POPULAR visitor areas of Mount Buffalo National Park have reopened after a month of closure due to bushfires, finally allowing visitors back and local adventure companies to operate again.
Areas around The Horn remain closed, but the Mount Buffalo Road is now open as far as Cathedral Saddle car park.
The Gorge lookouts, Hump, View Point, Monolith, Dingo Dell lookout and Billson's lookout are all accessible, as are the Lake Catani camping ground, Ladies Bath Falls and Rollason’s Falls. The Big Walk is open as far as Eurobin Point.
For Bright Adventure Company part-owner Tim Shaw, who runs rock climbing, abseiling, underground river caving and a popular ‘cliff picnic’ on the mountain, the reopening comes as a great relief.
His business has been shut for more than a month, from January 2 to February 5, losing all bookings in what is normally the busiest month of the year.
“We can now resume 100 per cent of the tours we run on the mountain,” Mr Shaw said.
“February is still looking pretty slow, we were really unable to take bookings.
“We’ve got a couple of school groups, but now we’re planning ahead to the long weekend in March and then Easter in mid-April after that.
“We’re just looking forward to getting back to work.”
David Chitty, manager of Adventure Guides Australia, which runs tours on the mountain, also lost all his Mount Buffalo income for the month.
“The critical thing is that it’s open again now, for us to keep our school and group bookings - that’s the key for a business like ours,” Mr Chitty said.
“If it had remained closed until the end of February or March we would have had some serious problems.”
Mr Chitty said while the fire had been extensive, much of the park’s key tourist spots had been untouched and he expected visitors to return.
“It might take a little while, but confidence and tourists will return,” he said.
Parks Victoria crews continue to work on fire damaged areas, assessing walking tracks and checking roads to make more of the Buffalo road and plateau safe.
The main tourism and heritage areas, including the Mount Buffalo Chalet, have not been impacted by fire.
Terrain impacted by fire at Mount Buffalo includes the area south of Cresta Valley snow park to the Horn and the rugged bush areas to the west of the plateau overlooking Lake Buffalo and Nug Nug.
