Tarra Valley Loop Hike (21.1km)

In the eastern Strzelecki Ranges, Tarra Bulga National Park protects a rare pocket of the cool, wet forest that once covered far more of South Gippsland. The change is immediate when you enter this part of the ranges: open farming country and regrowth forest give way to deep fern gullies, towering Mountain Ash and sheltered rainforest where myrtle beech and southern sassafras hold on in the dampest folds of the landscape.

That contrast matters to understanding the park. Much of the Strzelecki country around it was cleared for farming or logged, leaving this area as one of the most intact remnants of native forest in the district. The park is relatively small at just over 2,000 hectares, but it carries an outsized sense of refuge, both as a surviving block of old forest and as part of the upper Tarra River catchment. In a region better known from the road for rolling green hills, this is the darker, steeper and far older version of Gippsland still standing.

Tarra Bulga National Park is also on Brataualung Country and forms part of the Gunaikurnai cultural landscape. It sits on a central section of the Gunaikurnai creation storyline in which Borun travelled from the mountains to the sea carrying his canoe. The high country here was recognised as a traditional gathering place, and the forest and permanent streams would have been important sources of shelter and water.

The present park grew from two smaller reserves created in the early 1900s to protect the fern gullies near Balook and in the Tarra Valley, then was joined into the current national park in 1986. That history helps explain why the area still feels distinct within the Strzeleckis: it was set aside early because even then these gullies were seen as unusually lush and worth keeping. Today the forest still supports a strong bird and mammal community, with species such as the superb lyrebird and pilotbird closely associated with its dense, wet understorey.