4WD

There’s something for everyone in the Marysville area. There are plenty of difficult tracks – take your pick from hills, mud and rocks, or all three, or just keep to the dirt roads. As an example, head east from Narbethong over the Acheron River then choose between Paradise Plains Rd or Strickland Spur to roll into Marysville itself. The area is hilly for a challenging drive or just great views, for example from Keppel Lookout just south of Marysville. There’s plenty of lush, wet forest and water runs on the scenic dirt road loop that is Lady Talbot Drive. Marysville itself has everything from fuel to cafes to playgrounds, and is the gateway to snow – if you follow the C512 past Lake Mountain it narrows, then turns to dirt as you travel on to Mt Matlock, which has an elevation of nearly 1400m, perhaps the most reliably accessible place for car-based snow fun near Melbourne. But if you’re just after a forest drive you need not go much further than Marysville into the Big River State Forest – there is a vast network of tracks and campsites off Big River Road, but watch for rain as any water can change a track from easy to hard in moments.