GAPSTED
Five kilometres on the Great Alpine Road before Myrtleford, Gapsted is another agricultural hamlet, home to the award-winning Gapsted Winery and Cellar Door and flower, walnut and asparagus farms with seasonal gate sales.
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MYRTLEFORD
First known as Myrtle Creek Run in the early 1800s, Myrtleford later became established on the Buckland Track by the District Surveyor in 1858. Reform Mine was the lifeblood of Myrtleford for 30 years from the early 1850s to 1888, yielding 21,500 ounces of gold, which today would be valued at more than $9 million.
Hops and tobacco have been grown on the rich alluvial flats of the Ovens and Buffalo Rivers around Myrtleford since the mid-1880s, and you can still see tobacco kilns as you drive the Great Alpine Road.
Today, Myrtleford’s fields grow timber, walnuts, beef and grapes, and the town’s big events are the annual street market in January and the Tobacco Hops and Timber Festival in March. The latter is a celebration of the local agriculture and cultural heritage. It highlights the Italian settlement of the region and features horticulture, wine making and local produce. Positioned with a dramatic backdrop of Mount Buffalo and situated by the Ovens River, you’ll also find the Murray to the Mountains Rail Trail running through this pretty town.
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NUG NUG AND LAKE BUFFALO
This area is a 4WD gateway to the wilderness beyond.
From Myrtleford, turn off to the Buffalo River and travel through the pretty valley which was once home to a great deal of the region’s tobacco. The road follows the route of the Buffalo River through Nug Nug and then to Lake Buffalo. Fishing, swimming, boating and canoeing are favourite pastimes on the lake, as are hovercraft rides during summer.
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OVENS AND HAPPY VALLEY
A popular stop-over for travellers for almost 150 years, Ovens still boasts its landmark hotel of 1854. A little further along Happy Valley you’ll find a selection of the region’s great bed and breakfasts, a lavender farm, an olive grove, wineries, orchards and the excitement of a breathtaking scenic flight over the magnificent Alpine High Country.
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