Lake Eildon (Edit)

By Michael Whyms
Published 26-Jul-06 08:16 PM

Lake Eildon is a fantastic location for any four wheel drive trip. It has three distinct sections, each offering very different attractions and scenery. It is accessible from almost anywhere along the Goulburn Valley and Maroonda Highways, North East of Melbourne. Mansfield is the closest major centre in the area, with Alexandra, Yea, Marysville and Healesville all close by. Lake Eildon was formed in the 1950Õs by the damming of the Goulburn River. The Lake has water from the Delatite, Goulburn, Jamieson, Howqua and Big Rivers. When water levels are low, the ruins of old homesteads deserted when the valley was flooded, can be seen.

There are many other recreational activities that can be done on and around Lake Eildon. These include hiring a houseboat for a leisurely cruise, fishing and general site seeing. There also the option of a ski trip to nearby Mount Buller, or visiting some of the high country huts, track closures permitting. From Mansfield and travelling down the eastern side of the Lake, a great day trip involves exploring the area of land between the Delatite Arm and the Howqua Inlet of the lake, near GoughÕs Bay. This area is known as The Pines and his covered with a mix of pine plantation, and the Eildon State Forest. Camp sites are plentiful in this area. When the lake was near capacity you could drive a maximum of 20 metres off the road and be right on the waterÕs edge. Nowadays the campsites a some distance from the water however this provides excellent four wheel driving on the lake bed. There are plenty of pit style toilets around and in general each marked campsite has one or is an easy walk to one.

The lake bed in this area has been dry for some years now, and has a maze of four wheel drive tracks scattered across it. These provide river crossings and some mud holes. The pick of the campsites in this part of Eildon is Stillmans Point on the very eastern end of this area, which when quiet provides a great spot (without toilet) for fishing and camping with a short walk to the water. Stillman Track which leads out of this area via the southern edge of the spit provides some steep climbs and some great views of the Eildon township as well as other attractions like the electricity power lines which have a massive 2.25km span across Lake Eildon.

Moving away from the water and inland, there are a wide variety of tracks including logging tracks that can be used for challenging hill climbs. These tracks do have gates on them, but the lack of wet weather has not forced their closure for some time.

Moving away from this area the southern side of the lake also has many attractions and plenty of campsites which are either near the waters edge or a moderate walk. Jerusalem Creek provides many campsites and some great compsites on the banks of the Creek itself. Four wheel driving is very steep in most cases, with some tracks only negotiated downhill. This area has some high quality fishing spots, as opposed to other areas where you may spend your day catching the much hated carp.

This area can also provide the base for many day trips into the Rubicon and Big River State forests with plenty of tracks to explore further south. One the eastern side of the lake is Fraser National Park which caters for those of you who are less keen on roughing it. It has three campsites which cater for caravans as well as tents and it also has a boat launching ramp for those who are keen to mix water sports into their weekend trip.

The best maps are the Vicmap outdoor leisure map of Lake Eildon which although old is still fairly accurate and covers about 9 of the normal 1:25,000 Vicmaps for the price of one. For more detail of the area for a similar price, the map provides better details of what attractions there are to be seen when to lake is at certain water levels. Caution is required however with some parts of the map inaccurate.

Lake Eildon definitely has it all, and can be the start of a major trip, or the end, or just a destination to sit and relax. High country trips, gentle drives to Walhalla via Licola or site seeing and gentle relaxing trips via Marysville and Healesville are all within striking distance of this fantastic destination.

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