- Visiting the West Coast of Scotland
- This is it!!!
- On the road again
- Back Country – NZ
- NZ update – east coast
- Back Country – very different this time!
- Lake Taupo
- The Coromandel
- Mini-break
- More little adventures – NZ
- Getting out and about again!
- More holidays!!
- A new year of adventures
- The mountain cottage
- Ginny’s visit
- Another visit – Marni and Jodi
- More changes!
- First stop in Canada – Niagara Falls
- Quick visit – Toulouse and Venet les Bains
- Ffald-y-Brenen
- The Cotswolds
- Back in France again!!
- Barcelona
- A much more interesting path – crossing the Irish Sea!
- London to Loxton
- Enniscorthy – a quick visit
- County Donegal
- South Gippsland, Victoria
- Next port of call
- Victorian High Country
- Snowy River Country
- Reindeer Lodge – Tanjil Bren
- Hiccup to Blessing
- Have tent will travel!!
- Family and friends – hugs and kisses
- Road Trip to the West
- Very snail like!
We’ve been away!! Things have also been happening here at Allansfield – visit from Reg’s sister Leonie – but I’ll save that till next time. This blog’ll be all about our visit to the Victorian High Country! There will be more photos than dialogue – so be warned. The Victorian High Country is about 6 hours north of Phillip Island. We took our usual route and traveled through the Dandenong Mountains east of Melbourne – avoiding the city – avoiding the traffic! Quiet drive. We had booked a little mud brick cottage on a small lavender farm just a few kilometers from Bright. It’s called “High Country Lavender Accommodation” and our cottage was named “Lavender Delight”. A bit of a theme really!! We arrived mid/late afternoon, unpacked, lit the fire, and opened a bottle of wine.
Icy morning the next day – frost everywhere – but a beautiful sunny day ahead. We drove into Bright for a quick shop and then on to Harrietsville. Stopped to check out the Harrietsville Pioneer Park. Lots of green grass, picnic tables and gum trees – the beautiful Ovens River rushing by. Just love alpine streams. Clear water, rocks and boulders. There was also an interesting statue/monument of two prospectors panning for gold. Part of the history of the highlands. So well done. We then backtracked a little and crossed the mountains toward Mt Beauty – wonderful views of Mt Bogong on the way. Highest peak in Victoria – 1986 meters. Topped with snow. We then circled back around towards Myrtleford – following the Happy Valley Tourist Drive. Wonderful rolling hills followed by vast open farmland. Even caught up with some four legged locals before finding a nice spot for lunch. Nice to arrive home again for some afternoon tea on the veranda and settle in again for the evening.
Needed a snow fix so headed off to nearby Mt Buffalo the next morning. Called into the base of the Eurobin Falls – one of us was sensible while posing for photos, the other less so!!! Slowly wound our way up the mountain – snow appearing on the side of the road as we climbed – road warnings about ice on the road. Arrived at the Mt Buffalo Chalet – not open at the moment for visitors – and checked out the views from the Bent Lookout. Amazing!!!! Drove on towards the Mt Buffalo Horn – apparently 360 degree views – highly recommended! Passed by Lake Catani with its Grossmans Lake Picnic Area and then on to the Creste Valley ski/tobogganing slope. Unfortunately it was the end of the road for us – the road to the Horn was closed. Never mind! Visited the Lower Eurobin Falls Lookout on the way down the mountain – nice to see the falls from another vantage point. Lunch at a pub in Bright – home again to our little abode!
All too soon it was time to go. Left “Lavender Delight” and headed off the next morning. Decided to add some variety to the journey – took a back country road to Mansfield, then a very dusty track along the western side of Lake Eildon. Great views as we climbed. The lake winds its way though enjoining deep valleys – completely surrounded by forest. Little pockets of blue among the deep green. Reg wrote a romantic message in the dust on the back window of our car – what can I say! We had gone away to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary – photo will tell all. We followed the main roads for a while then took the Archeron Way to Warburton – started off narrow but sealed – soon became a rough and very wet dirt track. Quite concerned we would loose our little car down the many potholes – or should I say craters!!! The going was slow but a lot of fun!! Sign at the beginning of Archeron Way – “not suitable for semi trailers, caravans and buses”. Talk about stating the obvious! Arrived back on Phillip Island safe and sound and just in time for tea. Planned it well!
Love
Di and Reg
This entry was posted in Australia
Hello Reg and Di, loved reading your descriptions of your trip to the High Country! Sounds like you had a great time getting away, exploring, resting and celebrating! How wonderful and varied your 20 years together have been! I cant believe how quickly the months have passed since we were with you at Allansfield!
We are looking forward to the Spring, to warmer weather and getting out into the garden AND welcoming our new little grand daughter due 21st November. (We had a gender reveal party in August and pink confetti burst out of the black balloon Rachael popped!)
Hope you are keeping warm and well. God Bless!
X Annette
What wonderful news – a little girl. Give Rachael our love. Expect photos xxxxx