Long Day on the motorbike, through the Victorian High Country S1 - E15

It's always good to wake up and find your bike still with you when you're camping alone. It's a fresh start this morning. I think it was predicted to be about six or seven. It's going to be quite cool on the bike. I'll have to be wearing everything I've got. First we'll pack up and head towards, I think it's called Mansfield, and then up to Bullar. I finished off yesterday with winding and it's exactly what I started with today. As I came onto this side of the ridge I kept looking right because I could see the mountain range to my right, like just that layering. I think there's a bit of fog in there. It's quite spectacular. Then I checked the map and the road ahead looked good. I saw what looked like a dirt track next to the lookout but it didn't last too long and ended at the ridge. I spotted another track. This one looked more promising as it went a lot further but eventually it too would end. So back up I went. Ah well, I'll just have to enjoy this winding road instead. As I was riding along I saw a helicopter in the field and then I saw a really big helicopter in the field. Just a strange place to see a massive helicopter. Looks like a people transporter too. I'm not sure what it'd be used for. It's not a firefighting one. So I'm nearly at Mansfield and I guess I've got to make a decision what I'm going to do. I'm still not sure which way or. IGA for supplies. Then it was back on the bike and time to head up. I got my first glimpse of the mountain range in the distance. It's like dial a little alpine stream along here. They're everywhere. Stunning. Not allowed to actually camp here because I think everybody would and it'd be trashed. It was time to head up the mountain. I got my first look at the ski fields. I'd made it to the top of Mount Buller. I pulled over as the live version of the map had some disappointing information. The dirt road and tracks I was looking at are closed. Well the road to get to them. So I'm gonna have to find another way to get to the New South Wales border somewhere around Mount Kosciuszko. So I'm gonna plot a couple of towns and just sort of head to one and check the map and then head to the next. I think the first one's Whitfield and I think there might be a trail from there to a place I can't pronounce but that's gonna be my first option. See how we go when we get there. This meant heading back down the way I came but I wasn't disappointed. Look where I was. I'd gotten to ride up a really cool road and get to go back down it. It also gives me a better understanding of the area for another ride I'll do through the Victorian High Country in the future with more time and more research. We'll call this ride my scouting mission. I made it to the small town of Whitfield. The road worker asked which way I wanted to go. My answer? No idea but in the end I took the right. I finally found a dirt road to explore. It looked like it would link up with the town of Parapunka. Well there was only one way to find out if it did. I came across Lake Buffalo which was at the foothills of Mount Buffalo and Parapunka was on the other side of the mountain. I rounded the dam at the end of the lake. I rode through the town of Parapunka to the town of Bright. I stopped for fuel then checked the map. The road to Falls Creek from this side was closed. It would be a hundred kilometre detour to get there so I decided to go through Mount Hotham instead. There is something magical about treeline streets where the tree's branches cover the road like a tunnel. Ah another cuddly echidna. I spotted something off the side of the road ahead. Someone very recently had a really bad day. This area was explored in the 1850s where gold was discovered near Omeo. It was not until the 1920s that the ski clubs from Wangaratta and Bright moved to the Mount Hotham area. Mount Hotham itself rises to an altitude of 1840 meters. It is also one of the only places in Australia to have never recorded a temperature above 30 degrees celsius. Well I'm nearly at the top of Mount Hotham. Just a little bit to go but I had to pull over here. I mean wherever you look it's pretty stunning but at least this one's clear of trees. Further down it was a bit hard to get a shot. It'd be an awesome campsite. Plush grass and a view. Waking up to that. All right well I'll keep on moving up and eventually this road has to go down. Eventually. Then I saw a communication tower which normally indicates you're near the top of the mountain which meant around the next corner would be the ski area of Mount Hotham. Mount Hotham is reversed to most ski resorts where the accommodation of Mount Hotham is at the top of the ski runs not the bottom. It was time to descend off the mountain down into the valley on the other side. From this lookout we can see the tallest mountain in Australia Mount Kosciuszko. It's not really that tall. It's only 2228 meters compared to the Alps or Rockies or anywhere else but it's our tallest mountain so that's what it is. That would be the plan tomorrow. We can't go up it. Well you can go up it but you need to hike it and I think I'm done hiking on this trip. I'll do it another time. I have done it when I was younger. Ah to be young. So tonight I'm thinking of camping down in the valley. You may have noticed I got more layers on again because it was cold coming down. It was okay on the other side of the sun at Mount Hotham but on this side it just got colder and colder until I couldn't handle it anymore. I rode through the small town of Omeo. To the right would be the direction I'd head tomorrow but just down the road here was a free campsite tucked away in the valley. Well after 11, nearly 12 hours on the bike, I left at 7 this morning, I finally got to my camp spot and it's not bad at all this one. This might be the peak of camp spots for the trip. It seemed pretty idyllic. I'd been searching for a camp spot overlooking a small river or stream of the whole trip. It may have taken me to the last part of the trip to find one but this was better than I had imagined. It had been a long day full of riding capped at each end by awesome camp spots. I feel pretty lucky to be able to do this.