Camping in the tree tops
All I can say is, thank goodness these summer school holidays were smoke free and somewhat more carefree than last summer. Yep, the threat of covid still hung over our heads, with snap lock downs in parts of the country, Christmas for some people was not what they had planned, and state borders suddenly shut overnight. But through the eyes of my kids, at least we could get outside and explore the great outdoors without getting lung fulls of smoke.
Last summer holidays we had grand plans that included camping and bush walks, instead we did jigsaw puzzles and watched way more TV than I’d normally be happy with.
This year? Not only did we go camping, we camped in tents that were strung between trees atop Mt Hotham on a glorious summers day followed by a cloud free, star filled night - at Alpine Nature Experience and explored some child friendly bush walks around Dinner Plain.
Jean-François has done an amazing job setting up the eco-village that is Alpine Nature Experience, tucked away in a gorgeous secret little part of Mt Hotham. He meets you at the carpark at your designated time, and leads you the 400m into the village. The premise of the village is to have as minimal impact on the fragile alpine environment as possible, while still being able to enjoy the great outdoors. Hence the tents being strung up between trees so the undergrowth doesn’t get squashed!
He’s built and installed a tipi, which contains a pizza oven and a bar, which has also been build up off the ground. There’s even a warm shower and a composting toilet. Glamping indeed!
Talk about kid heaven!! Just the idea alone of sleeping in a tent off the ground was enough to ensure an extremely high level of excitement! But combine that together with the tipi; a box full of games including jenga, cards, frisbee and finska; a giant hammock that they could not possible lie still on; pizza for dinner and toasted marshmallows for desert… I think this one will go down as one of their greatest camping trips of all time!
And if you’re after something a bit less family orientated and a little more ‘romantic weekend getaway’ he also has that covered. The Premium Vista tent, overlooks the Dargo Valley, complete with hot tub and complementary bottle of Cofield's Prosecco!
I got myself up at sunrise to capture those first rays as they crept through the cool mountain air, and to take a quiet walk around the village while everyone was still sleeping. However, as is to be expected when you’re sleeping in a suspended tent with your family, my youngest woke with me, and my silent walk was punctuated by her following me around and her best attempt at whispering…
Then, after my early morning wander, I was greeted with coffee and a bacon and egg roll, freshly cooked by Jean-François himself!
And while we were up that way, I was keen to take the kids on some short bushwalks around the area. Before we met up with Jean-François to head into the eco-village, we did a little walk to Carmichael Falls - a short 2km return trip down to a viewing platform. Though the falls weren’t all that visible from the platform, the walk was lovely, among the wildflowers, and through areas burnt by last years devastating bushfires.
The after we’d packed up and left camp, the following day we did a short and easy 2km walk from Dinner Plain Village around a track called Room with a View, which takes you through the alpine environment out to a beautiful little spot where you can view Mt Feathertop of in the distance and loops back around again.
And of course, on our way back home, we had to stop off for a quick photo and take in the view from Danny’s carpark. A gorgeous viewing location from which to look back down the Ovens Valley and back across to Mt Buffalo to the west.
