SPECIAL INFORMATION RELEASE
The Italian Connection Trophy, a touring road event for motoring enthusiasts, is an organised driving tour of some of the most beautiful country in North East Victoria, mainly over splendid touring roads.
The competition will be based on competitors collecting information as they travel around the course and their answers being ‘scored’, thus providing the ‘winner’ of the Trophy.
It takes in the Australian Alps (Friday), the Wine Country (Saturday) and passes through mainly farming country and numerous small villages (Sunday), as well as proving the opportunity to explore historic towns in the region on all days.
The Australian Alps are the highest mountain ranges of mainland Australia. They are located in south-eastern Australia and straddle south-eastern New South Wales and eastern Victoria. The Alps contain the Australian mainland’s only peaks exceeding 2,000 metres (6,500 feet) and the only place on the mainland in which deep snow occurs regularly (snow also falls on Tasmania’s high country). This is the main area for Friday’s driving.
With over 600 wineries, Victoria has more wine producers than any other Australian wine-producing state.
Alpine Valleys, Milawa & Beechworth are known mostly for their table wine production in an area that is in a subalpine climate and is distinctively cooler than other North East Victorian wine regions. Closer to Mount Buffalo than Rutherglen, the vineyards receive more rainfall and cooler temperatures.
- Rutherglen is known for their full-bodied red wines as well as their sweet fortified wines. The continental climate of the area is marked by very warm summers and moderate evenings. Rainfall is very low and spring frost pose a viticultural hazard.
Saturday sees the tour pass through this area.
Sunday’s tour is over the Hume Weir via the Bethanga Bridge to Bethanga, and then it follows the Murray River to Granya and Tallangatta East, before passing through country which provides for fishing, bushwalking, canoeing, horse riding, or just plain leisurely driving with the most scenic mountain area in Victoria in the background. The return to Albury is via country around the historic town of Yackandandah.
DAY ONE – FRIDAY
Albury – Mount Beauty – Falls Creek – Omeo – Mount Hotham – Bright – Albury
The Italian Connection Trophy commences with a run on the Friday over the Victorian Alps – a 415 kilometre drive into the Kiewa Valley to Mount Beauty, then a twisting up-mountain run to Falls Creek and further on to Omeo. This is followed by a steady climb over undulating country to Mt Hotham, and then the twisting drop to Bright.
| Locality |
| Albury |
| Bright |
| Dinner Plain |
| Harrietville |
| Falls Creek |
| Mount Beauty |
| Mount Hotham |
| Omeo |
| Wodonga |
| Yackandandah |
The tour travels around the western side of the Hume Weir with the Alps looming larger and larger as we travel towards Mount Beauty.
The scenic drive out of Mt Beauty (at 350m) and we climb to Falls Creek (at 1600m) On the way we may see some snow have blanketed the higher reaches of the mountains. The official snow season starts in mid-June, just two weeks after the tour.
A motorkhana and morning tea break will be held at Falls Creek, then we off again twisting and turning road through the Alpine National Park to the Omeo Highway
After lunch the course will pick up the Great Alpine Road (‘B500’). The road is Australia’s highest year-round accessible sealed road and winds past lofty mountains, valleys, forests, rivers, vineyards and farms.
The latter is a spectacular piece of road – sharp bends through forests of mountain ash and stringy bark that give way to stunning views of the valley below. The road practically sits atop the ridge of mountains for about 30 kilometres, giving spectacular views on both sides of the road.
Continuing along the Great Alpine Road from picturesque bottom-of-the-mountain Harrietville the route follows the Ovens River to equally picturesque Bright.
From Bright, the tour makes its way through the valley and back roads to Yackandandah.
Being a long drive we won’t stop at this historic town, leaving that until Sunday when we have more time, and we follow the main road to the finish in Albury.
DAY TWO – SATURDAY
Saturday’s 265 kilometre drive is initially through the relative flat vineyard country to Chiltern, then Rutherglen and Milawa; followed by uphill and down dale running through country surrounding Myrtleford and Beechworth on the way back to Albury.
| Locality |
| Albury |
| Barnawartha |
| Chiltern |
| Beechworth |
| Eldorado |
| Milawa |
| Myrtleford |
| Oxley |
| Rutherglen |
| Wodonga |
Today we pass through three main shires – Indigo (Chiltern, Rutherglen, Beechworth and Yackandandah), Wangaratta (Eldorado, Oxley, Milawa) and Alpine (Myrtleford).
The Shire of Indigo is named after the Indigo Valley and Indigo Creek which runs through the shire into the Murray River . Thousands of hopeful miners, dreaming of ‘making it rich’ were attracted to the region following the discovery of gold at Beechworth in 1852.
Today the area is renowned as a premier tourist destination with its diversity of historic and natural attractions, fine restaurants and a flourishing wine industry. We will pass through Barnawartha and our first stop will be historic Chiltern; then onto Rutherglen. The wonderful wines of Rutherglen, the oldest wine region in Victoria, are justifiably world famous.
We will then pass quickly through Eldorado, where gold was found in the area during the 1850s and area named after the legend of El Dorado and onto Milawa, the hub of the Milawa Gourmet Region which offers a wide range of produce, including wines.
Myrtleford is the largest town in the Alpine Shire and is an important town in the Ovens/Buffalo River Valley, and here we will take a break for a motorkhana, followed by lunch, at the Savoy Club.
Then into the hills to Stanley, now famous for its orchards of apples, chestnuts and berries before moving onto Beechworth, a beautifully preserved old gold town, where we will take a 30 minute break for a look around.
From Beechworth we head for home.
DAY THREE – SUNDAY
Albury – Hume Weir – Bethanga – Granya – Mitta Mitta – Erskville – Kiewa – Dederang – Yackandandah – Albury
Sunday’s 320 kilometre journey primarily takes in undulating country to the east and southeast, over near perfect touring roads, through Bethanga, Granya, Mitta Mitta, Kiewa and Dederang; then the return to Albury takes in the historic town of Yackandandah.
| Locality |
| Albury |
| Bellbridge |
| Bethanga |
| Dederang |
| Eskdale |
| Granya |
| Tangambalanga/Kiewa |
| Mitta Mitta |
| Ovens |
| Wodonga |
| Yackandandah |
Today’s run will be, in the main, to the east and southeast.
A look at the Hume Weir and then across the large waterway to Bellbridge and up the hills to Bethanga; From here we head towards the Murray River and follow it along a twisting road for some 20 kilometres before heading south through Granya to the location of Old Tallangatta, which was abandoned as the waters banked up as Hume Weir filled.
From here until Yackandandah the picturesque countryside is dotted with small hamlets and he first ones we come across are Eskville and Mitta Mitta, the gateway to the large Dartmouth Dam.
Then onto Tangambalanga/Kiewa, situated in the rolling hills of a valley, the towns exist around the dairy and cheese factory of the Murray-Goulburn dairy cooperative, which processes milk for the fresh milk market, as well as butter and cheese.
From Kiewa we swing south, running (again) beside the Kiewa River, which we cross twice on the way to Dederang, a popular trout fishing region.
Then onto a break at historic Yackandandah, a former gold mining town which is now predominantly a dairy farming and forestry region, one where visitors can enjoy the peace and tranquillity of the district’s forest and mountains. The town is affectionately known as ‘Yack’. We will have a good look around, before once more heading to the finish in Albury and the final motorkhana test.
Then a lot of discussion amongst the officials to ascertain who is the Champion of the 2012 Italian Connection Trophy.
