Via small roads through grasland we reached the Great Western Tiers. This is a plateau at 1000m. Over a windy road we drove up the mountain. Most of it is graded and in some areas steep and narrow. We were headed for a 3 m wide Stringy Bark tree of 50 m high. One of the few remaining large trees. Along the road you saw stumps of large trees which had been felled long ago. It is still a logging and replanting area but the upper part is protected. The last stretch of road is too narrow for campers but our Batvan at 195 cm wide had no trouble. Beside the enormous tree there is a fantastic walk down the slope to the foot of the Liffey falls. The slope has not been logged and you see many large and small eucalyptus trees and giant ferns. The fallen down trees cover the ground and young ones grow on them. The 400 year cycle of a tree life.

Out of the forest we drove on the A5 on top of the plateau. At Pine lake there is a boardwalk through delicate vegetation of exotic plants and trees that survived the last ice age (12.000 years ago). Some of the slow growing Pencil Pines can be over 1000 years old.

Further on we drove near the Great Lake (1050 m). Along the slopes are many small temporary settlements (shacks/ holiday retreats). At the end of the lake lies the small town of Miena. Here we camp at the Great Lake hotel campground and can use their facilities. We had a meal in the hotel restaurant. It closes at 20:00 so we were just in time. The menu was however already reduced. The fisherman’s basket and toasted cheese bread tasted good.
Next morning we were off on the Highland power trail. Starting in 1916 a system of lakes interconnected with pipes was devoted to supply water to one of the first hydro electric power stations at Waddamana. All is still in place as it was when the station closed down in 1965. Since then, it is a well-maintained Industrial Heritage site (museum).

We crossed over the middle valley and after a stopover in Ross (1836 Ross Bridge, with its 184 intricate carvings and third oldest bridge in Australia) we reached the east coast again.