Mount Glenrowan - 12th July 2014

Glenrowan is famous for Ned Kelly's last stand, but I'd always been more interested in the Warby Range stretching to the north from the small town. Sam and I were heading to Benalla for the night so I thought that would provide the perfect opportunity to go and check out the Warby - Ovens National Park.  First up though we headed to the Benalla Art Gallery to see the Benalla Nude exhibition, the gallery is quite impressive for a small town and they have a good selection of art as well as hosting various exhibitions through out the year.

Benalla Art Gallery. 

Lake Benalla, I think it is a weir on the Broken River.

After getting my fill of culture in the morning it was time to head up the highway to Glenrowan to get dirty. As seems to be the norm lately the forecast for Saturday was pretty average, the weather bureau were predicting snow down to 600 metres, Mount Glenrowan is 513 metres so no worries about the snow but I didn't hold out much hope for any views.  Therefore it was a pleasant surprise to arrive at the car park at Taminick Gap to find the range clear and lots of blue sky above, although according to the temperature read out in the car the ambient temperature was around 6 degrees C.

The walk start at Taminick Gap.

Heading up towards the communication towers.

With the weather looking good we quickly headed off up the fire track to the top of the range, the first section was on a sealed road up to some communication towers, from the towers we followed the undulating Ridge Track all the way out to Mount Glenrowan. The forest is fairly sparse on the tops so we had plenty of view through the trees as we made our way along the ridge, apart from the ubiquitous eucalyptus there was also quite a few grass trees on the drier soils on top of the range.

Following Ridge Track along the ridge!

Arriving at the summit of Mount Glenrowan we were greeted by a view down to Glenrowan with its massive quarry eating the hill across the the gap. With the Hume Freeway also dissecting the gap it wasn't the best view I've ever seen, however in the distance we were lucky enough to get a couple of glimpses of the snow covered summits of Mount Buffalo and Mount Buller.

Ok!

Glenrowan, from Mount Glenrowan.

If you squint you may see some snow on the high country.

That's Mount Buffalo under the cloud.

I'm not a big fan of retracing my steps, so on the way back to the car we decided to head along a few lesser tracks, first up all was good until we turned onto Casuarina Track. My notes said to follow it, before turning to the left along a lesser track which will deteriorate into a foot pad, well we found the lesser track but instead of it turning into a pad it continued all down to the bottom of the range to meet up with Moonlight Track near a vineyard. Now that's not real problem normally as I'd just head across country until I got back to the car, however I had Sam with me and she has a distinct aversion to climbing hills and bush bashing, both of which we would have to do to get back to the car. Pointing at the hill in front of us I convinced her that we just have to climb up there a little and we would meet up with the road which we could then amble along until we got back to the car, if she looked slightly dubious at the start she looked distinctly unimpressed by the time she got near the top and was on her hands and knees climbing up the slippery slope, it probably didn't help that I was by now standing on the road taking photos of the vineyard through the trees.

We lift Ridge Track here and went straight ahead along the old fire track.

Its a lot steeper than it looks.

Sure enough, once on the road it was an easy walk back up to the car park and within ten minutes we were back at the car. Kicking of our boots we now settled in for the tree hour drive home.

Looking down towards the vineyard from the road.

The Dirt.
We stayed at a cheap and cheerful motel called the Avondel Motel, after our experience in Daylesford last weekend this place provided a contrast in the value for money stakes. For about one third of the cost we got a full breakfast, free wi-fi, and Foxtel, as well as nice people managing the place, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the place if you need accommodation in Benalla for a night or two.
The Benalla Art Gallery is also worth a visit, its in a beautiful setting on the banks of Lake Benalla and has a nice cafe over looking the lake.
The Mount Glenrowan walk is worth checking out if your in the area, I used the notes out of the Tyrone Thomas book 150 Walks in Victoria which I think is out of print. The walk is fairly easy, we walked 11.45 kilometres and climbed 346 metres, however we did do a bit of off track exploring! The terrain and vegetation makes walking cross country fairly straight forward, just keep an eye on the map.

Taminick Gap and the car, is at the top of the hill.