Bridle hands ... crossing the Bundarrah River on the way to lunch.
I've only been on horseback for a few minutes when I see trouble approaching. There's a farm gate to get through and then a water crossing over the pebble-strewn Bundarrah River that is flowing through the grassy foothills of Victoria's high country.
The nearest landmark is the Blue Duck Inn at Anglers Rest, three kilometres away, and the aim is to stay in the saddle and get there for lunch on the veranda that overlooks the river.
High-country horsewoman Helen Packer is leading us from her 140-hectare property at a gentle pace because there are novices in the small group. Packer has saddled up some of her most well-behaved horses, including Spot, who would make a worthy extra in a western with the Apaches fighting the 4th Cavalry.
I whisper in his ear: "Spot, take it easy. Good Spot." But I don't think I need to bother with the sweet nothings. He goes through the gate and over the river like a horse who has done it all before. As we climb and descend steep trails with loose rocks and step over logs he is steady. He is not disturbed by the flies that buzz along with us or the farm dog that runs at his flanks. He makes me feel like the skilled horseman I'm not.
The high country here is isolating. Hills of gums and alpine ash forest roll off to horizons unseen, yet we come across a riverside fishermen's cabin and then a house hidden in the bush where a true hippie existence could easily be played out, growing vegetables and swimming in the river nude.
We emerge out of the scrub at the Blue Duck Inn, hitch the horses in the shade and take a veranda position from where green lawn, ideal for picnicking, rolls down to the clear water. There are a few dogs, a family or two and a tour-bus group. The pace is one of lying on your back and staring at the puffy white clouds and having a long blade of dried grass in the mouth.
This ambling life in the saddle is not hard to swallow, nor is the freshly caught brown trout straight out of the Blue Duck's kitchen.
I've ventured on to horseback, and to the Blue Duck Inn, during a weekend stay in the alpine village of Dinner Plain, a pretty town of wooden houses and apartments with stone fireplaces and chimneys, pitched roof lines and firewood so neatly cut and stacked that it is worthy of being photographed for glossy magazines.
Dinner Plain is 10 minutes from the ski slopes of Mount Hotham and better known as a winter destination but this weekend is all about horses and mountain bikes, fly fishing and walking trails and soothing massages at the town's Japanese-inspired Onsen Retreat and Spa.
The retreat has warm pools where you can soak with a cup of green tea after a treatment, perhaps of hot stone therapy. There are yoga books scattered around that inspire the attainment of a more flexible body and a list of beauty treatments to make you feel a million dollars.
What better than to follow such body pampering than with high tea? The last time I indulged in such an extravagance of salmon and cucumber and dill sandwiches, scones and sweets, with a piano playing in the background, was in the castle-like grandeur of the Fairmont Empress at Victoria, Canada.
Whispers are that it is among the best high teas in the world. It is very British and very formal, service is impeccable and there's a very smart dress code. There's no denim, for starters. But I'm sitting here in shorts and T-shirt for a high tea with champagne served under a snowgum outside Rundells Alpine Lodge.
There's no piano but there are some noisy currawongs with their piercing eyes on the scones.
High tea has become bit of a tradition at Rundells, every Sunday at 1pm. Most people take their high tea inside this classically alpine-style lodge with big wooden beams, soft leather sofas and the obligatory stone fireplace.
The bedrooms with en suites are cosy but the bar and lounge area is where you feel the high-country ambience most.
Adjacent to the bar-lounge is the lodge's Graze restaurant, most likely the best place to eat anywhere around here. It has a five-course degustation menu of local produce that includes Harrietville trout and free-range suckling pig.
There are a number of easy trails at Dinner Plain, where you can walk or ride to purge extra calories. Some of the trails are short and flat and some take you to cattlemen's huts but if you want to raise a bigger sweat you can enlist the help of Adventures with Altitude, which guides walks, canoe trips and mountain-bike tours.
The company even has a "High Plains Twister", a three-day combination of hiking, biking and canoeing or you can combine walking, cycling and fly fishing with a local guide.
Dinner Plain is a quiet town but one of the biggest weekends is coming up at Easter with the staging of the annual Geebung polo match between the Cuff 'n Collar team from the city and the Geebung team of mountain cattlemen. They say the riding is fast and furious but I think I'll stick with Spot.
Robert Upe travelled courtesy of North East Victoria Tourism.
FAST FACTS
Getting there
Take the Hume Highway to Wangaratta and then the Great Alpine Road via Bright and Harrietville, for travel time to Dinner Plain of about 4 hours (357 kilometres). Alternatively, take the Princes Highway to Bairnsdale and the Great Alpine Road via Omeo; travel time is about 5 hours (457 kilometres).
Rundells Alpine Lodge (Big Muster Drive, Dinner Plain), has rooms from $99 a person a night. A three-night package is $465 a person twin-share, including cooked breakfast each morning, a five-course degustation dinner, two a la carte dinners and a hydro pass to Onsen Retreat and Spa. Available until May 30. Phone 5159 6422; see rundells.com.au.
Eating there
Graze Restaurant at Rundells Alpine Lodge has a five-course regional degustation menu for $70 or three courses for $55. High Tea at Rundells is held every Sunday at 1pm from $38 a person ($12 for children 3-6). Dinner Plain Hotel has good pub food; flathead fillets $20, porterhouse $27.50.
Spa treatments there Dinner Plain Onsen Retreat and Spa (pictured) has massages from $70, beauty treatments and indoor pool, spas and sauna. Phone 5150 8880; see onsen.com.au.
Adventures with Altitude arranges mountain biking, hiking and fly-fishing out of Dinner Plain. Half-day rides from $60, walks from $10, fly-fishing from $150 for a half-day. Hire bikes available. Phone 5159 6608; see adventureswithaltitude.com.au.
Packer's High Country Horse Riding has one-and-a-half hour rides from $80, half-day rides $140. Longer and multi-day rides available. Accommodation in cattlemen's hut near river, with no mains power, from $120 a night (sleeps three). B&B accommodation in main house from $75 a night has power and showers. Phone 5159 7241; see horsetreks.com.
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