Yuni and I went for an overnight hike in Cathedral Range State Park, about a two hour drive from Melbourne. Two days, a lot of scrambling, and one very cunning raven.

Day 1: Southern Loop

8k (+700m), ~5 hours

Started clockwise around the Southern Circuit from Cooks Mill campground.

Found two Superb Lyrebirds singing strongly near the top of Messmate Track but couldn’t see them — they were incredibly well hidden in the undergrowth.

Wells Cave Track is not recommended with packs and we didn’t want to test our luck, so took Canyon Walk up instead. A lot of scrambling on both that route and the first half of the Razorback after Sugarloaf Peak. Slow going and quite difficult with full packs. Would be too dangerous in the rain.

Farmyard campsite is a well-protected clearing with no amenities. We were the only people there. Got a great look at a Superb Lyrebird near camp, which had evidently been scratching out toilet paper that wasn’t buried deep enough. Pack it out, people!

Dinner was Mee Goreng instant noodles with peanut butter powder (debut appearance), peanuts, fried shallots, and chilli flakes. Excellent, no notes.

For a view you need to do the short trail up to South Jawbone Peak, where we were treated to a spectacular sunset.

Returning to camp found an Australian Raven had gotten through a garbage bag, unzipped my pack, extracted and devoured a Clif bar. Also got into the first aid kit but nothing fun in there for it. Kept everything in the tent after that.

Awoken twice during the night by a terrifying growling beast: the Common Brushtail Possum.

Day 2: Northern Loop

10k (+367m), ~5 hours

The Farmyard is so well protected from wind that it was very dewy in the morning. Tent was extremely wet, but that’s no problem when only going for a single night.

Neither of us were hungry so we skipped a cooked breakfast and got moving.

The Northern Loop has much less scrambling than the Southern, but could do with some maintenance: a lot of overhanging spiky bushes encroaching on the trail.

At the saddle before Cathedral Peak we finally both saw and heard a Lyrebird practicing at an arena. It hid as we walked past but quickly returned, as we discovered on the out-and-back to the peak.

At Neds Gully found a school group encountering a drop toilet for the first time — clearly a traumatic experience for them.

Easy walk along the river back to the start point. “Bathed” in the river (it was freezing) and made lunch: porridge with dried fruit. Needed more sultanas.

We took about 6L of water between us and finished with about 1L. Considering we didn’t cook breakfast, would have felt more comfortable with another litre, particularly if it was hot.

We had a fantastic time, but I think this hike is much better done without packs. Camp at the bottom and do loops. Farmyard isn’t worth staying at, you get to do the cave route, and the scrambling is just more fun.