traveling Beauty Autumn
Everyone has different views on travel, and personally, I think it’s the most beneficial way to learn about a certain place or area. This brings me to introduce you to my experience when I visited the beautiful countryside of Victoria, Australia. In Autumn of 2024, I traveled to a place named Bright with my parents, and it was extremely breathtaking. The way the trees swayed in the cool breeze and the way everyone seemed content with living there made me realise how travel can positively impact someone, which brings me to my first point of why travel is so important.
Travel is important for those who want to learn about new places by themselves and not using some information found in a YouTube video. When you travel, you can get to experience wonderful sights and possibilities that others have experienced and rave about. With traveling, the world seems like a much brighter (No pun intended, I swear) place with so many once-in-a-lifetime opportunities!
For me, Bright is a beautiful town with so much greenery and stunning views. The red, orange, yellow trees lined up against the road were beautiful and made me appreciate Victoria’s natural beauty.
Taking a break from the bustling city of Melbourne and enjoying the quiet life Bright had to offer was very calming and refreshing, considering how much work my parents had and how much schoolwork I had. I say Bright has to be my favourite place I’ve traveled to far in the state of Victoria, Australia. Yes, I love my hometown, Melbourne, but Bright had a certain charm that attracted me towards it, which is why I adore it so much and would do anything to go there again if it weren’t a three- to four-hour drive away. Visiting Bright made me think that Victoria is so much more than its four main cities: Melbourne, Geelong, Ballarat, and Bendigo.
But, enough chit-chat. Time for me to share my experience and thoughts when I traveled to Bright.
Bright
I sat in the car, with a cheeky smile on my face. I couldn’t believe it! I was actually going to Bright! I was so excited because I’ve been planning what to do in Bright forever, and now I actually get to do it.
If you don’t know what or where Bright is, it’s a small town located in the north-eastern side of Victoria, Australia, and a 3 and a half-hour drive from Melbourne. Bright is known for its beautiful autumn colours and its autumn festival from the 26th of April to the 5th of May every year. Bright is surrounded by beautiful mountains, and it’s the best place to visit if you like getting close to nature.
My parents said that the last time we’ve been to Bright was in 2015 or 2016 for my dad’s birthday. I just couldn’t wait to test my new camera my mum and dad had gotten me for my birthday. I fell asleep for like an hour because I had to wake up very early so we could leave at around 8 o’clock. My mum was gushing about how pretty Bright was in autumn. I then went into daydreaming mode to think about all the possibilities Bright has in store.
Thursday 25th April 2024 (ANZAC Day)
The car slowly parked on the side of the road because we were at our first destination: Feathertop Winery! When I stepped out of the car, I actually pinched myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming because the trees were absolutely gorgeous! They were red, yellow, burgundy, orange, and super tall. I stood there, with my jaw practically ten feet below the ground. I decided to get a move on, so I joined my parents, and we took some photos of each other. My mum and dad couldn’t actually taste any wine, though, because I’m pretty sure you had to book a wine-tasting appointment. We couldn’t even go into the building as it was private access only. But I did get to see some newly grown grape trees.
After Feathertop Winery, we decided to get checked into our hotel as check-in was at 2 p.m. Once we entered the hotel room, I was in shock! It was actually really simple. And when I say that, I mean in a good way. The room was painted in a sage green-ish colour. Now, I don’t like the colour green, but I was actually really happy with our room. There was a double bed with a green velvety blanket and a single bed with another one of the same blanket. In front of the single bed, there stood a table for two, but since there were three of us, my mum sat on the single bed. There was also a small television right in front of the double bed. After we checked in, we realised we were actually pretty hungry, so we decided to go to lunch at a nearby restaurant. When we left out the back door, my dad had made a terrible discovery… we got locked out of our hotel room!
I was very frantic, but I was only showing it on the inside of my body as there was another lady in the room next to us enjoying her lunch. After we realised that was no way to get into the room, we decided the front door was the way to go. But apparently not. My mum, my dad, and I all tried to unlock the front door. You know the chains that hotels have on the front door to keep intruders out? That was in the slot! We eventually called the manager, and he decided to pick-lock the back door with a… hanger? I was sceptical, but it actually worked, and we all happily went to lunch knowing that was just a not-so-happy accident!
We decided to have lunch at the most amazing restaurant ever! It was called Bright Brewery, and it was actually really good. As it was a brewery, they only had alcohol, and I was too young for it, so I decided water was the only way to go. We (as in my dad because my mum and I were clueless about the menu) ordered a spicy red onion and sausage pizza and a not-so-spicy sausage and fennel pizza. My personal favourite was the spicy red onion one because I love spicy stuff, red onions, and sausage. So for me, it was the best of all three worlds combined!
Friday 26th April 2024
We checked out of our hotel room. We then went for a little drive to Mount Beauty! It was absolutely stunning and just covered in trees. Mount Beauty had a town near it, so we decided to check that out. It was as pretty as the mountain itself! It was around 1 p.m. so we went to a nearby café and had lunch there. We got some vegetable and meat pies with two coffees. After lunch, we took some photos of the area, and it was so amazing I don’t even have words for it! There was just some very quiet countryside. I found a fountain, and it was so peaceful. We decided to take some photos in front and of the fountain. We then had to check into our hotel, which was around 35 minutes’ drive away from Mount Beauty.
Our next hotel was very big! Our room was located on the second floor, so taking the luggage upstairs was a big pain. We then got changed and relaxed in our room. I told my friends about the wonderful Bright, and they were so jealous as I was skipping school for that! Around 5 p.m., we went and explored the town. We found the cutest little Christmas shop across the street from our hotel. In Australia, Christmas is during summer, and it’s very cold in July, so we have a little thing called: Christmas in July!
We were walking around the town for so long we lost track of time, and when I looked at my watch, it was 7 p.m.! We had been exploring the town for a whole two hours. Non-stop walking for two hours. My dad saw a Chinese restaurant and decided we should have Chinese takeout for dinner. I liked that idea, so we did have takeout. It was extremely delicious! We then went to sleep because we had to wake up very early for our sign-out of the hotel.
Saturday 27th April 2024
I woke up absolutely shivering even though I was wearing fleece-lined socks and full pajamas. It was around 6:45 a.m. and it was four degrees out. I eventually woke up at 8 a.m. and decided to have some breakfast, which was just a sandwich. My dad and I sat on the bed in front of the window, and while I was in the middle of talking to him, another boy, probably around 5 years old, came up to the window and waved at us! I waved back, and he just ran off.
It was around 9:55 a.m. when we realised we needed to get a move on, so we quickly got dressed, packed our bags, and left for another town called Myrtleford. We had brunch at a bakery because it was around 11 a.m. For the night, after we reached home, we bought some drinks at a shop called BWS. We then went to another town around 36 minutes’ drive away. It was called Wangaratta (it is an Aboriginal name). We decided to have lunch there (‘there’ as in a kebab house my dad parked a street away from). When we finished, we finally left for Melbourne! I was so excited I barely slept during the car ride (it was almost a 4-hour drive, and I am very carsick!).
When we got back home, it was 5 p.m. We then changed and we relaxed for a while. At around 7:30 p.m., we ate our leftover kebab lunch for dinner as we hadn’t been able to finish it. We then went to sleep as I had something in the morning on Sunday, the next day.
Estimated budget:
Bright wasn’t exactly expensive but for you, I’ll tell you how much it is. For the stay, it was 3 nights at the Alpine Hotel. The stay was around AUD $33 per night which would, for 3 nights, total up to around AUD $100. For food, my parents and I visited Bright Brewery (as mentioned before). Lunch wasn’t very expensive and neither was the price of what we ordered. The pizzas were around AUD $25 each which would be, for 2 pizzas, AUD $50 which backs up my statement because AUD $50 for 2 large pizzas which actually tasted like pizzas isn’t that expensive. When totalling that as an approximate, it would be around AUD $150 for the whole trip, excluding the extra kebab house we went to on the third day.
If you would like to go to Bright, I suggest visiting Sovereign Hill in Ballarat, Victoria. Sovereign Hill is after the Gold Rush of Australia when the British colonised it. You can go down and explore the mines and learn about the history of the Gold Rush and how they found the gold. Here, you can do gold panning, go bowling, have a confectionery demonstration and even see Redcoat soldiers! You can explore their Gold Rush collections and even book a tour to see around!
Thank you for reading my adventures in Bright. It has been an honour to share with you my travels and being able to tell you about what Bright has to offer. I really hope you enjoyed learning about it and maybe, just maybe, you might get to visit it one day yourself. And if you do, you have this to guide you!
By: Isha Chitnis
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