Friday Five: Victorian Alpine weekend

Last weekend we went to the Victorian Alps area for a few days and had a great time. Here are the edited highlights.

5 Highlights of the Easter weekend:

Happy and hoppy at Bridge Road Brewers

1. Two breweries and a winery - Bridge Road Brewers at Beechworth and Bright Brewery at Bright (oddly enough) both craft some excellent brews. My favourites were the Bling IPA from the former and the Razor Witbier from the latter. Bridge Road has a particularly pleasant ambiance and is tucked down a side alleyway, opening into a sun-drenched courtyard.

   

   Amulet Winery, with sheep

   Amulet winery makes sensational sparkling tipples from prosecco and moscato to Beechworth cider. They host a Highland Games next weekend, which apparently involves lots of fun, booze and caber tossing.

   

   Squeezing through boulders at Chalwell Galleries
2. Mt Buffalo - we went for a walk/run around this brilliant lump of rock that opens out into a massive plateau. There is a part of the track which squeezes between massive boulders, called Chalwell Galleries.

   

   The Horn, Mt Buffalo National Park

   The highest peak on the plateau is called The Horn, which is a cue for much giggling and striking views. 
   
   

   

   Beechworth town centre during the Golden Horseshoes Festival
3. Beechworth - the beautiful little town (population 2,645) is reminiscent of Arrowtown with its Easter Festival, including 'biggest crowd for the smallest parade in Australia' and the deciduous trees turning fabulous colours in the crisp autumn climate.








The heritage - the area is famed for its goldrush history (gold was discovered here in 1952); its links to Robert O'Hara Burke (leader of the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition) ; and Ned Kelly connections - the notorious bushranger was imprisoned here and tried at the courthouse.





A number of culturally significant buildings line the main street and a cute little museum is full of information about all of these disparate of history.





Warning: Here Be Hippies





Shopping - Him Outdoors likes to talk to strangers and, as we pottered about the shops, cafes, museums and galleries of the district he chatted to everyone including talking to the ladies at the museum about the possibility of reinstigating a famous wheelbarrow race, and the bloke in the Trade Aid shop about the necessity and humanity of a national pensions scheme. For the record, we bought cycling gear, brewery merchandise, poncy soap, licorice root (for the beer), and lots of food and drink.

Him Outdoors with a Ned Kelly pie