On a previous visit I had been to the lovely Victorian town of Beechworth. In recently years it had been affected by the natural disasters of Australia and had suffered quite badly. I was therefore curious to see if Beechworth had lost its former charm. I hoped it hadn't.
On the way to Beechworth we stopped at a lovely, previously unvisited town of Bright. Oh what a delight!
Bright
Bright is situated in north east Victoria, on the edge of the Ovens Valley. We arrived here mid afternoon and took a couple of hours to explore the town and I simply knew that this little town, with a population of around 3,000 people will be on our list to be visited again. There was a lovely friendly, quirky feel to the town. They had a Christmas shop, open already in October! They also had a lovely Quilt shop and I simply had to buy a couple of pieces to bring home.
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| A town shot of Bright |
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| The Christmas Shop - despite being mid October! |
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| Bright War Memorial |
Beechworth
Again situated in the north east of Victoria with a population of around 3,000. Famous for being host to Ned Kelly who spent time at the Goal there and for it's location and influx of inhabitants during the gold rush in the 1850s.
We stayed at this lovely motel. This is the view of our room from the patio to the small car park. It was lovely and green and those trees's gave shelter to numerous birds who gave us a welcome good morning chorus!
We had had dinner at the pub next door and lucky just managed to get our order in before a coach of other tourists arrived. Our table was situated next to this lovely wall hanging, depicting the various scenes linked to Ned Kelly.
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| Kelly Women Quilt made in 2006 |
In the morning we had a light breakfast at the famous Beechworth Bakery. The had a lovely walk through the town stopping fairly frequently to look at the shops, buildings and historical references.
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| Beechworth Post Office |
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| Street scene at Beechworth |
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| One of the many Ned Kelly replicas |
We had a lovely few days in this region and this was certainly one of our highlights of our trip.
Taking part in the A-Z April Challenge
Hello, Julie! I love the name Beechworth! I'd want to visit it based on the charming name. It looks like you had a wonderful time!
ReplyDeleteHappy A to Z-ing! from Laura Marcella @ Wavy Lines
Thanks for stopping by. We had a great time and the 5 weeks flew by far too quickly!
DeleteWonderful pictures. Thank you for retelling your trip to visit these two cities.
ReplyDelete:) Australia is high on my list of places to visit someday! I will look forward to the rest of your posts!
ReplyDeleteHappy A-Z,
AJ Lauer
#atozchallenge helper minion
Twitter: @ayjaylauer
Lovely photos. Thanks for stopping by my blog. Isn't the A-Z Challenge great?!
ReplyDeleteGenWestUK
Absolutely it is Ros, there was more genealogy in last year's Australia A-Z!
DeleteWouldn't you just want to live in a place called Bright :-)
ReplyDeleteDeclan
http://humesofsaffronhill.blogspot.co.uk/
Hi Julie it's great to see you again! It is my dream to someday travel the world and Australia and Europe are way up there on my list of must visit places. Your photos are very beautiful and I couldn't help but notice the "Kelly" name as it is also my maiden name! My sister who blogs at Oak Lawn Images (http://oaklawnimages.blogspot.com) is also, like you, a photographer as well as the genealogical go to person in our family.
ReplyDeleteI am so happy to have caught up with you again via the A-Z Challenge, we actually have similar themes and I look forward to living my Austrlian road trip, vicariously through you!
Monica at Older Mommy Still Yummy
Thanks Monica. I will stop by your sister's blog, just as soon as I have commented on a few more A-Z blogs!
DeleteThat whole countryside is just gorgeous isn't it? We stayed in a delightful B&B in Bright. I'm trying to remember if it was Beechworth we visited donkey's years ago...if not we'll be adding it to the touring list.
ReplyDeleteIt is Pauleen. The road takes you along the Ovens River and then there is the parkland area, whose name does not appear on my easy to reach map. Being that close to a river was torment for poor hubby who would have loved to fish!
DeleteI am a year away from having my degree and plan to travel as soon as I get it. Australia is right at the top pf my list.
ReplyDeleteDropping by from A to Z. First year participating.
Brett Minor
Transformed Nonconformist
I was in my early 20s. I had just qualified and after a year set off for Australia for a year. I never regretted it and that was certainly a catalyst for a whole series of events in my life. You will have a great time I am sure.
DeleteI think my favorite photo is the post office. Good luck with the challenge! I participated last year and had a blast!
ReplyDeleteDonna L Martin
www.donasdays.blogspot.com
It is a lovely building isn't it. We took a few other photos of the street scenes and the one thing that all makes me smile when I first arrive into Australia is the width of the streets - wider than in the UK and I always feel like I have arrived!
DeleteGreat post Julie. I've been through Bright on the way to a school camp years ago. Both Bright and Beechworth are on my must-visit-someday list :)
ReplyDeleteDefintely well worth it Allin. Beechworth had not lost it's charm, but since the natural disasters affecting the area the locality has taken advantage of it's charm and are exploiting it more.
DeleteYour photos are beautiful! I've never been to Australia but this makes me want to get on a plane straight away!
ReplyDelete(Grover at Inane Ramblings)
Thank you! - Absolutely...get on that plane!
ReplyDeleteI love the towns in Victoria - did you get to smell any of the old fashioned roses on your travels? They seem to abound in front gardens.
ReplyDelete