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australia:vic:marysville

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Marysville and surrounds

Marysville:

  • decimated by the Feb 2009 bushfires, much of Marysville has now been rebuilt and there is a lovely cafe and a large bakery cafe as well as a number of shops.
  • 1.5hrs drive from Melbourne in the sub-alpine ranges although Nordic/cross-country skiing maybe available at Lake Mountain 16km away
  • Marysville Marathon - Nov 17th 2013
  • Bruno's Art and Sculpture Garden - open 10-5pm
  • local drives & walks:
    • Steavenson's Falls:
      • 4km drive from town; 84m drop; floodlit at night; - named by John Steavenson who surveyed the area in 1862 and named the town after his wife.
    • Lady Talbot Drive
      • easy gravel drive through the stark landscape of dead tall Eucalypt forests to a nice 4km (2hr) Beeches Rainforest walk along the cascading Taggerty River
      • on the way are:
        • Phantom Falls (800m return, 30min) - best seen in Spring when snow melt provides decent flows
        • Keppel Falls walk 2km return (1hr)
        • Keppel Falls Lookout (on the road just past the walk)
      • the road past The Beeches is rough and should be avoided in wet weather in particular, unless you have a 4WD
    • Big Trees Walk
    • Lake Mountain Drive
    • other waterfalls nearby:
      • Cora Lynn (Cambarville)
      • Cumberland
  • accommodation:
  • I would probably avoid the long and windy Marysville-WoodsPoint Road via Cambarville as there are only a few areas of interests and most of the bushwalks have not been maintained after the fires:
    • The Big Culvert (~17km from Marysville)
      • moss covered granite arch beneath the Woods Point Road, built in 1870
    • Cumberland Walk:
      • 4km loop, 2hrs from the Cambarville Picnic Area:
      • The Big Tree - tallest living tree known in Victoria - was once 92m but reduced to 84m by a wind storm
      • The Sitka Spruce - planted in the 1940's and marked the home of a timber splitter named George Loch around 1900
      • Cora Lynn Falls
      • Sovereign View - track follows an 1870 miners' water race which provided water for the Sovereign Mine on the Reefton Spur; views down the Armstrong Creek Valley towards Warburton
    • Cambarville saw mill burnt down in 1970
  • the gravel road to Matlock and Woods Point (former gold field) starting at the Cumberland junction of the Marysville-WoodsPoint Road and Warburton-WoodsPoint Road is quite remote and not worth driving for most people but will get you to Jamieson and Lake Eildon after some 120km of gravel road through mountains which will take ~2.5-3hrs in good dry weather
    • the sealed road to Warburton as a continuation of the Marysville-WoodsPoint Road is again a long, windy road lacking in specific interests for most people

North:

West:

South-West:

  • Yarra Valley:
    • Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary and wineries
  • Kinglake National Park:
    • Mason's Falls - like many in Victoria, only a trickle unless it has rained recently
    • Jehosaphat Gully - mountain ash 
    • The Gums camping area
    • Kinglake was logged between 1860-1927 supplying timber for the rapidly spreading urban development of Melbourne until the region was declared a National Park in 1928.
  • Mt Disappointment State Forest:
    •  

East:

  • Lake Mountain:
    • 120km or 1.5hrs from Melbourne via Maroondah Hway, Healesville, Black Forest, Narbethong & Marysville
    • food, curiosity shops, ski & snow chain hire at Marysville
    • over-snow transport not required, car parking ($25/day?) is next to the cross-country trails & snow-play slopes
    • road conditions ph: 1902 240 523 
  • Matlock:
    • the original town established in 1864 when gold was found there but was destroyed by fire in 1873 (1875?)
    • All Nations and Loch Fyne gold reefs.
    • initially known as Emerald Hill, but name changed as conflicted with the Melbourne suburb of same name which would become South Melbourne
    • sited 5,000 feet above sea level and became the highest inhabited town in Australia
    • Yarra Track to Melbourne via Marysville was opened in 1862
    • Post Office closed in 1934 but re-opened in 1954 when a sawmill was established (this closed in 1975), but closed again in 1970
  • Woods Point:
    • website
    • remote goldmining and now timber and tourist township named in 1864 after storekeeper Mabille Wood went prospecting for gold one day and never returned
    • huge quartz reefs containing gold extending from Jamieson to Walhalla were discovered in 1861
      • after more than 100 years of mining its gold yield totalled 155 tonnes – or more than 5 million ounces – with an average ore grade exceeding 27g/t.
      • 20% of this was produced by the Morning Star mine between 1861 and 1963
      • A1 Mine Settlement is a town located north of Woods Point on the Mansfield - Woods Point Road.
      • The A1 Mine was one of Australia’s longest operating mines having been worked through to 1992. It produced in excess of 450,000 ounces of gold.
      • Black Friday bushfires of 1939 destroyed much of the above ground mining infrastructure, but following this, Western Mining Corp. who now owned the mine, went deeper and discovered the Achilles' Reef which yielded more than 250,000oz and became known as one of the richest single reefs ever mined in Australia. This mine closed in 1962 due to lower gold prices and higher electricity prices (used to pump groundwater out of the mines)
      • 3 gold mines are still active in the area
    • 3 hours drive from Melbourne (much is along windy, gravel road)
    • nearest hospital, doctor and dentist is in Mansfield
    • nearest general store is Jamieson
    • accommodation:
      • Commercial Hotel (also supplies unleaded petrol)
      • Gap Getaway
      • Richmond Retreat Cabins
      • Jack Scott Camping Reserve
    • history of the destroyed Reefers Hotel
      • opened in 1863 during the gold rush, but the hotel was destroyed in the Black Friday bush fires of 1939

 

australia/vic/marysville.txt · Last modified: 2018/02/03 22:52 by gary1

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