I am lucky enough to have found work this season in Mount Hotham, but have to be there before June 1st. I will fly into Melbourne on 30th May and wondered if anyone knows the best way to get up to the mountain?

I know there are buses that run during the season but before the lifts open the options seem limted.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Get the train to Wangaratta and connect with the regular (I think it's daily) Wang to Bairnsdale bus that goes right through both Hotham and Dinner Plain.

Check the VicTrip website for details, but note that many buses from Wang terminate at Bright or continue on to Mt Beauty. However you want the bus that continues on from Bright to Hotham, Omeo and Bairnsdale.

Not sure if its still running, but you could

1. Catch Vline train from Melbourne to Bairnsdale VLine

2. Bus to Omeo Bairnsdale / Omeo

3. Alps link Omeo to Hotham. Omeo / Bright bus

or I am sure you can get to Bright via Vline, then hitch to Hotham.

Gday N.S.
Get the Sky bus from Tullamarine to Southern Cross station. Vline ticket office is just inside from where you get off Sky bus. Be sure to get a Vline train from Melbs that has a Vline connection to Bright. Time tables are found on the Vline website. The 2:30pm train has no connection for example, and the next bus is not untill 9:30pm or so. You dont want to be on this bus if expecting to be at Hotham same day because you simply wont! To hitch around the N.E. can be hit and miss and its getting dark early so leave plenty of time for the hitch out of Bright. My advise is to get out of Melbs as early as you can, even stay the night in the city to catch the earliest connecting train bus combo the next morning to avoid being dealt a short straw when you get up here. The bus from Bright across to Omeo runs infrequently and is serviced by Oconnelly's and is a good way to do it pending you can hook up with the connections.

Still running, see it go over a few times each week.

Give O'connells a yell on 0428 591 377 and make sure things are running.

Melbourne - Bright _ Hotham
So you need the 7:10 train. Book here in advance from Southern Crosss to Bright. http://www.vline.com.au/home/
It will take you to Wangaratta on the train. Then you swap to the bus at Wangaratta station and that will get your to Bright at 11:15am. It will cost you about $30. From there you can make the bus up the hill at 1:15 http://www.omeobus.com.au/

If you miss the first train, you will not get up the hill that day. But if you leave Melbourne on the 31st, there are no connections on that day that will get you up there. So you may have to overnight at Bright.

Melbourne - Bairnsdale - Hotham
Going the other way the Bairnsdale Omeo bus departs at 8am, the first train gets there from Melbourne at 11am, and the omeo Hotham bus leaves at 8:30am. So it would take you 3 days to go one side, 1 day (hopefully) on the other.
Osteraria wa, Nihonde wa, arimasen!!

Ill give you a lift if you pay for petrol

As I said above, the bus between Omeo and Bright is running. I saw it stop in the carpark at the top of Village today.