WEEKEND DRIVE
Traralgon to Tarra Bulga National Park
120km / 2.10hrs
This edition of the Weekend drive will take you through route 94, a scenic drive through the Latrobe Valley into the Strzelecki Ranges, taking in villages, farmland and forests.
Route 94 will take you past Loy Yang power station and open cut mine, to the Tarra Bulga National Park, well-known for its dense mountain gullies, suspension bridge and waterfall.
From Traralgon, follow the C482 road to Loy Yang to see the area’s rich connection to the power industry.
A few kilometres along on the left side is the Jack Vines Lookout with views of Australia’s largest open cut mine, Loy Yang.
Next, you’ll pass George Bates Lookout, which offers stunning panoramic views of the Latrobe Valley and Strzelecki Ranges.
There are also toilets, barbecue facilities and picnic tables.
Continue along the Hyland Highway to the small township of Gormandale, nestled in the Merrimans Creek Valley.
Here, you’ll enter the Grand Ridge Road, known as one of Victoria’s most spectacular drives.
The road snakes its way along the Strzelecki Ranges for 132km, at times opening up to striking views of farmlands to the north and coastline to the south.
The road passes through a forest of ferns and towering trees as well as green hills and villages.
Check out the fern-filled gullies and cool temperate rainforest of Tarra Bulga National Park, for walks beneath giant mountain ash and ancient myrtle beech and over swing bridges.
This is the perfect place for a picnic (complete with barbecues, shelters and toilets) among waterfalls and rainforest teeming with wildlife.
A short drive from the park are the Cyathea Falls, a 10m waterfall located in the lush Gippsland rainforest.
A 35-minute loop walk takes in this waterfall as well as other rainforest features.
Head towards Traralgon South on the C483, where you can stop at the Duff Sawmill Walk and the Mt Tassie Lookout.
