Mountain highs in May

May 4, 2014

Yes, as usual I couldn’t resist alliteration in the title of this post. These shots were actually taken in April over the Easter break, when I took a little trip with my man to Marysville and Mansfield. He cycled through there solo at the end of last year and convinced me that it was a beautiful spot to visit – and seeing how little I’ve seen of my own state, I readily agreed.

He was certainly right about it being easy on the eye – five years on, Marysville is recovering from the Black Saturday fires and the surrounding areas offer stunning scenery (if the fog lifts!).

What he neglected to consider was that it would be FREEZING (although some locals were wandering around in T-shirts and shorts, so maybe it was just us city folk who felt the cold?). We were forced to climb mountains to warm up (actually, if you weren’t climbing mountains and going on long walks I’m not sure what else there is to do?!) and I was very glad I’d taken my pom-pom hat.

After Marysville, we went on to Mansfield but really only used it as a base, because we spent two days walking around the alpine trails at Mount Buller. Cue more mountain landscape shots!

We couldn’t work out why a lot of the trees looked like driftwood – are they dead? Or do they just look like that? They certainly contribute a different textural element to the landscape.

Apparently Buller has some beautiful alpine flowers – I’m guessing we missed most of them as it’s already nearly winter, but there are still a few if you keep your eyes open.

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There was also a lot of insect life to see if you were observant, like this cluster of caterpillars.

There were also more grasshoppers than you could poke a stick at (well you could have tried poking sticks at them all, but you would have been pretty busy). There are three different types in this picture, can you see them all?

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Speaking of getting busy…

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Apart from all the grasshoppers having sexy times, we found this crazy looking creature which (after a bit of nerdy research via Twitter) we later discovered is a female mountain katydid. A glamorous fashion post this is definitely not!

A bit scary looking if you don’t like insects, but quite possibly a supermodel by bug standards.

Anyway, enough about the insects… if you haven’t already run screaming from your screens maybe you’d like to see some more mountain scenery?

The countryside around Mansfield is pretty too, with the morning mists and cloud cover creating ever-changing vistas.

Just the right backdrop for a cheesy fake-farmgirl shot.

Of course, a roadtrip wouldn’t be complete without discovering new delights of the edible kind. We just happened to drive past the sign pointing to the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie and Ice Creamery … and then we just happened to drive (and dive!) right in.

There were so many different flavours of chocolate you could easily go every weekend of the year and not try them all (hmm, that sounds like a challenge I’d be quite ready for…).