MTB Tour of the High Country of Victoria
March 1998
Over the Australian Labour Day weekend, my workmate John Laurier and I visited Baw Baw National Park located in what is known as the High Country of Victoria in South-East Australia. I had been keen to see the High Country for some time and the mountain bike was the perfect way to do it. I found some route information from various sources but the final decision was mostly influenced by the Lonely Planet's (Victoria) description of the road from Walhalla to Jamieson as "the pick of the scenic routes, and one of the best drives in the whole state". They also describe the (unsealed) route as "rough, steep, and winding" which is why we decided to utilize the mountain bikes.
The trip began like many other trips with a ride to Spencer Street Station in downtown Melbourne, where I met John. From here we caught the V-Line train to the town of Moe, which took about 2.5 hours. We arrived around 11:30 am and started cycling towards Walhalla, a small goldmining town turned tourist destination. The route began on a sealed road that climbs gently over the hills for about 30 K's to the small town of Erica. From here the road is unsealed and the climbing gets noticeably steeper, although the scenery makes it well worthwhile. The route goes through a Eucalyptus forest and at times the road is cut right out of sheer rock cliffs.
Arriving in Walhalla we were not overly surprised to see that the town was overflowing with tourists due to the long weekend. Tents lined the main street and the free campground at the end of town was chock-a-block. Many people had brought dirt-bikes and/or 4 wheel drives to explore the countryside with. We didn't see any other cyclists though. After a snack, and a refill of our water bottles, we continued out of town on the way to the Aberfeldy River, where we planned to camp.
The road from Walhalla quickly deteriorates and the climbing becomes quite steep. The road here is quite narrow with steep dropoffs and would be quite dangerous in a vehicle. This continued for about 7 K before we descended into the Aberfeldy River valley, where we were a bit dissapointed to find the campground full of 4-wheel drive vehicles. At least the price was right (free) so we set up camp and started to cook dinner. I also mooched a well-deserved beer from the uni students across from us. Due to the dry weather, the river was almost completely dried up, but we managed to find a small flow and filter enough to fill up our bottles. A few of the 4-wheel drivers dropped by to chat with us and give us information on the road ahead during dinner.
The next morning we got up nice and early to start the climb out of the Aberfeldy River valley. The climb is again quite steep, but the scenery is quite good at the top with views of the mountains and tall eucalyptus forest. The weather was hot and water became a concern as we did not pass any creeks or rivers on the way to Matlock. Luckily John had brought an emergency bottle because we both exhausted the water bottles on our bikes and the climbing in the hot weather required us to drink a fair bit. Even the emegency water bottle had been drained by the time we reached Matlock and we were relieved to find a water tank in the local park where we could fill our bottles and have lunch. We also met two blokes in a 4-wheel drive who told us about a campground down the hill about 7 K at Woods Point.
The descent to Woods Point is very steep, and it didn't take long to reach the township where we stocked up on supplies (and beer) at the pub. The blokes we met at Matlock were also at the pub and we arranged to follow them to a free-camp about 2 K out of town. This turned out to be a very nice camp next to a river and we had dinner around a nice roaring fire with the 4-wheel drive blokes.
From Woods Point, we faced another long and steep climb up to the Frenchmans Gap (elev 1083 metres). The road here is also quite rough but the surrounding countryside makes up for the difficulty of the climb. We had lunch at the Frenchmans Gap and were fortunate to get a glimpse of the rare lyrebird scratching for food in the bushes. We were able to get within a few metres of him and got quite a good view, definately one of the highlights of the trip.
From Frenchmans Gap, we rode along a narow track to the A1 Mine Settlement, a mostly abandoned old mining town, and then to Gaffneys Creek, a pleasant village with a few nice cottages still remaining from the past. From here the route mostly descends along the Goulburn River and there are plenty of nice campsites along the river. John and I were fortunate to find a nice spot for lunch along the river and John had a bit of a swim (too cold for me). The weather was still quite hot so the descent into Kensington was a welcome relief after the hard climbs of the previous two days.
At Kensington we stopped briefly at the local pub and made a phone call to check on the status of our lift home, which was generously being provided by another workmate, Mr. Daniel Tidey. Daniel was kind enough to co-ordinate a family trip to Jamieson, which happened to be the ending point of our MTB trip and give us a lift home from there, as public transport was a bit dodgy. There is no rail service to Jamieson and the V-Line bus does not guarantee bicycle transport (its subject to space availability).
The road also becomes a sealed road at Kensington which was a welcome change and felt like riding on glass after 3 days of dirt road touring. Kensington is only a small town, and only 10 K's remained to Jamieson on the sealed road, which was also mostly downhill. At Jamieson we quenched our thirst with a large Coke or two and had a good swim in the Goulburn River. The township itself was pretty quiet, probably due to the 40-ish degree heat. Daniel arrived shortly thereafter with his wife Mary, and two kids, Brendan and Biancha. Unfortunately, my research regarding the road Daniel had to drive from Eildon to Jamieson was a bit dodgy. I thought the road would be sealed but it turned out to be a fairly rough unsealed road so Daniels nice red Holden was quite dusty by the time he got to Jamieson. The kids had a good play in the river while we rested up and talked about the trip. Apparently the car trip to Jamieson was quite an adventure in itself!
At this point the cycling was over and we all loaded in the car for the trip home. The road back to Jamieson (mentioned above) is quite steep and winding, but with great views out across Lake Eildon and the surrounding countryside. We had to stop for a short time to remove a tree that had fallen across the road, which the kids (and Daniel) really enjoyed. I made a mental note to return and traverse the road properly on a bicycle...
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