Lake Mountain

Summer weather has finally arrived which means it's no longer quilt season, it's time to explore Melbourne season.  Today we drove to Lake Mountain, a bit East of Marysville in the Great Dividing Range near Melbourne.  In the winter months, Lake Mountain is a snow resort but the rest of the year it's one of the Seven Peaks of Victoria that bike enthusiasts like to ride up.  There is a passport with each page dedicated to one of these peaks, and the goal is to ride each one and get the passport stamped.
Lake Mountain toboggan run
Phil set off on his bike from Marysville and I took a relaxed drive up to the top to explore.  It was a beautiful area, covered in gum trees of every shape and size.  Unfortunately the area burned very heavily in the Black Saturday bush fires of 2009 so some areas of vegetation were only a few years into the regrowth process.
Burned trees at the top of Lake Mountain
 Even with this devastation still visible the area was spectacular and the crisp small of clean mountain air was rejuvenating.
Roads lined with gum trees
 After my drive I explored the Marysville market and then went to Bruno's Art and Sculpture Garden.  This garden was destroyed in the fire, but the artist was able to salvage some of his clay sculptures and added together with some new sculptures and plants it was an interesting place to explore.




After Phil's ride we followed the "Beer and Tasting Plates" sign to a quaint little country inn where we shared a bite to eat with a friendly farm cat.  After a pleasant lunch we drove to Steavenson Falls, just a few minutes down the road from Marysville.  Then it was time to head back home through the towering trees.
Steavenson Falls
Trees
And in case you were wondering, there is no lake at Lake Mountain.  Mountain yes.  Trees yes.  Perhaps Tree Mountain might be more fitting.

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