Marysville, Victoria

On the 7th February 2009 bushfires raged in many parts of Victoria. These fires on this day were to surpass Ash Wednesday, which occurred on  16th February 1982 as Victoria's worst bushfire disaster, taking 180 lives and severely impacting the township of Marysville. About 90% of the buildings in Marysville were destroyed in the blaze with 45 deaths. The population of the town went from 500 to about 200 after the fires, but has since grown to 400 with a steady increase to construction works and visitor numbers. Shovel and I really enjoyed visiting Marysville and loved the laidback atmosphere. Despite the overnight temperature of zero degrees we were snug in our tent 'Rex' and enjoyed a beautiful feed of Beef Cheek and a French HotPot at the Duck Inn in front of a log fire. 

Beauty Spot Trail

This trail follows Leary Creek and is a 1.5 kilometre circuit that navigates through tree ferns and over a board walks. We were on the track prior to dusk and the sound of bird life was beautiful.

Steavenson Falls

These are the highest falls in Victoria with 5 tiers, falling a total of 122 metres. We viewed the falls at night and as you can see from the photos it was the perfect time to witness this spectacular cascading surge of crystal clear mountain water plunge into the river below.

Drive to Cambarville Historic Township

The near by township of Woods Point was a destination goldfield in the 1860's and Cambarville was an important stopping point on route. In the 1940's Cambarville became a timber mill town until 1971 when the mill was destroyed by fire and the population of the town rapidly declined.

Cumberland Walk

This walk located near the historic township of Cambarville, approximately 20 kilometres east of Marysville on the top edge of the Yarra Rangers was only a 4 kilometre circuit, but had us trekking through magnificent rainforest and bushland. We passed the tallest flowering trees in the world, rare mature-aged Mountain Ash. One of the highlights is 'The Big Tree' a Mountain Ash that has been dated to be about 400 years old and stands an impressive 85 metres high. The height of the Big Tree changes from year to year due to wind damage, but remains the tallest flowering tree in Victoria, if not the Southern Hemisphere. These Mountain Ash trees are second in height only to the California Redwood trees, these of which we were privileged to see in the Great Otway National Park. The walk also took us into a rainforest gorge to Cora Lyn Falls and we marvelled at the views as we glimpsed into the Cumberland Valley.