Marysville
Marysville lies just a couple of hours drive from Melbourne and at least half that time is just bulling ones way out of the city. The road climbs quite steeply but not perceptibly so and suddenly spring grass has given way to the taller grass of mountain ash. Magnificent trees which soar into th sky straight and lean.Marysville is nestled in the hills with pleasant valleys on all sides. In winter it is near a number of cross country skiing areas and the rest of the year it is mearly beautiful and charming.
The plan was to get to Marysville find somewhere to stay, most probably a camping ground for we had chucked tents and the other necessaries in the car. Then having secured our base of operations so to speak we would head for the heights and photograph the setting sun from the tops of Lake Mountain.
We arrived and settled on a cabin in the camping ground, no rough ground for us, no thanks. We headed off up the Targety river and after a fruitless search for a trestle bridge we gradually made our way up the Taggerty. Each waterfall was investigated and shots taken.
Its always great fun doing this sort of exploration as you never know when the best feature will be found. The most idyllic falls or the nicely mossed rock. The temptation is to take shot after shot. James held back being film boy whereas I with my free digital film took shots of everything that moved and even more of things that didn't.
Eventually we had pushed up the road as far as we could go and decided that we should head back to Marysville grab something to eat and then drive to the top of Lake Mountain. But not before I found the most perfect little stream that leapt from photogenic fall to elegant mossy rock to a further fall just demanding the right treatment. Tomorrow we would have to come back here and take some more shots.
All day the weather had been rather dull and the tops seemed somewhat obscured but before we had left the Bureau of Meteorology web site showed promising satellite photos so we traveled hopefully. Indeed the overcast made taking forest shots much easier as it reduced the contrast.
When finally we got to Lake Mountain the weather had not cleared in fact it was fitfully snowing in late September. I was a bit apprehensive about the trek from the carpark to the top of Lake Mountain as we seemed a little underequiped at least in the thermals department. But after a little scrounging in the back of the car we found gloves and a pair of socks for me to use a mittens and so off we headed into a freezing cloud.
It was fantastically beautiful but the sun didn't set so much as peter out and really we didn't even wait that long it was just too cold and extremely windy.
We retreated back to Marysville for a pub meal and dealt aggressively with the bottles of wine that we had laid in. Moments later James shook me awake and at 4:30 am we started the trek to the top of the mountain.
In the night it had frozen hard and the wind had stopped. Again it was visually sumptuous gray snow gums in white snow and gray mist. After while when it became clear that we were not to be rewarded with a breakthrough in the sun we headed back to Marysville and enormous country breakfasts, and it was still only 6:30am
We checked out of our cabin and headed back up the Tagerty river to the little tributary that I had found. On the high side of the road a track wound up th river next to the Tagerty with some sumptuous scenery. Eventually this track began to head away from the river and climb toward the tops and photographically it became much less interesting.
On the lower side of the road was a track labeled as to the “meeting of the waters” which sounded most impressive. The meeting of the waters proved to be unexceptional. But the journey there about a km was down the Tagerty from fall to rapid to sublime spot again and again proved the adage that it is better to journey than arrive
By now we were both feeling the effects of a very short night and decided that Melbourne beckoned. So we packed up and headed back toward Melbourne but not before we stopped at Healesville the zoo on the outskirts of Melbourne.
“Healesville Sanctuary features Australian wildlife with more than 200 species of native birds, mammals and reptiles, displayed in a beautiful bushland setting according to their website.” Healesville Sanctuary and is one of the must visit locations if visiting Melbourne.
The displays are good, with a huge variety of Australian animals that are rare or nocturnal and hard to see. For us it settled the debate on what we had seen at Wilson's Prom, it was an Antichinus. The highlight for me was a display of Raptors where the birds are displayed and fly directly over the audience. Since large birds of prey are one of my favorite subjects this was the most perfect way to end a long day.
We had traveled hopefully and in spite of our endevours not seen the mountains painted with the early sun, but what we did see was every bit as worthwhile.
Created: 1/Jan/2007 - 12:00 AM Last updated: 2/Jan/2007 - 12:00 AM