Mansfield and Mount Buller

Small tumbleweeds caught on a fence. I saw a news report of houses being overwhelmed by them somewhere in Australia.

A couple of old farmsteads.

A woman hunting carp in a shrinking lake with a crossbow.

The summit of Mount Buller, a ski resort here in Victoria.

The beautiful shades of late afternoon sunshine on the drive home.

Sunday, May 15^th.

I lounged around this morning enjoying my comfortable digs before deciding to drive southeast to the town of Mansfield. Just before my destination I came across a road bridge and a rail bridge that were built to cross a good sized lake, but the water is seasonal and now the lake has shrunk to a very small area. I watched a woman in camouflage hunting carp with a crossbow. This area is the end of the largest rail trail in Australia, the Great Victorian Rail Trail that travels east from Tallarook to Manfield, a distance of 134 kilometres. A few weeks ago I rode 40kms from Tallarook to Yea. I decided today to drive to the eastern end, Mansfield, and see what it was like before bringing my bike up on another weekend. The town was another nice small Australian town, but the first thing I noticed were ski rental shops and there were lots of places to stay. I discovered that was because one of the biggest ski regions in Victoria is 50 kms out of town on the top of Mount Buller. So I decided to drive up there. Who could resist seeing a ski resort in Australia?

The road up the mountain was very scenic, narrow, steep and winding. I wouldn't want to drive up it in snow, as there are very few guardrails. Up at the summit, there is a good sized ski resort, with multiple chair lifts, runs, condos, restaurants, rental places and even a small university campus. It felt like a ghost town as, although it was cold, there was no snow yet. I walked around and explored before driving back down and heading back to Chelsea via the secondary roads. Got home in time to grocery shop and get ready for the next day.