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Image: Kiewa Valley

November 2025

A camping, hiking and winery visit to a beautiful part of Australia

While sitting at the airport at the end of our Larapinta trek, Em, Nic and I locked in a camping and hiking adventure for the first weekend of November so we had something to look forward to. With Nic in Melbourne, Em in Canberra and me in Sydney it made sense to meet up somewhere along the road between Melbourne and Sydney. We chose Mount Beauty because the ever-wonderful Margie resides there and it’s a beautiful place to explore.

From Canberra, Em drove her and I south to Holbrook for the obligatory loo stop and a visit to the bakery. I was blown away to discover that the bakery has fresh gluten free bread and the lovely staff made me an egg and lettuce sandwich for lunch – it was amazing.

Two friends sitting at an outdoor table of a bakery eating lunch — *Holbrook – egg & lettuce sandwich demolished – now enjoying passionfruit cheesecake!*

Em and I wanted to see a little bit of the countryside without adding too much to our journey, so decided to detour via the Wymah Ferry – a heritage listed cable ferry (max 3 vehicles) that crosses the Murray River to the east of Lake Hume. Apparently the Wymah Ferry has been operating in various forms since the 1860s and was originally established by a publican to bring patrons across the river to his pub. Today’s ‘The Spirit of Wymah’ was installed in 2013, is managed by the NSW Government, is free to ride and is open across the year (check the website for hours). The view of drowned trees poking out of the river, dead as a result of artificial damming, is always a bit hard for my head to process and doesn’t quite fit with the landscape. But we enjoyed the ferry experience all the same.

Looking from a vehicle out to the safety signs and structures that make up a car ferry with the destination of the ferry in the distance — *Wymah Ferry*

Looking back from a vehicle as it drives off a car ferry and the river just crossed with the tops of many dead trees visible in the water — *Wymah Ferry and the Murray River*

We then followed the Murray River Road on the Victorian side of the river stopping at a lookout with a cool sculpture, crossing back into NSW over the Bethanga Bridge, and then back to Victoria near the Hume Lake Dam and down to Mount Beauty through the Kiewa Valley.

Looking towards a large river with rolling hills of farm land on both sides and some rocks in the foreground — *Lookout over the Murray River*

A woman standing with her arms above her head to reach the top inside of a sculpture of two hands — *Sculpture hands*

We had 4 nights in the area to hang out with Margie and camped with Nic at the Tawonga Campground. Nic had recently taken possession of a very nice caravan with many modern conveniences. Em and I were consistently surprised and impressed by the range of doodads, gadgets and hidey holes that we kept discovering on the caravan during our trip. I realised it was my first time ever camping with a caravan – it was so good having a fridge! The campground itself was very pleasant, had clean conveniences and was nowhere near crowded on a long weekend.

A large car pulling a caravan, parked in a lush camp ground — *Nic’s rig*

A woman sitting outside a caravan with swags nearby, 2 chairs for friends in a lush green campground — *Camp set up*

On our first full day, Margie took us on a hike around Mt Beauty the hill (rather than the town) where Margie’s trusty blue heeler Sally found several snakes before we did. Phew! It was lovely wandering along beside the creek and enjoying the fresh mountain air. On the fire trail, we found some stunning native orchids which are quite tiny compared to their flowerpot cousins. We also found some other pretty flowers that we hoped were orchids but weren’t.

A woman and her dog walking across a swinging bridge over a small creek — *Margie & Sally on bridge*

A black snake curled up in the grass — *Red belly black snake*

A close up of an Australian bush orchid — *Bush orchid – Diuris picta*

A tiny white flower with 5 petals and purple dots at its centre. In the lily family — *Wurmbea dioica – a lily*

At camp, Em and I slept in swags under the awning of the caravan. The swag sleeping took some adjusting to get used to – as the photo shows, I had 3 sleeping bags and lots of other winter gear because I generally feel the cold. But the swag was very comfortable and really very warm so I was definitely over prepared. Em felt the swag needed some more pockets for all her bits and bobs, but we generally enjoyed it and slept well by the last night. Nic was amazing (as usual), cooking us a flash breakfast in her fancy kitchen and generally being a fantastic caravan host.

Two swags side by side under an awning of a caravan in a camp ground — *Sleeping arrangements* *– Em still in bed*

A woman smiling at the camera while she cooks breakfast on a stove attached to a caravan — *Nic cooking delicious breakfast*

Margie was busy with family commitments on Day 2 so Em, Nic and I drove up to Bogong Village and walked around Lake Guy – one of a number of dams on the river part of Kiewa Hydroelectric Scheme designed to capture renewable energy. Finished in 1944, it was interesting to walk through the dam wall and check out how the engineering comes together. I felt like I was in that James Bond movie.

A woman walking along a secure walkway to enter into a large concrete dam wall — *About to walk through the Lake Guy Dam Wall*

The walk around Lake Guy Dam was really very nice – tall trees, beautiful bush and lots of birds to spot. Using our expert bush skills we’d learned on the Larapinta, Nic and Em tried listening to some trees to hear if they were drinking. No luck this time. Our forest walk finished at a lovely creek where platypus occasionally play. Unfortunately not today. I thought about a swim but putting my feet in confirmed the water was particularly cold!

Two women leaning against tall trees listening carefully to hear if the tree is drinking — *Listening for drinking*

A woman sitting on a rock by a crystal clear creek in the Australian bush — *Nic & Rocky Valley Creek*

From Bogong, we headed further up the mountain to walk to Fainter Falls, another stunning little bushwalk with great views, lush forest and a gorgeous waterfall and creek feeding into the river. We spotted a handful of skinks hanging out in the sun playing chaseys but not much other wildlife.

Three friends posing in front of a waterfall in the Australian bush — *Fainter Falls*

A woman sitting on a large tree branch which reaches horizontally across a creek — *Nic across the creek*

After a splendid day exploring, we rounded off the afternoon with a swim in the river at our campground. I can confirm that the Kiewa River is really very cold but absolutely refreshing. We followed up with a hit of pickleball and then relaxed with a berry cocktail by the fire. Perfect! I blame the exceptional company, fire and cocktail for my inability to get to the river at night to spot a much wished for and talked about platypus so I have put platypus spotting as my No.1 priority for next time.

Two friends hitting a ball to each other in a green field with trees around — *Pickleball*–*ish*

#3 friends sitting by a river enjoying a sunset drink — *Afternoon drink by the river*

A woman swimming in a river with a bridge in the distance and trees along the river's edge — *Em swimming in the Kiewa River*

A small camp fire in the background and a berry cocktail in the foreground — *Fire and berry cocktail*

Day 3 started with us in our pyjamas enjoying a bright sunny morning, watching the kookaburras and magpies chase worms and making up stories about our neighbours.

Three friends sitting in camp chairs eating breakfast in the morning sunshine — *Camping life*

We were already planning our next camping trip to Mt Beauty and decided to check out other possible camping spots. We headed up to Mountain Creek for an explore and were met by crowds of campers and motorcyclists – it was quite a surprise. We connected up three shorter walks to explore the immediate area which was very peaceful and picturesque. We talked about maybe hiking up Mt Bogong next time.

Two women walking on a trail in the bush — *Hike near Mountain Creek*

A woman in the foreground standing on a log over a running creek with dense forest behind her — *Nic on log – again*

Back at camp, we had 20mins to get into our Sunday best. We picked up Margie and headed west through a few valleys to Myrtleford and a wine tasting and lunch at Gapsted Winery. It was all very civilised, lots of fun and a perfect day with fabulous friends.

Four friends standing at a bar with papers and empty wine glasses ready to try some wine at a winery — *Wine tasting*

Four friends enjoying lunch at a winery — *Lunching ladies*

Two friends enjoying a large cheese and meat platter at an outside table at a winery — *Platter time*

A view of rows of vines at a vineyard with mountains in the distance — *Gapsted Estate – Myrtleford Winery*

We stopped in a Bright on the way back to Tawonga, just to confirm that Tawonga was a way better option for camping and enjoying nature. We had a lovely last night watching the mountains disappear as the sun set and the stars emerge to confirm how lucky we are to be able to make time to have these adventures and enjoy time with wonderful people. And of course, we started planning the next one.

A view from a lookout over a green valley with mountains in the distance — *Tawonga campground in the middle*

Additional photo credits to Em and Nic – we’re looking forward to doing it all again in 2026.

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