Mansfield Weekend Away 2019
Mansfield Weekend 2019 © David Male
Our first weekend away for the year saw approximately 50 members, family, and friends head to Mansfield for a wonderful weekend of exploring and photography.
Friday night 36 of us had dinner at the Bonnie Doon hotel after snapping the sunset over Lake Eildon. We then all head to our accommodation in Mansfield to rest up for our early start to capture the sunrise at Mt Battery.
Our pre-dawn Saturday a drive to, and a short walk from, our parking at Mt. Battery resulted in views of The Paps and Mt. Buller where we watched the sun rise through the clouds producing some amazing colours. After heading back to Mansfield for breakfast, we had a tour of a historic shearing shed at Kilmuir Country Retreat which is also where 14 members were staying in a converted shearing shed.
After exploring Kilmuir we had some free time to take in Mansfield before meeting up for a short drive to a private property in Merrijig. On the property we found an old slab hut, and other buildings, including a historic shearing shed, and machinery.
Merrijig is the site of the oldest registered yellow box tree in Victoria and is also the area where Man from Snowy River was filmed. The property owners accommodated us by posing for some portrait shots with their animals. They also allowed us to wander the property and stay for the sunset.
Post sunset we travelled back to Mansfield for dinner at the Delatite Hotel where we were entertained by two Bush Poets and our own member Leo who played his guitar and encouraged us into a good ol' sing-along.
Sunday morning saw us gathering bright and early once more before heading off to another private property to take in the sunrise as it cycled through an array of colours, sending its light over the old farmhouse and surrounding paddocks. Once the sunrise had become the day, we met back in Mansfield for breakfast before a drive to our final official destination for the weekend: another private property where we saw quite an array of old machinery, windmills, cars, and just about anything else you could think of. Quite the collection to photograph. It was from here that we all parted ways, some starting the drive home and others heading to surrounding towns.
A special thanks to Catherine Stevenson who organised access to the private properties and shared her local knowledge of the Mansfield region, making our weekend away a great success.
