High Country trails

Otto Dal Zotto tells the story that his family was too poor to drink water at home in Valdobbiadene, in the Veneto region of Italy. But there would always be a bottle of Prosecco on the table.

Dal Zotto migrated to Australia in 1967. Like many of his compatriots, he settled in Victoria’s King Valley to farm tobacco. But like many of his peers he eventually turned to grapes, planting his first Prosecco vines in 1999, thus pioneering the Italian varietal in Australia.

Thanks to Otto, the King Valley is now considered to be Australian Prosecco’s spiritual home. I’ve come here on a mountain biking trip that’s bookended by Mt Buller and Beechworth, home to Australia’s first two Epic trails. Two glorious days spent riding the trails at Mt Buller, including tackling the challenging Australian Alpine Epic on my second day, steeled me for my next leg on the Indigo Epic Trail in Beechworth. But first, I had to get off the mountain.

Clucking lyrebirds fossicked by the roadside as I drove down to Mansfield early on my third morning, ahead of continuing the 170-kilometre journey onto Beechworth. Director George Miller’s 1982 cinematic classic, The Man From Snowy River, was filmed in the high country around here, with local stockmen recruited as extras. These days, visitors come here to camp, hike, bike, ski, four-wheel drive or, like the movie’s hero, Jim Craig, ride on horseback.

The streets were busy with hungry pedestrians, all of them rugged up against the autumnal crispness as they huddled outside popular breakfast haunts like the Mansfield Coffee Merchant or The Produce Store. Beyond the hipster Melbourne suburbs of Brunswick or Northcote, it would never have occurred to me to reserve a table on a Sunday morning and without one I was told to come back later. I made a mental note to phone ahead next time I visited.

From Mansfield, the road to Whitfield travelled through rich grazing pastures then back over the Great Dividing Range into Kelly Country. Bushranger Ned Kelly ran amuck in these parts until he was eventually gunned down during a shootout with police in Glenrowan. For eight years during the 1860s, the rocky escarpment between Tolmie and Whitfield served as the hideout of Harry Power, the so-called ‘gentleman bushranger’ who was said to have taken Kelly under his wing.

Located three kilometres down an unsealed road that’s suitable for two-wheel-drive vehicles, Power’s Lookout affords sweeping views over the King Valley. A wheelchair-accessible viewing platform faces east over the Wabonga Plateau towards alpine peaks in the distance, while metal ladders and stairways lead to a second, more spectacular viewing platform at the northernmost point.

From Power’s Lookout, the road descends to Whitfield near the southern end of the King Valley. Twenty-two wineries that are known for producing Italian varietals such as Prosecco, Sangiovese and Nebbiolo stretch along this valley floor, extending as far north as Oxley and Milawa, headquarters for the sprawling Brown Brothers operation.

Some, such as Pizzini, have repurposed rusting tobacco kilns into cellar doors, reflecting this valley’s agricultural heritage. Just down the road, a restaurant and taproom operate inside an old kiln at King Valley Brewing, where visitors can sample award-winning craft beers beneath a pair of shady oak trees.

From the fertile banks of the King River, rocks with a reflective lustre begin to pepper the soils as the road climbs through blue gum forests to Beechworth. Beechworth and neighbouring Yackandandah, were built on the back of the goldrush after the precious metal was discovered in both towns in 1852. Beechworth’s architecture reflects that era, notably along the Historic Precinct Mile that includes the Courthouse, Telegraph Station and Old Gaol, where Ned Kelly was held in remand ahead of being tried and hanged for murder in Melbourne.

But if that thought sounds too gruesome to absorb, the promise of an open fire or craft beer in the Stanley Pub or Beechworth’s Bridge Road Brewers will set your mind at ease. Or perhaps you’d rather investigate the boutique distilling revolution that’s been taking in the northeast, where distillers such as Barking Owl, Yack Creek and Backwoods have been perfecting the art of making gin, whisky and vodka from rustic woolsheds and railway workshops that nudge up against gentle streams and olive groves. Sounds like the perfect end to a day’s riding to me.

Hitting the ‘Epic’ trails

Australian mountain biking’s first all-season Epic trail opened in Victoria’s northeast during March this year. The Indigo Epic Trail measures 56 kilometres in length and has been laid out in a helix design to avoid backtracking. It links existing handmade trails in Beechworth and Yackandandah with flowy, machine-crafted upgrades for a true backcountry riding experience incorporating jumps, berms and bridges.

An Epic trail, as defined by the International Mountain Biking Association, must be ‘technically and physically challenging, beautiful to behold and worthy of celebration’. Epics comprise ‘more than 80 percent singletrack and must be at least 32 kilometres in length’ – all boxes that the Indigo trail ticks.

The scars from the region’s gold mining past remain as the Indigo Epic weaves through the Nine Mile Creek Historic Area and Beechworth Historic Park. The route passes Lake Kerferd, the Yack Creek Distillery and several heritage sites and it’s an easy ride into Beechworth or Yackandandah for lunch or drinks at bakeries, pubs and cafés.

The Indigo trail followed on from the Australian Alpine Epic, which opened on Mt Buller in December 2014. The 40-kilometre ride descends 1000 vertical metres from the village resort to Mirimbah, in the Delatite Valley, traversing treeless alpine summits, climbing through snow gum woodlands, clinging to steep-sided spurs and dropping into ferny glades. The highlight is an uninterrupted 10-kilometre descent to the Delatite River.

Following rider feedback, the trails on Mt Buller were given a $1.25 million makeover prior to the 2022-2023 ‘Green Season’, which lasts from December 1 to April 30. Some of those funds were used to upgrade Trigger Happy, a twisting, two-kilometre downhill section on the Alpine Epic. Other funds were spent improving the gravity trails on the mountain.

For those not taking their own bike with them, bikes can be hired for either Epic trail through All Terrain Cycles.