Now that winter is here, we could complain about the cold but instead, we chose to embrace it and planned a day trip to Mount Buller!
A quick check on the internet shows a range of service providers that do return trips within the same day. The catch is that the start time is rather early, between 5.30am to 6am. There is a choice of pickup locations (Melbourne CBD, Boxhill etc).
We went with Viator. With the easy booking and payment process, it was a breeze.
On the day of travel, we woke up pretty early to ensure we didn’t miss the bus. The driver was chirpy and after ticking off the names of the passengers, we set off for our first stop at Mansfield to rent snow gear and to have breakfast.
Upon reaching Mansfield 2.5 hours later, we were quite famished. While the rest jostled with snow gear rental, we headed straight for the café for coffee and a sandwich. The onward journey from Mansfield to the base carpark of Mount Buller was just 45 minutes.
Before alighting the bus, the driver took pains to drill into us not to be late when it came time to leave and head back to Melbourne (4pm). With that, we were left free to explore the mountain by taking a free shuttle bus from the base carpark.
Being a weekday, the resort wasn’t too crowded. However, being non skiers, we explored the cafes, restaurants and were soon quite bored. The breakthrough came when we decided to head for the Alpine Museum. Entry is free and within the premises, there were many interesting artefacts related to Mount Bullers to look at.
The museum was manned by a very pleasant older man and he recommended taking the scenic lift even higher up the mountain to enjoy the views. Thankfully, we took his good advice and did just that.
It was a different world up there!
With the howling wind and white landscape of snow, it finally looked and felt like Christmas! We would heartily advise anyone to spend more time at this higher peak.
Soon, it was time to leave and the return journey was thankfully uneventful. We got back to Melbourne at around 8.30pm. Travelling by bus was definitely worth it if you do not wish to drive 3.5 hours one way and also mess around with putting on and off snow chains on the wheels.
Would we do it again? Most definitely, but on a different mountain!
