Reflections of a Rural Social Worker: Grieving for losses: Fire in Coopracambra National Park, Victoria

This National Park is in the northern part of East Gippsland and shares a border with the Vic/ NSW State border. Over 40 % of this Park has been ravaged by recent fires, and I want to pay tribute to the beauty we found in our drive through it in 2008. Wangarabell is a small settlement that has been in the fire zone too.

At Genoa we turned north and travelled up the highway for a short distance before turning onto a gravel road and going deeper into the bush towards Wangarabell. Immediately we were winding around the edge of a mountain through fern and moss encrusted forest with views across to other mountains and sunlight filtering through the tall Eucalypts and rocky outcrops. Flowering Heath provided splashes of pink here and there. Occasionally wallabies bounded away in the forest and we passed a vehicle towing a trailer.

At Wangarabell we emerged into a cleared valley with contentedly grazing cattle and grey, unkempt but picturesque weatherboard sheds. We crossed one tiny timber bridge and later carefully edged past an old jeep which was travelling very slowly in our direction. Following our map, we ended up at a property gate, so turned and travelled further up the road. The jeep was now ahead of us so we caught up and asked directions from its elderly driver. Apparently we did need to go into the property and ask for directions.

Now I began to feel like a trespasser but the woman in the farmhouse was very helpful and gave us detailed information about how to cross the Genoa River (past the cattle yards, through some gates, over the paddocks then across the ford where we should find her husband). We did all this successfully but did not find her husband, found a maze of tracks on the other side of the river but the GPS guided us through them and onto Tasker’s Track. Congratulating ourselves, we continued on along this well formed gravel road until we were abruptly stopped by a locked gate at our exit point out of private land. It was obviously designed to prevent people entering from the other side but it also effectively locked us in.

We now had no option but to backtrack into Wangarabell where we attempted to find another way across the river by attempting to follow one more track. This took us to the river (and a lovely camping spot) but the crossing was too risky and the track on the far side too indistinct so we returned along the 18 kms of forest track to the highway.

Back through Genoa we now journeyed south to pick up the Genoa Creek Track which proved to be rough, eroded, overgrown, vegetated in the middle and definitely 4WD. We bush-bashed our way along it for many kilometres, brushed by close growing vegetation on both sides, driving over the top of young saplings and negotiating one wash-out. We certainly do things the challenging way (whilst looking at each other from time to time and commenting that we are mad)!

Passing the junction with the Three Mile Creek Track we continued on and the track improved a little. Most of the time we had been traversing the top of a heavily forested ridge. Eventually we emerged onto the well-formed (by comparison) Jones Creek Track (the recommended route) and shortly afterwards entered the Coopracambra National Park. Now the vegetation thickened and we soon turned onto the WB Line to continue on through forests teeming with young trees.

Eventually this track took us steeply upwards and then up and down along another ridge with views of other mountains glimpsed through the trees until we drove very steeply up to Mealing Hill helipad where we had 360 degree views of wilderness mountains and the coast at Mallacoota.

Thereafter the WB Line continued to follow the contours of the edge of the mountain and ridges, ever rising and falling dramatically. Fresh lime-green Tree-ferns grew in some damper depressions and Bracken grew in abundance everywhere. We paused at one creek crossing for photos and I could hear a frog chorus as a gentle breeze rustled the leaves.

Further on we passed the beginning of the Yambulla Walking Track to the Genoa River (3 hrs one way) where access to the reportedly beautiful gorges was possible but reputed to be a 2 day trek. So on we went, delighting in the creek crossings and the tall forests until we reached Beehive Falls. These proved to be not much more than a trickle coming down a rounded rock face with some small cascades further downstream. We could access the cascades but were unable to gain a clear view of the falls as small trees impeded this.

We then followed the WB Line out to the Monaro Highway and finally stopped for lunch at Chandlers Creek by the Cann River, having found no suitable spots within the National Park. The Monaro Highway quickly zoomed us to Cann River and back onto the Princes Highway where we turned north and zoomed once again.

Near Genoa we visited the delightful but not sign-posted-off-the-highway Genoa Falls which had even less water in them than when we had been here over 5 years ago. We found some enchanting small cascades backed by ferns, then wearily climbed up the steps to the Cruiser.