We woke (eventually) to the sound of the Wellington River bubbling below our campsite and a clear sunny sky. It wasn’t too long before the kettle was on and we were planning out the day ahead. The mountains to our north offer a number of walks of varying distances and degrees of difficulty. We selected the Bryces Gorge Circuit – over 8 kilometres in length but rated as moderate (which normally means fairly flat in these parts).
We had to drive north from our campsite until we left the Wellington River where the walk to Lake Tarli Karng starts. We followed the Mt Tamboritha Track to the top of the saddle at 1,480 metres, stopping at Bennison’s Lookout along the way to capture the attached photo.
At the top of the saddle we had two choices – the track to the right heads to Dargo via McFarlanes Saddle (where another walking track, one we have navigated a number of times in the past, leads to Lake Tarli Karng), or the Howitt Track to the left that eventually ends at Jamieson at the southern end of Lake Eildon. We followed this track for 25 kilometres, catching glimpses of the Victorian Alps through the trees and across high plains meadows, until arriving at the start of our selected walk. We had noted that the temperature had dropped 6C from when we left our campsite to the start of the walk, leaving us to navigate the circuit in sunny 19C conditions.
The walk took in 2 waterfalls that were both cascading to the valley floor below, and a sweeping view of Bryces Gorge. We walked through dense stands of various gum trees and across numerous high plains meadows covered in wildflowers. We crossed a number of streams and explored a rustic mountain cattleman’s hut (Guy’s Hut) set amongst trees looking out across undulating meadows of alpine grasses and wildflowers. We eventually returned to the dusty Prado and set off back down the mountain to our campsite.
Another swim (wallow?) in the river was in order to freshen up before dinner. Tonight had us enjoying a Salad Nicoise, again washed down with a crisp white wine on the banks of the Wellington River. We may again sleep soundly tonight!