The Victorian Alps

 (Magyar változat a végén)

Bowna rest area

On this tour our first destination was the Victorian Alps, then we planned to go across the Snowy Mountains, finishing the tour somewhere on the NSW South Coast in about 2 weeks time. On the first day (Thursday,  30 October 2014) we travelled South along the Hume Highway and spent the night near the Victorian border at a free campsite (Bowna rest area), a pleasant spot although no facilities whatsoever, just a little clearing under big eucalypt trees but a bit further from the road, reasonably quiet and we had everything we need in our van.

Beechworth main street and Post Office

On Friday we passed through to Victoria and settled for the night in a caravan park in Beechworth. This is one of the many small towns born during the mid-19th century gold rush and still living from its past history and tourism, plus farming but they seem to be living quite well. In the morning we walked along the main street up and down, among many well preserved and maintained historical buildings, including the courthouse and gaol, where Ned Kelly had spent two years. 

They think there is still gold there...

In the afternoon we drove out to another old gold mining centre nearby, El Dorado and the Woolshed Valley. In its heyday in the 1870s more than 2000 people lived in and around town digging for gold. Almost nothing remained visible from that era, only signs and info boards telling the stories and showing some old photos. Some of the sites are showing the activities of the Kelly Gang in this area. We drove along the valley, in 33 degrees, dutifully reading all the stories, and saw quite a few people still digging or panning for gold around the river. Then at the end visited the Woolshed Falls. 

Woolshed Falls

New playground in Bright

After the hot and humid Friday, by Saturday morning the temperature dropped down to 14-15 degrees and rained almost all morning. We drove to Brigth, the tourist centre of the Victorian Alps where we had spent our end-of-year holiday with a group of friends in 2007. We planned to stay at a free campsite just outside town, but after a quick look at the site in pouring rain we gave up the idea and went back to Bright. We were lucky to find a spot in a caravan park at the second attempt, as all places were booked out due to the Melbourne Cup long week-end holiday. 

Octoberfest in Bright

By late morning the rain has stopped and we had a walk around the town centre. It is always a very busy place, now it seemed all Victorians have assembled here for some reason. We admired the beautiful tree lines, cedars, bunyas and others, along the streets. Octoberfest was still going on (in November) in a big tent with weissbier and German sausages and the Wondonga Brass Band playing the appropriate "schrammel" tunes. 

View of the Bogong High Plains from Tawonga Gap

This is what we saw from Falls Creek

In the afternoon we went to visit Falls Creek where we haven't been before. At the beginning the weather was quite promising, nice views from the Tawonga Gap towards the Falls Creek valley, but by the time we climbed up to the Falls Creek ski resort (at 1760 m elevation), it was 4 degrees and sleet. So we just turned around without getting out and drove back home.   




Next day (Sunday, 2 Nov) the weather was a bit better. We continued Southbound, first stopping at the nearby salmon and trout hatchery, to feed the fish and enjoy their play and fight for food in the water. 

Victoria Falls campsite

Then, after climbing through the Alps at Mount Hotham, we stopped at a nice free camp site at the Victoria Falls Historic Area. The history here also relates to gold mining but this time it is not the mining itself but the first hydro-electric power plant built in Australia based on the small dam on the Victoria River nearby. We spent a pleasant afternoon and evening here, visiting the falls, and chatting with some fellow-campers at their fireplace. The night was pretty cold though, 3 degrees inside the van at daybreak, as this spot is still close to 1000 m elevation.

Victoria Falls

Alpine flowers

 Monday morning we drove in to Omeo, "the business centre for the Omeo Region and a pioneering farming town known for its gold rush history and High Country Cattlemen". It was a beautiful day, bright sunshine, we walked around the old historic precinct, showing the usual old buildings, courthouse and gaol (it seems these were the most important community buildings everywhere). 

The Gaol, Omeo

Court House, Omeo

At lunchtime we visited one more gold mining area just outside town, the Oriental Claims Historic Area. We did one of the loop tracks around the mining sites, had lunch, then moved on.

Oriental Claims gold mine

The Blue Duck Inn

Our campsite for the next two days was at Anglers Rest, just 30 kms to the North of Omeo, where the Cobungra, Bundarra and Mitta Mitta rivers meet. A very nice spot right on the river bank. The historic Mitta Bridge and the Blue Duck Inn are at the bottom end of the campsite for hungry and/or thirsty anglers (blue duck is the name of a gold claim which did not produce any gold). There were quite a few other campers around on Monday (which was a public holiday in Victoria, together with Tuesday when the big race was on in Melbourne) but the place was almost empty by next morning. 

The Mitta Bridge

Wallace's Hut

On Tuesday we drove back up towards Falls Creek and did a short walk to Wallace's Hut, then on to Cope Hut and back. We have been here in 2007 but it is such a nice area, beautiful alpine vegetation that it's worth a second look. It was pretty cold up there (around 1750 m elevation), no more than 10-11 degrees and very strong winds out in the open, but it was a nice walk nonetheless. We came down to the campsite for lunch and a quiet afternoon and evening, with some cooking and tea around the fireplace.  

Snow gums on the high plains

Life at Anglers Rest

Making tea on the fire

2014 okt. 30-án csütörtök reggel indultunk Sydney-ből az újabb lakókocsis túránkra, amit 2 hétre terveztünk. Az elso nap csak utaztunk dél felé, a Victoria-i határ közelében álltunk meg éjszakára egy szabad kemping-helyen. Kellemes hely volt, ugyan semmi létesítmény nem volt, csak egy szép tisztás a nagy fák tövében, de kicsit messzebb az úttól, nem volt túl zajos, és szerencsére önellátók vagyunk, van miden ami szükséges a lakókocsinkban.

Pénteken átjöttünk Victora államba, és egy Beechworth nevu kis városkában szálltunk meg egy kempingben. Ez is egy 19. szd-i aranybányász település, ami a múltjából él, foleg turizmusból, no meg a környéki állattartásból, de úgy tunik, elég jól élnek. Délelőtt körülsétáltunk a város foutcáján, megnéztük a "történelmi" épületeket, minden nagyon szépen rendben van tartva. Ebéd után meg tettünk egy autós körutat, egy másik jelentős arany-bányászati központba, Eldorado a neve, ma már csak táblák mutatják az egykori bányászati és egyéb emlék-helyeket, pl. itt "dolgozott" Ausztrália leghíresebb "bushranger" (rabló) bandája, a Ned Kelly gang. A végén még egy szép vízesést is láttunk.

Az idő jól felmelegedett, napközben 32-33 fok volt, reggel meg 9 fok volt a lakókocsiban, de nem panaszkodunk, mindkettot kibírtuk, soha rosszabbat.

A pénteki hőség után szombaton 14-15 fok volt és majdnem egész nap zuhogott az eső, ehhez alakítottuk a programot. Továbbmentünk Bright-ba, egy Alpok-völgyi turista-központba, ahol 7 éve nyaraltunk a szokásos baráti társasággal. Mivel Victoria-ban 4-napos hosszú hétvége volt (a Melbourne Cup lóverseny alkalmából) minden kemping tele volt, de végül nagy nehezen kaptunk egy helyet, ott aludtunk. Nem így terveztük, de az esőben ez volt a legjobb megoldás. Napközben azért nem esett végig, körülsétáltunk a faluban, volt mindenféle attrakció, többek között Oktobefest alkalmából nagy sátorban sör és német kolbász, fúvós-zenekarral. Felautóztunk egy sí-központba is kb 1750 m-re, de mire felértünk 4 fok volt és havaseso esett, úgyhogy ki se szálltunk az autóból, visszafordultunk.

Másnapra kicsit megjavult az ido, továbbindultunk dél felé, átmásztunk a Victoriai Alpokon (1800 m magas hágón) és aztán egész héten kellemes szabad kemping-helyeken töltöttük az éjszakát. Volt hogy éjszaka-hajnalban nagyon hideg volt, de már elég jól fel vagyunk szerelve, tudunk védekezni. Megnéztünk egy Omeo nevu kisvárost, elgyalogoltunk a Wallace's hut-hoz, ez a 19. szd második felében épült bádog-teteju fa kunyhó, ahol a pásztorok laktak a nyári idényben. Itt is jártunk már 2007-ben, de olyan szép a környéke meg az alpesi növényzet, szívesen megnéztük ujra. A kedd délutánt a táborhelyen töltöttük, olvastunk, pihentünk, főztünk, este tüzet raktunk, teáztunk a tűz mellett.