Errinundra 
Errinundra | Note: Special mention of Road conditions is necessary. All roads are not suited to two wheel drive vehicles as they are usually well kept except but the conditions usually deteriorate very quickly at any time. There are blind corners with jinkers using the roads. Make sure you take warm clothing even on a hot day and a good map. Mobile phones do not work in this region. |
Errinundra Plateau
Ancient rainforests and giant eucalypts, waterfalls and granite tors
Errinundra
National Park is one of East Gippsland's outstanding natural areas, protecting
Victoria's largest stand of rainforest and extensive old age tall eucalypt
forests. The park covers 25,100 hectares extending from Mt.Ellery across
the Errinundra Plateau, which rises more than 1000m above sea level, to
the Coast Range. It was declared in July 1988.
Ancient forests
The ancient cool temperate rainforests of Errinundra is unique to East Gippsland. It is dominated by Southern Sassafras and Black Oliveberry and features Mountain Plum Pines, some specimens which are more than 400 years old.
The Plateau's
tall, wet eucalypt forests of Shining Gum and Cut-tail include some giants
many hundreds of years old. These species occur in some areas over an understorey
of rainforest forming what is known as ' mixed forest'. Errinundra Plateau
contains one of the best examples of this forest type in the world.
(An extract
from the Department of Conservation & Environment -Victoria February
1993)
Errinundra Plateau is the gem of East Gippsland. Its rainforests are unique, the escarpment waterfalls are spectacular, the thickets of Mountain Plum-pine are extraordinary and the forests of immense eucalypts are impressive. A full description of why the Plateau is so special would occupy a volume in itself. Sadly, much of it has been lost through logging.
Errinundra Plateau is an extension of the Monaro Tablelands in New South Wales. It consists of the Plateau proper (bounded by the 1000 m contour) which slopes gently northwards and a steep escarpment to the west, south and east. Annual rainfall may exceed 2000 mm and snow often falls in winter. The Plateau gives birth to numerous rivers including the Errinundra, Bemm, Goolengook, Brodribb, Bonang Delegate and Queensborough.
The highest peak in the area is Mt Ellery (1291 m), which lies off the southern tip of the Plateau. Its summit is a maze of house-sized granite tors, from the biggest of which are outstanding views stretching from Kosciusko to the coast. Rare plants grow secretively among the rocks and caves, which are frequently blanketed by thick fog.
A highlight of visiting Errinundra Plateau is walking in Victoria's best cool temperate rainforest. This rainforest is unique because its main trees are Sassafras and Black Olive-berry. Elsewhere in Victoria, and in Tasmania, Myrtle Beech is the main tree in cool temperate rainforest. No Myrtle Beech grows anywhere in East Gippsland.
In the Victorian Alps or Kosciusko National Park visitors may be familiar with Mountain Plum-pine, which grows there as a prostrate shrub, closely hugging rocks for local warmth. Near Goonmirk Rocks on Errinundra Plateau, Mountain Plum-pine grows as a small tree up to 17 m tall, sometimes moss-festooned and more than 400 years old, in what has been described as some of the most peculiar vegetation in Victoria.
The superb wilderness trips through virgin rainforest lining streams, which tumble down the escarpment, dropping 700m through mossy chasms and over waterfalls up to 40m high. Here is some of the most spectacular scenery in Australia.
No overnight
walks are encouraged because logging continues to fragment the forest.
(An extract
from Car Touring & Bush Walking in East Gippsland by Grant Da Costa
1994 ISBN 0 85802 081 5)
