By Callum Ludwig
Queen’s Birthday Weekend and solid snowfall on Mt Donna Buang aligned to create the perfect storm of traffic and frustration.
Visitors from near and far complained about the traffic on social media about the incredibly long wait to get up the mountain, with some snow-goers waiting over one and a half hours.
One such visitor was Tony Puryer who said his family tried multiple times over his long-weekend stay in Warburton to make it up the mountain.
“We intended to go up the mountain on Saturday, about lunchtime, and the traffic was horrible, we just saw a long line of cars and didn’t know how long the queue was as we hadn’t been there before, so just did a difficult U-turn and headed home,” he said.
“We went up what we thought was early on Sunday morning, leaving at about 8.30 and did get further up than on Saturday, but after 20 minutes of waiting in the car I took my daughters and walked 600 metres up and found some snow on the side of the road to play in.”
A one-up, one-down process was in operation in the car parks on Mt Donna Buang, with visitors only allowed to park as another left.
Mr Puryer said he hopes there is a way to figure out a system so people aren’t turned away.
“Maybe the expected wait times would be a good start, or a booking system for days predicted to have large crowds where people are allowed up for a certain period of time,” he said.
“They have to be careful about turning people away because it’s such a good asset for Warburton and the Yarra Valley, and from a trader’s point of view, they would be thinking if they come into town, they’re going to spend money.”
The Yarra Ranges Eyewatch page said on Sunday 12 June that visitors could expect lengthy travel times.
“If you are heading to Mt Donna Buang this arvo, expect your travel time up the hill to be well over an hour. Traffic is banked up a long way from any snow and the car parks.”
Parks Victoria manages Mt Donna Buang and will continue to work with partner agencies to manage visitation to Mount Donna Buang throughout the snow season, though they no jurisdiction over the roads.
