Post Covid Lockdown - Victorian High Country Loop

For number of years we have always set aside the April school holidays as our ‘go to’ time to head off on an extended bike trip. In 2020 plans were well under way for a trip to New Zealand where a couple of hire DR650’s were booked and paid for until - the world changed…

After the shock of what was happening slowly sunk in we rejigged our plans with an alternative to travel on a trip that initially following the Murray River and then looping around parts of the Victorian High Country. However, the issues with the Covid 19 outbreak in Victoria saw hard border closures lock in as the year progressed so our plans were scrapped!

Move on to 2021 and as things settled down we reignited our plans for the Victorian trip with a planned April departure.

After some fantastic track suggestions from fellow inmate glitch_oz a planned route was put together that looked like this:

The route was planned at around 3500km and we gave ourselves 10 days to complete the journey. With mainly photos to tell the story, come along for the ride..

Prep and Day 1

First things first was to get the bikes in order. A couple of DR650’s are our bikes of choice and fresh rubber at both ends was the called for

A quick check of the bearings found one of the rear ones was a little crunchy so they were both replaced

The chain even got an annual lube

With packing and checking complete it was a nice cool morning when we hit the road the weekend after Easter

Our route through to the Murray River first saw us head across the northern edge of Mt Lofty Ranges, where the autumn leaves were starting to show

There was a little bit of single track

Roads parted for trees

before passing some locals

As we cut across past Cromer there was a number of great flowing roads between the farmland

That led to our first bakery stop (of many over the next week) at Mt Pleasant

A quick check over of the bikes saw everything where it should be and so after a hot drink we headed north and skirted the edge of the famous wine region in the Barossa Valley

As we headed away from the valley the countryside dried out

Soon we crossed the Maine River on Moss Smith Rd

Not long past the river crossing I saw a movement to my right and to my great surprise a large deer jumped the fence and crossed the road right in front of me. It was soon on the move jumping the next fence and heading off into the distance

We then hooked onto Pine Hut Rd, one of only a few ways to cross the eastern side of the ranges around this area. The weather looked a little threatening as we followed the road that is characterised by dry stone walls on either side

The history of these walls is quite fascinating. They were laid around the 1840’s often by small teams of 2 adults and 2 children. The children collected the rocks and put them on a wooden sled and then they were laid by the adults at a rate of around 1 chain (~20 m) a day for which the team was paid 18 shillings. They camped out in old shepherds huts working 6 days a week and taking around a 3 months to lay 1 mile (1.6 km) of wall. Nowadays we can’t get people to pick fruit because the work is too hard – how times have changed!

Once at the top of the range the plains out to the river were visible in the distance

In was then down into the mallee country where the choice of roads to take becomes a little confusing at seven way intersections

The Murray River was soon reached and we crossed on the Swan Reach ferry

Once on the other side we headed up the escarpment and had good view of the upstream river

The river at this point heads north before swinging eastwards at Morgan, so rather than taking us away from our general eastern route we cut off and tracked diagonally towards Barmera through more mallee roads

It was at a stop along this section that I noticed my chain guard had gone missing

The bitumen was reached quite close to Kingston on Murray where the river was crossed once more

It was getting time for some lunch so we stopped at Berri to refuel and with very few options in a town that seemed deserted we picked up a pie and possibly the worst donut I’ve ever tasted. (I have a feeling he may have given us vegan variety by mistake!)

We headed down to the river’s edge to eat our crappy lunch and after a large gust of wind heard some commotion behind us. On turning around we saw Russ’s bike having a nap and his helmet rolling down the road

Once back on it’s feet we headed off towards the Murray Sunset National Park via, at times, a sandy Wonuarra Rd

With a choice of ways north we picked the inner Border track that took us up to Tanks Track

From here we tracked east and picked up Pipeline Track

That eventually leads across a wide claypan

Before it meets the Old Mail Rd not far from the Lindsay Island turn off

Once on Lindsay Island we then worked our way along the track that winds its way along Little Mullaroo Creek

Until we reached a spot we have used on a few occasions and set up camp

It was then that we spent a little time chilling out

And enjoyed the serenity!

Before organising dinner for the night