Street View: S36°07.121’ E144°44.406’

We made a bit of a side trip to visit Trudy Detmold in her home town of Echuca (S36°07.121’ E144°44.406’), where the Murray and Campaspe Rivers meet in northern central Victoria.  Paddle steamers used to travel from the Murray River’s mouth in South Australia over 1000 kilometers all the way to Echuca to transport grain and wool before the railways ruled transportation across country Australia.  We spent a couple of days enjoying Trudy’s fantastic hospitality, also exploring Echuca’s historic centre and taking a run through some of the surrounding bushland.

After a couple of days in Echuca we headed back east toward the Snowy Mountains, aiming to meet up with Will and Abi in Thredbo for a weekend of hiking around Mount Kosciuszko.  On the way we made a stop in Rutherglen to dine at another bakery claiming to be Australia’s best: Parker Pies definitely has a pretty firm claim for the title in our book, the selection was absolutely mind-boggling.  From crocodile and crab, through lamb with mint and rosemary to chicken with bacon and tomato, the Parker Pies were absolutely fantastic and definitely worth sampling if ever in the area.  From Rutherglen we restocked in Albury just over the New South Wales border before crossing Lake Hume and heading to Granya State Park for the night.  On our way up to Thredbo we spent a while at Geehi Flats on the western side of Kosciuszko National Park, where I managed to land a Rainbow Trout from the crystal clear waters of the Swampy Plains River.  Geehi Flats was a beautiful spot, secluded campsites lining the banks of the Swampy Plains River, somewhere we would have definitely spent the night if we weren’t making a beeline to meet Abi and Will on the other side of the Great Dividing Range later that day…

Beechworth is a small country town full of history located a short drive north of the Milawa gourmet region.  I’d read in a tourism brochure about Beechworth’s famous bakery, so of course there was no way I was going to forgo a visit.  We made our first foray into town one afternoon during the rain, and after sampling the Beechworth Bakery’s fine offerings, ended up returning the next day for lunch on our way to Rutherglen.  Beechworth Bakery’s slogan is ‘Australia’s best bakery’; I’m not sure if that’s deserved but it sure is a great place for lunch.  Beechworth is well worth a look if ever in the northeast of Victoria, with plenty of places to eat, designer clothes stores, a brewery and plenty of historical buildings, its easy to kill a few hours exploring all that’s on offer.

Along with the Barossa Valley, Rutherglen is one of Australia’s two original wine regions.  The first wineries established way back in the late 1850s and produced a great deal of Australia’s wine until the area was devastated by Phylloxera.  Today the Rutherglen region is known for some of the country’s best dessert wines, particularly delicious Muscat and Tokay styles.  My dad has been sending us bottles of Morris Muscat to the States for as long as I can remember, so we were both keen to get a first-hand look at the Morris facility just east of the town of Rutherglen.  We also stopped off at family-owned Gehrig Wines, started in 1858 and today in the hands of the fifth-generation Gehrig winemaker.  Gehrig was a tiny  place, harvesting only 100 tonnes of fruit each vintage, but they had some fantastic dessert wines and Lisa enjoyed having a long chat with the fourth-generation winemaker manning the tasting room when we visited.  After Gehrig we shot into the town of Rutherglen to make one last late afternoon stop at Chambers Winery, one of the other original wineries in the area.  We lucked onto finding one of the family manning the tasting room, Bill Chambers took a lot of interest in us once he realized Lisa used to work in the wine industry and sent us packing with a complimentary bottle of his scrumptious Muscat.  Unfortunately the rain was at us again in Rutherglen, but we managed to find some time for a nice fire on the banks of the Murray River at Police Paddocks (S35°58.824’ E146°30.201’) just outside Rutherglen.  A fantastic area to visit, a lot of history in the wineries and the people were so friendly and accommodating.

Ever since watching The Man From Snowy River as a kid I’ve wanted to see the mighty Snowy in the flesh (for you northerners, the Man from Snowy River is kind of like your Paul Bunyan, put the movie on your Netflix queue if you haven’t seen it).  After we’d driven almost an hour along the dirt road skirting the eastern side of the National Park we came across a road block: the road was closed for construction.  After some sweet talking on my part and the fact that everyone in the road work crew also drove Toyota Troop Carriers, the graders and bulldozers parted for us and we were able to continue on to McKillops Bridge (lucky because driving around would have meant an extra couple of hours of driving on back country dirt roads!).  The road crew was sure to let us know that they were only letting us through as a favour and not to tell any of our mates!

McKillops Bridge is a historical monument at the northern edge of Snowy River National Park, where Snowy River National Park ends and Alpine National Park begins.  McKillops bridge was originally constructed in the 1930s and just days before its official opening in 1934 was destroyed by flood waters!  The bridge that extends over the mighty Snowy River today is the second attempt at the bridge, a wooden contraption that made both of us a little nervous driving over.  A huge amount of water was flowing when we crossed, even at the end of summer, no wonder the Snowy is part of Australia’s biggest (I believe…) hydroelectric power scheme.  At McKillops Bridge the rain that was to plague us for the next few days really set in.  We extracted The Tank’s awning for lunch, one of the few times we’ve had to do so, and made sandwiches in the shelter away from the rain.  On our way west we stopped off at Little Rover Gorge, Victoria’s deepest gorge, on the eastern border of the National Park.  Quite an impressive gouge in the earth, multiple waterfalls were visible in the distance from the gorge’s lookout, it would have been nice to take the hike down a portion of the gorge to Little River Falls if not for the rain…

Another slight map mix-up led us to believe that the technical 4WD track cutting through from Snowy River to Omeo was a dirt road.  The fact that it was raining heavily and given our previous experience with 4WD tracks in the Victorian High Country, we weren’t too keen on tackling the traverse by ourselves so spent a couple of hours driving down the mountains all the way to Bruthen and then a portion of the way back up the Great Alpine Highway to Swifts Creek (S37°15.629’ E147°43.361’).  Swifts Creek is a tiny farming settlement a short drive down the mountains from Omeo, we spent the evening at the Albion Hotel with the locals enjoying a few brews and avoiding the rain.  A short walk from the town centre we found a great spot beside a creek to setup for the night, rare Gang Gang Cockatoos noisily ate in the Eucalypts above The Blue Room into the evening and acted as our alarm clock again in the morning.

From Swifts Creek we continued up into the mountains, through the quaint historic town of Omeo where we caught a brilliant sunrise over the main street before heading toward Mount Hotham and Dinner Plain.  The Tank wasn’t too keen on climbing through 3000 and then 4000 feet on the way up the mountains, the thin air causing her to chug a little black smoke out the rear, even requiring us to climb up some of the steeper highway inclines in second gear.  It was a beautiful drive, the high mountain pastoral country eventually giving way to Alpine National Park, the clouds and rain finally subsided and we were rewarded with some brilliant views of the Victorian Alps stretching into the distance.  I basically learned to ski at Mount Hotham (S36°58.500’ E147°08.291’), spending at least a week there during most winters ever since I was 13 or so.  I also took Lisa skiing there for a week when we were both 21 when she was studying at the University of Adelaide.  For all the times I’ve been to Mount Hotham I’d never visited during summer so it was interesting to see the ski resort devoid of people and snow.  Mount Hotham is a launching point for the popular Razorback Ridge walk to sky-reaching Mount Feathertop, and while we didn’t arrive early enough in the day to attempt the 20+ kilometer hike we did enjoy some fantastic hiking through Alpine National Park.  As with our Crater Lake hike in Tasmania recently, when we set off toward Mount Loch we were rugged up in beanies and Gore-Tex jackets, hiking through the dense fog with no idea of our surrounds.  When we reached Mount Loch the clouds parted for striking views of Razorback Ridge and Mount Feathertop in the distance, later clearing even more for a view of Victoria’s highest peak – Mount Bogong – in the distance.  From Mount Loch we continued on to one of the many alpine huts dotted through the area, finishing up the afternoon with all our cold weather gear on our backs and pants rolled up in the heat! 

With some sore feet and Lisa a bit of sunburn around her neck from the mountain sun we chugged down the northern side of the Great Dividing Range into Harrietville.  Some absolutely beautiful properties around Harrietville, green pastures and bubbling creeks everywhere, such a quaint little spot nestled between the alps.  We finished our day in Bright (S36°43.725’ E146°57.869’), the gateway to the ski resorts of Mount Hotham and Falls Creek, making sure to stop off at the Bright Brewery to sample their fare.

The final stop on our tour of the Victorian Alps was Mount Buffalo National Park.  Mount Buffalo is one of the original Victorian ski resorts, although I’m not sure it still operates these days – even though the chairlifts are still in place – with the much larger and higher Hotham and Falls Creek resorts only a stone’s throw away.  We actually went to Buffalo twice: on Sunday morning when we ventured in, the rain kept us in the car the whole time so we were unable to explore some of the myriad of hiking trails the National Park has to offer.  We returned on Monday between the downpours to explore Eurobin Falls, Rollasons Falls as well as the amazing rock formations of the Buffalo plateau along a walk through the Old Galleries.  With the amount of rain the high country had received in days prior, the creeks and falls were absolutely charging with water.  So much that I couldn’t get a photo of Eurobin Falls without water from the torrent covering the lens!  We drove all the way to the top of Mount Buffalo, the peak is called The Horn and at 1723 meters (5652 feet) above sea level provides unparalleled 360° views of the surrounding mountains and plains.  Glad we returned between the rains, Mount Buffalo is an awesome spot, one could spend days exploring all the hiking trails the place has to offer…

Street View: S37°52.641’ E147°59.627’

From our spot on the side of the river at Toora we continued east, through more of South Gippsland’s extensive dairy country to the vacation hotspot of Lakes Entrance.  Lakes Entrance is a small tourist-centric town on the coast, set amongst a myriad of brackish lakes that stretch almost 150 kilometers (90 miles or so) west to the small seaside settlement of Seaspray.  It was time for some clothes washing, it’d been a few weeks since William Frost’s house in Hobart, so we checked into the Silver Sands Tourist Park in central Lakes Entrance for access to some washing machines.  During our walk along the esplanade we came across a couple of commercial fishing boats selling their catch, we bought a kilogram of bugs (they’re the same as Moreton Bay Bugs but I don’t know what they’re called if they’re not from Moreton Bay!) for an entree, such succulent flesh…  I think I maybe even prefer bugs to crayfish!

After our chores were done and we’d spent a bit of time on Lakes Entrance’s East Beach we packed up again to check out some of the coastline further east toward Croajingalong National Park.  We didn’t actually make it as far as Croajingalong, instead cruising along the edge of the Snowy River from Orbost to Marlo and eventually into Cape Conran Coastal Park.  The beaches around Cape Conran were magic, endless stretches of superb white sand with turquoise water that reminded us of southwestern Western Australia.  I threw a line in hoping to catch some salmon but only a few little tackers and no fish dinner for Lisa, unfortunately.

Street View: S39°01.778’ E146°19.037’

Just the two of us once again, when we were leaving Melbourne a couple of days ago we realized it’s been since the beginning of December since we haven’t had company on the road.  First we had Chris and Gina travel through southern South Australia, the Great Ocean Road, Otway Ranges and the Victorian High Country with us.  Then a week or so in Melbourne with Ben and Bronte Kennare.  And for the past five weeks Lisa’s parents have been with us.  A strange feeling being solo again after so long, but a lot to explore until we meet Abi and Will in Thredbo in a couple of weeks…

After arriving back in Melbourne last Friday on the Spirit of Tasmania Jarrod and Stacey McCabe welcomed us into their quaint Clifton Hill home for the weekend.  My dad had arranged for us to pick up some wine in Deer Park, so on Saturday morning Jarrod taxied us out to Deer Park to make the collection.  We thought we were getting a case, his usual delivery to us at certain points along the trip, but waiting for us were no less than seven six-packs of the best of Dad’s cellar!  We won’t be buying wine for a while…  There’s only so much room in The Tank, so to help us out with fitting everything in we invited Greg Halls, Ben and Bronte Kennare, and one of Ben’s best mates Tom over to Jarrod and Stacey’s on Saturday night to sample a few bottles of our new-found wine collection.  The standout: a bottle of 1994 E&E Black Pepper Shiraz.  One to note: a 1969 bottle of Kaiser Stuhl Spaetlese Bin B22, amazing to taste a white wine with so much character after more than 40 years being cooped up.  It was a great night had by all, it’s always the way with good friends, you pick up right where you left off…

At my mum’s suggestion we toured the Strzelecki Ranges via Grand Ridge Road on our way south to Wilson Promontory.  It was a fantastic drive, through the rolling hills of the surrounding pastoral country and pockets of untouched temperate rainforest around Mount Worth.  We found a spot beside a creek near Mount Worth State Park (S38°19.017’ E146°00.573’), where we enjoyed a roaring fire and caught up on some rest after a couple of big nights in Melbourne over the previous weekend.  The Tank was due for a bit of TLC and we happened upon possibly the nicest mechanics on the planet at Leongatha’s South Gippsland Cars and Off-Road, who took care of an oil change, tightening the front drag links as well as some new rear suspension bushings. 

Wilsons Promontory is a spit of land stretching roughly 40 kilometers out into the ocean just south of the small settlement of Yanakie.  A National Park as well as a Marine National Park, the area is home to some striking mountains, pristine beaches and no shortage of wildlife.  The unique landscape of the promontory made it an ideal training ground for the military before it was a National Park, the most elite Australian commandos (today called the SAS) had the entire promontory as their training ground during WWII, where they trained to combat Japanese in the Asian countries just north of Australia.  We stayed at Wilsons Promontory’s only road-accessible campsite at Tidal River (S39°01.778’ E146°19.037’), a behemoth of a camping area next to beautiful Normans Beach.  While the campground is huge (in excess of 400 sites), the Victorian government has done a fantastic job with the place: walking distance to the beach, hot showers, running water and a bunch of great walks in the area.  We explored Pillar Point on our first afternoon in Tidal River, where after a couple of kilometers of walking we were rewarded with brilliant views of Normans Bay and adjacent Squeaky Beach to the north.  We sure weren’t left wanting for wildlife when in the National Park: the Crimson Rosellas and Hairy-Nosed Wombat pictured above were quite happy with our presence and let us get close enough for some great photos.  We also ran into an extremely venomous Tiger Snake (pictured down lower) and wallaby on the hike to Sealers Cove.  For those northerners reading this, wombats are amazingly stocky little things.  The one pictured above would probably be around 30 inches long and weigh roughly 70 pounds.

Wilson Promontory is known for its array of challenging hiking trails.  We chose a 20 kilometer (12.4 mile) round-trip hike to Sealers Cove for our punishment during our full day in the National Park.  Well, I say 20 kilometer trek but at the outset we thought it was only 10 kilometers, not realizing that the 10 kilometer distance designation was the one way length of the walk!  It was a long but not overly strenuous hike through charred Eucalypt forests (from a big bushfire a few years ago), fern-filled temperate rainforests, and boggy marshes before reaching the beautiful beach of Sealers Cove.  I took a quick swim in the crystal clear water before we trudged back to Tidal River for a much needed hot shower.

Tonight we’re camped alongside the Franklin River just outside of the small farming town of Toora.  Toora’s a great little town, a bakery and pub as well as a post office make up the main establishments in the town’s centre.  And what a good value pub it is!  Not many places you can get a $12 chicken parmigiania these days and walk away almost in a food coma.  In fact, I might just move to South Gippsland one of these days: I was looking at the real estate agent’s window today in Foster and found a nice little parcel of 100 acres of land with a mix of cattle paddocks, temperate rainforests, an on-property creek as well as a few hiking trails for $300K.  $300K for a piece of paradise and $3.25 beers at the pub, how can you go wrong?  In Marin County $300K might buy you a bathroom and $3.25 at the pub a diet coke!

Street View: S37°54.534’ E144°59.236’

After a jam-packed few weeks with Gina and Chris we took a little time to lay low in Melbourne, joining Ben and Bronte in their new apartment on the beach at Brighton.  We also spent a night in Torquay with Ben, Bronte, Greg, Jarrod and Stacey at Jarrod McCabe’s family’s beach house, fantastic weather and great company (but I unfortunately left my camera in Melbourne so no photos!).  Ben and Bronte were brilliant hosts for our time in Melbourne, opening up their home to us and touring us around their locale whenever they had a chance.  We made an outing with them to nearby Saint Kilda, taking a walk along the jetty for some great photos of the Saint Kilda Pier and also a trip down the bustling main Barkly Street where we lucked onto Tecate cartons for $31.99.  Between Bronte and me we left the bottle shop with four cartons!

We spent a day exploring the city of Melbourne, taking the train in from Brighton to the central Flinders Station in the heart of the CBD.  We’d organized to catch up with a mate of ours for lunch, Greg toured us around the ANZ trading floor (where he works) and then on to a swanky Italian restaurant in the South Bank precinct across the Yarra River from the city.  At Bronte’s suggestion we toured some of the alleyways littered with quaint coffee shops and restaurants for which Melbourne is famous, stopping off for an afternoon coffee in Centre Place with Greg before he had to return for work.  We also ventured north of the city to the Queen Victoria Markets, a huge expanse of stalls selling everything from Aussie souvenirs to fresh fruit and vegetables.  We unfortunately arrived a little late in the afternoon to catch most of the vendors, interesting to see all the same…

We took a day trip south along the Mornington Peninsula to explore some of the beautiful beaches and wineries for which the area is renowned.  A friend of Lisa’s with whom she worked in California recently moved to the Mornington and is winemaker for Montalto Vineyard and Olive Grove, a beautiful piece of property with an acclaimed restaurant at the southern end of the peninsula near Flinders.  Simon treated us to a fantastic lunch overlooking the vineyards, we also met his lovely wife Belinda and 16 month old twins Liam and Oliver.  After catching up over lunch with a bottle of Montalto Pinot Noir we explored nearby Flinders and stopped off to try our hand at some squid fishing off the Flinders jetty, unfortunately no calamari for us…  The enclaves on the northern side of the Mornington Peninsula are escapes for the rich and famous of Melbourne, seaside homes in the prestigious town of Portsea often come with a multi-million dollar price tag.  We ventured along the coast from Rye, through Sorrento and onto Portsea to take a look at the beautiful beaches and luxurious holiday retreats, unfortunately most of the larger estates weren’t visible from the outside but from the entrances we could tell that there were some serious mansions overlooking the ocean along the northern coast. 

Hallsy organized tickets for himself, Jarrod, Stacey, Lisa and I to attend the Australian Open tennis while we were in Melbourne; Greg works at ANZ bank and they’re a major sponsor of the 2010 Grand Slam tournament.  Justine Henin, Jelena Jankovic and Andy Murray were all playing in one of the two arenas at the tennis that day so we lined up to reserve seats for the day before venturing into Degraves Street for stellar breakfast at one of the hole-in-the-wall cafes.  Even though our seats were towards the back of the rows in Hisense Arena we still had an amazing view of the games, the match between Justine Henin and Alisa Kleybanova definitely one for the ages, awesome to see the former world number one (Henin) in action in her first tournament back from retirement.  Our passes allowed us to venture to any of the 10-or-more courts on which there were games for the day, pretty much everywhere except the main Rod Laver Arena, Lisa managed to weasel her way into the front row of the Margaret Court Arena to see the Williams sisters slaughter a couple of challengers in the doubles tournament.  She didn’t want to take the camera because it’d be too heavy and is kicking herself a little now at the shots that could have been…  Our seats in Hisense Arena were only good for the day session, so we spent the late afternoon and well into the evening watching games on the big screen in the Heineken Beer Garden with a few beers.  A fantastic day, I’ve been wanting to see the Australian Open for many years so it’s great that we could organize our schedule to be in Melbourne for the event.  And what would we do without Hallsy getting us all tickets through his work?!  Thanks Greg!

Street View: S37°11.263’ E146°21.649’

We lost one of our troop to the call of civilization when we dropped off Gina at the Melbourne Airport, she needed to be back in Adelaide to start work for the coming wine vintage at Chapel Hill.  Chris and Bessie were yearning for more adventures though, so from our early morning airport drop we ventured inland a few hundred kilometers, bound for the Victorian Alps.  We restocked in the country town of Seymour before heading to Mansfield, roughly 50 kilometers west of Mount Buller ski resort.  It was a sweltering day with high winds, a little scary being in the foothills in that kind of weather with the reminder of last year’s Black Saturday bushfires clear in our memories.  As a precautionary bushfire measure Alpine National Park was completely closed when we arrived in Mansfield, so we ventured just out of Mansfield to the beginning of our trek at Howqua Hills Historic Area.  The Howqua Hills area is a stretch of brilliant campsites along the beautiful Howqua River, there’s also a number of restored alpine huts in the area that can be rented from the owners in Mansfield.  We found an empty area at Noonans Flat and setup for the day, escaping the 40°C+ (104°F+) temperature by relaxing in the adjacent river and trying our hand at snagging some of the mountain trout (unfortunately the water was too warm for them to be biting).  When Eucalypts get too hot they tend to drop limbs, we heard the crashing of large tree limbs a number of times during the afternoon, we made sure not to camp underneath any big trees!

Fortunately a cold front moved in during our first night in the mountains, so we could start our 4WD adventure the next day.  Breakfast was another wildlife-filled event with a couple of beautiful Crimson Rosella Parrots venturing in at the sight of all the grains in our bowls.  Chris again demonstrated his animal friendliness, chatting to the pair to get them comfortable and eventually being able to hand-feed them nuts whilst they perched on the back of the tank.  When I was taking photos of the female parrot the male moved in on my cereal, both of them eventually taking a liking to Chris’s muesli.  Lynn Westoby and Randy Luce, you would have been in heaven!

The Victorian High Country is known for some of Australia’s most picturesque yet challenging 4WD routes.  I had a feeling we were in for some nail-biting driving when the 4WD guide we have in The Tank described our proposed route as difficult, suggesting to allow three days to complete the 190 kilometer (118 miles) trail across the Great Dividing Range.  The track started out relatively easily, we wove our way through the mountains on Brocks Road on our way to Upper Jamieson Hut, taking in the beautiful fern gullies and towering Eucalypts along the way.  The cold front brought with it some light drizzle and fog, driving through the fog was at times a little tricky as our visibility was reduced to a number of meters.  After passing Upper Jamieson Hut the trail progressed in difficulty, with a deep river crossing across the Jamieson River and then some gnarly downhill sections with cliffs on one side of the track and slippery, wet rocks making up the trail.  The final climb to King Billy at the ridge of the Great Dividing Range was quite harrowing, The Tank again proved its superiority off road, crawling up the steeper sections of the track with relative ease.  King Billy was the pinnacle of our trip across the alps, we topped out at 1562 meters (5125 feet) above sea level.  I would have liked to grab a few more photos of the trail to King Billy but it was just too dangerous to stop the vehicles on the steep inclines to take any shots… 

From Brocks Track to King Billy we had a bit of a mini-celebration at reaching the peak of the Great Dividing Range and continued on to the King Billy Track.  More nail-biting driving along the King Billy Track, at a few points I think Lisa may have peed her pants just a little bit, and we were at the beautiful Howitt Plains for lunch.  By the middle of the day it was raining quite heavily in the Alps so we found the Howitt Plains Hut, one of the many alpine huts dotted across the high country, and sought refuge for a hot cup of tea and a bite to eat.

From Howitt Plains we continued east in the rain along the Zeka Spur Track, headed for Wonnongatta Station at the end of the day.  On Zeka Spur the terrain turned from difficult to extreme, we’d often stop the vehicles and express our amazement that we’d made it through the technical section we’d just put behind us.  None of us knew that vehicles were made to be able to tackle some of the terrain along Zeka Spur, super-steep downhills riddled with huge boulders, mini-crevasses and some very slippery mud in the wet weather.  The difference in tyres and vehicle weights was quite evident on the steeper downhill sections of Zeka Spur, Bessie with Chris at the wheel slipping and sliding in the mud, thankful for ruts to keep the vehicle on the track while The Tank’s weight and deeper tyre tread allowed Lisa and I to dig in and be a lot less squirrely.  Regardless, some very heart-pounding sections of the trail that we were thankful to put behind us, Lisa drove the whole way and made me proud, almost pulling the plug once or twice and handing the wheel over to me but sticking it out to tackle the most advanced 4WD track I’ve ever seen.  We had a bit of fun getting Chris and Bessie unstuck on one of the steepest sections of track, I ran uphill to see where they were and found Bessie with her front differential lodged solidly on a boulder with the entire vehicle’s weight pressing down on the rock.  Chris initially tried logs under the wheels to get enough traction to move Bessie backwards uphill, when that didn’t work I dug room under the tyres and propped them up on rocks, eventually giving Bessie’s two spinning wheels enough traction to lift her backwards and change course to avoid the problem boulder.  Some hairy driving for sure, but man it was a lot of fun!

We finally made it down the Zeka Spur Track to the Wonnongatta Valley and Wonnongatta Track.  The Wonnongatta is a beautiful high country valley with the Wonnongatta River flowing down its eastern edge, there are a bunch of picturesque bush campsites dotting the rivers edge for a few kilometers, we stopped off for the night at one of them, amazed that the cars and the three of us were all still in one piece after eight hours of solid driving to travel roughly 90 kilometers (56 miles)!  Our spot in the Wonnongatta Valley was one of my favorite campsites of the trip, the flowing water of the nearby river, beautiful Eucalypts and seclusion making it a really special spot.  Another wildlife experience with a late night visit from a mother and baby possum while we sat by the fire, the possums in the surrounding trees also woke Lisa a few times during the night.  We had a look at the isolated ruins of the nearby Wonnongatta Station in the morning before heading out, amazing to think that almost 100 years ago cattlemen inhabited the harsh high country valleys with stock.

From the Wonnongatta Valley we continued east through the Alps, crossing the Wonnongatta River four or five times through the Wonnongatta Valley on our way to Wombat Spur Track.  If we thought we’d tackled some steepness the day before we were in for a shock along Wombat Spur.  I think I would have struggled to walk up or down the Wombat Spur Track, Bessie and The Tank crawled up roughly four kilometers of the track in first gear low-range.  The fact that we made it without any complications amazed all of us, we were very thankful it wasn’t raining for our third day in the high country given the sheer inclines we tackled along some of the tracks.  The Wombat Spur incline is another spot I would have loved to snap some action shots but it was just way too dangerous to stop the vehicles anywhere along the way. 

Once reaching the peak of Wombat Spur we cruised along the ridge for half an hour or so, taking in the picturesque fern-filled Eucalypt forests and weaving in and out of the high country fog hanging around after the previous day’s storm.  The Wombat Spur Track veered onto the Cynthia Range Track midmorning and we began our decent toward Talbotville.  The Cynthia Range Track was just as steep as the initial sections of Wombat Spur, The Tank and Bessie again impressing us all as they crawled down the rocky incline in first gear low-range.  With each vehicle’s weight pressing down on the engine I’d hate to think of the pressure on some of the engine manifolds and cylinders.

We let out a breath of relief at the end of the steep Cynthia Range Track, figuring we were pretty much done with the hair-raising portions of our trek across the Alps.  We crossed the Wonnongatta River a few more times, eventually passing through the ruins of the settlement of Talbotville and onto 2WD-capable dirt roads.  We made a quick stop at the ruins of Grant, an old high country goldfield town, as well as taking a peek in one of the old mineshafts that brought the area such a massive influx of prospectors 150 years ago.  A little eerie walking around the old sites in the alpine fog…  We had a little celebration once reaching the bitumen near Dargo, giving our vehicles a massive hug and each other a few high-fives, before heading down the mountains to the quaint, sleepy settlement of Dargo. 

What a journey, 190 kilometers in three days and undoubtedly the most intense off-road driving any of us has ever done.  Nothing broke, no-one flipped and we all made it alive!  Such a beautiful area of the country.  Both Lisa and I were a bit sad to bid goodbye to Chris during our drive back toward Melbourne, a great traveling companion for us with his brilliant bush cooking and jovial personality.  Fingers crossed he’s serious about meeting up with us again as we continue our tour of this great Land Down Under…

After lunch at Port Campbell’s bakery we continued east to Johanna Beach, a beautiful stretch of sand tucked between Cape Otway and Moonlight Head.  The campground at Johanna is basically an extensive stretch of grass nestled in the sand dunes, a fantastic location within walking distance of the beach.  We all took a dip in the crystal clear waters of Johanna Beach to escape the flies and after another of Chris’s scrumptious dinner concoctions (with the last of the yabbies we caught inland) returned to the beach to try to snag some of the Salmon Trout running the shallows.  We caught a couple of keepers before the sun set, the aggressive little buggers were very greedy at times, taking lures almost as big as themselves!  We went back for another session early in the morning, again attacked by flies as soon as we emerged from our tents, and were a little more successful with some bigger specimens for the dinner plate.

From Johanna we made our first foray into the beautiful Otway Ranges.  The Otways stretch almost the entire length of the Great Ocean Road, the striking mountains are littered with rainforests, waterfalls and a plethora of hiking trails as well as some beautiful back roads drives.  We took the back roads from Johanna past Melba Gully and on to Triplet Falls, definitely one of the most beautiful stretches of track we’re ever driven with towering Eucalypts, massive tree ferns and bubbling rainforest creeks along the way.  The loop walk to Triplet Falls was a fantastic hike through the rainforest to the majestic string of waterfalls, cascade after cascade led up to the main Triplet Falls, an amazing spot…  From Triplet falls we continued on the back roads through the rainforest to the beginning of the Otway Fly treetop walk, a similar adventure to the Giants Treetop Walk in Western Australia’s Great Southern.  After seeing that it was $22 each to walk along the suspended boardwalks we decided against it and kept moving for another hike to Beauchamp Falls.  The walk into Beauchamp Falls made its way down steeply to the stream feeding the falls and then crisscrossed the water for a few kilometers until reaching the cascades.  Chris and I psyched each other up enough to take a dip in the icy pool below the falls, it was actually cold to the point of being painful, neither of us lasted long but it sure was exhilarating!

It was back to the coast for lunch after our morning in the Otways, we made it to the nearby coastal enclave of Apollo Bay and sniffed out a bakery before all taking a dip at the stunning Apollo Bay beach.  The Great Ocean Road is usually synonymous with rough seas but we were extremely lucky to have mirror-like water almost every time we ventured into the ocean for a swim.  We all had a good laugh soaking up the rays and watching a group of Indian fellas play soccer on the beach, there were some hard hits and painful-sounding slaps as some of the heavier blokes hit the sand!

From Apollo Bay we set our sights on Lake Elizabeth high in the Otways near the mountain town of Forrest.  Another beautiful backcountry drive through the forest took us up to Lake Elizabeth but we discovered on arrival that it was a walk-in campsite only, not so good when we sleep on top of our car and have our kitchen setup on the back of The Tank!  So we trudged on late in the afternoon, west through the Otways to nearby Stevenson Falls (S38°33.873′ E143°39.305′).  Along the way we passed through Forrest, we have to remember to return to Forrest one day to test out the myriad of mountain biking trails beginning in the tiny town.  The campsite at Stevenson Falls was a great spot, our initial site was next to a pack of rowdy teenagers so we moved shortly after arrival and found a couple of friendly girls from Brisbane willing to share their large site.  Turned out to be beneficial for both parties as we made them a nice campfire where we sat late into the evening sharing traveling yarns and drinking a few too many beers.

Back to the coast and toward the ritzy seaside settlement of Lorne from Stevenson Falls, we passed by Cape Patton along the way and took in the beautiful views westward back along the route we’d driven.  Lorne is within a few hours of Melbourne so is quite the escape for rich Melbournites, the esplanade lined with million dollar holiday homes and streets with expensive European cars.  The town still retains a lot of its charm, however, and its beach is similarly as beautiful as nearby Apollo Bay’s.  We spent a little while exploring the shops and cafes along Lorne’s esplanade, during which time Bessie was dealt a parking ticket by the local fuzz, stopping off at yet another bakery for lunch and then hitting the beach.  The Otways around Lorne are jam-packed with hiking trails to an extensive number of falls, we drove a short way into the mountains past the old Allenvale Mill site and tackled the roughly eight kilometer loop to Phantom Falls and through The Canyon.  It was amazing how much drier the mountains around Lorne were compared to nearby Apollo Bay: the latter had ravines covered with ferns and rainforest while those around Lorne were more typical of the Eucalypt forests we’ve seen elsewhere in Australia.  All the falls along our loop walk were dry but for a trickle, but it was still a great hike and the view from the top of Phantom Falls was quite breathtaking.

We continued up into the mountains from Phantom Falls to a campsite at Big Hill for our last night in the Otways, cooking up the last of the steaks from Big Al in Mount Gambier for a true blue meat and potatoes dinner.  An early morning drive along the last stretch of the Great Ocean Road took us to Torquay, arguably Australia’s most famous surfing town and home to Bells Beach and the world’s first wetsuit.  We checked into the last site available at the Torquay Caravan Park, at $60 for the four of us for a small patch of grass we started to realize how awesome the free campsites through the Otways had been!  It was 44°C (111°F) in Torquay on the day we were there so we pretty much spent the whole day on the beach, which was absolutely jam packed.  I think we fully lathered ourselves in sunscreen three or four times during the day, the sun sure packed some punch when it poked through between the scattered clouds.  We whiled away the late afternoon and evening at the Torquay Hotel Motel, putting away a few too many jugs (pitchers) of beer with our first evening meal at a restaurant since leaving Adelaide.  It was a miserable night trying to sleep for our last night with Gina, Melbourne broke its record for the hottest night ever, shattering the previous all-time high set back in 1902!  We all woke at 5:00AM to get Gina to Melbourne airport for her 8:05AM flight, all feeling a little groggy after the beer the night before and not too much sleep in the overnight heat. 

What an awesome couple of weeks we’ve had through Nora Creina, Mount Gambier, the Grampians, the Great Ocean Road and the Otway Ranges.  So much fun to have a couple of close friends along for the ride, Chris and Gina were so easy to travel with and added a lot of laughs to our evening conversations.  Hopefully they’ll join us again somewhere down the road! 

Street View: S37°06.480’ E142°25.401’

On our way into the Grampians we stopped off for a night at the tiny country town of Harrow (S37°10.278’ E141°35.341’) in Victoria’s southwest.  Nestled alongside the Glenelg River, Harrow isn’t much more than a go-kart track, a pub and general store, the latter two both in beautifully maintained heritage buildings.  We found a brilliant campsite a short walk from the general store, where we had the beautiful banks of the Glenelg River on our doorstep and a nice swimming hole and rope swing to boot.  We spent the late afternoon buzzing the Aerobie my mum gave us for Christmas between the Eucalypts, and also found a great spot for yabbies in a deep pool of the river.  It was our first night sleeping back in The Tank since leaving Adelaide and what a beautiful spot, Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos dotted the huge gums around the campsite and such fantastic weather.

We left Harrow early and restocked in Horsham before heading into Grampians National Park.  The mountains of the Grampians pop out of the surrounding plains like jagged teeth, beautiful forested peaks with an array of lakes and hiking trails throughout.  Chris and Lisa had both visited the Grampians before so we didn’t spend too much time in the area, but we did complete a fantastic 10 kilometer hike to the famous Pinnacles near the town of Halls Gap.  We spent our first night in the National Park at the site of an old wood mill near Lake Wartook, venturing to MacKenzie Falls and The Balconies during the afternoon before setting up for the night.  Our spot at Smith Mill was another good location for yabbies, as well as for viewing some of the local wildlife.  It was a bit of a treat to see a number of wallabies and kangaroos grazing around our campsite early in the morning.  We parked Bessie and The Tank in the town of Halls Gap and headed out early on the 10 kilometer Pinnacles loop hike, the temperature was forecast to top 40°C (104°F) that day so we wanted to beat the heat.  The hike took us past Venus Baths, Splitters Falls and through the striking walls of Grand Canyon on the way to The Pinnacles.  The view from the top was amazing, awesome to see the town of Halls Gap a couple of thousand feet below, we would have been able to spot The Tank and Bessie with a good pair of binoculars.  The trail down took us along the edge of the Wonderland Range with continued great views of Lake Bellfield and Halls Gap, we even came across a good-sized Echidna on the way, something I’ve only ever seen once or twice before in the wild.  A well-earned lunch at the Halls Gap Bakery (another addition to my list) was our reward for the hike, we ran into Cathie and Damian Hamilton with 18 month old Rory in tow on their trip along the Great Ocean Road and back through central Victoria.  It sure is a small world…

After our lunch at Halls Gap and a bit of a chat with the Hamiltons we took a scenic drive through the central and southern Grampians.  Jimmy Creek and Wannon Crossing campsites didn’t take our fancy too much, although they’d both be beautiful spots during winter with a little more water around, so we ventured over the Serra Range into the southwestern portion of Grampians National Park.  Tucked in the foothills of the Victoria Range we came across Strachans campground, a beautiful campsite shaded by dense Eucalypts next to a spring-fed creek.  We had the place to ourselves for the night, each enjoying a hot shower courtesy of The Tank and a close encounter with some rare Gang Gang Cockatoos.  A pair of Gang Gangs flew into the gums above our campsite and after Chris chatted with them for a few minutes (Chris is a zookeeper so knows how to do these things…) they became comfortable with our presence and allowed us to venture amazingly close for some photos.  The female swooped down for a drink out of the creek less than a meter from where I was standing, very cool to see such rare birds up so close in the wild.  We finished our tour of the Grampians with a solid breakfast of bacon and egg sandwiches, venturing back to the coast and the beginning of the Great Ocean Road before the temperature reached the mid forties (110°F+) that day in central Victoria.