Our first stop was Brown Brothers Winery in Milawa. Brown Brothers is one of Australia’s leading family-owned wine companies, with the family making wine in Victoria for over 120 years. The third and fourth generations of the family currently keep the tradition alive, and with over 60 different wines available for tasting, this stop didn't turn out to be a brief one!
While Bruce and I sampled the wine, the boys played on the
playground and challenged each other on the giant chess set. I discovered (and purchased!) some lovely
Proseco champagne in tiny little bottles, solving the problem of once opening a
standard sized bottle, having to finish it on my own!
We stayed for a picnic lunch at Milawa then continued along
the Great Alpine Way, through Myrtleford,
Bright, then on to Mt Beauty. Luckily,
before we’d gone too far past Bogong, Bruce thought to check the situation with
road closures. Snow season has only just
finished after all. As it turns out, the
Bogong High Plains Road was indeed closed, so now we had to backtrack over Mt
Beauty once again, to get to our destination of Anglers Rest.
We meandered through the picturesque hamlet of
Harrietville, before being treated to a spectacular drive through the Alps
(though we all felt a little ill with the twists and turns and ups and downs). The forests of Alpine Ash were magnificent
and a little eerie, and we couldn’t quite work out whether they’re actually dead
or just seasonally dormant!
Spectacular just the same!
The further we ascended, the further the temperature descended. By the time we got to the top we were completely engulfed by low level cloud, and it was FREEZING!
Not much of a lookout!
Just after
we passed through the Mount Hotham Alpine Resort the drive got a little hairy,
as we descended the mountain on a narrow, slippery road through rain, mist,
wind and snow. Despite
brakes that were shuddering and smoking, however, we made it safely to the
quaint little town of Omeo on the other side.
From here we ascended again towards our destination of
Anglers Rest. It took us almost an hour to drive the last winding
27 kms to our destination – a beautiful little bush camp next to the Cobungra
River. All in all it had taken us an additional
two hours to travel the extra distance due to the road closure.
Soon enough, we’d dug out all the jumpers, beanies, scarves and
blankets that we’d thought we wouldn’t need again and Jack had made us a
campfire by the river. (While it is a
little chilly here, it’s not unbearable.
We're in the Victorian Alps and it’s still not as cold here as it was in
Queensland. Who would have thought?)
We enjoyed an old fashioned meal of bangers and mash
followed by an evening of song and marshmallows by the camp fire. Bliss.
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