The Great Alpine Road is Australia's highest year-round accessible sealed road that winds past lofty mountains, valleys, forests, rivers, vineyards and farms. Recommended as an alternative to the Hume Highway on a drive between Melbourne and Sydney (it adds an additional day to the journey), the road passes through Australia's high country, which was the haunt of Australia's legendary cattlemen and bushrangers.
The scenery along the way is varied, and takes in historic goldmining villages, mountain lakes and the sheer cliffs, wildflowers and some of Victoria's highest peaks within the Alpine National Park. The journey is best taken outside of the snow season (June to October) to avoid both inclement weather and snow skiers going to and from the resorts.
Location: North eastern Victoria, from Wangaratta in the north-east to Bairnsdale in the heart of Gippsland
Length: 308 km
Suggested return journey: Hume Highway (inland) or Pacific Highway (coastal)
Features/attractions: Victoria's high country including the high plains and Alpine National Park
Minimum duration (one way): 5 hours (drive straight through)
What You Will See: when approaching from Albury-Wodonga, take either the Kiewa Valley Highway at Wodonga and proceed to Mt. Beauty, or the Ovens Highway at Wangaratta, travelling to Mt. Beauty via Bright. The latter road passes through the Ovens Valley wine region, the Milawa gourmet region, the historic goldmining towns of Chiltern, Yackandandah, Beechworth (Ned Kelly related gaol and courthouse), Bright (Mt. Buffalo) and Myrtleford (hops and tobacco growing). The view from Towonga Gap over the township of Mt. Beauty is spectacular.
Chiltern
An important historic town off the Hume Highway not far from the New South Wales border, Chiltern was first known as the township of Black Dog Creek, on the banks of which it stands. Buildings of note in this historic goldmining town include the 1866 former Star Hotel, which has a grapevine planted in 1867, with a 155 centimetre circumference trunk, reputedly one of the largest in the world, in its courtyard, and the Star Theatre, one of the few remaining examples of an 1860s gold rush theatre.
Yackandandah
Nestled in the foothills of Stanley State Forest in Norther Eastern Victoria, Yackandandah is rich in history and natural resources (granite, gold, clay and sparkling spring water). The streetscape is largely unchanged from its heyday as a goldmining town. The whole town, including its avenues of oaks, elms and yews, have been classified by the National Trust.
Yackandandah is on the North Eastern Victoria Food and Wine Trail. The region is the state’s premier area for wine-lovers and foodies. Nestled between the high country’s snowfields and the Murray River, this dramatic landscape of mountains, valleys, clean air and clean rivers, is the perfect backdrop for an inspirational food and wine experience.
Beechworth
Beechworth is one of the best preserved of Victoria’s old goldmining settlements, with wide streets lined with well-restored buildings, it very much fits the image portrayed the Hollywood westerns of the frontier towns of America’s old west. So valuable is Beechworth to the country’s heritage, the National Trust has declared it a ‘notable town’ – one of only two towns in Victoria to be awarded such a distinction.
The town has numerous associations with bushrangers who roamed the mountains and plains of North Eastern Victoria in the goldrush days. The first person to be executed in the Beechworth Gaol was the bushranger Patrick Sheehan, in 1865 for a murder committed at Yackandandah. A saddle that is supposed to have belonged to the bushranger ‘Mad’ Dan Morgan is part of the collection on display at the Carriage Museum. Ned Kelly had many associations with the town.
Bright
A popular place among winter sports enthusiasts in the season, Bright is the northern gateway to Victoria’s snow ski region. It has carved itself a niche as a great winter base for those who want to be in the area but don’t want the expense of staying in an actual ski resort. Situated on the picturesque Ovens River in North Eastern Victoria, the former goldmining town of Bright is nestled in scenically beautiful country in the shadow of the Australian Alps. It is a centre for a variety of year-round outdoor activities, which include walking, fishing, bush camping, rock climbing, paragliding, abseiling, kayaking, cycling, horse riding, caving, four wheel driving, fossicking and prospecting.
Myrtleford
A town in the rich Upper Ovens River Valley, Myrtleford is a progressive agricultural town which produces tobacco, hops, timber, dairy produce, prime beef, walnuts and wine grapes. The King Valley boasts some of the highest altitude vineyards in the country, producing premium boutique wines including European and Mediterranean varieties, a reflection of the vibrant Italian community that is the heart and soul of the King Valley.
Mt. Beauty from Towonga Gap
From Mt. Beauty, there is another choice of roads - one passes the Kiewa Hydro Electric Scheme, Mt. Spion Kopje, Rocky Valley Reservoir and Falls Creek ski resort; the other road to the south takes in Harrietville, the Darga High Plains, Bogong National Park and the Mt. Hotham and Dinner Plain ski resorts. Both roads meet at Omeo, where Omeo Highway (Great Alpine Road) continues south to Bairnsdale.
From Bairnsdale, the shortest route to Melbourne is via Sale, Traralgon, Morwell, Moe, Warragul and Dandenong via Princes Highway (282 km/4 hours). The longer route is via South Gippsland Highway, which takes in Yarram, Foster (turn-off to Wilsons Promontory), Leongatha (turn-off to Wonthaggi and Phillip Island), Koo-we-rup, Cranbourne (turn-off to Mornington Peninsula) and Dandenong (365 km/5 hours).
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