High Country Camping

Buckety Plain Campground

Buckety Plain campground is situated between Falls Creek, 17km to the north, and Omeo, 60km to the south-east, on the Bogong High Plains Road. At about 1600 metres it is part of the Victorian Alpine National Park. There’s a small campground that is suitable for self sufficient campers. Mobile phone reception is even less stable than the weather in the area but a short drive to Raspberry Hill campsite will solve that. The access road from Omeo, above the intersection with Omeo Highway is closed in winter. Be aware that the road is possibly the most challenging I’ve driven in Australia so far, even when it’s not snowing. Being behind the wheel of a seven metre long campervan didn’t make my task any easier.

It was the first of May in 2019 when I set off from Omeo towards Falls Creek after grabbing sunrise images in the fog at Cobungra. My plan was to get supplies at Omeo and spend the next few days scouting for photography locations along the Bogong High Plains Road. The weather forecast was high wind, rain, and freezing cold for the next four days in all directions. Having never been in this area I had no expectations other than to try to keep dry, stay warm, enjoy some food, sleep and maybe make a photo. Along the way I stopped the campervan everywhere I could get and took snaps of possible compositions for future reference.

When I arrived at the campsite the wind was “blowing a hooley”, it was so cold! I parked at the back of the campground and was worried about a tree falling on the campervan in the wind. After manoeuvring to a spot as far away from the trees as possible, I set about making an aeropress coffee to help stay warm.

Looking out the kitchen windows, through the wind and rain, I could see moss covered dead fall everywhere and several hiking and animal tracks leading into the forest. Visibility was fifty metres at best. The conditions were not good for photography, so I decided to leave the camera gear behind and scout the tracks for compositions. A short hike from my base, maybe seventy five metres, I was already aware of the potential this forest had if the weather gods joined the photography party. I was surrounded by gnarly, moss covered trees, many of them broken or on a serious lean from the years of battering wind and heavy snow. This forest is dense and cluttered with dead fall almost everywhere you look. Simplifying a composition was going to be difficult. While hiking around I marked potential spots for future reference and took some reminder snaps on my phone. Eventually, hungry, cold and wet, I headed back to my base for a hot lunch happy that I’d been rewarded for my scouting effort. With the weather forecast bad in all directions for days, I decided to stay the night and scout the south-east end of the park.

"high country camping"

While having lunch, the rain and wind continued to pepper the forest and then fog rolled in from the north. With the wind gusting, I knew the fog would not last long. I hurried outside with the camera on the tripod, moved it far enough to get the campervan out of the image, and shot my first frame towards the entrance of the campground. I managed to capture three frames at different focal lengths before the fog disappeared.

high country camping

With favourable conditions this area will produce a number of good images. I want to return in the snow season for a couple of days of photography and camping. There’s no vehicle access in winter, the road is closed, so it’s going to take some planning before I hike in with a loaded pack.