Possum Track in winter, Olinda State Forest

I went over to the Olinda State Forest, 40 km east of Melbourne central, on Monday afternoon July 19, 2010, a cold and bleak mid-winter's day.

I was amazed at the enormous diversity and variety of colored Fungi!

Leaving the car at the junction of Olinda Creek Rd and George's Track, I proceeded along this track, then on to unsigned Possum Track, decending into a gully.

The track crosses a dry tributory of the Lyrebird Creek at the bottom of this gully.

I then continued along Possum Track, reaching its end at Hermon's Track, my turnaround point.

Tht total distance was about 3 km, through beautiful fern gullies and tall timber.

The Olinda Forest was a logging region, from the early settlement in the 1850. It was originally known as the Olinda State Forest, prior to its amalgamation into the Dandenong Ranges National Park in 1997. Timber cutting ceased in 1968, when the Forest was declared a "recreational zone".

Serious bushfires ravaged the Forest in 1962 and 1968 - the charred stumps and logs remain.

See all of the Photos of my visit!

Possum Tk - colorful spring wildflowers

The Possum Track is deep in the Olinda Forest, linking Olinda Creek Rd with Hermon Track, about 25 km east of the Melbourne CBD, in the Dandenong Ranges National Park.

It is unsigned and is listed by Parks Victoria as a "closed" track.

It passes through some of the best regrowth forest environment in the Park, with beautiful ferns, fern gullies, mountain ash and tree ferns.

Two creek crossings are encountered, one of which was flowing (a tributary of the Lyrebird Creek) the other dry due to the extended drought.

I explored this marvellous track on Monday afternoon October 5, 2009.

My hike started at the the Olinda Creek Rd, then along gated Georges Track. The turn-off to Possum Track is opposite a sign denoting its junction withy Georges Track - it is easily missed, and is partially overgrown. Sections of it are steep and muddy, and it ends at signed Hermon Track, my turnaround point.

Many large ant nests were seen on George's Track, but the inhabitants were down below!

Distance travelled was about 4 km.

The tracks in the Olinda forest were originally logging routes from the 1860s up to the 1940s, where bullock trains hauled the cut logs down to the nearest railhead.

The original eucalypt forest was virtually destroyed by a series of bushfires between 1948 and 1955, and again in 1962. What is seen today is mainly regrowth.

See the full set of Photos of my trip!