Once completely hidden beneath dense scrub, Thowgla's sparkling waterfall has emerged from the Black Summer ashes.
"You couldn't see it from the road, you could only hear it," Forest Fire Management Victoria Corryong forest and roading manager, Ian McKimmie, said.
It's just one of the north east Victorian High Country's hidden natural gems that have been uncovered during the region's bushfire recovery process.
It has ignited a new spark of energy to put tourism in the region's future as it shakes off the ashes of the 2019-2020 summer.
It has only just been completed, but already tourists from as far as Melbourne have begun trickling in to see the remote High Country beauty.
It has also been embraced by residents, including for the backdrop to a Corryong couple's marriage proposal.
"We are remote, but we have got so many great features," Mr McKimmie said.
"It's all about tourism, getting people into the community, bringing money back into the town, and helping the community out."
The Thowgla Falls site has been transformed with the help of the state government's $110 million Bushfire Recovery Program and the $10.6 million Victoria's Great Outdoors program.
The area was burnt to black after the fires, but the vegetation and wildlife are starting to bounce back.
For Corryong residents such as Mr McKimmie, who helped lead the fight against the fires that ravaged his hometown, it also heralds the start of a new chapter for the area.
"You can still see here how the fire impacted the forest, but to be up here in this environment and at these falls working with local contractors, it was more a kind of soothing thing," he said.
"Something to get away from the stress of the fires and the work, the workload back at home, and with the communities.
"Hopefully the community can come up here, see what this, reflect on what's here, what we have got, not about what's happened, but getting away from it."
Silver lining in fire funding
The bushfire recovery process helped unleash a fresh stream of funding for tourism projects in the region that would have likely otherwise taken years to secure.
It's a small silver lining for residents eager to see the region move forward.
Just a short drive away, the fires have unveiled previously obscured views of neighbouring snow-capped Mount Kosciuszko, allowing the new Walkers Lookout to be created.
Forest Fire Management Victoria officer Cameron McDonald said the project was to help get people back to the area.
The fires also destroyed popular High Country huts, including Wheelers Creek Hut, Gibsons-Pinnibar Hut and Ski Hut.
They had been renovated only months before they were completely destroyed by the fires.
They have been rebuilt along with new horse yards among the charred trees.
The High Country projects are expected to have a positive flow-on effect for the communities in the valleys below.
"We are trying to create an area that people can come in to stay, there's things to see while they are here, and then into Corryong and shop locally and support the locals to get back on their feet," Mr McDonald said.
With the Upper Murray Region receiving an average of more than 210,000 domestic visitors annually, the local community is hoping that those numbers will grow.
