The town of Bright.
Crystal Brook Falls.
The walls of the Gorge.
A part of the Cathedral Saddle at the summit.
An Australian snowman - who knew?
Saturday,
August 27th
I
got up early and decided to drive north to the town of Bright. I had
heard lots of good things about Bright and the surrounding area. It
is up near Beechworth and when I went there with Graham and Tess I
thought we were going to visit Bright but we didn't. Anyway, it is on
the Great Alpine Road and one of the touristy towns in the Victoria
ski areas.
The
main part of the drive was north-east on the Hume Freeway until just
before Beechworth. Then a right turn onto the Great Alpine Road. I
had pre-booked a motel just outside of Mt. Buffalo National Park. I
arrived about one, checked into the motel and then drove to the town
of Bright where I had lunch and looked around this very touristy town
for a bit. It's touristy in the winter, because it is one of the few
areas in Australia where Australians can see snow and go skiing.
Then
I drove back to the motel, (which is actually in a small hamlet
called Porepunkah) and the
entrance to Mt. Buffalo National Park. There is a road that goes 35km
up the mountain and deep into the park. There were several great
views of the mountain and a couple of waterfalls. One, Crystal Brook
Falls, appears to be falling right off the top of the mountain and
falls 300m to the valley below. The end of the road is at the Gorge
where there are rocks walls rising 300-400 metres from the valley
below and the views are stunning. There is a heritage walk here where
you can see the original 100 year old chalet which was meant to rival
the railway hotels of the American and Canadian west but was built
out of wood instead of stone as originally planned and to learn about
the original family that settled up here and led guided trips up the
mountain for years. There is also a trail that leads to an overlook
of the Crystal Brook Falls from the point where it falls over the
edge. Really amazing drop. They abseil from here and as I followed
the hiking trails around the area I came across a small wooden
platform where hang gliders launch themselves off the mountain.
However, seeing this is winter there was no one doing either sport.
There
were a few small patches of snow here and there. I continued to drive
up the mountain to as near the summit as possible. It ended in an
area where there was a small gondola for taking people up a
tobogganing hill. There was more snow here, but it was patchy and the
run was closed. The temperature was only about 5 so I didn't hang
around here too long.
I
spent the whole afternoon walking around the trails before driving
back to Bright at dusk. I found a nice little restaurant for dinner
and then found the Bright Craft Brewery. The place was packed so I
went in and sampled a couple of pints. After which a returned to the
Buffalo Motel for the night.
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