There was definitely a morning routine developing with dog: up early and ready for morning walk with me.
After breakfast, John helped M change a tyre that had gone flat on the Troopy. Then we drove into Bright. M took the tyre in for repair – it turned out to be a worn tube, so she had to buy a new one of those.
Went to the Information Centre which was well set up and had a lot of information and things for sale – lots of browsing. John sat outside with dog. Then to the Bright Brewery. No live entertainment today, but M and John sampled the beers. I had a coffee.
Walked around the town for a while. I was looking for the Post Office, to mail a birthday card to son.
Bright had a number of interesting seeming shops. We couldn’t really go browsing in these, because of dog, but it was quite pleasant just walking around. Couey got better every time we took her around people.
Went to Woolworths. John and dog stayed in the car while M and I got various supplies.
Back to the van for a very late lunch.
Took dog for a little walk along the riverside track. Then it was time for happy hour at our van.
Ovens River at Porepunkah
Tea was soup, bacon, eggs, mushrooms, potato, tomato. That was a meal that John really enjoyed.
I had an early night. John watched TV until later. Apparently, he came back from his final trip to the bathroom, to find Couey on the bed beside me, with her head on his pillow! Fast learner that one.
Dog was up and about early, again, so I took her off walking, so John could sleep in, in peace.
After breakfast, we went off driving again, this time to Mystic Mountain, just to the south of Bright. The para gliders yesterday had intrigued John and he wanted to see where they launched from. We followed directions given in some tourist propaganda we’d picked up at the park office.
The designated minor sealed road turned into an unsealed dirt one, with lots of hairpin bends, and quite severe drops to one side. Not my favourite sort of road. At the top was a launch area – a big, cleared, pad with synthetic grass, leading to a steep drop off.
Launch area on top of Mystic Mountain
The outlook from here was pretty good. It was, after all, high up, in order for gliders to catch updrafts and currents that swirled amongst the ranges. Logging tracks in the forests were obvious. I suspected the track we’d come up had started its life as a logging track too.
Recently logged sections on mountains behind Bright
Unfortunately, also obvious were recently logged areas – a real landscape scar. Still, we need timber and if that is gained from pine plantations rather than native forests, I can cope……
Bright and the Ovens Valley from Mystic Mountain
A man arrived not long after us. He assessed the flying conditions as “marginal”. John chatted with him for a while. M and I walked further along, to look at different view angles. He didn’t launch his glider off whilst we were there. Pity – it would have been interesting to watch.
Clearly, dog did not like it when John and I were separated by some distance. She whined and complained. I presumed her pack instincts were kicking in, and she wanted said pack in one place – close!
We set off back down the “hairy” mountain, but detoured along a similar track to get to Huggins Lookout – lower down and closer to Bright.
From that Lookout, there were good views over the town.
Bright from Huggins Lookout
M and I had plans for this afternoon – to visit the Bright Brewery and listen to the live entertainment that would be on there. However, John had other ideas, having spotted the bowls club on our drives around town. He checked it out and discovered there was a game at 1pm today. So, after a quick lunch, he was away.
M and I went walking. Just along from the caravan park there was a little suspension bridge across the river. We took that – Couey wasn’t too sure about it at first, but trusted us, in the end. We intersected with the Rail Trail and followed that, towards Bright, as far as the 3km marker, past the pretty golf club. Then we backtracked to Porepunkah village. At the Rail Trail Cafe, we sat and had coffees. Couey had a bowl of water. I like places that think of dogs.
From there, we crossed on an old bridge, now pedestrian only, and followed the riverside track back to the park. It was a very pleasant, reasonably long walk that I thoroughly enjoyed.
When we got back, John was home from bowls, which had finished unusually early. He’d enjoyed himself and played well. Those two facts were probably linked!
We sat round chatting for the rest of the afternoon, talking about what we might do, after here. The original idea was – if the dog behaved acceptably – to mooch west along the Murray, until we felt it was time to go home. M might then head further on by herself – maybe up to Birdsville. Rutherglen was an attractive first place by the Murray to base ourselves for a few days, M and I thought.
Now, John had the idea that he would like to go and stay at Beechworth for a few days, from Friday next. That would be pleasant enough.
Several years ago, John met a fellow traveller namesake in the remote reaches of the Kimberley. That John hailed from these parts, having grown up in Beechworth, where my John’s parents hailed from, and was some sort of cousin. We had kept in touch. They now lived at Cheshunt. My John wanted to meet up again, to discuss some family history stuff that daughter had told him about. Hence the Beechworth idea. He couldn’t seem to grasp that Cheshunt is actually a considerable distance from Beechworth!
Had soup for tea, and the pasta I’d bought yesterday. I made a tomato and caper sauce to go with it – very nice.
After tea, while watching TV, John ate a lot of the walnuts bought yesterday. I am not sure of the limit of how many walnuts are good for people and how many are too many?
The dog woke up just before 7am. John had not tied her to the table leg, so she bounced up to us and onto the bed, doing that “Aren’t you glad to see me?” act. I got up and gave her breakfast and took her for a walk; dog might be a morning creature, but John isn’t. We walked for about half an hour along a trail beside the Ovens River – very pretty. Dog stayed firmly on the lead as I didn’t want to risk her running off in an unfamiliar area.
When we got back, I made a coffee and sat outside. Couey seemed content to be tethered to the van – as long as I was in reach. She surveyed the caravan park activity around us, with interest, but quite calmly. Very encouraging. M appeared, and that did elicit some excitement; she and dog are already firm friends.
Eventually John got going. After breakfast, we walked along the riverside track to the Porepunkah shops, where I bought a paper. On the way back, I stopped at the site of a couple I “knew” from a caravanning forum site – had known they were camped here for a period of weeks. Made myself known to them. It was nice to finally meet up in person and we chatted briefly.
Porepunkah-Bright area (Google)
The townships of Bright and Porepunkah, only a few kms apart, are located beside the Ovens River, in a valley surrounded by ranges. In this part of the State, settlements and farms follow the little creek and river valleys. The surrounding hillsides are covered by a mix of native forest and plantation pine trees.
The annual Nut Festival was happening this weekend, at Wandiligong, so we drove there. “Wandi” is an interesting, historic village, the location of a minor gold rush back in the 1860’s. This has left its legacy in old buildings and other structures associated with those times. These days there are orchards in the valley, and chestnuts, walnuts and hazelnuts flourish.
We found lots of cars parked in the narrow main street. Figuring they knew what to do, we parked also, and followed a small stream of people walking, eventually getting to the park where the events were – and where there was lots of parking available! How do these herd movements start?
The festival was fairly small and rather disappointing. There were some produce and nut stalls, some food, some live entertainment. Half an hour saw us having been right round the stalls and with really nothing else to do there. One of us had to hold the dog, on her lead, and that really wasn’t conducive to browsing. But she behaved quite well, rather bewildered and a bit scared by all the people – and other dogs.
I bought a kilo of walnuts, in shells, and some home made pasta. John bought a chorizo sausage for his dinner tonight.
On the way back from Wandiligong, we stopped for a few minutes on the roadside, to watch para gliders landing in the adjacent paddock. The area is a centre for this sport, and hang gliding too. The idea of jumping from a great height in the hope of defying the laws of gravity, definitely held no appeal for me.
Went to a supermarket to buy a cask of water, as I’d found the tap supply very heavily chlorinated. There are few things worse than chlorinated coffee. As this was to be a relatively short trip, John had not bothered to refresh the van’s tank water. Bought some ciabatta rolls too.
The autumn colours in the district were wonderful, as was the crisp, fresh, air.
It was back to the van for a late lunch, after which we sat round reading the paper.
I’d asked the acquaintance couple to our camp for happy hour. M was there too. It was pleasant chatting to them about our respective travels, although it got rather chilly sitting outside, which put a natural end to proceedings.
Tea was soup, followed by sausages in bread rolls. I had a couple of lamb and rosemary sausages, from the freezer, John had the one he bought earlier.
John watched football on TV. I intended to read, in bed, but quickly fell asleep, despite the TV noise.
This Adventurous Age 