Narbethong District

The town of Narbethong is about 60km north-east of Melbourne, on the Maroondah Highway just the other side of the Great Dividing Range, the "far side" of the infamous Black Spur.

Despite its proximity to Melbourne, the mountain range historically has been a major barrier: its rivers run north (eventually!) to the Murray River, the weather system is quite different, and it is very rural in nature.

With its spectacular temperate rainforest environment, Narbethong has been a very popular tourist destination since the late 1800s, Lindt's "Hermitage" being a major attraction. This popularity later spread to Marysville, which is further along the famous Yarra Track to the old Woods Point goldfields.

Local industries today are tourism, timber, grazing, nuts, bushwalking and 4WD trekking.