Road Trip Up Mount Baw Baw

 Over hill and dale.

 Toorongo Falls

 Great roads through the forest.

 Blue Rock Lake

This is the better part of the dirt road I explored.

Saturday, February 20^th.

I slept in a bit this morning and then headed out for a road trip. I decided to check out one of the local mountainous areas where they sometimes have skiing in the winter. So I headed off to Mount Baw Baw.

It took a while to drive through the suburban sprawl of Melbourne but I finally reached the M1 highway and drove out into the country. When I left the freeway and drove north the roads became much more scenic as they climbed up into the hills. These mountains are like the Appalachian  Mountains in the States. I came across an old wooden trestle bridge that is not used for trains anymore, just hikers. Then I took a short detour to see the Toorongo Falls. There was a beautiful 2.5 kilometres walk to see them and the Amphitheatre Falls, through the lush forest.

From there I drove up the mountain along a very narrow, winding road for about forty kilometres before I reached a roadblock! There was a car rally going on further up and the road was closed for the day. So I never reached the actual summit, I will have to return another time.

On the way back down I took a different road and stumbled across Blue Rock Lake which is actually a man made reservoir. There was a picnic and park area there so I stopped and had some fruit I brought with me and a swim in the freshwater. It was a great temperature.

Then I drove across the dam and up into another forested area along a gravel road which turned into a series of narrower and rougher dirt roads on an alternate (unmarked) route up the mountain that my GPS said goes to the summit. I drove through an area that had obviously had a bush fire in the past. I think these roads were logging roads and I was getting more and more anxious about the distance I was traveling and how far I was from any help if I needed it. I didn't see anyone for the whole twenty kilometres. Then I came to a really rough spot and a very steep climb. I started up and then noticed through the trees that it continued going up around the corner. I stopped on the hill and discretion got the better of my FOMO. The GPS said I still had an hour of drive ahead of me and who knew what lay ahead. I certainly didn't want to damage the car or me, so I backed carefully down the hill until I found a part of the road wide enough that I could do a five point turn to retrace my steps.

I hit the GO HOME button on the GPS and two hours later it guided me back to Chelsea. I went to Woolies and picked up some dinner and the makings of my salad for the week. Then I watched some TV and read before bed.