MOUNTAIN RENDEZVOUS

Distant view of Mountain splendor, change of weather pending sky once blue now dark and threatening!

Onward and upward, traversing steep mountain roads, until across our path a tree comes crashing. Moving swiftly, young men with muscles straining work to remove the debris, leaving none remaining.

Mt Buller reached, visibility decreasing, driving rain and icy winds our greeting. Wind so strong, bent almost double we move forward in its path like a kite buffeted in the wind we are tossed around, as we move across the compound!

Nearby, snow ploughs and ski lifts remain as silent sentinels from winter, now past! Snow Gums display with delight, many colours on branches, previously hidden from sight! Still higher we we climb, passing majestic Mountain Ash, Tree ferns guarding roadside curves - here and there a splash of pink near a Mountain stream, where a lone fox pauses to take a drink.

The rain falls in abandon as we from our vehicles alight, to view through the rain and the fog, a cattleman's hut to our right. On opening the door we find, to our surprise, billies of tea boiling over open fires, the aroma of food cooking in various pots sends us rushing forward to sample the lot!

Outside, a group of horses with riders on their backs, heads lowered in the storm, follow the rugged mountain tracks. Cattleman's country, rugged and steep,High Country splendor,
where in summer, under a starry sky, many tales are told of years gone by.

This I wrote after visiting the area which in the following year was devastated by bushfire's and the hut mentioned is no more!

- AMJB