A Country Break

What a lovely break we had in the Victorian Alps. We made our base in the historic gold town of Beechworth. We had never been there before and found that it was very pretty, with lots of lovely shops to wander through. I found a fantastic shop that was based around lovely garden accessories and vintage French linen that was to die for. I am already planning what I can do with some of the fabric. Oh! I also visited every op shop I could find.

We didn't take much food with us, as I wanted to buy the local produce. We were able to taste most of the goodies before we purchased, so we tried various types of honey, cheese, mustard, olives, jams and sauces. YUM!! I even bought eggs from the side of the road with an honesty tin for the money. I just love that.

We camped in a valley with a creek running through it and we found koala's, possum's and rabbit's, the girls were delighted. We took the kids bikes and when we weren't out exploring, they were up and riding around, they couldn't wait to get dressed in the morning, they'd be off on their bikes in their jami's. They don't get that kind of freedom back home in the city, it was wonderful for them and for us, as we were able to relax and catch up on some reading.

We went up Mt Buffalo and could see snow still on the surrounding mountains and to our delight found that there was just enough for us to play in when we got to the top.

In the evenings we would sit huddled around the camp fire, toasting marshmellow's, then crawl exhausted to bed by 9pm. Most mornings we would find that there was frost on the tent and if anything was left out it would be frozen, we were told that some of the nights the temperature dropped to zero. Brrrrr!! Thank goodness we had lots of warm things.

So we have returned home, feeling a lot happier, well rested, but I am looking forward to snuggling into my own bed. It's nice to go away, but it's nice to be back with some mod cons.

A massive pink rhododendron tree.

Nine years ago when we were in Nepal, Andy picked the flowers for me from one of these trees when he proposed to me, so they have a special meaning for us.

Beautiful red rhododendron's

A very tired little girl at the end of a 6 klm rail trail ride.