Once you pass through Jamieson, you very quickly reach the Eildon-Jamieson Road turn-off where you then start the long climb up a mountain. After about 10km we turned off to the left, engaged 4WD mode and headed up the Mount Terrible Track. Pretty easy drive with no real need for 4WD at this point, but its always better to be safe than sorry. The track meanders around some lovelly country, which always seems to get better once you cross over the magical altitude line where the snow gums (Eucalyptus pauciflora) start to appear. At this time of year the snow gums are joined by a wide variety of alpine flowering plants as well, including my personal favourite the grass triggerplant (Stylidium graminifolium).

Eventually, after reaching 1,316m you are at the top of Mt Terrible, which you can easily recognise by the huge fire spotting tower, the old hut and the pole that says Mt Terrible. The view from up there is spectacular and you can see down into what once part of Lake Eildon, across to the Mansfield area, Mt Buller and a hole range of other mountain peaks. The road across teh top of Mt Terrible has also recently been graded as a firebreak so its very dusty and slippery in sections.

From Mt Terrible, we continued along the Mount Terrible Track and followed it all the way down to the Big River Road and then back up the Cambarville Logging Road to rejoin it just before it turns into Corn Hill Road. The dirt roads are all pretty good and certainly give you lots of time to enjoy the scenary. After reaching the top of Corn Hill (1,326m) we drove to the top of Mt Matlock (1,377m) and checked out its fire tower as well.

Rejoining the Warburton-Woods Point Road we re-traced are path of the day before until we reached The Triangle and turned down Nine Mile Road following it to the site of Lake Gregory. Not sure why Lake Gregory is here, though i think it may have had something to do with supplying water to both the contruction workers and the construction site of the huge 19km long underground tunnel that links the Thompson River Dam and the Upper Yarra Reservoir.

Its about a 2.4km walk from the shores of Lake Gregory until you reach the peak of Mt Gregory, which at 1,195m is not exactly huge, but the views it provides into the catchment area of the Upper Yarra Reservoir and the main Great Dividing Range running across Mt Donna Buang, Mt Victoria, Mt Boobyalla, Smith Hill, etc. is well worth the walk. A communication tower site on top of Mt Gregory so there is a fair bit of equipment up there.

We made good time back down the mountain to my Land Rover Discovery (DSCVRY as I call it), and cruised back just in time to have dinner, and a few cold ales at the Reefton Hotel before making it back to ExpeditionOZ Upper Yarra Valley HQ just before night fall.

Check out this Windows Live map for locations.

[album: http://www.expeditionoz.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/dm-albums/albums/2007/20071229/]

The journey out to Woods Point from the ExpeditionOz Upper Yarra Valley HQ is a good drive along the Warburton-Woods Point Road. First you pass the Reefton Hotel (at McMahons Creek), then its up a mountain to a spur which takes you to Cumberland Junction, after the road goes from bituman to dirt you pretty much sit at around an elevation of 1,000m as you pass Fehrings Clearing, The Triangle, The Pines, St Clair, Jessops Air Field, The Springs, McAdam Gap and Matlock before starting the crazy descent to the township of Woods Point itself.

The idea of this trip was to bag a few mountain peaks, but now its main focus is to get to the top of Mt Terrible as well as Mt Matlock (bagged last year) and Mt Gregory :)

Check out this Windows Live map for locations.