Tali Karng

My first real trip to the alpine regions of Victoria was a walk with some friends to Tali Karng, a small, natural alpine lake near Mt Wellington. It was also my first real trip in my first car, a 1985 Daihatsu Rocky. Not being one for convention (and trying to walk as little as possible with a heavy camera bag) I decided to drive over Mt Wellington to Miller's Hut and then walk to the lake from there, cutting out some 8km of walking.

As I drove slowly along the ridge, I would stop every now and then to get out and have a look at the view. It was all new to me, the soft evening light, the panoramic views, the smell of the bush. It was all so different to the Grampians, my normal camping territory. I liked it so much this was to be the first of 15 trips to the region that year.

I stopped short of Miller's Hut on top of the ridge and spent the night in the car, lighting a campfire in the middle of the track. It was a clear (cold) starry night so I decided to try the old star trail photograph with a 16mm lens. The light from the campfire lit up all of the surrounding snowgums and the shot was an astounding success. Too bad it was on 35mm film. After a cold night I awoke to a beautiful sunrise, had breakfast and then bounced the car down the last tricky stretch to the hut.

It was then time to get out of the car and start walking. Tali Karng is set deeply in a small valley and the track in looked very steep on the map. There are two choices from this side of the lake, Gillio's track (straight down the side of the mountain) or Echo Point (circle the lake on the way down). I wimped out and chose the latter, but found it steep enough anyway.

I finally reached the campsite which is a beautiful grassy clearing next to the lake. A swim was looking good until I tested the water and wimped out once again. Instead I headed off to look for fire wood. You can tell a popular campsite in Australia by the abscance of firewood and this was no exception. I was nearly half way around the lake before I found anything worth carrying back.

The others finally arrived, closely followed by two "more mature" couples in their 70's. Suddenly, everybody didn't feel so tired anymore. If they could make it down Gillio's Track, there was no excuse for any of us to feel tired. A few mad buggers went swimming, I was satisfied with losing all feeling in my feet in the icy water.

The next day saw the desperado fishermen attempt to catch some of the native trout. It must have been really frustrating for them as you could see the fish just lolling around near the surface, picking off the odd insect now and then. They would follow the lures in close to shore but never strike.

We went on around the lake to explore Snowdon Creek which runs into the lake. And there, we found a waterfall, and beyond that another one, and beyond that yet another one. I finished up taking more photos of the waterfalls than I did of the lake.

For the return trip to the car, I decided to get the climb over and done with and took Gillio's Track. It really is steep and you wonder why this is such a popular walk when it involves so much physical exertion. The others stayed an extra night and managed to fool the fish at night (they even took photos in case nobody believed them.) And so my trip ended with a slow drive along the Mt Wellington ridge in the beautiful evening light. This was my first trip to the alpine country and it wasn't going to be my last. That year I made 15 more trips to this area........