We headed to Bright for a few days and stayed at Bright Riverside Caravan Park, a beautiful spot right next to the Ovens River and a 5 minute walk across a foot bridge to the town centre. We had hoped to watch our friend paragliding from Mystic Mountain but a few cracked bones made him land bound. Hopefully next time we will get to see him in full flight.

The town of Bright is well known for its close proximity to the snow fields, making it very popular in winter. In Autumn the country side is a stunning pallet of colours and there are lots of food and wine festivals, which is when we were last here. However visiting in Spring has shown just how versatile Bright is as a country town. The town is very bicycle friendly with rail trails connecting it to neighboring towns. It has lots of cafes, local produce stores, a brewery, a small cinema, beautiful parks with BBQ and picnic facilities, bicycle and walking paths along the river and a fantastic swimming area with a water park for children. The water level is raised upstream from the foot bridge during summer by gates attached under the bridge making it a fabulous summer holiday destination. http://www.visitbright.com.au/rivers-and-lakes. The Victorian BMW motor bike club happened to be in town for a conference which made it an even more colourful place to be.

We also visited:

Mystic MTB (Moutain Bike) Park (also where the paragliders launch from)

Brown Brothers Winery and Milawa Cheese Factory.

Yakandandah and Beechworth.

We took a shortcut from Beechworth back to Bright on some dirt roads to practice our newly aquired 4WDing skills. Note to self for next time, never trust a GPS, always take a paper map.

Until next time, Helen and Tim.