Bright

Carmen Friend
Nov 18, 2017
2 min read

Bright is one of the nicest spots we have visited. All the wee towns surrounding Bright all are all the same - large Oak or Poplar Tree avenues on the way into town - just beautiful and you can see why it must look magical in the autumn. Bright is also another town built around the gold mining era during the late 1800's.

There are stunning walking and cycling tracks, a bike park which caters for all ages especially those who are mountain bike freaks. You can also jump off the mountain in a paraglider if you so wish. The longest cycle track is from Wangaratta to Bright - 79km along the old rail trail. There are so many walking and cycling tracks that they have a full book dedicated to them - just ask at your accommodation!

We stayed in a small town Porapunkah (Punkah to the locals!) about 5km out of Bright. Cute wee place with a great wee pub which is new. Most of the towns around Bright all have the Ovens river in common. In the gold rush the river was changed to wash gold into one location. Sluces were hand cut into sections of the river in order to manage and control the flow of the gold. Along the Canyon walk this was very evident.

Mt Buffalo is also close by and well worth the drive. The change in the scenery here is again breathe taking. One minute it is a large waterfall you can see from the tree line, to areas of wild grass and then boulders sticking out of the sky line. We went up Mt Buffalo just as a storm was coming in. One minute we were in 25 degrees the next 13! The cloud quickly closed in enveloping the skyline and blocking what we had hoed would be an amazing view.

Bright certainly did not disappoint us and is on my list of places to return to during a different season. Great place for couples, groups or families. We were informed by a local that they hold 120 events each year here - one to keep an eye on.