This walk was organised and led by me as a CBC walk:

Saturday 3 Oct - Rendezvous Creek Ridge and Nursery Swamp. Plan B. Map: Rendezvous Creek 1:25000. Limit of 8. Leader: John Evans – jevans@pcug.org.au, (h) 6288 7235. Transport: ~$12. Further details at http://jevans.pcug.org.au.

Saturday 3 Oct - Mt Mavis and Mt Herlt - L/R,X. From the Nursery Swamp car park, follow the NS track then taped footpad to Rendezvous Creek. Then 600m up to Mt Mavis (SH1711). Fabulous views and granite; a little scrambling. Then SE down along the ridge and up to Mt Herlt, above the 1600m contour. North down to Rendezvous and so home. Around 18km and 1100m total climb. Physically demanding walking for a fit and experienced party. Route not fully known to leader. Map: Rendezvous Creek 1:25000. Limit of 8. Leader: John Evans – jevans@pcug.org.au, (h) 6288 7235. Transport: ~$12. Further details at http://jevans.pcug.org.au.

The weather and low cloud precluded this plan A and plan B was used.

Walk Track

This was a miserable day. Lousy weather, wet and thick regrowth, lost my bearings at SH1373 (thank goodness Max gently put me right), didn't achieve either objective (Mt Mavis-Mt Herlt as plan A or Nursery Hill as plan B), new pack with not enough pockets to organise myself, took no pictures. The only thing which would have been more lousy would have been to cancel.

A miserable day made bearable by good and cheery friends, recording the waypoints for the pig trap and blue-painted start of the Rendezvous Creek footpad, not attempting Mt Mavis-Mt Herlt in dangerous conditions and the opportunity to test wet weather gear.

Pretty much exactly the same track as 2 Apr 05, but I reckon the regrowth is much, much worse along the ridge. We trotted up the Nursery Swamp Walking Track, left it just after the saddle and headed for the pig trap (UTM 55H 676256-6051648 GDA94). Nursery Creek was running strongly. Round the corner of the finger of scrub and across the flats to the blue-painted start of the footpad to Rendezvous Creek (UTM 55H 676154-6051517 GDA94). (Rob H doesn't go this way - he continues down the NSWT and over the bridge over Nursery Creek to the U-bend E of the start of the footpad. On the way back today I noticed a rock on a large tree stump, probably marking the turnoff point, with a footpad heading W. At this point we were around 300m from the blue paint spot.) Followed the taped footpad to the Rendezvous Creek saddle, then headed S and up to SH1373. Slow going at the top, a fair bit of granite and blind leads. Missed the large granite slab with views over Rendezvous Creek - there were no views anyway and the glimpses we caught had the Mavis Ridge in cloud above the Mt Herlt slabs. Morning tea whilst I regained my bearings and composure.

SE along the ridge from SH1373, down to a saddle and up to SH1351. Slow and wet going through the regrowth - 1.3km in 1hr 15mins. About here I decided to give it away and we drifted down to E of a saddle for lunch number 1 in a sheltered spot. Picked up the top of a drainage line and followed it round and down to the S end of Nursery Swamp. Just prior to breaking out, we stopped in the shelter of the bush for lunch number 2.

Up the swamp to pick up the end of the Walking Track. Nursery Swamp looks very bare and dry. Followed the Nursery Swamp Walking Track back to the car.

All-in-all, a forgettable day.

Thanks for your encouragement Daniel, Karen, Max, Peter and Tory.

Distance: 13.9km  Climb: 600m.  Time: 7.00am - 2.00pm (7hrs), with 35mins of stops.
Grading: M/M; M(11)

KMZ file for Google Earth/Maps: Rendezvous Creek Ridge and Nursery Swamp