A Melbourne family tradition has ended, but the mountain that inspired it is having a moment. For years, the writer's crew booked a Lake Catani campsite for Cup weekend each November, the unofficial opening of summer camping at Mount Buffalo National Park in Victoria's high country. Some years delivered sunny hikes and swims; others delivered sleet, hail and a full-blown blizzard that sent the entire campground crowding into the 1938 ranger's stone hut. They never once turned around.
That stubbornness makes sense once you know the place. Mount Buffalo is a 420-million-year-old granite massif laced with massive boulders, crevices to squeeze through at Chalwell Galleries and a summit, The Horn, with 360-degree views over the alps and valleys. Lake Catani, an artificial lake designed by engineer Carlo Catani in 1910, sits at the heart of the campground. Wildlife ranges from wombats and wallabies to the venomous snakes and spiders campers are advised to watch for.
The mountain's human history is just as layered. Long known as Tubbalunganer, home of the Mogullumbidj people of north-east Victoria, it was spotted from afar by explorers Hume and Hovell in 1824. Botanist Baron Ferdinand von Mueller, later first director of Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens, made repeated trips in the 1850s to catalogue its unusual plants. Then came the Mount Buffalo Chalet, a grand timber hotel built in the early 20th century that defined gentle alpine holidays - warm beds, high tea, indoor dining - until it closed in 2006. For years visitors pressed faces to its windows to peer at the ghostly lounges and drained swimming pool.
Here's the news that matters: the chalet has just come back to life. It was recently leased to Belgravia Outdoor Education and reopened on October 24, so the long-running fantasy of actually staying on the mountain is now a bookable reality. Camping, meanwhile, continues at Lake Catani as it always has.
Why care? Because Mount Buffalo is a rare Victorian alpine spot that works in every season and, apparently, any weather. It suits families with rock-climbing kids, groups of friends wanting a low-key base, and anyone charmed by the idea of hiking a granite plateau in the morning and sleeping in a restored heritage chalet at night. Pack for four seasons in one weekend - the blizzard stories are part of the appeal.
