to the NW. I floated another change of plans to my companion - instead of returning the way we'd come, I proposed we go out via Coronet Peak and the AAWT after visiting Little Creamy Flats. Dick agreed.

Away again at 11.10am, to pay the price for the short leg coming up with a long leg going down. We first headed NW along the ridge top, but the going was slow, so we curved down to the downstream end of Big Creamy Flats. Plenty of dead and fallen timber and regrowth. The going from Big to Little Creamy Flats was most uninspiring and I don't think I'll come back through here again. We reached Little Creamy Flats at 12.25pm, this leg from morning tea to lunch of 2.7km taking 1hr15mins.

We here discovered the way to have a short lunch - we settled on the ants' Royal Easter Show, which extended for several tens of metres. So we stood to eat and left at 12.45pm. But I snapped the bulb on the end of the Namadgi Ridge (see pic 1) and the Mavis Ridge where we initially planned to come over (see pic 2).

I had the end of the old track to Little Creamy Flats in my GPS and I think we found it, but the track was not easily followed (well, I couldn't). We headed to the saddle to the N of LCF, then contoured across the NE side of the SH1459 feature. A variety of going, but all reasonably tough. Snapped Coronet Peak from the 1450m contour as the smoke from controlled burning to the S started to blot it out (see pic 3). We continued on a NW-erly bearing and passed within 375m of Coronet Peak. But time was marching on, so there was no thought to climb it. Trended around to the N, going down all the time. Down near Pond Creek Flats I got bamboozled, but recovered and we hit the AAWT at 2.55pm just to the NE of the usual camping area. A fairly rugged 5.1km leg taking 2hr 10mins.

We knew we were home from here - we just had to walk it. 40mins to motor up Pond Creek cut to near Split Rock (2.7km and 200m climb). A 5min break to catch our breath.

Away at 3.40pm and knocked off the 3.1km to join the Cotter Hut Road in 45mins. Visited the newly signed ruin of Rowleys Hut on the Orroral Valley on the way back (a hut bag!), then onto the Orroral Tracking station car park - no car there. So plugged on along the Orroral Heritage Walk, up to the road a few hundred metres shy of the Nursery Swamp car park (as it was getting dark). Buzzed by bats. At the car at 6.15pm, the last leg of 9.5km taking 1hr 45mins.

This was a day walk near the current limits of my capability. The two of us walked hard and fast, but we saw a bit and visited places, some of which deserve a second visit and some don't.

Thanks to Dick, the English hound for keeping us moving. Great day!

Distance: 30.6km  Climb:1350m.  Time: 7.55am - 6.15pm (call it 10.25hrs) with 45mins of breaks
Grading: L/R,X; VH(15)

KMZ file for Google Earth/Maps: Mavis Ridge etc