EASTERN VICTORIA

 

Some of the beautiful views on our way to the Nariel Valley.

Snow capped mountains.

Meandering rivers.

As the Staceys Bridge reserve is a few kilometres off the main road, it is not frequented by  caravaners but it is a beautiful spot with a great little trout stream nestled at the end of the Nariel Valley. Here we caught up with a couple from Tumut who we had met at Paddys Creek and we all had a great time sitting around the fire at night. John managed to get a nice catch of trout so I volunteered to cook them for us all and it was delicious. On our second night here, we were woken up by rain and then hail. Fortunately, it was over before it began so we were rather relieved. The trout stopped biting though.

Daddy emu with his chicks - Hillfoot Shool, Nariel Valley

The creek at Staceys Bridge



Trout for dinner! Thanks John.



Before we headed further south, we backtracked into Cooryong as we had been told that the local Man from Snowy River Museum was well worth a look and the pasties from the bakery also came highly recommended. They were lovely too although at $4.70 each we thought they were a bit pricey.

 

The museum however was great. Featured is a woollen rug knitted by a local, Jim Simpson, who had been an airman in World War II. His plane was shot down on his first mission and he was captured by the Germans. When told they would confiscate his brand new airman’s jumper for the Russian front, he proceeded to undo the knitting and roll the wool into a ball. During his time in the camp he taught several other prisoners to knit themselves socks and he knitted the amazing rug which is on display at the museum. He dedicated it to his mum who had taught him to knit.

Photo from the museum website.

The rest of the museum is also great, with more antiques than they have room for. The little village out the back has several relocated heritage buildings including a school and pioneer hut. Strolling through the museum reminded me just how old I am, especially seeing the old school desks, complete with inkpots.

Pioneer cottage

 

School's in!

Baker's cart.

The staff at the museum were really helpful as well. Their web address is: http://www.manfromsnowyrivermuseum.com/home/index.htm

Our next stop was Tangamblanga, west of Tallangatta. Tallangatta is a very picturesque little town which overlooks Lake Hume. We had to take a detour from here as there had been an accident about a kilometre west of Tallangatta. Backtracking to the Omeo Highway, we headed up through Lockhart Gap. It was a very scenic drive so we didn’t mind as we came out right at Tanga and we arrived in plenty of time to have a drink etc. with Eric and Anita (Eric was an apprentice with John way back when).

After stocking up in Wodonga we again turned south through Yackandandah to Myrtleford and then out toward Buffalo River to a little reserve called Nug Nug. There was plenty of room here, with gas barbecues and a lovely little creek. We topped up the tanks here as the water was recommended to us by the camp caretaker. No trout though.

Next morning it was back onto the Great Alpine Road to Bright, which would have to be one of the prettiest towns in Australia. It is built beside the Ovens River with beautiful tree-lined streets. We stopped here to give Leo a walk and watched a group of high school students taking a kayaking lesson in the river. It looked really cold. We noticed too that there were two big water slides specifically built to run straight into the river. I bet the local kids have a ball on them in summer.

The road into Bright

Canoeists on the river - note the slide in the foreground.

Bridge across the Ovens River at Bright - with another slide top centre.

Continuing south from Bright, we drove up to Mt Hotham, where we stopped to let Leo have a play in the snow. He didn’t quite know what to make of it but it didn’t deter him from chasing his ball. There was a lot more snow up here than the last time we had ridden our bikes through here on the way to Phillip Island. We had lunch right at the top, looking out at the snow, but the wind was very strong (even blew my thongs away) and chilly, so we decided against hanging around for too long.

The view at Mt Hotham

Leo was a bit bewildered by the snow!

About 20 klms past Dinner Plain we found a beautiful little camping spot beside the Victoria River called the Victoria Falls Historic Area. We had the whole place to ourselves. John decided to have another go at the trout with his new rod and 6lb line. No luck again. Trout fishing is very different to the kind of fishing we have always done so it might take us a while to land one. Maybe in Tassie.



Our camp at Victoria Falls



Leo at play.



And resting.

The river at Victoria Falls Reserve

Next morning we stopped at Omeo to have a stroll and pick up the Saturday paper. There are some lovely old buildings in Omeo, including the Post Office, the Court House and a unique looking hotel in the middle of town which was obviously very ritzy in its heyday.

Twenty-six kilometres south of Omeo is the lovely little hamlet of Swifts Creek, where we settled in at the local reserve, right beside the Tambo River. Fees of $14 a night for power, $9 without, have to be paid at the local store and you also get the key here for the showers and laundry. The washing machines are new and clean so we got the washing done as well. This was a great little spot, within walking distance of town. There is plenty of room and the showers would have to be up there with the best. We parked down on the grass beside the river. There is a minor road which runs parallel to the river on the other side from the highway, and I had a lovely time riding my pushbike through the beautiful green paddocks, checking out sheep, horses and lots of bunny rabbits. Leo also had a great time too pretending that he had a chance of catching one of the many bunnies running around the campsite. As well as the lovely bike road we discovered a walking track around the back of the town so we took Leo for a stroll down there. We even came across a patch of wild asparagus so we had fresh picked asparagus for dinner.

Swifts Creek Reserve

After Swifts Creek there aren’t many camps in the camps book but we discovered that there is a great little reserve at Tambo Crossing, about 40klms to the south which isn’t in the book. There aren’t any facilities there but the camps are right beside the river. We wanted to get further on though so we kept travelling through Bairnsdale to Sale and then turned south on the Gippsland Highway. We ended up at a little reserve near Toora. It was a nice enough spot but the ground was very wet and soggy so we had to be careful where we parked. This became even more evident when another couple who were from Europe got their little van bogged near us. They were trying desperately to get it out and it was nearly dark, so we went over and told them to just stay there and we would get them out in the morning. They were happy with this and John and the guy managed to push it out easily before we left next day.

Oh! I almost forgot. The trout we had for dinner at Staceys Bridge were caught by John as in Carol and John, not Chris and John. Sorry Bob!!!!