Wraps On The Paps

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Sunday 18^th December – the morning was very overcast and, maybe because of the early birdsong, Graham was up and about before 7 o’clock. He couldn’t sleep but was still tired and watched the early morning news on the TV and then a Triathlon event from Auckland. After that he dozed in the chair on and off until about 11:00am. Meanwhile, I had prepared sandwiches and a flask in readiness for another day out. Today we wanted to spend some time in “Bushranger” country – an area where, in the late 1800s, infamous outlaws took shelter because of the denseness of the woodland and the difficulty in traversing the hilly terrain. Not far from Mansfield is Stringy Bark Creek where the most notorious bushranger, Ned Kelly, committed the crime that made him a “Dead or Alive” outlaw. We set off for the nearby small town (very small) of Tolmie from where the 12 kilometer gravel track starts towards Stringy Bark Creek. It was a very good track, much better than yesterday’s, so progress was swift but it started to rain before we arrived at the Creek. Perhaps because of the weather, there was only one other person there but the display boards, which contained the details of the incidents, were excellent. The events involved the killing of three policemen for which Kelly was eventually hanged in the old Melbourne Gaol which we have also visited. He escaped capture at Stringy Bark Creek but was later arrested at another famous incident in Glenrowan, a place we have visited several times and a town which virtually lives off the Ned Kelly infamy. Here at Stringy Bark, the incident took place at three different spots which are connected by a 700 meter round walk which we completed under umbrellas as the rain was, by now, quite persistent.

Afterwards, and with time going on, we headed for Powers Lookout which has connections with another bushranger, a contemporary of Kelly and who is believed to have been an influence over him. Henry Johnson was also known as Harry Powers and the location of the lookout is an almost inaccessible point where he would escape to to avoid being taken by the law. It is in a glorious position overlooking some stunning views and although the main viewing platform is easy to reach, the “hideaway” is only accessible these days because of some extremely clever construction of several metal staircases by the Alpine Park authorities. We viewed the main lookout but before we took the 300 meter “climb” to the hidden lookout, we decided to have our picnic. Unfortunately the rain was still persistent so most of it was consumed in the car. The walk to the hideaway was quite tough with steep downward steps followed by some difficult to negotiate upward steps. The viewing platform they eventually led to, however, was incredible – its construction must have been a work of art and would have required workers with an extremely good head for heights. We would have lingered there longer – we had it to ourselves – but although the rain had stopped, the wind was very strong on the exposed outer edge of the platform. It was well worth the discomfort, however, and also the difficult walk back to the car. The main road we had travelled along was the link between Mansfield and the small town of Whitfield, another 20 kilometers further on. Curiosity got the better of us so we meandered on along a very winding descent until we reached Whitfield. Its main attribute seemed to be link-roads to other tourist destinations but, apart from some humorous use of the word Whitty in many of the property and business names, Whitfield didn’t demand much attention. We began to make our way back to Mansfield but remembered we had spotted a roadside fruit stall just outside of Whitfield so we called in as we went back past. Usually these stalls are excellent value for money and this one, unattended but with an “honesty box”, contained refrigerated stocks of raspberries and boysenberries. They weren’t particularly cheap but looked to be excellent fruit so I bought a supply of each and left my $20 in the secured box. Once back in Mansfield we had it in mind to visit another viewing point, The Paps, on the other side of town and then call in to the supermarket for a few groceries. However, our route took us back past the caravan and, with the time now well after 5:00pm, we decided to call it a day and do the other trip tomorrow.

Back at the house, the Reeves’ were still absent so Graham set about catching up with his contributions to the blog while I prepared a chicken casserole – enough for all of us but if the Reeves’ had eaten already it would do for tomorrow. Our hosts returned at about 7:30pm and they were all hungry so the chicken casserole went down very well. Once they’d all settled back in and the kids had gone off to bed (reluctantly) we had a nice long chat with Mark and Simone and then managed to contact Sarah and Darryl on Skype. A jolly conversation followed during which the Reeves and the Howells were able to establish a possible get-together next June or July in Greece and/or Croatia. Simone had an early start in the morning so she left us to carry on the conversation which went on quite a long time but it was great to have a web-cam chat as we hadn’t been able to do that for some time. Graham and Mark spent much of the rest of the evening talking music but eventually we all “turned in”. We were disturbed during the night, however, by the most tremendous rain storm beating down on the caravan roof - Graham and I were both awake for about an hour. Consequently, come morning, we slept in while the kids went off to school and Simone went off to work. Mark would be at home all day but had volunteered to work in the pub that night but we had a good long chat about all and sundry over a cup of coffee and soon it was mid-morning already. We wanted to visit The Paps today as our last outing in the Mansfield area. I prepared a flask and we set off for town at about 11:30. We stopped to buy some “wraps” to have as our picnic lunch on top of The Paps and then set off, calling in at the Information Centre to confirm we had all the information we would need. We had gathered most of our knowledge from local conversation but what we hadn’t learnt was that it was another 4WD track. It also involved crossing private property so we had to make sure we closed any gates behind us.

The Paps are about 10 kilometers out of Mansfield but they make up the landmark that is most notable from Mansfield as they dominate the nearby landscape. Almost immediately after leaving the main road we passed through the first of two closed gates. There were others but only two are regularly closed. Also almost immediately we began to climb steeply along a track which had been severely storm-damaged. It was necessary to engage the 4WD facility straight away as the steepness and the severe ruts made progress very slow. After about one kilometre we came to the second closed gate which looked as though it may prevent us from going any further – I couldn’t release the chain that was securing it. It proved to be a two-person job as Graham had to lift the gate enough for the chain to reach over the high wooden gate-post and even then we could only just manage it between us. After that the track levelled momentarily before rising steeply again and the steepness made the degree of difficulty probably marginally greater than the Craig’s Hut 4WD we did a couple of days ago. The full length of the track was about 3 kilometers which PIE managed again with ease and the views from the top made the effort well worth while – they were wonderful and the nearby Lake Eildon looked full and magnificent. They were marred a bit by some ill-placed telephone masts but we could see the full 360 degrees and the views were equally stunning whichever way we looked - it was a perfect place for our picnic. Beautiful butterflies abounded along with lots of colourful large fly-like insects but they weren’t a nuisance. Some large black clouds began to loom but fortunately they passed us by.

After about an hour of perfect isolation we began our descent, again made easy by the 4WD function and, remembering to close the gates behind us, we were soon back in Mansfield looking for a café for a hot drink. Although I’d prepared a flask for the top of The Paps, I had forgotten to put in tea-bags or coffee, and hot water with milk isn’t quite the same! So we made do with cold water with our picnic until we reached Tarts – a nice looking café in the heart of Mansfield - where I had a cappuccino and Graham had a latte accompanied by one of the largest Vanilla Slices I‘ve ever seen (and I’ve seen a few large ones in Aus!). The large black clouds didn’t leave us alone entirely as, while I was doing some Christmas shopping, a torrential storm hit us and we had to retreat to the car for about 20 minutes. Eventually, though, we drove back to Bridge Creek and the caravan where Mark was busy filtering the water in the swimming pool – the storm hadn’t hit there even though it was only 10 kilometers from Mansfield! We began to prepare for our departure for Melbourne in the morning and at about 4:40pm, Simone and the kids arrived home and Mark promptly left for his evening shift at the pub. Simone suggested we had pancakes and fruit for dinner using the raspberries and boysenberries I had bought yesterday. At the last moment, Ken asked if he could have eggs and bacon with his pancakes instead of fruit and the same was offered to Graham. Simone came up with a Canadian recipe for them – pancakes, fried eggs, bacon, banana and maple syrup which the boys enjoyed enthusiastically. The ladies had pancakes, berries and ice-cream which was also delicious and there were still plenty of berries for everyone to enjoy afterwards. Later the kids got themselves ready for bed (it takes them ages!) and after Simone had prepared their things for tomorrow and Graham and I had done the washing and wiping up, we were able to sit and chat awhile with Simone, before she had to check some students’ reports ahead of a visit she has to make to Shepperton tomorrow – she never seems to stop!! We had a fairly early night as we planned an early start in the morning, firstly to say thank you, cheerio and Merry Christmas to the Reeves before they all dash off, and then to hit the road ourselves on our way back towards Melbourne.

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Photos

A memorial to the 3 policemen killed on 26th October 1878 in a gunfight with 'The Kelly Gang'
even though it was raining quite heavily we were determined to explore this historic site

The lookout wasn't as solid in Harry Power's day!
but he could keep an eye on movements in the valley below without being spotted