J18.30 Falls Creek, Fainter Falls & Omeo.

This post is part of a series called Journey 18 ● PolArt 2015

Today was a long day on the road and we knew there would have to be some compromised due to time and distance to be covered, but after breakkie at QT’s Stingray Lounge, we headed back toward Mount Beauty about 14km to Fainter Falls where the short walking trail takes hikers to a rewarding view of the waterfall in a tropical setting, quite unusual given the 1300m elevation in the Alpine region. After a return zip around those twisty alpine road and past Falls Creek, we briefly stopped at the start of Big River Track, past the Rocky Valley Dam and along Bogong High Plains Road, where an interpretive panel answered our burning question as to why so many trees looked dead. It is in fact the Snowgums in the area and many of them had been burnt by a major bushfire in 2003, hence the dry, grey look as if they had been planted firmly in a salt lake.
We continued on to Omeo, where we briefly paused at Twinkles for a light feed on this lovely clear & warm summer’s day. Passing through Bairnsdale and bypassing Sale, we realised that we had run out of time to see our next anticipated highlight, Mount Oberon, located at Wilson’s Promontory but this would add another 3 hours meaning arrival in Melbourne well after 9pm, damn!

From that point we headed straight to Brunswick West and settled on the Albert & Sydney for dinner which was an excellent choice: A bar with a great menu, relaxed ambience and vibes particularly from the live acoustic artists playing and a neat, modern decor, would recommend.

That’s pretty much it for today, I’ll be jotting down some quick notes for the day ahead as I start – sadly – making my westbound journey across, so while you slog away at work, think of me driving for hundreds of kilometres across the Nullarbor all week!