Jinxed in the Vic High Country

We came upon the animal suddenly and he was as startled to see us as we were surprised to see him; but, still, he didn’t move. Looking at us over his shoulder, he was an animal in his prime and he was probably a little reluctant to give way to us as there was nothing in the forest that could really challenge his being or his domain.

I stopped the Patrol, wishing the camera with the long lens was closer, while we exchanged glances. Sun glinted off his antlers and shade speckled his glimmering coat, and then, as suddenly as we had met, the spell was broken as the two other vehicles

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in our group came idling along and pulled up behind me. The sambar stag leapt in to the surrounding bush and within the blink of an eye had vanished from sight.

Just minutes earlier we had turned off the Buckwong Track, a through-route to the Davies High Plains and a relatively well-known track that passes along the edge of the Mount Murphy Historic Area, on to Greggs Track.

It was immediately obvious from the amount of leaf litter, twigs and branches that covered the two wheel marks of the faint track almost completely, the route was little used. The sambar deer, standing in the middle of the track and tolerating our appearance, further reinforced that lack of use.

Wheelers Creek Hut

Three days earlier we had left Omeo and driven through Benambra and up and over the Sassafras Gap, before turning on to the Wheelers Creek Logging Road to where Wheelers Creek Hut once stood. Destroyed by the most recent bushfires through this area in the summer of 2019-20, the bush has mostly regrown with a surprising verdancy about it, making it still a nice spot to camp.

Next day we headed around to Gibson Hut, discovering many of the tracks marked on the maps of the area are now closed and, going by the bloody huge rocks dumped across the entrance of each track, they will be permanently closed.

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As we got closer to Gibson Hut, we came across a working logging coupe where timber cutters were salvaging magnificent alpine ash burnt from the fires. We slipped past their operation and got to where the old hut once stood on the edge of a pristine mountain stream.

The stream was still there, running clear and sweet, and while the old fire place was still standing and a new dunny had been built, the hut was just a burn scar on the bare ground. Word is though, that this famous hut will be rebuilt.

Mt Pinnibar Track

Backtracking past the logging coupe again because of more closed tracks, we took Dead Finish Track and then the long climb up the rocky and steep (in place) Mt Pinnibar Track, to the crest of one of the best peaks and viewpoints in the whole of the Victorian Alps.

After soaking in the view from Pinnibar’s crest that took in, across the deep wide valley of the Murray River from our standpoint, the Main Range of Mount Kosciuszko that was still dotted with snow in places, we turned and headed downhill to the boundary of the famous Tom Groggin Station.

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This magnificent working cattle property, surrounded now by national parks, was once much bigger, its lease extending to the crest of the Main Range in NSW and taking in the Davies High Plains on the Victorian side of the border.

Established in the 1850s, the property and its some-short-time-later manager, Jack Riley, hosted the famous Aussie bard, Banjo Patterson, where he was inspired to write his famous ballad-come-poem, ‘The Man from Snowy River’. Today the property offers accommodation in a couple of traditional log cabins, but sadly there is no camping available.

We skirted around the station’s perimeter, admiring the rolling grassland and the Hereford cattle grazing on the rich fields, before checking out Dogman’s Hut, which stands right beside the station boundary and a short stone’s throw from the Upper Murray River.

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It’s a nice spot to camp and a lot quieter than across the narrow scrub-bordered stream where the Tom Groggin Camping Area, within the Kosciuszko National Park, can be found. Normally, just up-river, a stony ford across the stream gives access to the NSW side, but with heavy recent rain the Murray was flowing fast and strong and we gave the challenge a miss.

Instead, we headed the short distance to Buckwong Creek and its small camping area, clearing timber as we went and walking the rushing waters over the track crossing before committing our vehicles to the fast-flowing creek. That night we were visited by a couple of grey kangaroos, who came again to check us out in the early morning.

Tom Groggin Track

We would normally have headed for the Davies High Plains, but with one of the vehicles towing a tough off-road trailer and the route to the high plains signposted as a non-trailer route, we dodged around and took the Tom Groggin Track south.

A short distance along this route, we came to a closed and padlocked gate surrounding another working logging coupe, again salvaging burnt timber from the fires nearly two years previously. Meeting the manager of the operation, we got permission to drive through the coupe before meeting with the Buckwong Track and our impressive stag.

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Stopping near the crest of Mount Misery a short time later for a brew, we then took Mt Misery Trail past the Mount Pendergast helipad to the more major Limestone Road. After checking out one of my favourite camps in this area at Native Dog Flat, with its attendant mob of wild horses, we pushed south through dense forest to the wide expanse of grasslands at the Nunniong Plains. It was crowded … with just one camp, while a gathering of wild horses, 30 or more, were the most I’ve seen on the Victorian side of the High Country, ever.

After checking out the excellent Bentley Plains campsite (especially good if you have horses), which already had a group in residence, we backtracked a few hundred metres to ‘Moscow Villa’, one of our favourite huts in the High Country, and set the campers up outside and lit the fire in the expansive fireplace inside.

Moscow Villa

The name ‘Moscow Villa’ came about when Bill Ah Chow, who was working for the forest commission in those days as a fire spotter, built the hut so he had somewhere warm and comfortable to stay during the summer – he did a great job.

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The Battle of Moscow was being fought at the time – the summer of 1941-42 – and Bill thought it would be a good name for his new home. Sometime later, with the Cold War at its height, Bill and his hut were visited by forestry officials and they questioned him about the name, indicating it was a little political. So, he told them it stood for “My Own Summer Cottage Officially Welcomes Visitors Inside, Light Luncheon Available”. Pretty good response, don’t you think?

Next day we headed west towards the small town of Swifts Creek and its somewhat famous bakery. The thing was, our simple plan was again to come unstuck!

Washington Winch

Along the way, the main forestry road passes the Washington Winch, a heavy hauling steam-powered logging winch that had been built in the USA and then shipped to the karri forests of Western Australia in the 1920s, before ending up in the Vic High Country after the 1939 Black Friday fires. After being shifted and owned by a number of different operators, the winch was brought to its final resting place here, in 1959.

Today, you can still see this big unit and the steel rope work spanning between tall trees. This was part of the ‘Skyline’ system used to haul and lift logs from deep down in the valley up to where they could be loaded and taken to the mill. The operation of setting the cables and pulleys was fraught with danger, with the men often working 60m or so off the ground and lunch being sent to their lofty workplace on a rope hauled upwards to their perch.

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The advent of more powerful bulldozers and machinery along with chainsaws and diesel trucks, meant that the winch and its operation was redundant, and in 1961 it stopped operation and was left to decay in the forest. The winch remains a unique part of Victoria’s cultural heritage and logging history, and in 1999 the original spars, which had rotted, were replaced with messmate poles while new cables were also restrung. Looking at what was involved, you could have that job on your own, I reckon!

Searching for something a little more interesting than the main dirt road, we took a ‘shortcut’ on forestry tracks in and around Mount Hopeless towards Swifts Creek. As our coffee and cake at the bakery started to slip further and further away, our route became more and more interesting as we were diverted because of locked gates leading to private land and held up because of fallen trees, our battery-powered chainsaws working overtime to clear the tangle of timber and scrub.

At one creek crossing, the Hilux I was driving scrambled a bit and, while I didn’t take too much notice, I radioed the vehicles behind of the obstacle. They splashed through without an issue and I put my troubles down to bad luck, or poor driving, or choosing a bad line.

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A few kilometres later on a wet, shaley slope, the Hilux was really struggling and getting deeper in to trouble as it side-slipped towards a steep-sided gully. That was when it was noticed the front wheels weren’t turning! It subsequently turned out that the CV drive shaft had been fitted incorrectly when we had snapped a CV up on Cape York a couple of months previously.

We were in a pickle, and to get the vehicle out of its predicament we connected the Hilux winch to a tree on the uphill side of the track; the Cruiser’s winch was run through a snatch block, again on the uphill side, and connected to the rear of the Hilux.

With judicious use of both winches and a light touch of the throttle, we got ourselves out of trouble and, with effort on the narrow track, turned around. With our tail between our legs, we headed back to the main dirt road and drove on to Swifts Creek, only to find the bakery had shut 30 minutes earlier; so much for coffee and a custard tart!

Friendly advice

The next day in the Cruiser, I joined my son who runs Moon Tours, as we headed down to Doctor’s Flat and wound our way in from that side of the range to where the Hilux had succumbed to the water and mud. The route took us through open farmland and, as marked on the map, looked decidedly private and poorly used.

We went looking for the farmer, who we found drafting cattle, and checked with her if the route was a public thoroughfare and if so, where it led to and what the gate situation was. She was pretty obliging and after a half-an-hour of idle chatter, we had her permission and she pointed the way we needed to go to get back in to the state forest.

With the route verified as passable for 4WD vehicles (it would be easy in the dry), we then headed for Dargo by the Birregun and Jones roads through the Wentworth State Forest, only to find this major forestry route was closed due to fallen timber.

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We backtracked again to Omeo and then went, via the main Alpine Way to Hotham Heights, our plan being to head south on the Dargo High Plains road to the small mountain township. At the junction, just west of the alpine resort, we found the Dargo road closed and the phone number they said we needed to call was not answering.

Frustrated, we headed down the mountain and on to Mansfield, where after a night at a friend’s property, we headed to Bluff Hut and then over the high plains to Howitt Hut before exiting the region via Licola.

It had been a good trip, as it always is, but we had been frustrated by the amount of timber down and the closed roads where remedial work was going on.

Yep, I had checked the Parks Victoria website for track closures and the like, which is always a good thing especially early in the season, but hadn’t picked up on the road closures and logging closures outside of the parks. It was just another lesson to be flexible and well-prepared when travelling in the Victoria High Country.

Five essential highlights

MOUNT PINNIBAR
Take the long, rocky and steep climb of the Mt Pinnibar Track to the 1760m summit of the eponymous peak and check out one of the best viewpoints in the whole of the Victorian Alps, looking across the wide valley of the Murray River to the Main Range of Mount Kosciuszko.

MURRAY RIVER AT DOGMAN’S HUT
Dogman’s Hut is situated on the boundary of Tom Groggin Station on the Upper Murray River. It’s a nice, quiet spot to camp and a lot quieter than across the narrow stream where the Tom Groggin Camping Area is within the Kosciuszko National Park.

NUNNIONG PLAIN
The Nunniong Plain features subalpine grasslands and heathlands interspersed with snow gum woodlands and stands of mountain ash. Cattle and feral horses graze these plains, and it’s also very popular with off-roaders.

MOSCOW VILLA & BENTLEY PLAIN
Moscow Villa Hut is one of our favourite spots in the High Country and easily reached from Omeo, Swifts Creek or Ensay. The hut is in good condition, but we recommend camping a few hundred metres away on the Bentley Plain Reserve. There’s a shelter shed here, a bush dunny, fireplaces and a number of walking tracks across the surrounding snow plains.

WASHINGTON WINCH
On the way to Nunniong Plains is the impressive Washington Winch steam-powered logging winch, when travelling from Bentley Plain, Swifts Creek or Omeo. Check out the info board on the winch and see if you would’ve been game enough to work as a logger using this winch set-up.