Feeling quite replete after 7 weeks exploring Far East Gippsland, we headed northward at times hugging the Tambo river (above), to a tiny dot on the map in the Upper Murray region - 'Clack Clack' (Colac Colac). The trip took us over the mountains of the Great Dividing Range and through the Alpine National Park with an overnight stop in Omeo, a totally delightful place nestled in amongst mountains and alongside the gorgeous Livingstone Creek.
Beautiful grassy expanses.
Livingstone Creek
The site was perfect complete with food van which operated every night; you could even buy beer or wine there. Why didn’t we stay?
Old on-site caravans were painted poster colours. Kitsch but fun.
Terrific idea for a fence.
We wished we had planned for a longer stay at Omeo but we had a booking further north. (That's not our usual style but with Melburnians then allowed to travel and the NSW border teetering on the brink of opening, we thought it wise to snag a spot.) Omeo is a place we will definitely return to but not at Christmas or Easter when it attracts 100s of campers.
Golden pea bush festooned the roadside as well as yellow buttons and white daisies. Rather idyllic.
Great little camping sit by a stream and not far from the tailings of an abandoned mine; once there was a lot of mining in the area.
The drive through the alps on the Benambra-Corryong Road was quite delightful; along winding roads up and over mountains, through isolated gullies - as we drove we thought of what it would have been like as fire swept through as it did. There is no escape! The drive, with van bouncing along behind, was a little challenging at times as the road was steep, windy and dirt most of the way, but our brilliant driver and mighty car saw us arrive safe and sound all in one piece at our destination, Clack Clack.
We had intended to stay 1 or 2 weeks to explore the area so we headed into Corryong, 7 Km east, to get maps and info about the area. Unfortunately it turned out that like much of East Gippsland, a large number of the National-State Parks and Reserves in the Upper Murray region were still closed as a result of the fires that swept through there the previous summer (Parks Victoria have a lot of work to catch up on before the height of summer descends!). And of course the NSW border was yet to be opened and much of the area is cleared farming land so we were a little limited in where we could go. However not to be beaten we set off to explore as much as possible. More anon ....
The Clack Clack caravan park was quite grassy with lots of trees. Good to be able to cook outdoors but a couple of days after we arrived we gradually became surrounded. And I mean totally surrounded by a group of five vans travelling together. They seemed to think it was ok to walk between their vans through our site. The park manager could have easily have found a spot for them to be together without us being in the middle! Poor planning on their part (we had booked well ahead and I’m sure the group had too).
Depending on who you believe this is either Corryong or Nariel Creek depends. It was a raging torrent beside the caravan park.
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