Dinner Plain

The ski village of Dinner Plain is situated on the Great Alpine Road in the Great Dividing Range, 12 km south-east of Mount Hotham and 42 km north-west of Omeo. The village was constructed in the late 1980s as a dormitory for Mount Hotham, where suitable land for expansion was not available.

It takes its name from the plain where, last century, the coach from Bright to Omeo used to stop for dinner. All buildings in the village are designed in an Australian alpine style based on early cattle drover's huts. Corrugated iron, timber and stone are used for the external walls, with pitched iron roofs. Buildings are limited to the height of the existing trees. There is a hotel, a visitor information centre, a supermarket, ski hire and an annexe of the Bright P-12 college. The lodges are mainly privately owned.

The protected flat plain is above the snowline but the gentle slopes only allow beginner skiing. However, it is ideal for nordic skiing and there are 16 km of trails around Dinner Plain. Shuttle buses ferry people to Mount Hotham for downhill skiing. In summer, the ski trail between Mount Hotham and Dinner Plain provides an excellent walking track of easy grade, the alpine wildflowers being a great attraction.

The Mount Hotham airport is at Horsehair Plain, east of Dinner Plain.

Dinner Plain's census populations have been:

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