Why this ride
From Hotham Heights it runs 177 km to Bairnsdale; allow about 2 h 42 of riding. The highest point is about 1,850 m. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Great Alpine Road: Mount Hotham to Bairnsdale
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 177 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 42
- Journey
- One way; return travel is separate
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Mount Hotham → Omeo
This is where a day makes up time without anyone trying. Third and fourth, and very little else. 101 km that neither climbs nor drops much. The road settles into the ground rather than fighting it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 56 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Mount Hotham
Mount Hotham stands 1,845 metres above sea level, and the Great Alpine Road crosses its shoulder, making this one of the highest sealed roads in Australia. The terrain is a rolling, wind-bent alpine plateau of snow gums, heath and rock, quite unlike the stereotype of the Australian outback. In winter it is a major ski resort, buried in snow from June to September, and in summer the high meadows burst into wildflowers in December and January.
Read the complete Mount Hotham write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mount Hotham is where the day begins. Nothing on this route is higher. Next is Omeo, mostly downhill.
2. Omeo
Omeo sits at the end of a long, empty road in the high country of Victoria, and for a long time it was a place people passed through on their way to somewhere else. In the 1850s, that somewhere else was gold. Prospectors poured in, and for a while Omeo was a rough, bustling frontier town, with a reputation for lawlessness that earned it the nickname of the Wild West of Victoria. Then the gold ran out, and the town settled into a quieter life as a service centre for cattle farmers and, later, for skiers heading for the mountains.
Read the complete Omeo write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Omeo comes up about 56 km into the recorded legs. Next is Bairnsdale.
3. Bairnsdale
Bairnsdale is the gateway to East Gippsland, a handy market town of about eight thousand people on the Mitchell River flats, and it marks one end of the Great Alpine Road. That road climbs about three hundred kilometres from here to Wangaratta, crossing the Victorian Alps by way of Omeo and Mount Hotham, and in places it is spectacular. At Bairnsdale itself, the scenery is flat and the pace relaxed, so it makes sense as a place to refuel and rest before or after the mountains.
Read the complete Bairnsdale write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 177 km.
Leg by leg
Mount Hotham to Omeo
Mount Hotham → Omeo is 56 km. Brakes and eyes forward; the views are behind the corners, not in them.
Omeo to Bairnsdale
Omeo → Bairnsdale is 121 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Great Alpine Road · part 2 · 241 km
- Great Alpine Road · part 3 · 429 km
- Great Alpine Road · 307 km
- Great Alpine Road: Wangaratta to Bairnsdale · 308 km