Not even a blizzard could stop our annual trip to this alpine stunner

Opinion

In this series, My Happy Place, our writers reflect on the holiday destinations in Australia and around the world that they cherish the most.

November 5, 2026 — 5:00am

Cup weekend marks the opening of the “summer” camping season at Mount Buffalo National Park and like many people who love this part of Victoria, booking a campsite for this busy weekend gave us something lovely to look forward to as a family all year – our annual mini-adventure in the Victorian Alps before the end of the year.

I’m using quote marks for “summer” here because we never knew exactly what kind of weather we’d get on the mountain.

We optimistically anticipated sunny hikes, swimming in Lake Catani and cosy nights by an outdoor fire. That was exactly what we got some years. Others it was more like sleet, hail, rain and wind. One year we arrived to find the occupants of the entire campground taking shelter in the 1938-built ranger’s stone hut while a blizzard raged. Did we consider turning around and heading back down the mountain? Never.

Mount Buffalo is spectacular in every season and any weather. No matter what came along to challenge us, there was never a good enough reason to cancel. Our love for this rugged mountain, with its spectacular views, challenging hikes, massive rocks and mostly untouched nature, never wavered.

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Alongside its ruggedness, the picturesque artificial lake – named after Carlo Catani, the public works engineer who designed it in 1910 – and the faded charm of the Mount Buffalo Chalet added another dimension to the experience. Every year a walk to the deserted chalet to look in on the ghostly lounges and dining room – our faces squished against the windows – wander its flower gardens and inspect the desolate swimming pool was a fixture on our must-do list, as important as scaling the rocks and shimmying into the crevices at Chalwell Galleries or climbing up to The Horn, Mount Buffalo’s highest point, for 360 degree views of the alps and valleys.

We imagined a time when the magnificent timber hotel was still in operation and how wonderful it would be if it came back to life. Its history as a holiday and skiing destination evoked another, more gentle time, when holidays on the mountain involved warm beds, high tea and eating indoors. But this early 20th century concept of leisure never erased its ancient history, it only brought it into stark relief.

The home of the Mogullumbidj people who lived across north-east Victoria, it was called Tubbalunganer long before explorers Hamilton Hume and William Hovell saw it in the distance in 1824 and renamed it after the sleeping mammal: the mountain itself is thought to be 420 million years old.

Baron Ferdinand von Mueller, the botanist and explorer who later became the first director of Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens, was as enthusiastic as we were. He travelled to Mount Buffalo many times in the 1850s to explore its unique plants and landscape.

Our investigations on the mountain were a little less scientific. We looked for trees that would be safe to pitch our tents under, checked for venomous snakes and spiders and signs of wombats and wallabies. Mostly I kept an eye on the child that liked to climb rocks, was always looking for the highest spot, and once climbed onto a tree trunk dangling over a precipice.

Like the characters left behind in Picnic at Hanging Rock, we spent a lot of time plaintively calling her name. When I wasn’t enjoying the landscape, my heart was usually in my mouth. After a while that phase passed, and I moved on to the next one where teenagers, unaware that sounds travel through tents, distracted me from my afternoon reading with their fascinating conversations.

These holidays also exposed our kids to the talents of our friends such as John, whose car was like a tardis. He was always able to produce the perfect camping tool or piece of equipment at a moment’s notice. Or Chris, whose calm demeanour and experience in emergency medicine always reassured me that our communal gang of children would be safe. Or Alison, a teacher by nature and profession, who was always ready with a great idea for a game. Our family chipped in with enthusiasm and a regular supply of chocolate.

These holidays sadly came to an end as all our children got older and VCE exam season beckoned. Perhaps it was me who put the nail in the coffin.

On our last year at Mount Buffalo on opening weekend, while the rest of the family camped at Lake Catani, I did the unthinkable – I booked accommodation at the bottom of the mountain. When they arrived dripping wet later that night, I welcomed them in with only a small amount of schadenfreude. The final “summer” weekend in a blizzard had finally gotten the better of me.

Now our children go with their own friends and we drive up the mountain whenever we’re in the northeast. The views at The Horn still call, and the chalet still evokes a fantasy of staying at a hotel on our beloved mountain. That that fantasy will soon be a reality* makes another holiday, albeit a very different one, a tantalising possibility.

*Mount Buffalo Chalet was closed in 2006, but was recently leased to Belgravia Outdoor Education and reopened on October 24. See mountbuffalochalet.com

Justine Costigan is a Melbourne-based travel and food writer with a soft spot for food markets, mountain villages and the kind of small-town piazza where everyone seems to know everyone. She’s just as happy tracking down Marseille’s best street food as she is cycling through wine country or bathing under at the stars. Follow her on Instagram @justcostigan

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