From its source to its mouth, the Mersey River flows through varied topography, rich agricultural land and many interesting centres of population. The Meandering the Mersey (MTM) series will follow, as much as practical, the course of the Mersey River with caches being placed at varying intervals. We trust you will enjoy the area.
As the Mersey River winds its way through the hills from north of Railton towards Latrobe, there are two very significant recumbent bends in the course of the river which has resulted in an uniquely shaped piece of land called Big Bend or Great Bend. Over the years the area has been used for timber production (largely to supply timber for the shale mining operations to the north) and in the process small parcels of land were gradually cleared which allowed a range of mixed farming activities. Today the Big Bend area is a combination of forest plantations and small holdings farming. On the eastern side of Big Bend the land is elevated and drops quickly to the Mersey River at the Warrawee Forest Reserve.
Big Bend has always provided access to this section of the Mersey River for fishing. Mrs y'stassie can recall her grandfather taking her along the very rough tracks of Big Bend on his bike just before she started school in order to fish. Fishing continues today and apart form local and forestry traffic, you will often come across people going fishing.
This cache is placed on an elevated section of the eastern side of Big Bend . Views of the Mersey River below are possible through the trees and this is a good location to get some insight into the realignment of parts of the Mersey River during the extensive floods of June 2016.