Beehive and Bright
I have a couple of interesting walks to report.
Yesterday I drove to the Porepunkah Gully Road, which is a dirt track heading north from the Great Alpine Road near the flower farm. I parked the car near the rail trail and ventured forth.
The track starts flat and straight through farming country. It reaches wetlands near the shadow of a hill about 400 metres from the road. I suspect these wetlands are seasonal, but some of the ponds may be perennial. The sound of wind through reeds is uncommon here and I always find it fascinating.
The track then climbs gently up the hill, which has mature pine forest on one side and wetlands/farm on the other. It emerges overlooking a narrow valley, intersecting with Westons Road.
I’ll check my facts on this later, but I believe the Goldsworthys farm that land and breed Hereford cattle, which are walked annually up to the High Country in spring, returning in autumn. We see or hear the cattle drive in town as they actually walk past our house.
I suspect they will be going later this year as there is still over a metre of snow at Falls Creek and the paddocks in this valley looked wet and lush.
I followed the merged track for a couple of kilometres. Again there is pine forest on one side and farmland on the other. The hill on the other side of the valley is native forest, which I prefer to walk in, and I could see a track along the ridge line. I hoped to intersect with that track and follow it back to the rail trail.
The road eventually gave me an option of turning left across the valley and I found the other track, but it was locked by a gate, so I presumed it was private property and didn’t enter.
A sign told me I was at the intersection of Beehive Mine Track and Oregon Road. I chose the Beehive Mine option, which headed steeply uphill into bush. There were fallen trees blocking the road, so I can safely say this path hadn’t been used much in recent times.
After ascending a rise the road turned opposite and downhill. I fancied heading back up the valley instead and decided to walk cross country for a while hoping to meet another track. There was a path of sorts, but it didn’t lead anywhere in particular and I had to backtrack.
I continued along Beehive Mine Track, which traversed an interesting mix of mature pine and native rainforest. Rainforest only exists this side of the Divide, and at this altitude, in sheltered patches with a southerly aspect. A small clear stream crossed the track and I enjoyed a drink.
That was possibly the site of Beehive Mine, which was perhaps an alluvial field. I saw no sign of diggings. The track then rose to another ridge and an intersection of several tracks. I’m guessing that one of them was Oregon Road.
The pine forest in that vicinity had been recently harvested and I didn’t wish to continue any further, so chose what appeared to be the shortest route back to my starting point.
A steep downhill track through the pines promised a quick return. It wasn’t as steep as the downhill path I mentioned near Roberts Creek a while back, but it was more treacherous. The track was basically wet clay, extremely slippery, and I spent much of my time navigating footholds or on my hands. It was an unpleasant and time-consuming route.
As expected it took me to the start of Beehive Mine Track and I retraced my steps along the valley to my car.
A shorter variation of this walk is to follow Westons Road back to the Great Alpine Road. The loop takes 40 minutes to complete.
Hats and water would be necessary in summer as this area is rather exposed. As with most places around Porepunkah there are spectacular views across to Mount Buffalo.
Long way to Bright
Today I walked to Bright via Winters Hill and Tower Hill, returning along the rail trail. I didn’t plan this from the outset, but it was an enjoyable three-hour trek and not too difficult with my new-found fitness.
Winters Hill is a small peak literally in front of our house. The kids love playing up there for some reason. I kept to the main track and ignored steeper side routes that go up and down. One of them I know goes into the Buckland Valley.
It gained a fairly high elevation at medium gradient and I sensed I was getting close to the Tower Hill lookout, which I had climbed to once before from the base. A sign told me I was on Ritchies Road.
The pine trees parted for a magnificent view on two occasions, overlooking Bright and directly across the town to Mount Feathertop, which still has plenty of snow. The view was better than from Tower Hill because there were no power lines to interrupt. I must take a camera there one day.
I also observed the elevation was actually higher than Tower Hill lookout, so it must have been at least 800 metres. I gained my bearings and realised that Ritchies Road would travel downhill and intersect with the road that goes up to the lookout.
Indeed that was the case, but I continued down and followed a ridge line across to Stackey Gulley Road, which I had walked before. It emerges at the Bright Resort and Ovens Valley Motor Inn.
The rail trail crosses the Ovens River near there and goes past the golf course into Porepunkah.
I didn’t see much wildlife, just some rabbits. Yesterday though I saw two wallabies and the kookaburras thought it was pretty funny that I teased the local magpies about this week’s grand final.
These articles might be of interest:
Tags: nature, porepunkah, walks
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