Introduction

With a spare day on the Australia day weekend I decided to grab my van and see where I could get to. I found a site near Licola and thought I'd head up to the high country north of there as I hadn't been up there for a while.

Avrils thesis at university concerned a lungfish fossil from Mt. Howitt. The nearby Howitt High Plains are relatively easy to drive too, so that set the destination.

The high plains are well, a plain, so pretty flat once you get up there. But getting up is windy and precipitous. I took a panorama shot at a lookup on the way. I chatted to some people here who seemed a tad unnerved about the road. Fortunately they were pretty close to the top and the cabin they were staying in.

Once your up oh-la-la. I do love places that are high and flat where you can see a long way.

It might be high, cold and remote, but until it was banned, cattle was grazed on the high plains. The stockmen built a number of these huts to protect themselves when the weather turns. This one is Howitt Hut.

I met some 4wd enthusiasts here and they congratulated me on making it here in my Juke! I said it was pretty slow going cos of the all the very rocky washouts and they said it was pretty slow going for them as well.

It was a long drive back back to my van from Howitt Hut and I originally planned to turn around there. However the 4wders told me I was pretty close to the end of the well made road so I thought I'd press on to the end. And I still had to photograph Mount Howitt!

After a few kilometres later I found the hiking trail from the road to Mount Howitt. I wasn't about to do the 4 hour return hike, but I checked out a bit of it. The alpine meadows and lichen covered trees were very pretty.

And finally Mount Howitt.

Errr... doesn't seem so mountainy when your already 1580 meters high.

At least I'm pretty sure its Mount Howitt. There were a bunch of hills next to it that seemed just as high. But I lined it up on the map in my phone to be sure.

So here you go Avril, Mount Howitt of lungfish fossil honours thesis fame.