Reflections of turquoise waters and wild woodlands.

Journeying through Gippsland

by Malcolm Ross July 2008

we left Melbourne under darkening skies. the lights were beginning to come on in that sprawling metropolis. i couldn’t remember a more suitable welcome from a sky before us as sunset from the west cast long reflections of light into forested mountains and roadways of the east before us. this was all new to ida. i had been into this countryside  many times before. she had immersed herself in a book as was her usual travelling habit. i asked about the book. it was a story about south gippsland from the early part of the twentieth century, so that is why we chose to go down the south gippsland highway and travel back on the east gippsland access roads.

we had decided to make three different stopovers in the seven days of travelling before us. my choices were mt baw baw, lake tyers beach and inverloch, with a back-up of dinner plain and mount hotham (as one stop) if conditions suited. we wanted to see as much of the region as we could. knowing little about it, ida had chosen phillip island, mallacoota and seaspray. she said she liked the names and the little i could tell her about each place just made her choices even more definite. i warned her that the gourmet trail, the mountains such as the baw baw highlands, as well as the grand ridge road would all seduce her, but ida was a person who made choices and stuck with them. i began to imagine the area unfolding before us. everything but the sad smell and harsh scar of the latrobe valley.

i began to dream. there is so much physical beauty in gippsland that it is easy to be dazzled. from the forests to the lakes, the hilly countryside leading into mountains, some superbly charming small towns with ‘olde worlde’ buildings, and all that seafood, countryside produce and wineries to immerse yourself in while you indulge yourself. lake tyers beach has always entranced me, such magnificent untamed wilderness beach front on the ‘ninety mile beach’ and access to wonderful facilities and other places to see. ida, i knew, would adore it all. a great advocate of health and fitness she would run the beaches and walk the hills with relish and dine and wine heartily afterwards.

the kilometres slipped past as the evening gathered. i persuaded ida to forego phillip island for next time and we headed on to inverloch. at kilcunda, we walked the wild roaring beach in the twilight, and phoned ahead to book in at the inverloch caravan park. the cabins were a welcoming sight. we shared excellent sea food and pasta at the inverloch pub. next day we drove on through the stunning south gippsland landscape to venus bay, the south gippsland hills and countryside around fish creek, and onwards up to mirboo north, and back down past the grand ridge road to alberton, port albert and yarram. ida had her appetite whetted by our first night out and she wanted more.

ida had wanted to stay at port albert and investigate the atmosphere of the old fishing port with it’ superb view of wilson’s promontory which almost had us turning back to stay there in the warm glowing sunshine of the middle day. we dined in the pub at yarram in a beautiful atrium, and with the memory of the old court house and butter factory in our minds, we travelled on to sale. i suggested we make for lakes tyers beach for the night, and leave seaspray and the ocean beach places until the return trip. we had to forego a visit to the enticing ocean beach at woodside and travelled on through the afternoon light with the hills and mountains before us in beautiful blue relief. it was so difficult to think ahead about mallacoota versus dinner plain, or the gourmet trail in preference to the forested countryside around buchan or walhalla.  

as we drove on through sale to stratford, with it’s wonderful countryside village charm, and history of the shakespeare festival, with the avon river set in such grandeur, i began again to remember and reflect. how many times i had  stopped and enjoyed the peace and serenity of this grand area? huge and wide in it’s eagle soaring skies and depth of contrasts. we headed to bairnsdale. it is a relatively short trip to lakes entrance and the coastal lakes region from bairnsdale. the lakeside township of paynesville is only a short trip from bairnsdale as you travel alongside the magnificent mitchell river past the mcleod morass wetlands. we entered a beautiful evening going past the big river townships of nicholson and  swan reach to lakes entrance and finally lake tyers beach.

- (bairnsdale to Paynesville, 15 minutes and return, as no through road.)

we stayed that night at the park on the cliff top at lake tyers beach and dined at the lovely ocean fronted pub. ida and i trekked down the cliff tops to the beach. in the night air, we walked together alone, on a moonlit expanse, seemingly we were truly in our own world, with the night all around, and the sound of the wild crashing ocean mesmerising us, with our footsteps deep in sand. ida loved it so much she wanted to stay for the rest of our trip there, but we settled for two nights. reluctantly we turned back west away from mallacoota, orbost, cann river and genoa, and the rest of the east including marlo, cape conran and the wilderness and old growth forest areas, to concentrate on the hard decision to either go north to the ski fields or pick a middle gippsland destination. it was hard to decide against buchan and the snow fields area but we settled on trekking from bairnsdale to dargo, and then down through briagalong and heyfield, to a countryside retreat somewhere near, or on, the baw baw plateau.

again driving i had a chance to think and dream. ida immersed herself in the usual book, which was lovely to watch as she lived what she read. this time it was a story set in the old goldfields days at omeo.

i remembered my first trip up the the great alpine, or omeo,  highway, a stunning winding road with all sorts of intriguing names like ‘one pound corner’, the hilly terrain and the ‘in your face’ road cuts, with the tambo river running like a familiar companion through the bush on the other side. i had driven it fast and desperately, having to be on the ‘other side’, or north eastern Victoria, by a certain time, it is not an area to hurry in. i reached dinner plain after driving through some beautiful upland vistas, and then got out and walked by the roadside to stretch my legs, to get ready for the rest of the trip off mount hotham to harrietville, and bright.

i have driven that road many time since, and have not had to hurry. it is wonderful to pass through ensay and the swifts creek areas and the fantastic rise to the omeo plateau, with vistas which defy description. you feel as if you are are rising to the top of the world. there are also opportunities to pull off the road and look at the snowy mountains ranges with mt kocsiousko, truly the ‘roof’ of australia. at many points you can get a 360 degrees view, and certainly on top of mount hotham you get to feel as if the world is at your feet and you can see forever! it doesn’t have to be the snow season at mt hotham to be enjoyable. i have walked the surrounding countryside of dinner plain and mt hotham in all seasons, and it is wonderful to explore the never ending enticement to physical pleasure.

but, all that would have to wait for another time. on our trip across the countryside we visited a gallery at cowarr and heard all about the wonders of visiting the highlands around licola and aberfeldy, as well as the magnificent countryside, and the ada tree near noojee. on the way to warburton. again passing the latrobe valley we were put off by the deep open cut holes in the ground and the smoke and steam from the power stations. we stayed two nights at mt baw baw alpine village, using the days to explore the stunning countryside, and going for long walks in beautiful forested areas.

we now only had two nights left and felt as if there was never going to be enough time. for gippsland is truly a huge attractive expanse of contrasts and wonders. it was ida’s turn to be definite about where we would go and she settled for a bread and breakfast location near mirboo north. this gave us a chance to explore tara bulga national park, the gourmet trail and grand ridge road area. it proved to be a treasure trove of art and craft places  restaurants and wineries as well as mind boggling vistas in every direction. gippsland truly has some excellent, easily accessible wineries, some lovely out of the way restaurants, and locations with art works and craft pieces which would be the rival of any in australia, if not the world. i remembered travelling once, some time ago, down the road from traralgon to yarram, and stopping briefly in the little township of gormandale. it was a beautiful quiet morning and i felt like the world could end there.

ida and I had a wonderful time in the mirboo north area. it was a time to explore and give way to what ever was before us, the wonderful views to the coast, the lovely close intimacies of the forested areas, and the gentle and persuasive ways of the people and the many little by-way stops. we felt at peace, refreshed and ready for anything when we reluctantly had to turn again back down the road to melbourne and our other lives.

whether it is the ocean beaches with their cool calm meeting of sea and sky with vast expanses of coastal beauty or the grand forested areas there are many places in gippsland to find tranquility. ‘getting away from it all’ is almost too easy. as you pass the great river complexes which empty into the magnificently huge lakes or ride winding roads into mountainous areas there is so much physical beauty all around you that each coming bend calls on more and more feelings of excitement. there are wonderful out of the way spots like the buchan caves and the old gold fields deep sense of wooded mystery all along the southern side of the ranges to explore and lose yourself in. such is the allure of the whole region and it’s contrasts and changes that returning again and again is like a journey into comforting memory, an old fireside romance or a deep and rewarding re-read of a loved book.

i want to relive again my feelings of happiness ands serenity as ida and walked and talked and explored and shared. for a ‘first timer’, ida came away with so many wonderful and fulfilling memories that it was a reward in itself to have taken here there. of course no place is ever fully perfect. the coal valley, with it’s power generation sites was not a place to holiday and be at peace, although the history of the latrobe valley is fascinating and unique in itself. it does however provide a superb contrast with the rest of the region and has some magnificent features and scenery, and like many other areas in gippsland does provide some high points with 360 degree views and outlooks which seem to be untouchable, such as the views from above the hazelwood pondage and the road trips towards the mountains.

we were both often repulsed by the latrobe valley. such a sad unwelcoming area in an otherwise amazing landscape. it seems somewhat hypocritical perhaps, to speak of the dangerous waste of non-renewable resources such as the latrobe valley brown coal deposit mining, when we were driving a petrol powered car and enjoying destinations which were lit up and supplied by the current forms of energy supply.

yet, surely it would be better for us all to have other forms of energy generation being developed and utilized from solar powered cars to many forms of renewable energy electricity and other long term power management sources. the days can often glide into one another when i think of opportunities again to travel down long roads and scenery framed places such as the gippsland coastal and mountain spaces. there is no doubt in my mind though that to see pelicans gliding free, and unpolluted waves gliding into a beach front, and to be able look for a long and distant time at rows and rows of clear air gilded, ‘many shades of blue’ mountains, that there are things we need to preserve and maintain at all costs. such is the gippsland region.

distances for travel - depending on your meandering choices plus or minus either way  –

melbourne to inverloch  approximately 100 kms.

inverloch to lake tyers (very rubbery) – approximately 250 kms.

lake tyers to mallacoota – approximately 200 kms.

mallacoota to bairnsdale – approximately 200 kms.

bairnsdale to dinner plain/mt hotham – approximately 150 kms.

bairnsdale to mt baw baw – approximately 200 kms.

mt baw baw to mirboo north – approximately  100 kms.

mirboo north to Melbourne – approximately 150 kms.

an ocean road

an ocean road,
a ribbon of fire,
emerald slipstreams,
and white-gold edgings.
tumble down forests,
jagged bone-grey cliffs,
villages in a waiting dream,
ship-shapes merging,
on azure horizons,
sun-light gilding,
children’s shoreline play.
drifting squalls of rain curtains,
clouds black buffeted,
in a mesmerizing wind,
-         violet tinged skies,
-         aqua tinged waves,
birds on blind-blue wing,
fish translucent sub-marine.
a hinterland khaki and beige,
looming above and beyond,
like a giant in a pantomime,
as we wend away,
again from care of day,
and metropolitan snarl,
to a playground of rainbows,
on this ribbon of fire.

 m.j.r.
12-7-01.

Photo by Maddie Ross

in gilded vales

highways threading into mountains,
frosts and snow treading through rocky fountains.
ranges glower and forests frown,
there is a strange vastness all about this town.

 dipping off plateaus, winds rise and fall,
an eagle rises on a lone crows call.
australian vistas have a life all their own,
a million greens shining where gold seeds were sown.

 omeo has settled into rural confines,
with majestic mountains and soft drooping pines.
each sweep of it’s streetscapes gently end,
on a canvas of old colours which flow and blend.

 coming down off arches of division,
out of heaven’s roof and nature’s mission.
we break free of hotham and dinner plain,
to pause in this village above a coastal gain.

 buildings are indicative of a history so fine,
“post and telegraph office” a linking shrine.
it is an ‘outpost of empire’, a fortress for fame,
and each brick has been whispered to - of every denizen’s name.

 m.j.r.
2-7-01

Photo by Malcolm Ross

gormandale

trees billowing up out of vivid green paddocks,
a lone crows call echoes at me from sombre low hanging clouds,
a dam sits in silent still langour in its’ loch,
and this country silence is as peaceful as past traffic roar is loud,
movement only seems to happen here in a slow rhythm,
and there are many centuries of repetition here,
and all such perennial growth and decline that has gone with them,
ridges curve and meld into blue-green slopes,
going down a vale of smokey grey mystery into flatlands,
where yarram has dwelt as a gateway to coastal islands,
and a court house like an imperial battleship,
glowers over a double-laned, tree lined grove,
of buildings which seem to be waiting again for empire glory.
yet up here in this highland sanctuary,
where gormandale sleeps, and stirs, but briefly,
a world exists where time and judgement
sit in tree folds, and under high branches.

 m.j.r.
10-10-02.