Left in soft rain this morning bound for Mt Stirling and Craig's hut but this soon became heavy and visibility was poor as I left the bitumin and started up the mountain. I stopped at Sentry Box Junction which is the VIC for the Mt Stirling ski resort for a chat. The resort is a mecca for 4x4s, horse riders walkers, walkers and campers in summer and all snow sports in winter.
Circuit Rd circumnavigates Mt Stirling - suitable for all vehicles in summer generally. Somewhere I managed to jam a thick stick up under the back wheel which refused to budge until I got out a tarp to lay on the road and finally managed to dislodge it.
Shortly after I came up behind another vehicle stopped by a heavy branch across the road. Despite our best efforts we couldn't move it so eventually we managed to drive over it!
Circuit road meanders through forests of Mountain Ash also known as Woolly Butt - it is incredibly tall and straight. The air is filled with a really pungent fragrance which you can't ignore. The road was a bit greasy from the rain but well graded.
Suddenly the rain stopped, the sun came out and there were the mountains!
Built for the film "The Man from Snowy River" Craig's hut has become so iconic that it was rebuilt after burning down in 2006 and draws many visitors. It is possible to drive up with a 4x4 but you can walk up from Circuit road.
The track climbs steadily with a few steep sections through the Mountain Ash, Mountain Pepper bushes (used as flavouring by indigenous people) and different ferns.
Bare, white trees stand out amongst the green - victims of fire. Mountain Ash welcomes fire for regeneration, providing the fire storms occur many years apart. It also needs cold and frost. Eventually these skeletons will fall but they provide homes for all kinds of wildlife. There's plenty of birdlife - I could hear the raspy voices of Black Cockatoos and Currawongs calling and flocks of Eastern Rosellas and other small green parrots frequently were startled into flight.
For 150 years stockman bought cattle and occasionally sheep to these mountains for summer grazing - a practice still continued today in places.
These cows startled me coming out of the bush beside the track.
The track rises over 130 metres from the road to the hut. You walk out of the mountain pepper and there it is!
Imagine the surprise to see Kevin Sullivan with his guitar singing in front of Craig's to launch his new album to an appreciative audience of hikers and 4x4 drivers! Kevin is travelling around Australia with his wife and 3 children. His guest was celebrity Charlie Lovick- iconic horseman and Master of Horse as well as rider in the Man from Snowy River films. Charlie owned the horse "the man" rode in the film.
I talked with him for quite a while about the mountains and their history. His family has lived here over 140 years through 5 generations and his passion for the high country is deep, sincere and compelling.
After walking back to my car I continued the circuit of Mt Stirling before heading back to town for coffee.
I can't resist one more picture of Craig's hut.
What a lovely day!
Thanks Lesley - great narrative, you are a storyteller and could write a book that would be well received !
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