Tallangatta Victoria Australia

Day 6 Monday 5 October 2026

It was a very peaceful night on the banks of Reedy Creek at O’Donoghues camp but the road beckoned, so we packed up and made our way to Yackandandah.

It’s one of Victoria’s prettiest villages with a centre classified by the national trust  and steeped in the legacy of gold. We wandered down the main street lined with buildings of yester year offering unique artworks, crafts, music and antiques in the eclectic mix of galleries, shops and studios. We couldn’t resist buying some old fashioned cordial.

We continued on our way to Tallangatta, a rural town on the southern shoreline of an arm of Lake Hume. 

We stopped to have a look at the statue commemorated in 2023 of Sandy the only WWI war horse to return to Australia.

The present day township dates from the 1950s, but the original town was 7 km east and is now shown on maps as Old Tallangatta which was established in the 1850s near the junction of the Mitta Mitta River and Tallangatta Creek, the town played a vital role in the gold rush era, railway expansion, and regional development. But it’s what happened in the 1950s that makes it famous. Tallangatta was physically relocated to higher ground to allow for the expansion of Lake Hume. Homes, businesses, and entire streets were moved or rebuilt, creating what is now known as “the town that moved.” 

We went to the lookout but any remains of the original town is underwater.

A bit further on we turned off the road to drive 8km to Mt Granya summit from which we had lovely views of the valley below from the Georges Creek Lookout.

Returning to the main road it was another 8km to Cotton Tree Campground also in the Granya State Park that used to be a site of an old dairy. 

We walked along the track leading up the hill to the falls. Along the way we came across the Scout Hut constructed in 1937. Another 400m we reached the base of the falls.

Then returned to Buster for a peaceful night.

121km 

To Beechworth Victoria Australia

Buster Adventures Vic

Day 1-5 Wednesday 31st September- Sunday 4th October 2026

On our 1st day we drove 228km to Stringybark Creek, Archerton.

The weather forecast was not ideal for the next few days but we decided to still head off but had to modify our original plans of going through the high country (also some roads are still seasonally closed).

Our first stop is in Yea. We enjoyed our breakfast pies.

As our destination for today isn’t to far away we finally make the time to drive out to see the Cheviot Tunnel. It’s an impressive 200m long structure was built along the railway line in the 1880’s, using 675,000 bricks. Here are some more stats in the photos below.

Mansfield

Eildon Weir  at Bonnie Doon 

We continued on to Stringybark Creek campground located in Archerton. This is our 4th time here since 2012, but it’s the 1st time we have had the whole campground to ourselves! (Maybe the weather report put other campers off).

Luckily we had stopped along the way in to gather some firewood.

On Thursday we had intermittent showers  so we still enjoyed the bush TV, watching the birdlife and walking along the track to explore the history of the Kelly gang. It is here the notorious Kelly Gang ambushed and killed three police officers on October 26, 1878.

On Friday the rain was more insistent, so after breakfast we packed up and drove out through the King Valley. We had thought of going via Madhouse Road but as we have never driven along there before we prudently went out the way we came in… maybe next time. Unfortunately the fog and wet weather did not encourage us to take the couple of detours to the lookouts (Whitfield and Powers) along the way.

We ventured in to have a look at Edi Cutting Campground (58km) and found a lovely spot in the quieter of the 2 sites, overlooking the river and decided that this was a good place to sit out the rain.

We managed a couple of walks along the river towards the other camp site but the track was un passable on foot due to high water over the road. We were also surprised to see the camping along this track have now been blocked off with huge boulders.

The next morning (Saturday) we woke up to some blue skies and welcomed sunshine. We drove 35km to Milawa, along the way we stopped for milk in Moyhu. 

Then parked in the free RV area at the Brown Bros winery. Of course we went to have a look and bought a bottle of shiraz. 

We then strolled along a well made path into town. We decide to have lunch at the pub and we’re not disappointed in the schnitzel and parma we  chose.

We got back to Buster just in time before storm. It was a pity it was raining for the 2 weddings that were on today.

Around 6pm we managed to go for another walk a we’re rewarded with a gorgeous sunset.

On Sunday we ventured into Beechworth, a well-preserved historic gold rush town. Although we have been here numerous times, it alway a lovely place to walk around. Of course we had to get a pie for breakfast from the famous bakery. 

Its a very popular place to visit with lots of various things to do.

We have a look at Newton Falls. The Bridge was built by Scottish stone masonsin 1875 to replace an earlier bridge further upstream.The tail race or channel (2.4 metres deep and 410 metres long) visible below the bridge, was cut through solid granite over a two year period in the late 1860s, enabling the area upstream to be sluiced for gold.

Then drive along Gorge Road to walk (2km return) to the Cascades. Along the track were Granite Tors - weathered by rain, frost, wind, sun and plants giving them strange and unusual shapes. Some have been given interesting names suchas Pumpkin Rock and the Sphinx.

Below the Spring Creek Bridge we had a view of the cascades as well as the many rock pools along the creek. 

As it is springtime there were a variety of wildflowers.

A further 4km north from town was Woolshed Falls. The area was once the centre of one of the richest goldfield’s in Australia, where up to 8,000 prospectors camped along the banks of Spring Creek, in search of their fortune.

From here we went to drive along Woolshed Valley to have a look at the campsites. We ended up at O’Donoghues (52km today) situated next to Reedy Creek which we were informed by a fellow camper that it is a popular base for gold prospecting.