Mt Beauty 10 - 11 November 2009

Had another look around Bright and headed up the mountains to Mt Beauty After a steep climb, we stopped at a lookout at the Tawonga Gap. It was such a spectacular view that we decided to stay here for the night. Went for a long walk up the mountain to another lookout and admired the variety of wildflowers we encountered.
The next morning was bright and sunny as we drove into Mt Beauty. While only a small town, it had a friendly feeling about it and it didn’t seem as touristy as Bright. Drove about 40km up a steep windy road to Falls Creek. Going up the mountain, we saw a dramatic change in scenery, with small snow gums becoming the predominate vegetation. However, a large number of the trees had died, leaving eerie white skeletons silhouetted against the sky.
The small village of Bogong intrigued us as the possible origin of the iconic word! It is a hydroelectric workers community and its villagers did not appear with two heads. The rhododendrons were very impressive at this late point in time. A moment of colour exposure! Wondered what they learn in the Bogong School!
The village of Falls Creek looks like a ski resort with lots of parking around. At present, there is hardly a tourist in sight and this was quite special and we imagined it all in snow. It is reputed to be one of the best skiing areas, because you just step out right into the snow and start skiing. Without ski knowledge, we missed this point until a lovely Canadian local gave us some info!
This is a fascinating area, with lovely walks, views and plants of the alpine country. We felt very attracted to the place and felt the beginning of a possible late addiction to high country. The temperature of 20 degrees was also very welcome and conducive to the walks. The snow is virtually gone though some say it was still around until a month ago. We found a little patch to have a token snowball fight and made a compulsory snowman.
One of the walks was to an early cattlemen’s hut called Wallace Hut. We were very excited to find this hut as at the beginning of our major trip in the motorhome Laura gave us a charming card with a photo of this same hut on it with a lovely letter inside giving us a mission to find this hut on our travels. We have looked at lots of spots for it and joked about finding it. It was a beautiful moment as we suddenly recognised it in such an amazing landscape! Thank you Captain Laura!
And of course the colours were extraordinary - the flowers were fantastic in colour and form, predominantly purple and yellow; the snowy gum bark swirling into sharp lines of fresh greens, oranges, browns and creams; the overlapping distant mountains in all the blues and purples; foreground hills of white skeleton snow gums; blue skies you dream of, with white clouds drifting through close by and green grasses, soft and lush, growing back after the melt and the warm days. A great sense of energy in the air and country!
Drove back down to Mt Beauty and nearly died in the heat when we got back – 32o at 6pm! The motorhome heat built up in the day and greeted us with 40o! Opened up, had cold showers, sat outside and did not move on! The water view outside the window helped us settle to sleep. The night was comfortable as the night air seems to cool very quickly!