1. Australian Adventure Festival
This two-day bush bash, on next weekend in East Gippsland, pits hundreds of trail runners and mountainbike riders against each other in some of the most beautiful but demanding country in the state. The 25-, 50- and 100-kilometre mountainbike events take place in the Colquhoun State Forest, a vast expanse of eucalypts not far from Lakes Entrance. The trail-running events – no jog in the park – will be staged in the Mitchell River National Park, in spectacular and rough country near Lindenow. The 22-kilometre half-marathon, for example, includes a 970-metre climb over the Great Dividing Range before dropping to a track along the river. The program includes combined running, canoeing and biking events, a one-kilometre children's adventure trail and a 10-kilometre bike ride in Bairnsdale. adventurefestival.com
Temptation at The Long Paddock. Photo: Richard Cornish
2. The Long Paddock
Chefs Tanya Bertino and Anton Eisenmenger returned to Bertino's beautiful hometown of Lindenow to raise a family. Between them they have worked in fine restaurants such as Ledbury in London and Vue de Monde in Melbourne. They recently took over an old bakery and renovated its historic wood-fired oven in which they roast meat and bake other dishes. This is not a restaurant. It's a locals' cafe with mismatched furniture and tableware, where they have embraced wonderful home baking, patisserie and seasonal dishes, such as asparagus served on fresh, house-made curd with hard-boiled egg grated over the top. Eisenmenger makes his own corned beef for an excellent sandwich and is a dab hand at sensational lemon tarts.
95 Main Road, Mon-Fri 7.30am-4pm, Sat-Sun 8am-4pm (03) 5157 1683
The Lindenow Pub. Photo: Richard Cornish
3. The Pub
Shane Lowe is proud of his Irish heritage. He even has on the wall of The Lindenow Pub – which he runs with his wife, Sally – a photo of a close relative who was in the Republican Army. Shane and Sally serve more than 30 different Scotch whiskies and 20 Irish whiskeys. The pub is also a music venue where local acts and national bands perform. Emerging Gippsland musicians take the stage for open mic sessions on the first Sunday of every month. The beer garden overlooks the Mitchell River Plains.
167 Main Road, (03) 5157 1210
The fertile Mitchell River flats. Photo: Richard Cornish
4. Greens
A steady stream of semi-trailers loaded with lettuce, baby spinach and other supermarket greens can be observed leaving Lindenow for Sydney and Melbourne. The scale of production by just a few family companies growing vegetables on the Mitchell River floodplain is remarkable, with rows of salad mix stretching for kilometres. The surrounding rolling hills are dotted with pioneer-era wooden sheds and homesteads. A lookout by the town hall in Main Road offers an excellent viewpoint.
Grassvale Beef. Photo: Richard Cornish
5. Grassvale beef
The Treasure family has been farming on the Mitchell River for generations. A few years back Peter Treasure decided he was tired of not getting paid enough for his beef cattle, so he built a wholesale butchery on his farm and started to sell meat to locals and restaurants in Melbourne. Now he has opened his farm-gate butcher shop to the public. He stocks grass-fed aged Murray Grey beef and his very moreish smoked "beef bacon" sold under the Wuk Wuk label.
Grassvale Farms, 1235 Lindenow-Glenaladale Road, Wuk Wuk, (03) 5157 1999, grassvalefarms.com.au
The Den of Nargun. Photo: Richard Cornish
6. Nargun
Mitchell River National Park contains some of Victoria's most beautiful and intriguing landscapes. At the Den of Nargun, a site sacred to the Gunai/Kurnai Aboriginal women, the river cuts a deep gorge through hard rock, creating dramatic escarpments. A clear pool at the confluence of the river and Woolshed Creek is surrounded by callistemon trees, some with massive gnarled trunks, that must be hundreds of years old. parkweb.vic.gov.au
Next Week: Melton
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