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- Apr 6, 2001
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Well, it was a very long (physically and mentally) not to mention challenging trip but we are but 3 of only a handfull that have completed this trip on MTB's!
Tali Karng ('The Hidden Lake') - some history...
Hidden deep on the mountains at the head of the Wellington River, Tali Karng is the only natural lake in the Victorian Alps. Held behind a rock barrier created thousands of years ago by a massive landslide, the water runs undeground to emerge as the infant Wellington River 150m below in the Valley of Destruction. The first occupiers of this area were the Brabrolung and Briakolung clans of the Gunai/Kurnai people. Evidence of their presence can be found everywhere from numerous rock quarries to a system of ancient pathways. It is thought that the Aboriginal people guided many early European explorers and goldminers through the mountains along these pathways pathways which eventually formed the basis of todays road and track network. Although Johnny Snowden, an Aboriginal stockman, wouldnt visit the sacred Tali Karng (small water or lake), he told Europeans about where it lay hidden within the mountains. As a result of a massacre and in keeping with Gunai/Kurnai traditions, Aboriginal people didnt go to Tali Karng. This did not stop cattleman Richard Riggall, the first European to reach Tali Karng. The explorer Alfred Howitt was also successful on his fourth attempt.
Pic 1 - load out!
Tali Karng ('The Hidden Lake') - some history...
Hidden deep on the mountains at the head of the Wellington River, Tali Karng is the only natural lake in the Victorian Alps. Held behind a rock barrier created thousands of years ago by a massive landslide, the water runs undeground to emerge as the infant Wellington River 150m below in the Valley of Destruction. The first occupiers of this area were the Brabrolung and Briakolung clans of the Gunai/Kurnai people. Evidence of their presence can be found everywhere from numerous rock quarries to a system of ancient pathways. It is thought that the Aboriginal people guided many early European explorers and goldminers through the mountains along these pathways pathways which eventually formed the basis of todays road and track network. Although Johnny Snowden, an Aboriginal stockman, wouldnt visit the sacred Tali Karng (small water or lake), he told Europeans about where it lay hidden within the mountains. As a result of a massacre and in keeping with Gunai/Kurnai traditions, Aboriginal people didnt go to Tali Karng. This did not stop cattleman Richard Riggall, the first European to reach Tali Karng. The explorer Alfred Howitt was also successful on his fourth attempt.
Pic 1 - load out!