Bushwalking: Sherbrooke Forest revisited

Photo: Lyrebird in a tree in Sherbrooke Forest

Walk overview

Length: 11.5km
Time: 4 hours
Grade: Medium
Ascent: 480m
Maximum height: 490m
Region: Dandenong Ranges, Victoria
Map: Melway 75, 124

"One of the most popular forests in the range is Sherbrooke Forest. From the 1850s until 1930 this forest was used for logging. In 1958 Sherbrooke Forest was declared a park and in 1987 was merged with other areas to form the Dandenong Ranges Natonal Park."

"Sherbrooke Forest contains some of the finest examples of towering Mountain Ash in this region. These are the world's tallest flowering plants growing to more than 100m in height. Many of the trees in Sherbrooke sprouted after a severe fire in 1926. Below the tall trees in an understorey of treeferns, wattles and shrubs. Birds are proflific with many treecreepers and parrots. The first is also home to the superb lyrebird which searches the forest floor for insects and grubs. This large bird is able to mimic most sounds and is commonly heard imitating other birds and man-made noises. It is sometimes seen crossing the tracks."

Source: Day Walks Melbourne

My comments

It had been 7 or 8 months since I last did this walk. Last time was mid-winter, so it was nice to see it at a different time of year. There wasn't much fungi about, and we were too late for spring flowers, but it was still a pretty walk.

The Day Walks book mentions that lyrebirds can sometimes be spotted along Neumann track and this time we were lucky enough to see one. Unfortunately the lighting was quite poor and we couldn't get close enough to get a great shot, but we were all delighted to have gotten as close as we did.

One disturbing thing we noticed was a section of bridge railing and a couple of signs that had had huge chunks sawn out of them. They must have been pretty determined vandals to be carrying saws (probably chainsaws given the thickness and amount they cut through) with them. It is really disappointing to see people treating parks this way.