As I have probably said before, the Victorian High Country is a wonderful place summer or winter and this trip is another fun time exploring a small section of this great part of Australia.
For this trip we actually stayed in a cabin at the local caravan park as we were arriving late on friday night and it was just simpler for only 2 nights with 2 young kids. The cabin was basic but clean and that’s all we really need.
On this drive we had 5 4wds and picked up another tag along along the way. We left Jamieson at about 9am and headed out, past the brewery and up past the lookout to lake Eildon before turning off onto the mount Terrible track. After airing down the tires we all set off up the track. The main track is not particularly difficult and a standard $wd would manage it fairly easily however, over most of the peaks along the way were alternate routes going straight up and over the peaks rather than around them so of course most of the time we took those for a bit more fun.
Some of these alternate tracks were very steep and in a couple of places quite slippery as well, the surface changing from compact dirt to loose shale and back to compact dirt again. It was at times hard to tell what the downhill sections were like as we were in the cloud most of the morning and couldn’t see more than about 30m in front of us. This made life interesting when we were part way down a very steep section and the surface changed to loose shale and we just had to keep the car straight in the tracks and guide it down while letting the engine braking control the speed until the grip increased again. In these conditions the worst thing you can do is stand on the brakes as the wheels will simply lock up leaving you with no control at all.
About 11am we reached Mount Terrible which apparently has a great view however as we were still in the clouds we didn’t get to enjoy the view here. There is however a nice hut here which is worth a look.
From here we continued along the Mount Terrible track towards Ryans hut stopping for lunch in a nice clearance beside the track (we had Pies cooked in the pie oven).
After lunch we continued on to Ryans hut before heading down into the valley and towards Enoch falls. Ryans hut is unfortunately completely covered in graffiti. Why people feel the need to deface these lovely old alpine hut is beyond me. you come to the bush to enjoy the outdoors, enjoy the driving so why destroy places with pointless graffiti and other damage. It is acts like these that cause these areas to be closed and the first people to whine about it are usually the ones that caused the damage in the first place.
Following the Big River rd along the valley to Enoch falls we stopped at the day area and walked up the track to the falls themselves. It is a short 700m well formed track to the falls and although I would have called them rapids more than falls they still look very nice with plenty of water flowing down the river..
From here we continued on the Big River rd until we reached the bitumen again, pumped up the tyres and headed back to Jamieson.
That night we all headed to the Jamieson Brewery for dinner. It is a great pub and the meals are excellent, I can highly recommend a drink and a meal there if you are ever in the area.
Another fun weekend exploring an area we had not been to before but will definitely return to in the future.
A Love of Adventures 