Falls Creek / Bogong High Plains

Four weeks ago we took a day trip to Falls Creek for a picnic and a hike through the Bogong high plains.

Falls Creek is (by Google) only an hour and twenty minutes drive from us, but realistically the winding mountain roads it is probably closer to two hours away. This was our first visit to the area and my first time over Tawonga Gap to the Kiewa Valley and through the neighbouring town of Mount Beauty.

Falls Creek is a popular ski resort in the winter and mountain biking spot in the summer. There were a lot of people on the road and the town of Mount Beauty was bustling, but there was hardly any traffic as we made our way up the winding roads toward Bogong and Falls Creek - due to it still being the shoulder season, but more likely largely impacted by the fact travel restrictions between NSW / VIC and for those living in Melbourne had not yet been lifted. We did see a few other visitors at Falls Creek, but overall it was extremely quiet.

A stop at Sullivans Lookout over Tawonga Gap: Looking down into the Kiewa Valley

Mt Bogong, the highest peak in Victoria.

Blue skies and the very blue Rocky Valley Storage Reservoir

Our first stop was for a picnic lunch near the Rocky Valley Storage Reservoir, which has been dammed for hydroelectricity and used to create snow for the resort in the winter. We had not quite anticipated just how cold the air and wind would be in early November! We had brought plenty of warm layers, but it was still quite surprisingly cold.

After lunch, we hiked and made our way to Mount McKay. The walking/hiking at Falls Creek is not extremely well developed, so our walk was both on tracks as well as the unsealed roads which traverse the resort area. The only real downside is that some of the paths were not well marked - a few times our path suddenly ended and we had to tramp through the heath to get back onto the road to continue our walk.

Once we reached Mt McKay we escaped from the wind and sheltered in the hut near the radio station. We watched currawongs and crows leaping from the rocks to glide on the currents down into the Pretty Valley. All in all, it was a beautifully clear and enjoyable day!

Spring flowers in Falls Creek

Alpine heathland

Alpine buttercups

The "Ruined Castle".
(A much better photo is available from Google here)

View looking north(ish), we could see smoke from a small fire north of Tawonga.

The Mt McKay summit (elevation 1,842 m (6,043 ft) looking down into the Pretty Valley.

View of Mt Buffalo from Mt McKay

The access road winds through the hills. In the distance, the blue of Rocky Valley Storage.