OFF SEASON
THE FISH WAS THIS BIG! WITH TIM SMITH
IN MT BULLER, VIC, TIM DISCOVERS A VERY DIFFERENT KIND OF CARAVAN HOLIDAY.
You’ve settled into the year,
your kids have been sick of
school from day two and the
dog has just eaten something
it threw up five minutes ago.
It’s time to pack, hook up the
van and escape the city.
I know what you’re thinking:
“Let go to the beach!” Bad
idea, because everyone
else has already had it. The
caravan parks are all booked
out years in advance. At best
you can expect sand in your
underpants. At worse you’ll
get dumped by a giant wave
and come up half drowned
wearing an octopus as a hat.
I have another option for you
to consider: take the high road! nothing to offer without
snow, right? That is where
you are wrong. There is a
lot to do on the mountain in
the very un-peakiest of the
season.
It’s only three and a bit
hours out of Melbourne and
caravanners can stay there for
free! There are loads of free
camps in the area (sadly not
in the actual village) and my
pick is Mirimbah on the main
road at the base of Mt Buller.
For dirt-road types, you are
spoilt for choice as you head
towards Mt Stirling. For those
who love amenities and are
willing to pay for them, there
is a good park in Mansfield.
MOUNT BULLER BRING BIKES
I recently went to the beautiful
Mt Buller. Mt Buller is famous
for snow, skiing, fluffy-puffy
coats, snow-chains and words
like skidoo and piste. It has You will want to bring your
bikes. If you don’t have any,
you can rent them there.
This is a cyclist paradise. You
can do the 16km ride up the
40
gorv.com.au
mountain main access road
or you can load yourself and
your bike onto a trailer and
get dropped off at the top.
You are now in the middle
of the Mt Buller Bike Park.
There are trails for every
level of bike rider.
They also fire up a couple
of the chairlifts so you can
grab some air down some
hard core gravity-assisted
trails, or as I prefer, meander
down the more sedate
cross country trails to the
base of the chairlift.
This is a great weekend
for anyone whose family is
over crowds and doesn’t mind
a bike ride, or a trail walk,
or a paddle in a stream, or
birds singing, or nature in
general. If I were you,
I’d do it. In fact I did.
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