8 Apr 2012 - Easter Sunday (Bright-Porepunkah-Milawa)

BRIGHT-POREPUNKAH-MILAWA

8 April:  "Wake up!  C'mon guys! Get Up!  We'll be late!" ... That was Mum in early, Sunday morning.  We checked out at 8a.m., in time for an 8:30a.m. Easter Sunday mass at Our Lady of Snow, Bright.  There were so many people.

It was followed by a short stroll from Railway Ave to Ireland St, appreciating the beautiful colours of autumn.  At the end of it was the Bright Clock Tower.   We had a quick brekky at Edelweiss Baker -  solved with Chicken Bread roll for me/Mon and a meat pie for Justin.  To satisfy Mon's craving with chocolate that morning, we stopped by an old lolly shop to buy some sweets before going to the car park.

We drove to the direction going to Huggins Lookout.   But for some reason (wrong turn), we ended up in the direction going to Clearspot Lookout ... with amazing views of Bright and the Great Alpine Valleys.  It was good, but what we didn't expect was the 'more or less 9km-drive on unsealed road' on the way up and another on the way down.  Well, we had fun anyway.

It was time for one of Bright's most popular walks.  We had more than 1-or-2-hour walk, along Ovens River via the Canyon Walk, crossing swing bridges and learning about Bright's gold mining history.  Along the way were different bird species, small canyons carved by the Ovens river,  gorge/canyons cut/carved by the hands of the early miners, and a 'butterfly' who had been following us throughout our journey. 

We had a late lunch at 3pm, and as most of the restaurants were no longer serving lunch at 3pm, we just bought something to fill up our hungry stomachs from Fish & Chips takeaway.  
I guessed this day was a day for more lookouts and more bush walking.  We drove to Porepunkah and was aiming to reach the Apex Lookout.  The sign suggested that the road ahead was only suitable for 4WD vehicle.  Indeed, it was.  The road was not just an ordinary unsealed road.  It was rough and steep. 
At one moment, 'got scared when Mon mentioned about an indicator that popped up, something to do with the engine, while we were struggling to drive uphill.  It was not a good idea.  We found a good spot to park and later decided to just do the hard way... walking trail to Apex Lookout.  1.2 km walk (one way) according to the sign.   It was scary.  First, we were the only one.  We never saw a single walker.  Second, it was steep, with narrow path in the middle of eucalypt woodlands.  What if we saw a goanna?  Third,  we didn't see any sign, i.e. how far more?  We hope, we're able to come down before dark.  Inspite of all the worries.... we finally reached the APEX lookout!  We were the only one on top and proud that we made it.  In there was the Bright Point, offering a very good view of the city of Bright. 

We stopped over at Myrtleford,  and had some photos taken...  last glimpse of the beautiful colours of autumn in this part of Victoria.


It's Easter and we thought...  after all the walking and adventures we had, we probably deserve a fine dinner with wine.  Before heading back to Melbourne, we drove towards the Milawa Gourmet region.  And there at Lindenwarrah Hotel,  we had our Easter Family dinner.  

P.S.  We thought the trip ended at Lindenwarrah.  Not quite, on the way home to Melbourne... was Justin talking to one of his mates, and for the first time,  planning for a movie without Mum and Dad... I said to Mon... "Remember this day.  Another chapter in our unico hijo's life.... we can't really stop him from growing... a baby no more". 
That's all for us... The whole 3-day journey was a memorable experience :-)  It all happened during the 2012 Easter Weekend!!!  Happy Easter everyone!

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7 Apr 2012 Easter Weekend Getaway continues at Victoria's Great Alpine Valleys (Beechworth-Myrtleford-Mount Buffalo)

BEECHWORTH-MYRTLEFORD-MOUNT BUFFALO

7 April:  Our exciting journey to the great alpine valleys started here. We left Wangaratta and headed to Beechworth.  It was a beautiful town, the colours of autumn blended well with Beechworth's historic buildings.  


Lots of people on the road, some in costumes, celebrating the town's Golden Horseshoes Festival.  

There were old MINI cars on display, a fair, market, etc. 
There was a station where kids could touch farm animals (Mon was even more excited than those kids, I guessed, but Justin - sometimes a kill joy as he is, didn't go along with Dad's wish). 
Mon and Justin had fun riding the cha-cha.  I would probably vomit if I joined them.  We left the festival with yummy Thai paper rolls takeaway for lunch.


This is the St Andrews Uniting Church, an old Gothic Revival design of cement stucco, built in 1857.  Saw the building while walking, trying to find the old brewery and carriage museum, which happened to be closed.

After eating a light lunch from the festival, we drove on the riverside of Lake Sambell through a one way road from Albert Rd to Peach Dr.   There was nothing special so we decided to drive further down to the Golden Horseshoes Monument.

Golden Horseshoes Monument was erected in 1954 to commemorate the famous incident happened in 1855.  It was on the horse with golden shoes where the miners candidate, Donald Cameron, rode into town on polling day for the Victorian parliamentary elections.

We drove to find the Chinese Burning Towers, only to find out that they are situated inside a cemetery.  We stopped by at the place but later decided to stay in the car.  A cemetery tour, with no one around was probably not a good idea. 



We drove further up to Mt Pilot to see the Woolshed Falls.  It's spectacular and unlike the others,  we didn't have to walk a long way to reach the falls.  It's worth a visit if you're coming down to Beechworth.



Next stop was at Powder Magazine.  We wondered what it was when we first saw the sign.  Apparently, this was a heritage building, specially designed to store the gunpowder used for blasting on the goldfields.

We explored the Gorge Scenic Drive, driving along the rocky mountain terrain with spectacular views of granite valleys and at the end was the old Newtown Bridge (and falls) built in 1875 and said to be a fine example of granite structure and Scottish stone-masonry.


 We went to Myrtleford and again was lucky to have the last available room at Golden Leaf Motor Inn.  We didn't wasted anytime.  After we checked in the motel...

....the journey to Mount Buffalo's National Parks began. 
More than an hour drive, following 4 slow cars in front of us.   It was indeed worth the effort.  The  views of the great alpine valleys were simply majestic.  The drive took several lookouts along the way... There's even Lake Buffalo on top of the mountain which reminded us of  Yosemite.  The tall white branches stand out in a bed of green trees were beautiful.   We reached the Mt Buffalo plateau, but the sign told us that there were more to see after another 3 km drive of unsealed roads.  Justin was very eager and so we were. 


And there on top, breathtaking views of Australian Alps. 

We parked our car, took a few photos and continue our journey, a further 1.5 km WALK to The HORN, the summit of Mount of Buffalo.  It was such an experience.






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5-7 Apr 2012 - Easter Weekend Getaway - Glenrowan & Wangaratta (Vic, Aus)

5-April (Maundy Thursday) : Finished work around 7 p.m.   Then the three of us headed to St John the Baptist Church to hear the Lord Supper's mass at 8p.m.  It was a beautiful service with very good choices of songs.  At some point, we felt being in a retreat house. "This is my commandment - Wash each others feet as I have done to you,  Love one another as I have loved you." 

We cooked and had dinner afterwards... then packed our things for an 'early' morning drive the following day.

6-April (Good Friday) : Not quite early... Left around 9 a.m. and had our first stop over at St Patrick's Parish at Lilydale to attend the Stations of the Cross at 10am. 

It's already nearly lunch time.  We continue our journey to Wangaratta where we were planning to stay for a night.
Somewhere at Yea were two traffic policemen, one of them giving a signal to one of the cars to stop, to give way to other cars, but to our surprise, the car didn't stop and drove fast, passing over the two policemen.  One of the policemen hurriedly jumped to the car and start chasing the reckless driver... both of them soon disappeared in our sight.  We didn't know what happened next.

At Hume Freeway, we saw a sign of Glenrowan, said to be the Ned Kelly's last stand.  Got curious, so, we turned off to see what's in there.   It's a small, quiet town with a big statue of Ned Kelly, the infamous bushranger.  Had a walk then decided to see the animated theatre of Ned Kelly's final moments. We thought it's a bit scary for young kids but a bit boring for adults.  (Writer's  thoughts - What made him so famous?  I don't really understand why the name and memory of a criminal has to live to this date like a hero.)

the view from room 10

Glad we made it at 3p.m.-Good-Friday-service at St Patrick Church at Wangaratta.  It's two-St-Patrick churches for us in a day.   It was a solemn mass, followed by the Veneration of the Cross ("Behold the Wood of the Cross").  It was already nearly 5p.m.  This time, our wish was to be able to find a place to stay for a night.  I guessed, we were lucky.  There was only one room left available when we arrived at Parkview Motor Inn  and the room was overlooking Merriwa Park. 



6-Apr- This photo was taken
at Wangaratta, along Parfitt Rd
towards Apex Park

The three of us had a picnic (early dinner) at Merriwa Park.  It is a sunken natural park with sports, bbq facilities and playground.  Merriwa means rich flat ground at the bend of the river and the place was said to be the old meeting place of the Pangerang Aboriginal tribe.

We drove to Myrtleford just to look around but it was already dark and didn't see much. 


7-April:  We woke up early and did a bit of driving and walking around Wangaratta.  Maybe not a very exciting place to visit but since we're already here, we might as well look around.   

The Holy Trinity Cathedral - it is an old Anglican cathedral, one of the oldest building in Wangaratta, built from granite coming from the nearby Warby ranges.




Railway Station of Wangaratta, opened in 1873.

Memorial Garden ( next to the Holy Trinity Cathedral ). It contains two war basalt memorials. The first commemorating the four local soldiers killed in the Boer War and a declaration of peace at Pretoria. lt bears the names of Borough and Wangaratta shire residents who were killed in the two World Wars as well as the Vietnam War. 

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22-31 Aug 2011 - Tita Irene's Visit - Melbourne Day Trips

Monday 22 August.  Mon rang me around lunch time saying that Tita I will be coming over for a week.  Oops.. we're already booked to watch Rock of Ages on Sunday.   I had to call 'Bunso' immediately to ask if there's still available seat next to us.  Good thing, there's one more available. 


The challenge was, she's already been to Melbourne, Great Ocean Road, been to snow at Mt Buller, and Phillip Island.  With our current workload and school holiday coming, interstate trip was also impossible...  Where else could we take her.


Well, it's not too bad after all... it's mostly food trip and a bit of nature.


On her first night, we had dinner at Grande Vorno Bistro.  One of our fave resto along Warrigal Road, Ashburton...  woodfire pizza, risotto and pasta.. yum!

On Wednesday, 24 August, we took her to the largest drive-in theatre in Australia, at the Lunar Drive-in, South Gippsland Highway Dandenong.  We thought that the place was something different.  It was her first time to watch a movie at the comfort of her blanket inside the car...  

though not sure if she was satisfied with the ending of the movie - Rise of the Planet of the Apes.  We're solved with burgers, sausage and chips for dinner.

After the movie, 'had a dessert at the newly opened 'Pancake Parlour Restaurant'  along Warrigal Road, close to Chaddy.

Thursday, 25 August, was Costco time.  Tita Irene and Justin met at Flinders St station.  Justin gave Tita I a tour around cityloop up to Parliament station where they were supposed to meet me... I was in the meeting and so Justin took Tita I at Myers along Bourke St, where I met them later on.  We hopped on a city circle tram going to Docklands.. and there at Costco, we did a bit of shopping of household stuffs plus some lollies and chocs for Tita I.  Later on, we drove to Hogs Breath-Warrigal and had steak for dinner.

Friday, 26 August.   Ramon and I took a day off from work.  After sending Justin to school, we had a quick  breakfast and start the day tour...





Maroondah Reservoir Dam and Park, Healesville.  It is a small reservoir that supplies water to Melbourne Victoria.  The 'English syle' garden, spectacular views of the mountains and reservoir from the dam wall pathway,  the native bush and spillway are just some of the good things about this place.

 

Skyhigh Mount Dandenong.  On top of Mount Dandenong with stunning views of the Greater Melbourne.  Also featuring the most-photographed Giant's Chair.  We walked around, then had lunch at the Skyhigh Bistro and Restaurant.   





Toorongo Falls Reserve at Noojee, Gippsland.  We crossed the bridge over the Toorongo River...  then kept on wandering, bush-walking up hill along the circuit walking track that leads to the  viewing platform of Toorongo Falls.  Had been there three times and we wouldn't mind coming back again.  The falls was such a beauty.   After taking a few photos, we followed the track... going to Ampitheatre Falls.

Noojee is just a few kilometers away from Baw Baw Alpine Village.  We did attempt to go there but later decided to back out after seeing a sign that a chain is required at all times.  We didn't have one at the car at that time.  We headed home and stopped at Neerim for another photo of Tita I, overlooking one of the 'Victoria's Black Saturday's impacted places. 

(Thanks to Tito Lorenz for taking Justin to swimming and looking after him until we arrived).  We picked them up at the Chocolate Factory, then drove to Chaddy to wait for Tita Jac.  Justin impressed Tita I and gave her a tour towards the Northeast wing of Chaddy, where LV, Prada, Gucci, etc can be found.  It was a long Friday.  The tour ended after a sumptuous dinner at the The Grand Tofu at The Glen with D'Robles.

Saturday, 27 August.  Justin's piano lesson in the morning and AMEB Piano exam in the afternoon...  After this, we didn't waste a minute while the sun was still up.

Brighton Beach.  In the upmarket suburb of Brighton are the famous and very colourful beach huts/sheds.  We walked and took a few photos.

Frankston Beach.  Justin was already a bit grumpy, so, we had an early dinner at Sofia's Restaurant at Frankston Beach.  It was a beautiful evening.

Sunday, 28 August.  We (with Tita I) went to Sunday mass, then met with D'Robles.  Sunday! It's party time! Yeah!  At the city, had a quick lunch at Maccas.. then walked down to Comedy Theatre where we watched 'The Rock of Ages'.  I hope the show didn't completely corrupt Justin's mind!        

Not completely satisfied with 'The Rock of Ages', it was 'Dance till you Drop' at Kish-Kish's Birthday Party.  I guessed, there was this other side of Mon, that Tita I discovered.  Likewise, we didn't know that Tita I was really good in line dancing. 

Monday, 29 August. We watched Justin playing piano at the assembly.  Meantime, Tita I decided to stay until Wednesday.  She and Justin went for a bike ride after school and had fun playing WII - Mario and Just Dance.

Tuesday, 30 August.  Tita I went to the city all by herself.  I think it was an adventure for her... She stopped at Flinders Station, walked her way, 'supposed to be' to Mon's office, but found herself back to Flinder's station again after a few minutes of walking.  Mon came to the rescue and just picked her up.   D'Robles and D'Pontillases joined us for dinner at home to meet Tita I. 

Wednesday, 31 August. It was Tita I's last night at Beacon.  We had 'All You Can Eat' dinner at Kitchen's Workshop, Southbank.  Then, enjoy the night walking along the Crown Metropol and the southern bank of the Yarra River. 

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