Ok here it is!
2 of us set off Friday morning, a little late than anticipated. Bobby, his cousins Sherry and Shanem and uni exchange student Marim arrived at my house around 9am as I had got half way to the meeting point and forgot the maps! We headed off on the Princes Hwy for Sale where we met up with Craig who had stayed the night with his family.
We topped up with fuel while it was cheap and headed off for Dargo. it was beer o'clock when we arrived so we grabbed a beer in the pub before heading to my friend's house just nearby. He offered us some grass to pitch our swags on so we took him up on the offer. But first, it was off to the famous Billy Goats Bluff tk.
Billy Goats in the distance
Getting closer
Bobby, nearly at the top
Craig at the top
We were planning to continue on to The Pinacles nearby, but time was getting away so we headed back to Dargo to setup camp and have some dinner. Easter is big in Dargo, real big! But the ferals were quiet all night. Saturday we awoke late, well Craig was up at sparrows, but let us sleep in till 8:30 or so. We had brekky, packed up and headed off for our next destination - Crooked River and Bulltown Spur tks.
A very old bridge across the river
We had lunch at Talbotville which was packed as usual for this time of year. Talbotville is situated along the river and is a very popular spot.
The first of about 26 or so river crossings on Crooked River Tk, all were only about 30cm deep.
Some parts of Bulltown Spur were a bit of a challenge with some good rocky sections. We did the loop back to Talbotville, then headed off on Brewery Creek Tk, mainly because it was getting lateish and we were looking for a camp spot low down. Most of the tracks were around 1100m above sea level. We found a track called Bald Top tk which was shown as steep - awesome! It didn't let us down with some very very steep sections that saw nothing but blue sky and bright sun over the bonnet. They were so steep you could not see the track in front!
Part of the track to the bottom
We set up camp just up from the river at about 450m above sea level, above and all around, were steep hills
Around 5, we heard a couple of cars coming towards us down the hill on the other side of the river. The first - a newish Range Rover with the lot, except for tyres, the other, a GQ which was fairly stock with basic AT tyres. They had come from Bright, some 4hrs away whichever way you went. It took us almost 4hrs to get there the next day in the daylight, I can't begin to wonder what there trip was like. Saturday night brought storms, the loudest thunder and brightest lightning we had ever seen. it was down to about 2 seconds between lightning and thunder so we knew it was right above us! Each bolt of lightning lit up the sky! Our thoughts were with the 2 cars we just saw who were heading back to Bright! 2 ill equiped vehicles with what we thought were ill equipped and inexperienced drivers heading off in very bad conditions with nothing more then a blanket, picnic basket and an empty bottle of Chardonay! I doubt if they even had a snatch strap. We made a bee line for the swags at about 7:00pm as the rain was heavy. Bobby was first to arise at about 8:00pm once the rain had subsided, we talked some more crap around the fire and eventually called it quits about 9:30 or so.
Sunday morning, exchange of easter eggs (by me anyway), breakfast, pack up and headed back out for Mt Blue Rag, from all accounts, this was going to be a tough drive. Again, to keep good time, we took the better access track which was South Bassalt Tk.
Some parts of the track
Mt Blue Rag in the distance
Some of the track up Blue Rag was very rocky and steep
Getting closer! The 360 view from the top was nothing short of spectacular! 1700 odd metres above sea level
Its hard to see but this is a 360 shot I took from the top
Me up near the top
From here, we changed tactics as the route via Butcher Country was going to take loner than I anticipated. We headed for the Great Alpine Rd, Harrietville, Bright (fuel and coffee stop), Myrtleford, Lake Buffalo
Lake Buffalo
Around dusk we found a vacant camping spot called Abbeyard. Small, nice, vacant, river frontage.
See!
Monday morning, we headed towards the famous Craig's Hut via Lake Cobbler
Scenery on the way
Lake Cobbler @ 1000m above sea level
Then, towards Mt Speculation and The Staircase
Bobby heading down the staircase
Some locals at Craig's Hut
We had what food we had left to eat up here and took in the scenery
Then a quick traverse to Mt Sterling summit via the cross country ski trail
The view from the top is awesome. You can see everywhere.
Finally, we headed for Mansfield - no LPG anywhere. Then a quick trip to Bonnie Doon and on to the dry lake bed of Lake Eildon. Its spooky stuff here.
Some scenery on the lake bed
Many times I took the more difficult approch to some very tricky spots but was unable to stop this lokka equipped Pathy! The extra front lift was also an advantage.
A great trip with some great people. Hope some more of you can make it next time!
This is only a part of the High Country.
Nick
Trip report - Easter '09 in the Victorian High Country
Wow
Go THROUGH IT...
You'll Never Never Know If You Never Never Go 
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