This was published 12 years ago
Huski Luxury Apartments, Falls Creek review: High plains drifters
Feet first ... the split-level Huski penthouse offers views to Mount Stirling.Credit: Melanie Ball
With her hiking boots on, Melanie Ball finds a modern apartment in the ski-fields.
One of the joys of heading to the mountains in hot weather is watching the orange-glowing temperature countdown on the car dashboard, from 32 degrees in Mount Beauty, where we stock up on local wines, to 22 as we pull up outside Huski, Falls Creek.
My husband and I are the first Melbourne escapees to arrive but a friend-of-a-friend from Shepparton has beaten us by an hour. Three more soon follow, their appearance heralded by an L-plate bagpiper somewhere in the village, and we have untidily settled in when the last couple rocks up about 9pm.
Our group is a mix of passionate skiers and people who prefer Victoria's high country sans snow but there's unanimous agreement that the luxury self-catering apartment we've booked for a weekend summer-season hike is a bargain. All angles like a snowflake, Huski is a 14-apartment timber complex with only the studios lacking private deck spas. Luggage trolleys in the lobby mean carting large amounts of gear to the apartment can be done in one lift ride.
Our four-bedroom penthouse is split-level. Two en suite doubles, a spacious four-bunk room, a share bathroom and a laundry-drying cupboard open off the lower foyer. The fourth (and main) bedroom is upstairs, off a white open-plan kitchen-lounge with a welcome assortment of tea bags and coffee sachets and a ring of heart-shaped chocolates on the coffee table.
The lounge ceiling creates more interesting angles over couches with cushions and throws in eucalypt green, paper-daisy orange and shades of brown. The cow skin on the floor in front of the wood-burning heater is the only concession to cattle in the high country of which I approve.
There are several shelves of novels and non-fiction books, a flat-screen television and a decorative metal candle holder hangs from an immature tree, which has been stripped and sanded to golden wood.
Full-length windows give views of Mount Stirling and neighbouring ridge lines - and up International Poma, the ski lift off which I ignominiously fell 30 years ago when a novice downhiller. I was too scared to snowplough down - immediately to the left is an advanced run called "Widow Maker" - so I trudged up the slope carrying my skis and have been a walker since.
Falls Creek village is an excellent base for summer-spring bushwalking, with trails along aqueducts, out to historic cattlemen's huts, up peaks and across high plains. Having fuelled up on delicious pizzas at the Man hotel on Friday night, we clock more than 20 kilometres on foot on the Saturday.
Our kitchen has Smeg and Fisher & Paykel appliances and almost everything needed for feasting but we are too tired to cook and have planned to eat out on the Saturday night. We reward our day's efforts with bubbles: champagne and gin and tonics (followed by fillet steaks) at nearby Nelse Lodge, one of several venues open in summer, and spa bubbles under the stars back at Huski, before showers and bed.
Every bathroom in the Huski penthouse is slightly different - one has an over-bath shower, another a half-glassed shower cubicle - but all have flat, overhead roses that drop sinfully indulgent volumes of water. However, one downstairs en suite is tucked under the stairs so its 1.95-metre male occupant is forced into an uncomfortable posture; his partner, even at 1.57 metres, finds it a bit claustrophobic, too. Both would also prefer a closing bathroom door to the frosted-glass swing door, but that's a matter of taste.
With summer stays costing a fraction of peak winter accommodation, Huski makes me glad I converted from skiing to bushwalking.
VISITORS' BOOK
Huski Luxury Apartments
Address 3 Sitzmark Street, Falls Creek.
Ideal for a long weekend or midweek bushwalking in the Australian Alps.
Summer season self-catering accommodation costs from $175 to $597 a night; minimum stay two nights. Two-night stays during the peak winter season cost from $1240 to $4890.
Bookings Phone 1300 652 260; see huski.com.au.
Getting there Drive north from Melbourne on the M31 (Hume Freeway) for 230 kilometres, exit to the B500 (Great Alpine Road), drive 46.5 kilometres to Ovens, turn left onto Happy Valley Road, drive 34 kilometres and turn right onto Kiewa Valley Highway, drive 26 kilometres to Mount Beauty, turn onto Bogong High Plains Road and drive 30 kilometres to Falls Creek, turn right onto Slalom Street and drive 500 metres, turn left into Sitzmark Street.
Wheelchair access No.
Verdict 17
The score: 19-20 excellent; 17-18 great; 15-16 good; 13-14 comfortable.
All weekends are conducted anonymously and paid for by Traveller.
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