Due to public demand we have put together a popular alpine touring circuit. It is a full day trip with many bends, climbs and descents.
Popular Touring Circuit - 244km Round Trip
*Note: This trip is only possible when Bogong High Plains Road is open. For information on road closures, contact Falls Creek Resort Management Board on 03 5758 3224. This road is closed during the declared snow season from June - early October.
Leave Bright around 8am. Travel south-east toward Hotham on the Great Alpine Road for 5.25km, turn left over the bridge to Tawonga Gap Road and head for the Kiewa Valley Highway. Turn right, travel through Tawonga South and Mount Beauty, and then take the Bogong High Plains Road towards Falls Creek.
Your journey will take you past Bogong Village and onto ‘Fainter Falls’. Park the car in the wayside stop and cross the road for a 800m board walk to the falls. The falls were exposed during the 2006 fires and access to them was completed in December 2008.
Travel on to and through Falls Creek, following the sign to Omeo. After passing Rocky Valley Dam travel several km, and then you will see the sign 'Wallaces Hut' on the left hand side of the road. Park the car and take the 750m walk to the historical cattlemen’s hut and a magnificent display of snow gums.
Back in the car and a couple of km further on, a sign to 'Cope Hut'. This is only a 250m walk. Both of these huts survived the bushfires. Wallace’s Hut is a cattleman’s hut and is over 125 years old, built in January 1889, and Cope Hut was built in 1939 as a mountaineering hut and is still in use as a shelter for skiers and hikers.
Travel further south to Anglers Rest where you can have a lovely drink and/or meal at the Blue Duck Inn – another history lesson! Continue your journey south to Omeo, where you can still see some of the original buildings over 150 years old and evidence of the earlier gold diggings before the settlers moved in with their cattle. This town also boasts the oldest wooden lockup still in original condition.
After leaving Omeo on the Great Alpine Road up to Dinner Plain, look for the turn off on the right to Victoria Falls - Oriental Claims. This is a site of original Chinese Diggings, as well as waterfalls into a very steep ravine and worth a detour. It is also the site of Victoria’s first major hydro-electric station built in 1908 to supply water to the goldfields in Cassilis. There are lots of snow gums and mountain fern woodlands.
Stop at Dinner Plain for coffee and look around the village and its unique architecturally designed snow housing. Visit Mountain Kitchen for homestyle gourmet café/deli with a regional pantry, open five days from Wednesday-Sunday in summer and seven days in winter. On through Hotham (highest road in Australia that is sealed and open all year round) and back down the mountain to Harrietville where you can satisfy your hunger pangs with an icecream from Morries or other tasty snacks in this interesting little village. Another delightful stop is the Lavender Hue Farm and Tea Rooms on the Bright side of Harrietville, where the lavender scones are a taste sensation!
A leisurely drive back to Bright around 5:30pm in time for a rest, shower and a change of clothes, before enjoying dinner at one of our many magnificent restaurants.
