Free Hotham Village Shuttle for hikers over Easter

MHARMB is responding to conerns about parking at the Razorback Walk trailhead at Diamonatina Hut by providing a FREE shuttle on Easter Saturday, Sunday and Monday between Hotham Village and the Razorback Trailhead.  

The shuttle service will help to ease parking congestion on the Great Alpine Road and improve safety for walkers at the Razorback Trailhead.  

Parking at the trailhead will be reduced over the weekend with bollards and a temporary bus stop.

Please share this information with your guests. We encourage them to park at the Corral Car Park, Hotham Heights, and take the free MHARMB shuttle to the Razorback Trailhead. 

The service will operate from 7.30am to 4.30pm on demand over the three days.

Hikers will need to phone 0407 915 040 to call the shuttle if it is not already at their location. We anticipate wait times will be 15 minutes or less depending on demand.

To help with our shuttle scheduling please ask hikers to register their interest here so we can identify the peak periods over the weekend. 

Victorian Government requirement regarding QR codes

The Victorian Government has announced that venues and facilities including those in the following categories must link to the Victorian Government’s digital record keeping system for contact tracing by 23 April, 2021.

Categories relevant to Hotham operators:

• Commercial tourism operators
• Hospitality (including food and drink facilities, such as cafes, restaurants, pubs, bars, clubs and hotels).
• Indoor physical recreation and community sport (including staffed and unstaffed gyms)
• Outdoor physical recreation and community sport facilities
• Pools, spas, saunas, steam rooms and springs (indoor and outdoor spaces, including water or non-water part)
• Hairdressing, beauty and personal care services
• Accommodation (visitors in shared, communal spaces)
• Commercial passenger vehicles (28-day compliance amnesty period was completed on 26 March 2021).

These requirements ensure that the electronic record keeping system operators have in place will be able to easily access information with Victorian Department of Health tracing systems if required.

You can fulfil the government’s requirement by either using the free Victorian Government QR Service OR ensuring the system you are using is linked to the Victorian Government’s system via the Victorian Government Application Programming Interface

More information about the Victorian Government’s free QR service can be found here.

MHARMB and MHSC will be using the Victorian Government’s QR service for our operations, and we encourage Hotham operators to use this service too, to ensure a consistent and seamless visitor experience across the resort. This service is easy to use, and once visitors have set up an account their details will be saved and used each time they check in, saving time and avoiding the need to navigate different systems at each location.

If you prefer to use your own QR code system, you must ensure it links to the Victorian Government system via the Victorian Government Application Programming Interface (API). More information about this can be found here. This must be completed by 23 April 2021.

How to get the Victorian Government QR Code Service

Click here to access the service.

How does it work?

• Businesses sign up by following the instructions at this link 
• QR codes are generated by the business owner for locations at their premise(s)
• Codes are created by business’ after making an account via this link
• Businesses print the generated codes and display them at entrances to the business
• Visitors scan the QR and follow the link to supply their name and phone number
• If visitors have the Service Victoria app on their phone this app launches, and the process is even faster
• If a Covid-19 outbreak is recorded at Hotham, contact tracing is easily managed via the data collected by the QR code scans

The Service Victoria App 
Users of this app will find the QR code check in process seamless and fast.

• Apple version - click here. 
• Android version - click here. 

Storing data
All check-in data is housed in secure databases managed by Service Victoria, the Victorian Government’s online hub for transacting with government. Unless Department of Health contact tracers request data for COVID-19 contact tracing purposes, it is automatically deleted after 28 days.

Deleting data
Unless the Department of Health requests data for COVID-19 contact tracing, it is automatically deleted after 28 days. Information about your business (e.g. name, address and contact details) will remain on the database.

Winter website changeover

MHARMB and MHSC will be changing the www.mthotham.com.au visitor website to the winter site after Easter on 6 April.

Please check your listings and information on the winter site and notify us as soon as possible about any changes required, to allow sufficient time for the changes to be implemented before the season commences.

If you wish to change photos on your listing, please supply photos in the highest possible resolution and don't overlay text on the photo to make cropping easier. 

We will need to resize photos to suit the different parts of the website, so please allow extra time for this.

Send your changes to website@mhotham.com.au

Hard waste collection - 6 April 2021

There is one final hard waste collection at Mt Hotham before winter sets in, on Tuesday 6 April, which is the Tuesday after Easter. 

Please click here  to find out what you can and can't put in hard waste.

To make enquiries please contact Ian Price on 0421 423 412 during office hours (9am – 4pm Monday to Friday) or email info@mthotham.com.au.

Wecome to new MHARMB team members

MHARMB welcomes two new senior team members this month.

Lyndsey Jackman is joining us as Property, Planning and Development Director.  Lyndsey recently returned to Australia from New Zealand where he was working as the General Manager at Turoa Ski Resort. Prior to this, he held the executive role of Planning & Leasing Manager at Mt Buller Mt Stirling RMB, leading resort property and development functions.

Katie Bowker is also joining MHARMB as Senior Manager Marketing & Communications.

Katie brings with her a breadth and depth of marketing experience and highly developed skills in her most recent role at Tourism North East and also in roles at RMB Marketing Mt Buller as well as Water Catchment and other key regional marketing roles.

Please make them both welcome!

Are your details up to date?

For any changes with your Head Lessee (Committee) or Sub Lessee contact details please complete the online form on the Develop Mt Hotham website (located on the home page under quick links “Contact Details Form”).

Current contact details are essential so that you receive all MHARMB communications throughout the year.

Prescribed Accommodation and Food Act Registration renewal applications will be sent out in the next couple of weeks. Please keep an eye out for those in your email inbox.

Census Field Managers wanted

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is recruiting Field Managers for the 2021 Census and needs staff for our area.

Census Field Managers play a critical role in helping their local community to complete the Census, and community participation in the Census is vital. The Census collects important information that is widely used to make decisions such as how to support local communities.

If you know someone who would be interested in learning more about these roles, click here.

Do you have your Green Bin?

Don’t forget that our Living Bin Program operates throughout the year. So if you’re up here in summer remember to use your bench-top Green Bin to collect food waste (including meat, bones, bread, cheese etc) and deposit into garbage hutches along with your recycle and garbage bags.

By participating in this program, you're keeping compostable material out of our landfill and contributing to the compost that is used around the resort.

If you require a restock of your compostable bin liners or bins please contact us at info@mthotham.com.au

If you’re new to Hotham and haven’t been involved in the Living Bin Program or would like further information please contact our Environmental Officer at environmental@mthotham.com.au.

Tourism Australia's National Experience Content Initiative 

Tourism Australia has launched the National Experience Content Initiative. The initiative will run until June 2022 and Tourism Australia is working closely with all State and Territory Tourism Organisations (STOs) and relevant Regional Tourism Organisations (RTOs) to select the experiences.

Tourism Australia has established a comprehensive eligibility criteria and the experiences chosen will demonstrate the uniqueness and diversity of experiences on offer across the region.

Experiences will need to:

• Align to Tourism Australia’s brand pillars of natural beauty, food and drink, wildlife and culture,
• Demonstrate a commitment to sustainability,
• Be trade ready,
• Have an up-to-date ATDW listing, and
• Have a COVID Safe plan.

For more information on how to get involved please contact Sophie Treasure (who looks after VIC, SA, TAS and WA).

Events

Sat 3 April: Free guided walks at Hotham. One day only - choose from three walks.

Sun 4 April: Wine and Cheese Matching Masterclass at Alpine Nature Experience. Join Jean-Francois on a gastronomic journey across the world of cheese and wine.

Sat 17 Apr: Alpine Challenge. Take your pick of whatever distance and type of running you prefer, but don't miss out on this tough event.

24-25 Apr: Arrabri Advanced 4WD Weekend. Spend a weekend with other 4WD enthusiasts and discover some of the best 4 wheel drive tracks Hotham has to offer.

8-9 May: Arrabri Novice 4WD Weekend. Spend the weekend exploring the seasonal road tracks - the views will take your breath away!