WARBY - OVENS NATIONAL PARK
(www.northeastvictoria.online)
Warby - Ovens National Park is conveniently located just to the west of Wangaratta (north-east of Glenrowan) and has an interesting network of walking tracks, with good views over the surrounding floodplain of the Ovens River.
In August 2021, after many years of hard work by Wangaratta based volunteers, and Parks Victoria, the Park obtained Green List accreditation from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). See the link below for more details.
The Warby Ranges were named after Ben Warby, a NSW pastoralist who settled in the Ranges in 1844.
For many thousands of years prior to this, the Ranges were home to the Pangerang People.
The hilly part of the Park was first reserved as a state park in 1978, and the national park status (incorporating much of the lower floodplain areas of the Ovens River, was declared in 2010.
The Parks Victoria website also has some handy PDF downloads, with maps and further information on the Park.
See the ’Warby Tour‘ page (link below) for details of walking tracks, as well as other things to see and do in the Park.
The description given here is in three parts,
the Warby Ranges section of the Park
walks in the Warby Ranges
the Ovens River section
The High Places
The Warby section of the Park is centred on an isolated group of granitic intrusions, and has vegetation typical of rocky/sandy soils.
The open woodland of this section offers plenty of habitats for birdlife, including rosellas, robins and eagles. Springtime wildflower blooms include grevilleas and orchids, whilst other plants found in the area include spur-wing wattle and sandalwood, both of which are not common in Victoria.
An interesting feature of the Park is the large number of grass trees; these grow to about four metres, and are typically found in the open ground of the woodland areas.
The Park is also one of several areas in Victoria where the Box-Ironbark ecosystem is preserved. This was once a predominant vegetation group right across northern Victoria, and suffered mightily from European settlement.
In the North-east, Chiltern - Mount Pilot National Park, and Reef Hills State Park (south of Benalla) also help preserve this ecosystem.
The best time of year for exploration and walking in the Warby section is late winter, and early spring, as this ensures a fine display of wildflowers, and reasonable flows over the waterfalls.
There are many excellent walking tracks in the Park, some are detailed here.
Several others are described in the Warby Ranges Tour (see the link at the end of this description).
The River
The Ovens River rises north of Mount Hotham, and in its lower reaches passes down a ribbon of redgum forest, an excellent place to visit in springtime when the wattles are in bloom.
Wildlife is abundant, particularly water birds, and campsites are easy to find.
The first reasonable access spots after Wangaratta are on the Boorhaman - Killawarra Road, and at Peechelba East, both of which can be reached via the Yarrawonga Road out of Wangaratta.
Commercial accommodation can be found at the Riverside Caravan Park, which abuts the Ovens River on the right bank, immediately upstream of the Murray Valley Highway (B400) Bridge.
Downstream of the Murray Valley Highway, the Ovens meets up with the Murray River in the backwaters of Lake Mulwala, with several very scenic camping areas along this stretch of River (see the Parks Victoria website for details).