Elevated appeal ... driving through Tarra-Bulga National Park.Credit: Gary Medlicott
David Reyne finds there are no wrong turns as he explores a rugged track in Gippsland.
It's seven degrees. The mist is nestling into the folds of the valleys and steam rises from the backs of grazing dairy cows. Nick Lowe is on the car stereo. ''It's freezing,'' he croons.
I'm here to drive the Grand Ridge Road, with its steep terrain, dozy wildlife and the sensory overload that can occasionally threaten one's ability to control a car. There's also the road surface: a blend of bitumen, corrugated dirt and log truck track. But the Grand Ridge Road's single most infuriating challenge is to simply find it in the first place.
I eventually discover it off the Warragul-Korumburra Road, about 10 kilometres south of Warragul. As I turn onto it I'm greeted by trees that resemble upright paint brushes oozing with colour. Tumbling leaves of honey and gold lay a carpet upon a winding stretch of dirt.
The road demands your immediate attention. The earth plummets from both sides and the staggering panorama extends to the far horizon. There are plunging emerald valleys and clumps of forest sit in the folds. Creeks and rivers form meandering lines that reach for the distant ocean.
Nothing is flat here. Even the grass looks as if it's struggling to hang on. Cottages and farmhouses dot the ridges, smoke rising from their chimneys. Muddy tracks lead to dairy doors. Those who choose to work this land find themselves farming on the vertical … and at height. The road turns from a rutted bolt loosener to smooth, black top. Twenty kilometres in and I've yet to encounter another car. I'm slicing my way through the heart of heaven, entirely alone.
Taking the turn-off to Hallston is essential if I am to continue along the intended route but the obvious option almost causes me to miss it.
Every bend reveals yet another vista. Kamikaze rosellas dart towards the car blissfully unaware that a four-wheeled intruder has dared to trespass. They reel off seconds before their twittering joy is brought undone by a cruising windscreen. Pockets of forest begin to appear. There are gums to the right and pines to the left.
The land here was almost entirely covered by thick eucalypt forest and the patches that remain have you wondering how the Polish explorer with the mysterious title, Count Strzelecki, managed to cross the ranges that now bear his name.
In 1839, he and his party were forced to abandon their horses to push through to the other side. They eventually did but it took them to the brink of starvation and exhaustion.
As I approach Mirboo North I pass ploughed fields of rich red soil. This is potato country, where paddocks of spuds butt up against paddocks of pasture. For most Grand Ridge roadsters, Mirboo North serves as a relief to the sensory onslaught of the journey so far. The first thing you notice is the painted murals along Main Street. They depict the history of the town and would have us believe that the men used to sit in the forest reading their newspapers, sharing their cups of tea with kangaroos and koalas while the women picked daisies in wedding frocks.
I grab some lunch from Nanna's Cupboard. It's the kind of place where the chicken schnitzel is described as ''home-made'', the pea and ham soup arrives with half a loaf of bread and the meringues are the colour of 1960s Volkswagen green. Nanna's also sells reels of cotton and quilted fabric … by the metre.
Just to the east of Mirboo North the road looks good and the speed limit invites you to penetrate the rural peace at 100 kilometres an hour. I choose to cruise.
The fields are impossibly green. Dams sit languidly among them, their surfaces like panes of mirrored glass upon which the clouds recline. Pines fringe the ridge lines and snug hills lean against rolling valley slopes. Distant paddocks terraced by meandering cattle abut plantations of young gums growing in rows.
I wind my way through radiata and eucalypt plantations. The road becomes dark, wet, gravelled and potholed. Massive ferns draped in ivy give this stretch a prehistoric feel while signs warn of the intimidating presence of the road's current dinosaur, the logging truck.
The Gunyah Junction looms and the road forks left up a track that appears to have never been used. A big black kangaroo stands defiantly in front of me. He bounds away, deftly avoiding fallen branches that litter the road.
I push on to discover that I'm not the first in this neck of the daunting woods. A sign reveals that J. Pattinson was here in 1927 to climb a mountain ash to a height of 163 feet (50 metres). Lord knows why.
''Road'' no longer seems an appropriate word for what I'm driving on. Strips of bark lie across my path. Fallen limbs keep me on my toes and the thought of a logging truck taking the bend at speed puts the wind up me.
Not far from a place called Ryton, a tree across the road forces me to stop. I reluctantly turn back.
I find a place to stay two kilometres from Mirboo North. Three timber cottages sit on a slope overlooking a private stand of forest. It is whisper quiet and immediately relaxing. A pile of split gum sits at the front door of each of Birchwood Retreat's cottages. I build a roaring blaze, pour a plunger of coffee and take a seat on the porch in the spanking evening air. It is magnificent.
The massive bed beckons but so too does the ''world's most-awarded brewery'', just up the road. Inside the Grand Ridge Brewery's doors copper brewing vats stand behind glass next to the bar. Stainless-steel tanks rise from the floor below where the beer is lovingly created. A row of frosted taps offers all nine varieties of the Grand Ridge range. If you happen to love beer, this feels like the afterlife.
I'm told I must try the Supershine. I do and shine it does. I begin to feel so shiny, I figure I'd better ask why. ''No chemicals or preservatives,'' I'm told, ''but it's probably because of its 11 per cent alcohol content.''
The Brewery's restaurant does a superb barramundi with the fattest chips and the shine is brought back into perspective.
I wake early the next morning, determined to reach the end of the Grand Ridge Road, and decide to tackle it from beyond where the fallen tree stopped me in my tracks. I take a detour to Traralgon and begin my climb up into the ranges once again.
I rejoin the road at Balook in the Tarra-Bulga National Park. It is here that the Tarra-Bulga Guest House offers Devonshire tea at its Golden Weather Tea Room. But not today. It's closed.
A sign indicates that the end of the Grand Ridge Road, at Carrajung, is 15 kilometres away. The bitumen soon becomes dirt but it's smooth and wide. Across the top of the forest, into the flat plains of Gippsland in the distance and, beyond, is the endless shoreline of Ninety Mile Beach. To the left, massive plumes of steam rise from power station chimney stacks breaking the sight of Mount Baw Baw, to the north, into segments.
The road meanders down the side of the ridge, bypassing the dozy hollow of Carrajung and on into an unremarkable T intersection. It's not clear which way to go. It appears that this is where the Grand Ridge Road ceases to be. No fanfare. No souvenir shop.
Just over 135 kilometres of astounding beauty and rugged wilderness ends with a whimper.
Perhaps the Grand Ridge Road should remain as a vague slice of wonder. Besides, if you should miss a turn and wander off down another route, there's even more splendour to discover.
David Reyne travelled courtesy of Tourism Victoria.
FAST FACTS
Getting there
The Grand Ridge Road begins at the Warragul-Korumburra Road about 10 kilometres south of Warragul. Warragul is approximately 105 kilometres east of Melbourne via the Monash Freeway and Princes Freeway.
Staying there
Birchwood Retreat Country Cottages are on the Strzelecki Highway at Mirboo North. Each cottage sleeps up to five people. From $140 a cottage a night, twin share. See www.birchwoodretreat.com.au.
Eating there
Nanna's Cupboard, 42 Ridgeway, Mirboo North is open Wednesday to Monday, 10am to 5pm. Phone 5668 2715.
The Grand Ridge Brewery, Main Street, Mirboo North is open every day from 11am.
The Grand Ridge Brewery Restaurant, Main Street, Mirboo North is open every day for lunch from noon until 3pm and for dinner from 6pm until 9pm. See www.grand-ridge.com.au.
Touring there
The Grand Ridge Road runs across the top of the Strzelecki Ranges in Gippsland and is 135 kilometres and takes up to six hours to drive. The surface is 50 per cent bitumen and 50 per cent gravel.
Sign up for the Traveller Deals newsletter
Get exclusive travel deals delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up now.