AUSTRALIA : Marysville & Lake Mountain Alpine Resort, Victoria

One week trip to the state of Victoria, Australia in June 2011, The trip has been divided into 4 installments which I coined as :

1. Snow - Marysville & Lake Mountain Alpine Resort.
2. Nature - The Great Ocean Road.
3. History - The Puffing Billy Railway.
4. Architecture - Melbourne City.

Flight : D7 2722 KUL-MEL 12/06/2011
Aircraft : AirAsia X Airbus A330-300
Reg. : 9M-XXF 

After a flight time of 8 hours, we safely landed at Melbourne Airport and disembarked at Terminal 2. It was the Queen's Birthday Holiday in Australia. We had a lucky break because Melbourne had just recovered from massive flights backlog due to the Chilean volcanic eruption. There was a 1 hour delay for departure but arrived on schedule. 

Time to pick-up our pre-booked Mitsubishi Lancer from Avis. Had some trouble initially with our GPS. It just refused to switch on. Back to using the signboards for directions. 

Destination for today is the small town of Marysville. About 105km east of the airport, passing through the towns of Boondora and Healesville. Should be a nice and comfortable journey.

Made a pit stop at Broadmeadows Shopping Centre for brunch and groceries. Turned out that there is a halal butchery there and a few of the stalls in the food court also sells halal food. Also finally managed to get the GPS to work. Major problems solved.

A scenic spot next to Maroondah Reservoir, near Healesville.

Welcoming committee at Marysville Caravan Park. Those are Australian King Parrots.

Very friendly locals.

A couple of Australian King Parrots with a solitary Crimson Rosella on the left.

External view of our cabins. Each one has two bedrooms and can accommodate 6 occupants.

Interior view, Comes with fully equipped kitchen and all amenities.

A brook flows through the park. Pretty but the water was freezing. Brrrrrr.....

Night comes early in winter. We were searching for some rental snow gears. The town of Marysville is practically brand new. 90% of the town was destroyed by bush fire in February 2009 with 45 deaths. Most of the buildings are either brand new or still under construction. Otherwise, businesses will be operating from temporary cabins.

Serenity...

Taking the 25km uphill trip from Marysville to Lake Mountain Alpine Resort. It was only the fifth day of the snow season, hence the lack of snow cover.

Early in the morning, there was still plenty left from overnight.

In between rocks....

.....and along the roadside.

Lake Mountain Alpine Resort is approximately 25km from Marysville or about 90km from Melbourne. This makes it the nearest snow resort to Melbourne. It is also one of the cheapest because it has no ski lifts facilities . Activities are only snow play, tobogganing and cross country skiing. It is also less crowded.

Rebuilding. Like the town of Marysville, Lake Mountain Alpine Resort was also devastated by the February 2009 bush fire. Almost all the facilities are new.

The main amenities building, next to the main carpark.

Snow machine. To ensure adequate snow cover on non-snowing days during the snow season.

Freshly made snow. Soft, fine and kind of fluffy.

My footsteps on the freshly packed snow.

Snowmobile. For packing, grooming and also spreading uneven snow.

Snow play.  Being a working day, apart from the staff, we were the only second family to arrive at the resort, but, we ended up being the last to leave.

One for the family album.

The boys enjoying themselves.

Preparing for tobogganning. Waterproof pants, boots and not to forget, the padded gloves.

So down we go....

Sliding down the gentle slope.

The long walk back to the top to repeat the whole thing.

First timer at building a snowman. A rather lame effort.

Be sure to abide.

Plenty of snow. 

The sun was shining brightly so it was quite pleasant as there are no face-numbing cold wind.

Towards late afternoon, most visitors have left because they were mainly daytrippers from Melbourne. There are no overnight accommodation in this resort.

Most have left. For us, 'it ain't over till the fat lady sing'. Stayed right until closing time, 5pm.

The cafeteria. A simple but novel effort in installing the exposed fluorescent tubes.

It's chow time! The cold weather really made you hungrier than usual.

Beautiful evening.

Back down in Marysville and looking back up the mountain.

Early night after a tiring but very enjoyable day. The following day will be the longest travel distance for this trip. Marysville to Warrnambool - 370km.