Wombat State Forest, Victoria

[tekka maki]

There are some easy and more challenging tracks in the Wombat State Forest. Went there day after new years and had lunch at Lake Daylesford, then drove to Blackwood through the forest, first going down Jubilee Lake Road (sealed) and onto Specimen Hill Road (unsealed) through the forest, then diverting left onto Cockatoo Creek Track (easy off road) and left again onto Cockatoo Track, bringing us to Wombat Creek Dam. Then headed south down Wombat Creek Road and onto Stewart Creek Road and then left at Leonards Hill Bullarto South Road (goes from unsealed to sealed) and right down Camp Road (unsealed heading South) until Blackwood Ridge Road which we turned left down. We felt like something more challenging so turned right up Schiltoe Track and this was certainly the most challenging off-road I'd done. We had to stop several times to assess the road conditions and depth/obstacles of water (I recommend going through those with a bit of momentum). We followed Schiltoe Track until it hit Paradise Track where we turned right and continued on to Paradise Road where we turned left and then left again up Green Hills Road when the two intersected. We followed Green Hills Road until it hit the main road, Greendale Trentham Road. We turned left up this and stopped in Blackwood at the pub for a cool down. I'd recommend going with someone else and carrying some basic recovery gear if you're going to do more challenging tracks. Also, I picked up a twin pack of the GME TX665 1 watt handheld UHF radios for $99.99 from BCF so that we could communicate between vehicles. They worked brilliantly but you need to hold down the talk button for a few seconds before speaking to make sure the other vehicle gets the full message. These were good as neither of us had vehicle mounted UHF radios.

[Juliaren]

Wombat state forest has a number of areas to ride. The most popular entry is through Carolls Lane in Bullengarook. There are a few spots near Greendale and Dales Creek. Stay away from pine plantations. If you have a license you will be fine in Wombat State Forest just don't stay in the same spot or ride up and down roads.

[tekka maki]

I was back in the Wombat State Forest and Lerderderg State Park today doing some difficult tracks.... some easy ones... and some "better turn around and go back" ones. We started in the Garden of St Erth car park in Blackwood. Just before you get into the overflow carpark there is a very narrow rocky track on the left. This is the Easter Monday Track and there are now a lot more hairline scratches all along the sides of the Fortuner thanks to this track. At the end of Easter Monday Track, we turned left onto New Sultan Road and then right onto Blackwood Ridge Road. Both of these were a relief after the Easter Monday track, but that relief was short lived when we turned left onto the German Track. We followed this to a T intersection and turned right onto an unnamed track taking us to Paradise Road. We were getting hungry at this point so decided to head back into civilisation for some lunch, turning left at Paradise Road, left again on Green Hills Road and then left onto Greendale Trentham Road (sealed), which we followed into Trentham for some food. Once satiated with some linguine from the Wild Thyme cafe, we headed back out of Trentham the way we'd come and turned left into Countess Road. We followed this to a 5 way intersection and turned right down North Blackwood Road and then left into Chettle Road. Chettle Road goes for a long way and winds its way through some picturesque areas of the Wombat State Forest. At the end of Chettle Road, we turned right onto Firth Road and, at a 4 way intersection, we then turned right into O'Briens Road and into the Lerderderg State Park. We turned left down Blue Gum Track and followed this to Ractcliffe Track, which we turned left down with the hope of doing a river crossing. We turned left onto No. 1 Firebreak Track and the river crossing turned out to be mostly a pool of dirty water but the track on the other side was a bit too intimidating so we turned around and went back to the Blue Gum Track which we then followed all the way into Bacchus Marsh.