The Great Alpine Road

 A can of chains.

 A road to rival the Beartooth Pass of Wyoming.

 Skiing on Mt. Hotham, elevation 1861 metres.

  The village of Hotham Ski Resort.

Sunday, August 28^th

Today I decided I didn't want to retrace my route back to Melbourne, but instead continue south through the mountains and eventually drive a large complete circular route back via the Great Alpine Road and Bairnsdale. But first I took a pretty side trip up to Mt Beauty. I stopped at Tawonga for gas and asked for directions on which road to take to Bairnsdale and was asked if I had chains in my car. When I said no, I was told I couldn't drive over the mountain pass because there was a $500 fine if you were caught without them and even more if you got stuck in the snow or a storm and they had to rescue you. So I doubled back to Bright and the Great Alpine Road. From there I drove south to Harrietville where I saw a sign that said “Beware Ice and Snow – Chains Must Be Carried”. I went into the local hotel bar there called the Snowline Hotel and asked if I needed them now as it seemed too warm to worry about snow. The bartender told me again about the fines and also where I could rent a set for $35 and where to return them on the other side of the mountain. So I went and got a set so that I could continue over the mountain. I was so amused by the whole process that I had the salesman take a picture of me with them.

From Harrietville the road began to ascend quite quickly. From this point on the road rivals Beartooth Pass in Wyoming for both beauty, number of switchbacks and the lack of guardrails. Even up on the top of the mountains there was evidence of bushfires and the trees that survived wore their charcoal and black scars as badges of honour. As I climbed there was more and more snow and at some spots you could see where the plow had dug out the highway and the snowbanks were at least six feet tall.

The road finally crested on the top of Mt Hotham and I stumbled across the skilifts and runs. I parked here and walked out to the lift and watched as people skiied or snowboarded down the mountain. It suddenly struck me about what is really different about skiing here in Australia. In Canada we take a chairlift to the top of the mountain (or hill) and ski down to the ski lodge. Here in Australia it is the opposite, the lodge and even the ski towns are on the top of the mountains and you ski down into the empty valley.

About a kilometre past the skiing area was the ski village of Mt Hotham. There were dozens of ski resorts here, hotels, restautants and rental units and lots of people. I wondered how many times that the village got snowed in during a season.

From there I continued on the Great Alpine Road as it slowly descended from the summit back to the valley. It took about two hours to get to the bottom and the town of Omeo where I returned the unused and uninspected chains. Then another two hours to get to Bairsdale along a winding road through the bush and following a river valley. Part way down there was a lookout where in the distance you could see Mt Kosciuszko made famous in a Midnight Oil song. Then I turned west and drove for another four hours back to Melbourne. I arrived home about 10:30. All totaled for the weekend I drove just shy of 1000 kms. I thoroughly enjoyed the drive and would like to do it again when the snow melts, to see the pass in the summer.