BRIGHT 09

Holiday to Bright May 2009

Day 1

Left Saturday morning at 9.30 am in slight rain. Drove through to Horsham. Then onto the Wimmera Highway to St Arnaud and to Bendigo where we booked in at 5.30 pm.
Went to dinner then back to motel to watch TV. Driven 685 km today.

Day 2
In Bendigo went to look at the town, the Pall Mall and Botanic Gardens.
Left at 10 am and went to Benalla to see the Ceramic mural, then at McDonalds we used their free wi-fi to check emails. Drove to Shepparton where there is a Moooving exhibition of cows, about 25 painted cow statues.

Then took the Great Alpine Road to Bright in glorious weather with blue skies, arrived at 2.30pm and booked in.
Looked around the town, our unit is right in the centre of Bright and all facilities are there including 13 restaurants in walking distance.

Had dinner at Subway, it is getting quite cold here in the evening. Overnight expect about 4C. We had the heater in the lounge on all night and also had the electric blankets on high - it's cold here! (350 Kms today.)

Day 3
Slept in nicely this morning and at 10 am left for Mt Buffalo National Park. It's a long drive up the mountain to the top of the Horn (of the buffalo).
The views are excellent and the weather is magnificent, blue skies.
Then off to Malawi for winetasting at Brown Brothers winery - bought a few dozens bottles.
After a quick lunch drove to Beechworth. This is a very nice well preserved town with nice historic buildings. Went to a plant nursery which also had coffee which was nice.

Onto Yackandandah and back home at 5pm.

Day 4
Left at 10 am with blue skies to Mt Beauty. This was a nice small town, the gateway to Falls Creek. Then continued to Falls Creek where there was nothing doing. It was just a big construction site getting ready for the snow season in 3 weeks.

Continued on the Alpine Discovery Road for a while to Wallace's hut, which is a 100 year old hut as shelter for hikers.
Back down the mountain, it's a long drive with lots of S bends and nice lookouts over the valley.

Dinner at the Alpine Hotel was very good and the place was filled with Seniors. It seems that Seniors are keeping the economy going with their travels.

Day 5
Another nice day and we take it easy. Went to the town of Wandiligong nearby to see the Chinese bridge. Later went to Myrtleford to see the Phoenix tree and Historic tree. Onto Gapsted Winery for a tasting and bought a dozen bottles.

Day 6
Left Bright at 8 am and drove through Bendigo to Horsham where we checked our emails at free wi-fi at McDonalds. Then home arrived 7 pm and have done 970 kms today to get back safely.