Victorian High Country Detour

Every year Lynne and I drive down from Sydney to see relatives over Christmas and New Year in Victoria. This time we wanted to get into the state a different way. so instead of thundering down the highway as we normally do, we researched a 4WD track before we left Sydney "The Davies Plain Track." This track fords the upper Murray River at Tom Groggin, just off the Alpine Way not far from Thredbo, and on paper it looked like a great way to see a bit of "Man from Snowy River" country on the way.

We left the Hume Highway at Gundagai and headed for the hills, driving east toward the Snowy Mountains. At Khancoban we checked with the National Parks office to see how difficult the ford across the Murray was and to get a better idea of the condition of the track.

The lady we spoke to was not very encouraging. "We don't know what the ford is like from day to day. It changes continually and depends on snow melt or rain up higher in the mountains. Don't just drive through, definitely walk it first." And, "What kind of map do you have? You can get very lost on all those old logging trails." I don't think she was too keen on us going anywhere, or did she just want to flog us a couple of topographic maps? We already had a Hema map of the Victorian High country but it was deemed to be not detailed enough.

By this time Lynne was getting a little nervous and I could see us heading back down to the Hume Highway any moment... we bought a couple of maps.

Later that afternoon when we got to the ford, the water was flowing pretty quickly. This was a little nerve-wracking as my river crossing skills are not yet fully developed. (Fortunately there was a Nissan Patrol just ahead of us, so we were able to follow his line through the fast flowing water.) Once you're across the Murray you're in Victoria and The Alpine National Park. The track goes up and up and up until you follow a ridge that takes you past a couple of historic cattleman's huts. Davies Plain Hut (right) is the first one you come upon. We met an old horseman from Khancoban there who was minding a camp for some riders who were exploring the National Horse Trail. He told us it was only another hour or so to drive the 13km. to Charlie Creek where we wanted to camp that night.

On the way we stopped at a high plains meadow, one of the few places that offer a view over the surrounding mountains. It's only then you realise how high you are. There are cattle up there, a traditional legacy acknowledged by the National Park for graziers who have relied on these high plains for generations. Lynne glimpsed some wild horses too. I missed getting a photo, as they raced off into the snowgum forest before I could get the camera out.

Charlie Creek (right) is on the edge of a meadow, so green and lush it looked like a golf course, a really ideal spot. I collected some fallen timber and while Lynne got a fire going I walked to the other end of the meadow to have a look at Charlie's Hut. Not as picturesque as the Davies Plain Hut, but I'm sure it would be a welcome sight to anyone caught up there in a snowstorm. It was stocked with basic supplies and there was a stack of firewood on the porch. We spent the night around our campfire watching the stars and listening to the night sounds. We thought we could hear wild horses in the distance.

The next day we began the descent into Gippsland through some old logging trails. We got to a cross roads and at this stage we realised the Hema map was actually easier to follow than the topographic maps we'd bought in Khancoban.

On the maps, it looked like the most straight forward way was to take the Mount Misery Trail and we would eventually end up on Limestone Road and be in Benambra for lunch. Wrong! The trail soon became strewn with branches and fallen trees. Obviously no one had been down there for some time [as of '98/'99].

We did a U-turn and went back to the cross roads and turned east down McCarthy's Track. then along Limestone Creek Track. On reflection, it may have been easier to turn west at the cross roads and go to Beloka Road. A bit less 4wd but perhaps a bit less anxiety too.

The longer route via Limestone Creek proved to be very steep in places. We found ourselves in low first, creeping down some of the steeper bits. I almost lost the car on one really steep, seemingly vertical part of the track when all four wheels lost traction, I could see us having to do a stall-start recovery and backing all the way down to Limestone Creek below. I backed off the power to regain just enough traction to haul us over the top.

Once we were on Limestone Road it was an easy drive into Benambra and then on to Omeo where we spent the night camped under trees by a little stream.

If you're not in a hurry and you want to see a unique part of Australia, it's the way to go and a lot more interesting than zooming down the Hume at 110km per hour.

- Chris & Lynne Bull

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