Mansfield - Wonnangatta - Licola (pic heavy)

[beexy]

Bit of a late report, however. Late Feb spent 5 days in the high country from mansfield to licola via the wonnangatta valley with just my truck and a mate onboard.

Day 1:
Left for mansfield and stopped for the standard ned kelly pie and last minute supplies before heading towards mt stirling. up and over stirling to craigs hut as my mate hadn't been there before. Nice and quite due to it being mid week. Lunch and down to Pineapple Flat for the night. Only one other group at Pineapple Flat so a spot right next to the river. No luck with the fish though. Plenty jumping. None biting just for change.




Day 2:
Up and off along the King Valley. Let my mate have a drive as i have done this section numerous times. Always good to have your passenger know what they are doing in case it hits the fan and they need to get you outta there. Also nice to be sitting in the passenger seat and taking in the views for a change. Stopped for a fish and caught my first high country trout(Would also be the last for the trip). Also saw a fair few cows grazing along the track. Over to Bindaree Falls for a looksee. No one there again. Peaceful. Down to Bindaree hut for lunch. Stop for another fish along the Howqua then upto Bluff Hut. Weather started moving in and a lot of low lying cloud up top making for some good shots. Planning to stay at Lovicks but was packed out with a horse riding group spread all over the shop there. Not happy. Decided to push on as plenty of day left. Standard high country weather with all for seasons icluding sleet within about 30 minutes. Stopped at Picture Point. Can see why it got this name. Ended up making our way to Howitt Hut. Weather really came through with plenty of wind and rain. Decision made to stay in the hut and what a great decision it was to.

[beexy]

Day 3:
Short journey from Howitt Hut then down Zeka Spur. Nice meander down only passing one tour group coming up who had a few struggling at the back end with road tires on. Down the bottom and into the Valley. First time there and fair to say it wont be the last. Visit to the cemetery and off to camp for a early set up. Lazy arvo around camp collecting wood, fishing, eating and drinking. Tough life.






Day 4:
Next day saw us off and up and up and up Herne Spur and down to Eaglevale for lunch. Steep tracks but in the dry was no prob. Just alot of right foot. River was nice and low so no dramas crossing at eaglevale. More just picking a line to save the diffs. Lunch and a swim/shower as it was nice and warm by then. Then it was off to Billy Goats. Well wowwee. What a track. Would be fair to say my rear end puckered up just a few times along the trip up. A stop at the helipad was needed to cool the truck down and have breather. The first part prior to the heli pad was probably the most interesting. Apparently the views were good as well. Made it to the top and off to the pinnacles for a look and boy was that worth it and rewarded my driving and the walk up by having a couple of tinnies up there. Went to camp by the river at horse yard flat, but the grey nomads that were there decided they would put their toilet right in the middle of the the river side campsite. Pissed off, we moved up to the Moroka River campsite and got a winner by ourselves. Last night enjoyed around the fire, having a fish and plenty of beers.














Day 5:
Last day and the long trip home via Licola. Not much really can be said about this day.

All in all great trip and visited plently of places i hadn't been to before. Likewise with my mate. Good test of the truck and me with some tracks aswell. Also made it through the trip without a fridge. Just block ice in the esky and meat vacum sealed and frozen before we left. was happy and suprised it made it through. Best of all the beer was always cold.

[Bob]

ahh God's own Country
Thanks for sharing.
Must organize another trip up there.

[TPC]

Great report and spectacular photos, thanks for sharing.
Must get up there myself one day.

[threedogs]

How lucky are we Victorians to have all that and more on our back door.
lets hope we keep it that way, thanks for sharing
EDIT not going with you you make the camera man walk up and take pics LOL LOL

[beexy]

haha, three dogs he actually offered. Dont know if it was my driving or just billy goat scaring the poo out of him. And yep having this all with in a couple of hours drive. Cant complain can we

[jack]

Brilliant report, great pics - well done

[Sir Roofy]

Thanks for sharing havent been up there for a while

[growler2058]

Great to see a bottle of Coopers Stout? Not so great the can of vb

[Drewboyaus]

Great write up! Looking forward to heading up that way again around Anzac Day.