 Visit Legends, Wine and High Country
This region is renown for it’s high adventure impact. The high country and wine region is nestled amongst the Great Dividing Range.
The natural beauty of the Alpine high country takes in Ovens Valley along the Great Alpine Way, Bright, Mt. Beauty, Falls Creek, Omeo, Mt. Baw Baw, Moe, Dandenong and up the Maroondah Hwy to Wangaratta.
Scenic fertile valleys and majestic mountain peaks are waiting for the mountain bike riders, trekkers, bush walkers and 4WD enthusiasts.
Jump on a Harley Davidson and take a ride along the Omeo Hwy.
 Mt. Buffalo National Park is a majestic plateau ideal for a day visit from Melbourne or to camp overnight in a secluded bush setting beside Lake Catani. It is a photographers and bush walkers paradise with wildflowers, fauna and stunning landscapes.
Winter at Mt. Buffalo offers a wide range of adventure sports with skiing, tobogganing, cross country skiing and snow boarding are widely available.
The warmer seasons bring to this region, fishing, hand gliding, microlight flights, horse trail rides and 4WDrive tours.
The Alpine National Park stretches is an excellent place to spend four-wheel driving. However, many tracks in the Alpine National Park close during the winter period (June to November) so check with Parks Victoria during these times.
Mt. Buffalo National Park is famous for its outdoor adventures such as abseiling, caving, rock climbing and mountaineering.
 Bright is a picturesque Alp town listing a wide variety of adventures and sports. Cycling, micro flights, canoeing, fishing, white-water rafting, hang gliding and para gliding. Wine tasting from local vineyards is an excellent way to wind down after a great days activities.
The Alpine National Park is Victoria’s largest National Park and it contains 10 of the highest mountains in Victoria. Mt. Hotham reaches to its peak at 1,820 metres.
This National Park offers Joy flights, wine tours, canoeing, rafting, gold panning, abseiling, mountain biking, road biking, hang gliding, ski tours, snow boarding and day or overnight horse trail rides.
 Skiing in the High Country of Victoria
Mount Buller is an alpine wonderland nestled high on the ski fields where you can ski from the slopes to the front door of your lodge. Mt Hotham is one of the most spectacular alpine regions in Australia and covers a huge variety of terrains for skiers and snowboarders. Falls Creek is the largest ski resort in Victoria offering some of Victoria's steepest and deepest skiing and boarding.
If you prefer more gentle slopes and a chance to explore magnificent alpine scenery, head to Dinner Plain, Mount Buffalo, or Mount Stirling, where cross-country trails cross snow-clad landscapes. Mount Buffalo hosts a small selection of downhill runs and as well as well groomed cross-country trails, and Mount Stirling provides excellent cross-country skiing with many well marked trails taking you through beautiful forests of alpine ash and snow gum.
 Horse Riding Trips in the High Country
For a memorable and unique horse riding adventure, ride through spectacular landscapes on a three or four-day packhorse tour of eventful days and relaxing evenings spent around the campfire. Tour operators provide horses, equipment and basic tuition suited to your experience and abilities.
Fishing in the High Country
Victoria's high country offer fishing enthusiasts many opportunities. Wangaratta, the southern gateway, is pristine trout territory and the beginning of the Great Alpine Road, a scenic touring route that follows the Ovens River for almost its entire course.
 The Ovens River between Germantown and Harrietville offers easy access fly fishing. The river has many tributaries for anglers to explore, including the Buffalo River, Buckland River, German Creek, and Morse's Creek.
The Kiewa River is accessible from the Kiewa Valley Highway and is another famous catchment for fly-fishing enthusiasts. In the summer months, head to the productive and popular stretch of the river between Mount Beauty and Mongan's Bridge.
For anglers keen on alpine lake fishing, two of Australia's finest trout fishing lakes are Rocky Valley Reservoir and the smaller Pretty Valley Reservoir, both near Falls Creek. The lower Mitta Mitta River is renowned for tailrace trout fisheries and Lake Dartmouth is home to some very large fish, including brown trout and rainbow trout. In summer, the nearby Snowy Creek and Little Snowy Creek can also produce good results.
If its large trout you are looking to catch, head to the border country encompassing the upper Murray River, Swampy Plains River, Nariel Creek, Geehi River and Tooma River.
But staying closer to Melbourne a network of well-stocked streams and rivers, as well as the calm waters of Lake Eildon and the Eildon Pondage, provide anglers with opportunities to snare brown or rainbow trout.
Mountain Bike Riding in the High Country
Like in the Snowy region of New South Wales, mountain bikes are an excellent way to explore beyond the alpine villages, into the heart of the high country.
During summer, take your mountain bike and follow one of the bike tracks around the Horse Hill Chairlift on Mount Buller. The courses are of varying difficulty, from easy terrain to the ‘Abominable Downhill’ track that crosses Chalet Creek and is one of the most difficult in the country. Having reached the bottom of each course, there is a chairlift to take you back up to the top.
During peak holiday times in summer and over Easter, chairlifts are also available to lift mountain bikers at Falls Creek and Mount Hotham. Another area with an excellent reputation for mountain biking is Mount Beauty and the Bogong High Plains.
Or for a more sedate family bike ride, travel along the gentle Murray to the Mountains Rail Trail, a track that is a converted railway line between Wangaratta and Bright.
Airsports & Ballooning in the High Country
Conditions for ballooning are perfect in Mansfield, so what better way to see the High Country of Victoria than to slowly and gracefully loft over the valleys early in the morning.
After something with a bit more daring? Mount Buffalo provides a spectacular platform for hang-gliding. The airfield at Porepunkah near Bright offers powered hang-gliding, ultralight flying and scenic light aircraft flights. If you are serious about gliding, the instructors at Bright and Porepunkah offer full certificate courses in addition to introductory flights.
Alternatively, Australia’s largest gliding centre, The Gliding Club of Victoria, is based at Benalla Airport and takes visitors on joy flights
Abseiling, Rock Climbing and Ice Climbing in the High Country
Excellent rock climbing and abseiling sites can be found dotted throughout this region. If you are an experienced adventurer explore the rocky outcrops for yourself, or join a tour led by a licensed operator.
The sheer granite face of The Gorge at Mount Buffalo provides a spectacular platform for rock climbing and abseiling. Experience some of the best granite climbing in Australia with free and aid climbing areas and climbs available to suit everyone from the beginner to the most advanced adventurer at various sites on the Mount Buffalo plateau. Abseiling sites are easily accessed at The Gorge, as well as other locations on the mountain.
Mount Buller has small outdoor climbing areas, an indoor climbing wall and an outdoor abseiling tower. LaTrobe University provides tuition on the indoor climbing wall and the outdoor tower and takes you to rock faces at the summit and behind Chamois Tun. The university also offers ice climbing tuition in winter.
Mount Pilot and Mount Stanley climbing sites are located at Beechworth. Both are granite areas and have a range of single pitch climbs available. Abseiling locations are available at Mount Pilot and also at the Beechworth Gorge. There is also an abseiling site near Eldorado.
Falls Creek has good beginner abseiling and some limited top rope climbing at Strawberry Saddle. There is also an abseil site below the Howmans Gap Alpine Centre. Mt Hotham has some small boulder areas in the resort area and also a reasonable climbing site at Mount Smyth (watch the loose rock). There is an abseiling area at Dinner Plain, ice climbing at Australia Drift (below Hotham) and mountaineering on Mount Feathertop.
For more information regarding your next visit to Victoria, go to Visit Victoria.
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