Touring East Gippsland Mountains Area

The Dedick trail is an interesting run down the east side of the Snowy, mostly intermediate standard. Use Jacksons crossing to get accross to the Buchan caves. The Haunted stream & Cassilis gold areas have a few interesting tracks & alot of history to explore. The fires didn't get that far south either. Many of the tracks in the Gippsland region are of an easy standard, are accessed through private property (sometimes locked) & IMHO the hills are fairly featureless and not as spectacular as further towards Dargo & Wonnangatta. Still worth a look though.
Cheers Craig.......

The 2003 fires burnt a swathe through the Cobberas-Tingaringy section of the Alpine NP and the northern part of the Snowy R NP. The eastern limit of the fires in Vic was around Tubbut or Bonang.

Bonang store (now at the jcn of Bonang Hwy and road to Deddick, not 2km north as shown on old maps) is the only place in the area with fuel. It is only open limited hours. Note no fuel at Bendoc.

The Errinundra Plateau area, east of Bonang, was unaffected. It is a fabulous place.

The Deddick valley, from Bonang to McKillop's bridge, is a lovely drive. To the north of there is the Tingaringy area, with interesting 4WD tracks including Tingaringy, Lauries, Rosedale. Unfortunately, the fine lookout over Tingaringy Falls, off Tingaringy Tk, is still closed, but the summit is magnificent.

To the south of the Deddick valley is the Bowen plateau. We went there via Warbisco Tk, then Bowen Tk. Monkey Top Tk was closed at the time, but probably now open. Several other tracks to the Bowen Plateau cross private land and are designated (by local landowners anyway) as fire access only. Bowen Tk links up with Deddick Trail, which runs from McKillops Bridge to Yalmy Rd.

Yalmy Rd provides access to lots of other interesting areas, including Rodger River, Jackson's Crossing on Snowy, Monkey Top, Waratah Flat.

From McKillops Bridge there is a spectacular drive up to Wulgulmerang/Seldom Seen, on a plateau. (The servo at Seldom Seen is totally unreliable. If you need fuel, you may have to go south to Gelantipy or Buchan.) Worlds End Spur/Hanging Rock and Little R Gorge are worthwhile side trips from the McKillops area.

From Wulgulmerang, you can go south to Buchan, west on Black Mtn Rd to Benambra/Omeo or north to Jindabyne. The Barry Way to Jindabyne is very spectacular. Black Mtn Rd is an interesting route, with good 4wd tracks off it including Cobberas trail, Native Cat and Cowombat flat (closed to vehicles at wilderness zone though). You could take Cobberas trail and link back to Barry Way along MacFarlane's Flat Tk - this route is described in Lewis/Savage 4WD Treks of the High Country.

This is only some of the area. East Gippsland is magnificent and much under-rated.

You might want to get:
- Ron Camier's fine little book, "4WDing Gippsland" - see his web site Mountain Top Experience. - Grant Da Costa, Car Touring East Gippsland. Excellent natural history and walks, even though 20 years old.
- Murray White, Off the beaten track.
- Lewis/Savage, 4WD treks of the High Country
- Free park notes for Errinundra, Alpine NP and Snowy R NP from Parks Vic

Cheers,
Des