The Great Valley Trail: Bright to Harrietville

Victoria’s most iconic cycling route, the Murray to Mountains Rail Trail, has finally reached the mountains, and in the great tradition of these things, they’ve left the best to last.

The 27-kilometre section between the beautiful town of Bright and the quirky village of Harrietville at the foot of the Australian Alps has been sealed, signposted and delivered. It shadows the Great Alpine Road, which winds and climbs through spectacular countryside in the leg between Myrtleford and Dinner Plain, but on the trail you’re more often in touch with Ovens River, meandering through and around forests and farms.

This leg is called the Great Valley Trail , and that’s a clue to its benevolent nature. Mountains may surround you but the rises on this track aren’t even molehills, and you’ll barely raise a sweat on the ‘uphill’ leg towards Harrietville.

Great Valley Road, VIC, Australia — The iconic Great Alpine Road now has an equally iconic bike trail.

Today we’re taking the cushier option. Having arranged a shuttle to take us to Harrietville, we get fitted out with wonders of modern cycling at Bright Electric Bikes . Simple to master and easy to ride, e-bike hire starts from $55 for a half-day, which means we’ve got oodles of time to stop and admire these great outdoors.

Manager Chris Hall says it takes around 90 minutes to do the trail but we reckon we’ll need double that, because from the starting point at Tavare Park we grab a coffee from Dolly’s caravan across the road, then take Chris’s suggestion of a short detour to the Tronoh Dredge Hole . This was the biggest bucket-dredge gold mine in the southern hemisphere in the 1940s and ’50s, but is now a spectacular swimming hole surrounded by forest and mountains – both are reflected in the cool water – with a shady picnic area and a 20-minute walking loop.

Dolly's Caravan, Great Valley Trail, VIC, Australia — Stopover at Dolly’s caravan across the road.

Early stages of the Great Valley Trail

For the first few kilometres, the trail shadows the Great Alpine Road, but with the river never far away we have cause to give way to ducks at one point. Then we navigate away from the road, crossing Ovens River, and we’re in farmland. Several magpies perched on a fence watch us scoot past, and a tiny robin swoops across the track. Later, we’re serenaded by a kookaburra.

Great Valley Trail, Cycling Path, VIC, Australia — Wind your way through forests along Ovens River on the Great Valley Trail.

If you’ve packed a cooler bag, you might pick up some fresh or smoked fish from Mountain Fresh Trout and Salmon Farm ; otherwise, you can drop in when you’re back in the car for the Great Alpine Road drive. Soon we spot a pair of anglers in waders in the middle of the river, trying to catch their own. We also vow to check out Gunnadoo Berries on our return drive.

It’s a warm morning, but thankfully our motion produces a cooling breeze and we’re never far from a shady section. Eventually, we realise no one else is going our way, as every other cyclist is heading towards Harrietville. We had no idea this ride is easy in either direction, and the option of a full day’s trip to go both ways is recorded for next time.

Berries, Alpine Shire Council, Great Valley Road, VIC, Australia — Enjoy the local produce.

Halfway on the Great Valley Trail

At Tom Bibby Bridge – one of the four new crossings built specifically for the trail – six alpacas and a donkey are munching on grass in a field, while an emu strolls around a neighbouring paddock.

Everything seems to grow well in this valley, and it’s one of the best places for chestnuts in Victoria. They hang distinctively in a grove at a point marked B11 – every kilometre has a post showing the distance to the trail’s respective start/finish points, so we know we’re more than halfway to Bright.

Cycling in the forest, Great Valley Road, Alpine Shire Council, VIC, Australia — You have plenty of time to stop and admire the great outdoors.

Just past Discovery Parks Bright, a series of tight bends through the forest adds a bit of frisson to the ride, and we need to be alert to the possibility of other cyclists around blind corners. There are no other hazards to speak of, bar a few low-hanging branches to brush tall riders’ helmets, or the occasional blackberry thorn poking out. Even a red-bellied black snake – not an aggressive species – taking the sun beside the track pays us no heed as we glide past.

With the dredge hole detour and stops for water and photos, we’ve taken three hours to make it back to Bright.

All things Bright

A sophisticated centrepoint for a Great Alpine Road experience, Bright is where the mountains start closing in on Ovens Valley, and you feel you can reach out and touch them from almost anywhere in town. You’d think the town got its name from the spectacular arboreal colour it displays every autumn, but it was in fact named for John Bright, a notable 19th-century British orator – he’s said to have popularised the phrase “to flog a dead horse" – who never visited the place.

Bright in Autumn, VIC, Australia — Bright is a sophisticated centrepoint for a Great Alpine Road experience.

It’s here, on the morning of our ride, that we fuel up with a heroic breakfast at Ginger Baker Cafe . Its Big Brekky is a sturdy assembly that will set you up for the day, although the lighter option of their house-roasted muesli with magnificent local berries is just as good. We decline the suggestion of a prosecco mimosa as a fortifier for the day ahead; our preferred drink is the excellent coffee, produced by another local hero, Sixpence Coffee . It shares a large retail space just off the main street with Reed & Co Distillery, and this is where we come for afternoon post-ride flights of their six unique spirits: two classic gins made with botanicals from the local valleys, a pair of fascinating wine/gin blends, and blackberry and coffee-flavoured gin-based liqueurs.

Sixpence Coffee, Bright, VIC, Australia — Our preferred drink is the excellent coffee, produced by another local hero, Sixpence Coffee.

Celebrate with steak

After working up a healthy appetite, there are many restaurants in Bright to choose from. The triumph of completing the Great Valley Trail is to be celebrated with a hearty dinner at Sir Loin’s Bar & Grill , a basement bar and restaurant where, no surprise, steak is the star. Eye fillet, porterhouse, scotch fillet and wagyu sirloin – or even the giant 1kg King Island Tomahawk (for two) – can be ordered with any of seven sauces.

While there are plenty of things to do in Bright, we take a short walk back to our accommodation at The Glass Pinnacle , a large, luxurious two-bedroom apartment with decks on three sides from which we can soak up the mountain air and dwell on a trail well ridden.

Great Valley Trail, VIC, Australia — The triumph of completing the Great Valley Trail needs to be celebrated.

Back on the road

Serious road cyclists would make mincemeat of the Great Alpine Road as they access its other pretty towns and villages, but it’s not known as one of Victoria’s best scenic drives for nothing. When heading up the valley from the Hume Freeway, Myrtleford is a beautiful place to rest a while. You immediately get a sense of Italian heritage, born of the immigrant families who settled here after the Second World War to grow tobacco. Now the locals have pivoted to wine, hops, berries, nuts and pumpkin seeds, making Myrtleford a convivial and family-focused place. Stop and discover the 70 tiny colourful artworks on the town’s Mosaic Trail, which follows Ovens River for a few kilometres.

Mosaic Art, Myrtleford, VIC, Australia — Discover the 70 tiny colourful artworks on the town’s Mosaic Trail.

Besides bicycles, Harrietville is often peppered with packs and poles of hikers ready to tackle a strenuous day’s walk up to the fabled Mt Feathertop. There are also plenty of gentle short walks around the village, or you can simply do your forest bathing with a latte or lager from the verandahs of the pubs and cafes.

True to its name, the Great Alpine Road will get you to Victoria’s highest spots, and from Harrietville it rises steeply to the Mt Hotham ski resort. But no matter what the season, the experience of being in nearby Dinner Plain , a modern village right in the heart of Alpine National Park, takes some beating. It has a range of hotel, chalet, B&B and apartment accommodation, plus a great assortment of hiking, riding and biking adventures.

Biking at the Great Valley Trail, VIC, Australia — Take in views of the rolling mountains at every turn.

Mount Beauty, a side trip off the Great Alpine Road – through the Tawonga Gap, with its spectacular lookout over the Kiewa Valley – sits at the base of Victoria’s highest peak, Mt Bogong. It has some rewarding bush trails, from the short loop track linking a pair of swimming holes known as Mermaid Beach and Rockpool, to the Mount Beauty Gorge Walk, which may involve some wading across the shallow river to reach an impressive canyon. But four legs can be better than two, so a day-long or multi-day horse trek is a great alternative .

Kiewa Point, Great Valley Road, VIC, Australia — Descent into the Kiewa Valley.

Plan your trip to Bright

There are so many more experiences, walks, rides, gourmet food, wine and spirit offerings, as well as incredible accommodation options and things to do in Bright and beyond. Read our travel guide to Bright and start planning your High Country escape.

Slow down and find your rhythm on a Murray River journey through time and place.

Trust is a funny thing. It seems not that long ago that my mother was insisting on pouring the milk into my cereal bowl, because she didn’t trust me not to slosh it over the table, and yet here I am on the Murray River at Mildura in far north-west Victoria, being handed the keys to a very new and very expensive luxury houseboat.

After a crash course in how not to crash, I’m at the wheel of the good ship Elevate – pride of the All Seasons fleet – guiding her upstream past red-ochre cliffs as pelicans glide above the rippled river and kookaburras call from reedy banks. There’s a brief moment of breath-holding while I negotiate a hairpin turn around a jagged reef of skeletal, submerged gum trees, before a cheer rings out and calm descends as the timeless river unfurls in front of us.

The Murray River winding through Yarrawonga. (Image: Rob Blackburn)

Setting sail from Mildura

Murray River birds — Home to a large number of bird species, including pelicans. (Image: The Precint Studios)

A journey along the Murray River is never less than magical, and launching from Mildura makes perfect sense. Up here the river is wide and largely empty, giving novice skippers like myself the confidence to nudge the 60-tonne houseboat up to the riverbank where we tie up for the night, without fear of shattering the glass elevator (the boat is fully wheelchair accessible) or spilling our Champagne.

My friends and I spend three days on the water, swimming and fishing, sitting around campfires onshore at night, and basking in air so warm you’d swear you were in the tropics. The simplicity of river life reveals an interesting dichotomy: we feel disconnected from the world but at the same time connected to Country, privileged to be part of something so ancient and special.

Stop one: Echuca

19th-century paddlesteamers — A historic 19th-century paddlesteamer cruises along the Murray River. (Image: Visit Victoria)

The six-hour drive from Melbourne to Mildura (or four hours and 20 minutes from Adelaide) is more than worth it, but you don’t have to travel that far to find fun on the river. Once Australia’s largest inland port, Echuca is the closest point on the Murray to Melbourne (two hours 45 minutes), and you’ll still find a plethora of paddlesteamers tethered to the historic timber wharf, a throwback to the thriving river trade days of the 19th century. The PS Adelaide, built in 1866 and the oldest wooden-hulled paddlesteamer operating in the world, departs daily for one-hour cruises, while a brand-new paddlesteamer, the PS Australian Star , is launching luxury seven-night voyages in December through APT Touring.

The town is also a hot food and wine destination. St Anne’s Winery at the historic Port of Echuca precinct has an incredibly photogenic cellar door, set inside an old carriage builders’ workshop on the wharf and filled with huge, 3000-litre port barrels. The Mill, meanwhile, is a cosy winter spot to sample regional produce as an open fire warms the red-brick walls of this former flour mill.

Stop two: Barmah National Park

Just half-an-hour upstream, Barmah National Park is flourishing, its river red gum landscape (the largest in the world) rebounding magnificently after the recent removal of more than 700 feral horses. The internationally significant Ramsar-listed wetland sits in the heart of Yorta Yorta Country, with Traditional Owners managing the environment in close partnership with Parks Victoria. Walkways weave through the forest, crossing creeks lined with rare or threatened plants, passing remnants of Yorta Yorta oven mounds and numerous scar trees, where the bark was removed to build canoes, containers or shields.

The Dharnya Centre (open weekdays until 3pm) is the cultural hub for the Yorta Yorta. Visitors can learn about the ecological significance of the Barmah Lakes on a 90-minute river cruise, led by a First Nations guide, or take a one-hour, guided cultural walking tour along the Yamyabuc Trail.

Stop three: Cobram

Continue east to Cobram to find the southern hemisphere’s largest inland beach. Swarming with sun-seekers in summer, the white sand of Thompson’s Beach is shaded by majestic river red gums and dotted with hundreds of beach umbrellas, as beachgoers launch all manner of water craft and set up stumps for beach cricket. But the beach is at its most captivating at sunset, when the crowds thin out, the glassy river mirrors the purple sky, and the canopies of the gum trees glow fiery orange.

The region is also home to some fine resorts and indulgent retreats. Yarrawonga Mulwala Golf Club Resort has two riverside championship golf courses, luxury apartments and self-contained villas. While not strictly on the Murray, the historic wine town of Rutherglen is rife with boutique (and unique) accommodation, including an exquisitely renovated red-brick tower in a French provincial-style castle at Mount Ophir Estate. Fans of fortified wines can unravel the mystery of Rutherglen’s ‘Muscat Mile’, meeting the vignerons and master-blenders whose artistry has put the town on the global map for this rich and complex wine style.

Stop four: Albury-Wodonga

First Nations YindyamarraSculpture Walk — First Nations Yindyamarra Sculpture Walk is part of the Wagirra Trail. (Image: Carmen Zammit)

Follow the river far enough upstream and you’ll arrive at the twin border cities of Albury-Wodonga. The Hume Highway thunders through, but serenity can be found along the five-kilometre Yindyamarra Sculpture Walk – part of the Wagirra Trail that meanders through river wetlands just west of Albury in Wiradjuri country. Fifteen sculptures by local First Nations artists line the trail, conveying stories of reconciliation, enduring connection to culture, local Milawa lore and traditional practices. It feels a long way from Mildura, and it is, but the pelicans and kookaburras remind us that it’s the same river, the great conduit that connects our country.

A traveller’s checklist

Staying there

New Mildura motel Kar-rama. (Image: Iain Bond Photo)

Kar-Rama is a brand-new boutique, retro-styled motel in Mildura, with a butterfly-shaped pool and a tropical, Palm Springs vibe. Echuca Holiday Homes has a range of high-end accommodation options, both on the riverfront and in town.

Playing there

BruceMunro’s Trail of Lights in Mildura — Bruce Munro’s Trail of Lights in Mildura. (Image: Imogen Eveson)

Artist Bruce Munro’s Trail of Lights installation, comprising more than 12,000 illuminated ‘fireflies’, is currently lighting up Mildura’s Lock Island in the middle of the Murray. Murray Art Museum Albury (MAMA) is a hub for contemporary art, with a rotating roster of exhibitions, and is a major outlet for young and First Nations artists.

Eating there

Mildura’s diverse demographic means it’s a fantastic place to eat. Andy’s Kitchen is a local favourite, serving up delicious pan-Asian dishes and creative cocktails in a Balinese-style garden setting. Call in to Spoons Riverside in Swan Hill to enjoy locally sourced, seasonal produce in a tranquil setting overlooking the river.

Great Valley Trail: the Great Alpine Road’s equally great bike trail