Victorian High Country - 1

Bega NSW to Bright & Myrtleford Victoria - Along the Great Alpine Road.

We set off from our home in the Bega Valley on 8th February 2021 and headed straight for the Victorian border (while we were allowed between COVID outbreaks!). Our first official stop for the day other than coffee & meal breaks, was to pull up for a look around Omeo, which is a nice friendly town - we had hoped to visit the Old Courthouse Museum in Omeo on the way through, but it was closed for renovations & repairs, so unfortunately we missed out this time - perhaps next time!

We pushed on and a few kilometers out of Omeo we stopped at the Oriental Claims Gold Mining Area out of curiosity and had a short 45 minute bush walk around the Chinese gold diggings site. I have to say it was good to be able to stretch our legs after many hours sitting in the car & interesting to read about the areas gold panning history - but there was not actually a lot to see other than information boards & greatly eroded diggings into the side of hills!

We continued our travels along the Great Alpine Road, stopping for a look back across the valley as we climbed up into the mountains - a lovely outlook.

Our first night out was spent at Victoria Falls Campground - a free camp managed by Victorian Parks and situated about 20kms on from Omeo along the Great Alpine Road. We pulled in here at about 5pm to find only a couple of other friendly campers already in residence - so Colin instantly struck up a conversation with them. We set up camp on a grassy area under shady gum trees, overlooking the Victoria River - very nice!

The next day we decided to stay put at Victoria Falls Campsite & cycle the remaining 10km (return trip) along the river past Victoria Falls and explore the Old Power Station Ruins. The Victoria River Hydro-Power Station was set up in the late 1890's and then abandoned in the early 1900's - not much of the ruined power station remains - but the e-bike ride out past the falls to the end of the road was great fun ... and the labrador (Brandi) got some much needed exercise (the Jack Russell - Dfor - gave up half way along & hitched a ride home sitting in Col's bike basket).

We ended the day walking the dogs + a very icy dip in the Victoria River and dinner cooked over an open fire.

Day 3 saw us climbing higher into the Victorian Alps past Dinner Plain Ski Resort & onto the peak at Mount Hothem. This is such stunning country and so worth the very steep drive up to the mountians in summer months - if you ever get the chance. There are wildflowers everwhere at this time of year and so many lookout pull up points to take in breathtaking mountain views, it is just stunning ... a picture speaks a thousand words so they say - to follow are a few photos to intice you;

We ended our 3rd day on the loose & unsupervised, with a journey down the other side of the mountian to Harrietville - where we stopped for some excellent coffee and a little local farm gate shopping for fresh produce, before driving on to Bright for the afternoon.

Bright is a truly lovely town & very friendly - well worth a visit. Our new favorite spot to visit in Bright is the Bright Brewery right in the middle of town ... we spent some quality time here sitting on the deck overlooking the Evans River, tasting some of the locally made Ales & Gin that were on sale, washed down with some fantastic rosemary wedges - what can I say! - the brewery is also very dog friendly which was brilliant for Brandi & Dfor. We can also highly recommend the freshly made icecream from the ice creamery in the centre of town - just yum!

Late in the afternoon we found a free camp site by the side of the Evans River at Freeburgh/Germantown and ended another day with a cool swim in the river with the dogs.

On day 4 we set out early to ride our e-bikes (with dogs running with us on leads) from Bright to Wandiligong (6kms) along the bike path that largely follows Morses Creek. About half way along Brandi (my faithful Labrador) saw another dog on the opposite side of the bike and decided that it would be a good idea to cut across in front of the bike to say hi - I went head over heels with bike/dog/lead instantly tangling at a reasonable speed and we landed on the concrete path in a mangled & badly battered heap! Bruised, bloodied & very unimpressed with said dog, we decided to perhaps forget about bike riding just for the day & drive to Wandiligong instead.

The rest of the day was brilliant ... we drove out to Wandiligong and stopped for morning tea (coffee & homemade cheesecake - cake fixes everything!) & we sat in the gardens at a very sweet cafe called '5 Acres' ... then we walked/limped along the creek through a maple tree forest, past the Chinese Swing Bridge and on to Windi Pub for lunch - which was absolutely brilliant ... all dog friendly spots. On the way back to our riverside camping spot that afternoon we grabed a gluten-free pizza to have with a wine for dinner - following a cool dip in the river of course!

Our final day in the Victorian High Country was spent in Myrtleford just north of Bright (about an hour from the NSW/Victorian border). We drove the short distance from Bright to Myertleford early in the day with steady rain coming down - which was a change from the heat we had been experiencing.

On the Great Alpine Road, just shy of Myertleford, we stopped to check out the products at Australia's only Pumpkin Seed Producer - Pepo Seeds. Pepo Seeds produce some excellent organic nut & pumpkin oil and seed products - we especially love the dark choc-coated pumkin seeds (just yum!) & both the pumpkin & Walnut Oil are excellent (high in omega oils & amazing for treating joint aches & pains - great for Cols dodgy joints, so we stocked up).

Once in Myrtleford we made a bee-line for the Art Gallery (which had some wonderful artworks) and then we spent a couple of hours poking around in the Red Ramia Trading Co, also known as the Mertlyford Star Bazaar. This is such an amazing shop ... it just went on & on, with room after room full to the roof with incredible Asian artifacts, furniture, sculptures & all sorts of unusual and very desirable treasures. We bought only a few items to cart home (mostly because we dont have the room to carry too many treasures on this journey) ... however, we are definately going to come back to this one - but next time it will be with a car trailer and a fist full of dollars!

Note: Col also ran into a long lost friend in the store & we all stood for ages catching up ... I cant take him anywhere without running into someone he knows! After a long chat & an exchange of phone numbers - we eventually all moved on.

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