It was the Kings Birthday long weekend in June, and we were heading to Mansfield on the first weekend of Victoria’s snow season (yep, we have dumb luck when it comes to booking getaways). Roads to the high country were busy and absolutely littered with roadkill, dead wombats, roos, and even an echidna, most of them marked with red paint. I did think at the time, that people would tag anything these days, but have since learned that it’s to let others know that their pouches have been checked for babies. You’re welcome for the community service announcement people.
The little country town of Mansfield has an enormous, iconic local market, held only four times a year on long weekends. The Mansfield Bush Market occupies an entire street and is filled with over 150 make-it, bake-it, grow-it stalls. An eclectic mix of fresh produce, gourmet foods, arts, crafts, handmade jewellery, candles, soaps, boutique beers, boujee gins, and more. It is a wonderful, colourful, regional Victoria experience not to be missed.
Unbeknownst to us (a little research may have been useful here), if you are visiting Mt. Buller in the declared snow season, you must carry snow chains, irrespective of meteorological conditions or whether Mother Nature has had a snow dump. So we hired chains, and after witnessing a fairly convoluted demo on how to apply them, I heard my partner say to the shop dude, “Jinxy, I sure hope there ain’t no snow on them thar hills.” Not his exact words, but they were fun to read, right?
We hit Mt. Stirling first as we wanted to hike the Woollybutt Loop (just because it has a lit name). We did research the trail this time and even had directions, so it was a little disconcerting to start the trail where instructed, and there were no Woollybutt signs (red flag, but on we went…sigh.) The trail was 6km’s but we did it in 8 (don’t ask). There were a bunch of bum steers due to rubbish signage, but it was a sensational trail through Alpine Ash Forest, the walk punctuated with old cattle huts, rustic wood shelters, and horse yards, with a light drizzle of rain that made it more interesting (read: freezing and wet!)
Off Mt Stirling and onto Mt Buller, up a steep, 16km winding mountain road that was covered in thick fog with few guardrails…scary. Glad I wasn’t doing it in the snow with badly fitted snow chains. Mount Buller is located within the Alpine National Park, and a resort entry fee is required, payable at the entry gate at Mirimbah. We unknowingly, artfully dodged this entry gate when directed by the traffic controller into the right lane for Mt. Stirling. When we arrived at the Mt. Buller carpark, we were told it was our lucky day by the parking dudes when we couldn’t produce a permit (smug smile).
The unpredictability of snowfall and lack thereof had the snow machines working overtime and snaps to Mt. Buller Resort for having one ski run operating. It was a hectic run, jam-packed with people: beginners falling over everywhere, snowboarders trying to avoid colliding with them, and young kids who had never seen snow, lolling in it at the edge of the run. It made apres-ski look attractive, so we did that.
It was a virtual whiteout on Mt. Buller with almost zero visibility, so we snarfed the most excellent, hot, freshly made mini cinnamon donuts and headed back to our pretty cottage accommodation to defrost and chug the homemade bootleg gin our hosts distilled. What a day! #totallyawesome.
