It was a still, grey cloudy morning when the group of ten keen walkers set off from the Moggs Creek picnic ground on the 7.5km walk to Distillery Creek picnic ground. It was just so pleasant walking the forest tracks with a variety of eucalypts on either side. There was good regrowth of understorey plants following controlled burns in recent years. The Narrow-leaf Bitter-pea was doing particularly well, and with its colourful yellow and red flowers should be very beautiful in spring.
It was a fascinating walk – just so much to see. Keen eyes spotted many terrestrial orchids on the sides of the track. There was one late flowering Rosy Hyacinth Orchid, many Tiny Greenhoods, colonies of Autumn Wasp Orchids and Small Mosquito Orchids, (both species with tantalising buds), Tall Greenhoods, standing erect with buds forming, and rosettes of Nodding Greenhoods emerging in large colonies.
Following recent rains and warm sunshine fungi was appearing. There was a beautiful Rhubarb bolete, a bright orange Polypore and a ragged Ghost fungus and a magnificent stand of Giant Boletes (Salmon Gum Mushrooms) on the grassy slope near the dam wall. We really expected an elf or leprechaun to come out and dance amongst them! Ollie made it up to us by rolling down the hillside like a forest dweller.
The smaller creatures were also making their presence known. There were observations of tiny ants making defined tracks across the forest track on which we were walking and a colony of Giant Sugar Ants that had built a woven tube entrance to their nest.
There was a wolf spider in its hole that Ollie managed to convince to come to its entrance using grass stalks, and another spider that had a lid on its home like a trapdoor spider and it was thought it might be a Grey Wolf Spider Portacosa cinerea.
Pete pulled some bark from the trunk of one of the trees and there was the remains of wasp activity.
Surprisingly the bird life was not as active as might be expected, but we did have a lovely view pf a pair of Wedge-tailed eagles that John spotted flying high above the tree canopy. Other birds were calling – the persistent call of the White-throated Tree-creeper and the melodious call of the Grey Fantail alerted us to their presence. There were some waterbirds on the dam which were identified as Coots and Hoary-headed Grebes.
The walk up to Gentle Annie was rather strenuous, and when Kaye suggested about having morning tea we were pleased to sit on the side of the track and have our refreshments, although we had to constantly watch out for Jumping Jacks. From there it was a gentle downward slope walk until we reached the dam.
We were excited to have a view of the floating islands on the Painkalac dam – this was the main reason we had chosen this particular walk from the Friends publication A Guide to walks in the Great Otway National Park. The Friends of Eastern Otways had helped to construct the two islands in 2025 and place them on the dam to encourage birds to nest there. It was great to see the reeds and rushes looking so healthy on the floating islands. John, who was the brains trust behind the project, explained how Barwon Water had helped to tow and anchor them in the middle of the dam but John was a bit disappointed to see that they had drifted about 30m towards the shore. It will be interesting to see if the birds do use them in the breeding season.
We had lunch overlooking the dam before walking along the dam wall where we got a better view of the islands, but unfortunately access was denied to us going any further. We noticed in the spill way down from the Dam wall was a healthy growth of two aquatic plants, Milfoil and Potamogeton ochreatus.
After lunch we had some steep climbs up the access road until we reached the smaller turn off track that led us back to Distillery Creek picnic ground where three cars had been left for the return journey to Moggs. Luckily the group of 10 fitted into two cars as Marg Mac, who was the owner of one of the cars, had managed to leave her keys inside Alison and Phil’s car safely at the Moggs Creek picnic ground!
Once back at Moggs we all went our separate ways – everyone expressing the thought that it was a great walk. It was a walk of discovery and sharing whilst enjoying each other’s company in this beautiful area of the Eastern Otways.
Marg MacDonald/John Lenagan