You (Vic) blokes have it made!

Hi all,

Just landed in Tas today but we've spent the last week or so in NE Victoria.

I'd wanted to have a look at the Vic highlands for some time now. I'd always imagined there were a couple of main unsealed roads through there and a few side tracks to explore. But, bu**ar me, there's dozens of tracks, trails & roads covering thousands of sq. kms.! I had no dea there could be so many public access roads & tracks in that area. (Makes SE Qld look like the gov't locked up place it really is...) You Vics really have a remarkable free resource here - please use and appreciate it.

We did a loop of sealed/unsealed roads from Eskdale via Omeo then headed to Bright and parked the 'van at Porepunkah. Our next adventure was a drive (via a detour to Mt Hotham) over the Dargo High Plains road to (strangely enough) Dargo and an attempt to head over to Swift's Creek and Omeo via "Jones Road". Now, we'd bought a couple of the admirably detailed "Rooftop" maps but they didn't mark that the bridge crossing of the Wentworth River had been washed out some time back and it was now a not-insubstantail ford.

With the previous weekends rain and high-country snow falls, the ford was running deep and brown. With jeans off and a rough 'walking stick', I waded in to the edge of the really deep & fast water but, when it got to mid-thigh and the 'crown jewels' were about to get dipped into freezing cold water, I called it quits. We relunctantly retreated back the way we'd come. Perhaps if we'd been in company with another vehicle we'd have tried the ford, but not on our 'Pat Malone'.

Nevertheless, we were quite taken by the extent and grandeur of the high country and would like to return for an longer 'sample'.

I suppose we'll have to 'make do' with the tracks of Tassie for a few months but we'll be back...

Ian