Huggin's Lookout - Bright

Huggin's Lookout, altitude 487 m, overlooks the town of Bright, 335 km NE of Melbourne.

It is reached from the town centre along Baker's Gully Rd, then McFadyer's Rd, and along unsealed Huggin's Rd, a forest management road passing through plantations and crown land, starting near the town centre, or by a walking-track which starts near the Stadium. Huggin's Rd continues down the valley, ultimately reaching the town.

The views from the Lookout are superb, looking across Bright and the surrounding hills.

I drove up to this Lookout on July 28, 2008, with friend Mick, with whom I was staying for a few days in Bright at his new country home.

On July 29, 2008, I did a 3 km hike up an interesting foot-track near the Lookout, through bushland, with nice views across Bright to the hills beyond, passing a mob of kangaroos which were grazing in a nearby paddock!

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Falls Creek Snow Trip, Alpine National Park

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On July 28, 2008, we went up to the Falls Creek Ski Resort, in the Alpine National Park.

We started at Bright, 335 km NE of Melbourne, and travelled through Tawonga Gap and Mt Beauty, then up the High Plains Tourist Rd, arriving at Falls at about 10.30 am.

The law required us to carry wheel chains, which were to be fitted to 2WDs at Howman's Gap. We were OK, as my Forester Subaru is an AWD, exempt from chains, unless directed otherwise. The general exemption applies to engaged 4WDs.

The snow ploughs do a good job of keeping this road open - paid for from the $30 per car daily entry fee!

Snow had fallen as low as 800 m.

It was our intention to do some cross country skiing along the groomed trails, picking up from our 2007 trip. This turned out to be virtually impossible - the ground temperature was minus 5 at noon, and wind gusts were reaching 60 km/hr. Natural snow depth was about 105 cm!

Blizzard-like snowstorms and high horizontal winds along the High Plains Rd created an almost "no-go" situation.

My friend Mick actually got as far as the start of the Rocky Valley Dam Wall, but was forced to retreat, along with some other skiiers, due to heavy continuous snow and huge winds.

I didn't bother with the skiis, and trudged up towards the Nordic Bowl, then turned back! I did this four times, about 2 km in total, but the wind drove me back!

School groups who had come up for the day were very disappointed at the horrific conditions.

We had our lunch in the Shelter, then drove back down the mountain, stopping at Mt Beauty township, then a big loop through Happy Valley and Myrtleford, back to Mick's new country house at Bright.

There were stupendous views of the snow-covered Alps from vantage points near the Mt Beauty village, and from the Bogong View Lookout on the Kiewa Valley Highway, near Tawonga. There were excellent views also across to Mt Buffalo from Happy Valley Rd.

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Snow Trip to the Cresta Valley, Mt Buffalo National Park

On July 27, 2008, we travelled up to the Cresta Valley snow resort in the Mt Buffalo National Park, about 320 km NE of Melbourne.

We started at the town of Bright, from Mick's new country house, after having driven from Melbourne in the morning.
We arrived at the Cresta Valley car park at about 2.15 pm, after paying our $10 car entry fee.

The road is kept clear by snow ploughs.

We were amazed at the massive snow cover in the Valley - the cross country ski trails were under about 50 cm of beautiful soft powdery snow, blue sky with some clouds, temperature on the ground about minus 2. No wind!

This is the starting point for the South Buffalo Walk which we had completed earlier this year in the autumn, no snow then of course!

There are several XC ski loop trails in the Valley - 500 m, 1 km, 4 km, and 6 km. These are marked with colored poles - the tracks are groomed daily, but fresh snow soon fills them in!

Nearby is the toboggan run and heated shelter sheds.

Mick disappeared over the hills on the 4 km trail - I was content to do the 500 m circuit!

After all this, it was about 4 pm, getting colder, and it had started to snow. The blue skies had vanished!

Mick reappeared out of the gloom, like a Yeti, so we headed back to Bright, past the Dingo Dell car park and Crystal Brook Plains. By this time, it was snowing steadily and quite dark - a large wombat was crossing the road in front of us and settled down in the snow field nearby!

These Plains were like the South Pole, covered in deep snow, with only the tops of the bushes visible!

The views from Cresta Valley were spectacular, with The Horn peak a few km away, resembling a miniature Matterhorn!

Snow, snow, everywhere!

There were superb views across the Ovens and Buffalo River Valleys from Mackey's Lookout further down the mountain.

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