Wild Pigs and Gang Gangs

I recently found myself having to kill time in Benalla so I thought a short walk to the summit of Mt Samaria would be a good use of the afternoon. The road in was rougher than I remembered and a light drizzle started to fall as I drove the new car up the hill. The first track to the summit is an old vehicle track, only open to park staff vehicles, As it lacks anywhere to park I continued driving. The second track – Summit Track – is a walking track and includes a small parking area. I thought I’d head up this track the kilometre or so to the summit and return down the third track for a loop walk.

Having recently read about wild pigs in the park, I nervously headed off past the trail head sign, which was neatly lying on the ground in a number of pieces, listening carefully for the sound of wild boar. I reasoned that one other person walking with me would halve my chances of being gored and regretted not bringing someone with me. My thoughts then turned to the fact that I hadn’t seen or heard any evidence of anyone else since entering the park and figured that if a wild pig did attack I wouldn’t be found for days or weeks. I searched the ground and found a pig-defence stick and continued.

By this time the rain had stopped and the air was getting muggy. Although it was easy enough to follow the track had the feel of not being walked very often. A section through some bracken was almost overgrown and while it would be easy to see a charging pig I was sure that snakes could easily hide in the thick growth.

I was hot and sweaty by the time I made the summit. The view was ok-ish; Lake Nillahcootie lay to the west and flatness stretched to the north. A dilapidated sign told it was 35km to Benalla and 45km to Lake Mokoan while a few broken bits on the ground probably said similar distances to other places.  The sign needed work or, preferably, a chainsaw and removal. (I don’t mind those sorts of signs in tourist areas but not at the end of a hiking trail.)

I wandered around the summit taking a few photos but feeling rather uninspired I decided to wander back down to the car. I came to a track junction, which I didn’t notice on the way up. According to the pieces of sign on the ground this was the Mt Samaria Walking Track, the third track to the summit, and would take me along the ridge to the kilns for a longer walk, or via a short link track back to the road about 500m from where I parked. The track however was nowhere to be seen. If I had of been feeling more adventurous I would have headed along the ridge anyway, with my trusty pig stick and feeling sure I would pick up a more definite track before too long. Instead I opted to return the way I came up.

Near the bottom I finally came across some wildlife. (Luckily it wasn’t a pig - lucky for the pig that is coz it would have been in trouble). Some Gang Gangs were feeding in a berry bush and Gang Gangs are known to be timid feeders; you can almost pat them if they have food. The words of my year nine photography teacher came to mind – “A good photographer takes lots of photos but knows to throw most of them away” – so I snapped away a zillion photos – zooming in, zooming out, in flight, feeding, roosting etc etc. I kept two and threw the rest away.

Mister Gang Gang

Lady Gang Gang