Devils Kitchen Geological Reserve - A lesson learned

 Today I decided to take a walk somewhere I haven't been in quite a long time, Devil's Kitchen in Pigoreet. Whilst I had been there about six months ago and the terrain, whilst still very harsh, was nowhere near as harsh as it was this time. I will admit however, that the terrain was every bit as pretty as it was harsh.

 The first thing that I will mention is the drive into Devil's kitchen from nearby Scarsdale always gives me the strangest of feelings. The road constantly winds and dips in such a way that you are never able to see anymore than twenty or thirty meters in front of you. If i was a religious man I would say that it is almost a feeling of going straight into hell itself.

 When I arrived at the trail head and got out of my car, I was surrounded by cliffs and ridges of which you could see the rock formations as they changed with the height of the cliff. The rocks closer to the ground were dark, almost black, however the further up the ridge the rocks got, they began to take on a much more reddish hue. I am unsure whether or not it is from these rock formations that Devil's Kitchen gets it's name, but it would not surprise me.

 In the background, the red rock formation characteristic of Devil's Kitchen

 The first mistake I made was despite clearly seeing that the entire area was swarming with blackberry bushes, I simply put my pack on without bothering to strap my machete to my belt. I threw my pack on, having already attached my belt-knife, it was not until I reached the first lot of blackberry bushes blocking the track that I realized I would need my machete. Whilst it wasn't a huge inconvenience to have to put my pack down and put it back on again, it was the start of what would a series of mild annoyances throughout the trip. 

 I was able to fairly easily hack my way through much of the harsh scrub, it was both good and bad that it was blackberry bushes specifically. My left leg ended up with quite a few minor cuts and abrasions from the thorny bushes, however due to it currently being summer, I was able to snack on the ripe blackberries as I made my way through.

One of many blackberry bushes scattered through the area

 Whilst the slicing and dicing of bush gave me an ever fleeting feeling of masculinity, it was abundantly clear that I was not on the correct track, so I was forced to turn around and once more cut my way through to where I had originated. I will admit that at that time I was very tempted to accept defeat and call it a day. Beaten but not broken, I decided to push on.

 I walked the opposite direction to where I had parked my car and eventually came to the trail I was searching for. The trails through the entire reserve were very rocky, but this track was much easier to make my way down than the first. There were still alot of blackberry bushes, however there were much less that were actually blocking the path.

The main walking track was much less harsh than the original track found

 Around one hundred meters into the walk, the track gave way to an open plane of grass, shrubs, blackberry bushes and gum trees. There were several rock formations fashioned into circular shapes on the ground where people had made campfires, there were two particularly large gum tree from which I would be able to hang my hammock on future trips.

 It is interesting to note that the Woady Yaloak river runs straight through Devil's Kitchen, however on this particular day the river bed was completely dry. I'm sure that if I had followed the river far enough upstream I could have found a small pocket of water, however this was not my main concern whilst I was there. 

 

 I walked a few of the small tracks around the camp area, even moving down onto the riverbed at one point. It was a strange feeling as large rocks and dirt gave way to quartz and sand. It sounded and felt as if I was walking on a strange, secluded beach. It quickly became very apparent from the cool breeze and muddy areas below the sand that this area would normally have water flowing through it freely.

 I slowly made my way back to the main camp area, taking in the sights and sound of trees, birds, foxes and even the sheep over the ridge. I began to plan out in my head a future overnighter that I hope to take in the area, hopefully at a time when there is more water in the river and I am more organized with my planning.

 I made my way back to my car via the main walking track and found a plant on the side of the track. I was fairly certain that they were wild rose hips, and a Google image search confirmed my suspicions. The plant was thorny like a rose and the fruit was around the size of my thumbnail and elliptical.

Wild rose hips found in Devil's Kitchen

 I picked and cut a fruit, however I was not able to get a very clear picture. This was the clearest picture I could get.

Inner flesh and seeds from wild rose hips

 I quickly made my way from this location, up the hilly track and back to my car, taking away some blackberries and a few very valuable lessons. Firstly, no matter how difficult it is to find pants that fit, I should invest in long pants and my legs won't get carved up by blackberry bushes. Secondly, if I think I'm going to need my large blade then I should just strap it on, it will save me alot of headache later on. And last but certainly not least, my working gloves are an invaluable part of my kit and I'm so glad that I keep them in my pack.

Balisong laws and why I think they suck

Whilst this is not a blog in regards to any outing that I have had, this is an issue that has been on my mind for quite some time. For those who are unfamiliar with them, a balisong; otherwise known as a butterfly knife, is a blade which is folded between two pieces of metal. The two pieces of metal are then connected to two hinges which fold away from the blade in opposite directions and held together by some kind of locking mechanism, forming the handle. Here is an example:

  Current legislation in Victoria, Australia states that a balisong is classed a prohibited weapon, which means that it is illegal to buy, own, import or carry a balisong in the state of Victoria without a valid permit. Whilst I tend to agree with almost all of Australia's weapon and knife laws, this is one that is perplexing for a number of reasons.

  Whilst I certainly do not believe that anybody should be allowed to carry a knife on their person for general use in an urban or suburban environment, a single edged blade can be purchased by any individual over the age of 18. These can range from a five centimeter folding knife to an eighty centimeter, full tang machete and are not legal to carry in urban or suburban areas without a lawful reason. Once again I must state that as much as  I enjoy using my blades as camping and survival tools, I completely agree with these laws and do not believe that they should be overturned.

  This brings me to my main question, why is the balisong singled out as a prohibited weapon? Is it more dangerous than other folding or fixed blade knife? Is it more easily concealed than other folding knives? Is it easier to obtain than any other blade? My honest opinion on all of the above points is no.

  Whilst I understand that a balisong may look menacing and intimidating, the average blade length is only around twelve centimeters, which is no different to the size of your average folding knife. This also means that they are no more or less concealable than your average folding knife. In fact, the majority of folding knives even come with pocket clips so that they can be easily accessed when needed. I will say that the price of a balisong online is quite cheap, but once again I must also state that most folding knives are not expensive. There are high end folding knives which tend to get very pricey, however a folding knife can be picked up at most outdoors shops for around fifteen or twenty dollars.

In summary, I believe that inconsistency coupled with misunderstanding of the product has lead to an unfair ban on what is essentially an average sized pocket knife.

My first blog post and walk through Bungal Dam

  I'm quite new to this whole blog thing so I'm not quite sure exactly what is expected of me, but I created this blog in an effort to share my experiences in the outdoors with everybody. I figured that I would most likely be going bushwalking or camping anyway, I may as well write about it. I most likely won't write about every walk I do since I tend to revisit a lot of places in order to get to know the tracks, however I will endeavor to write about every new location I visit, or at least every location that I have not yet written about. I'll do my best to take a few snap shots along the way and catalog them in each post.

  I very recently went for a walk with a close mate to the Blast Furnace picnic area near Bungal Dam. Since my initial attempt to drive into the picnic area alone failed epically and resulted in me nearly getting my car bogged on the initial descent, I thought I would try walking down to the camp grounds when James and I returned a few days later.

  So we left the car at the top of the hill, got our packs out, strapped them on and trudged down the walking tracks. The first thing we noticed was, despite the fact that the signage was pretty clear that these tracks were supposed to only be walking tracks, we were obviously sharing the track with trail bikes. Despite the roughness of the tracks, the walk was actually quite pleasant. It was a pretty steady downhill decline, which sucked for my knees and hips but it meant that I didn't expend much energy getting down there.

  It was mid-evening, about 7:30, by the time we got to the Blast Furnace picnic area. The camping grounds were fairly open, however it was sectioned off with bollards. There were several fireplaces, ALOT of dead-fall trees and I particularly took notice of the lovely gumtrees. There were quite a few that looked quite large and close enough together for me to hang my hammock. We looked around the camp site for a few minutes, before continuing on the tracks of the historic walk and on to Bungal Dam.

  We took a track that lead a little further down hill, before it stopped abruptly at a fenced off sheer cliff. We walked along the top of the cliff for a minute or two, before we came to the lookout in front of the very blast furnace that the picnic grounds are named for. Whilst we weren't able to actually walk down to where the blast furnace was, the view was spectacular none the less. Just looking at it gave me images of old iron mine workers carting iron ore down the bridge and loading it into the smelter, filling the air with the smell of molten metal.

The remains of the old blast furnace with my knife in the foreground

  We continued along the cliff before making our way back uphill to what appeared to be a large courtyard area that had road access and a gate blocking the path. It quickly became apparent, however that this was the lookout area to Bungal Dam. Whilst I did not think to snap any pictures of this particular area, it really was a sight to behold as nature met technology. It may just be that I'm a massive nerd, but I even remarked to James that it reminded me of The Facility out of Goldeneye. 

  We didn't spend much time at the lookout, we basically caught our breathes, had a quick drink of water and kept moving. We walked up a road that appeared more suited to a four wheel drive than my fat feet and we hadn't gone anymore than maybe fifty meters before we were back at the Blast Furnace picnic grounds. I laughed and then almost cried when I realized that what had been a "casual descent" was now going to be a nightmare of a walk to get back to my car.

  Luckily for me James had the forethought of walking back up via the car tracks, which still made a painful walk, but nowhere near as painful as it would have been if we returned the same way we came down. We eventually made our way back up to where we left the car, occasionally stopping to enjoy the view, both in a tired, sore and sweaty mess. All in all it was an enjoyable walk, and Blast Furnace is a site that I wouldn't mind spending an overnighter in the near future.

  I hope that I haven't rambled too much and I certainly hope that this post has been informative. I hope that you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.