1) The view from the top of the Tawonga Gap 2) M&M think of their upcoming feast at Beechworth's Provenance

3) The view from my side of the bed at Aalborg 4) Lake Sambell in Beechworth - I didn't even know they had a lake
M&M's Bright holiday a treat despite local flooding
10.10.16 - Hearing that there was flooding predicted for Bright the same day as we left for our consolation* holiday in Bright wasn't exactly reassuring, but we headed off in M's Poodle with high hopes. We'd decided to take the lesser travelled route via Yea as we've had a gut-full of the Hume on our frequent trips to and from Canberra in the last year or so. We had to detour around Yea as it turned out, but we made a special trip back to see it, surrounded as it was by flood waters. We saw the bus stop.
We made another more productive detour to the Milawa Cheese Company's Cheese Factory where M bought some very interesting looking cheeses, which is when we heard that the road to Bright through Myrtleford might be cut. We stayed in touch with Vic Roads (a good tip to give them a call when there's flooding) and decided to give it a try - and made it through OK despite some minor flooding and trees across the road in the procees of being removed by SES guys .
The accomm. in Bright was everything we could've wanted, with brilliant views of the mountains though the large picture windows (pic 3) and an enormous bed that could've easily held Bob, Ted, Carol and Alice as well as us AND a fab. bathroom with a very inviting-looking large bath.
We decided to eat at Simone's that night, a reputedly authentic Italian-style restaurant in Bright that we'd heard a lot about, and while the meal started off well enough, the mains were much too long in coming and neither of us could finish our plates when they finally arrived - and it wasn't just that they were more than we could handle. Disappointing.
The next day we breakfasted at FWF, (Food, Wine, Friends) an unpretentious Bright eatery that made the best pot of English Breakfast tea I have ever had with generous slices of home-made sour dough toast and tangy marmalade to die for.
We dithered over whether to risk going to Beechworth with the route via Myrtleford being impassable due to flooding and, while the cafe owner had given us some good hints we decided to go to the local cop shop for some more local knowledge. The cop in residence rather endearingly referred to us as 'good folk' but the best advice he could give us was to stay in touch with Vic Roads and endorsed the advice to try the Tawonga Gap to Mt Beauty to get to Beechwoth.
So we did. Despite stopping off in Yackandandah and eating a home-made pie on the verandah, we still managed to arrive in Beechworth about three hours early for our 6.30 booking at Provenance, a restaurant we had high hopes for, it being an Age Good Food Guide two hat restaurant and all.
So we buggered listlessly around Beechworth for the next three hours, which was actually quite fun as neither of us had been there before. Unfortunately about half the shops were shut, directly or indirectly due to the floods, but in its favour Beechworth's a pretty town and it has a lake. (pic 4) And happily a public toilet.
At last it was Provenance time and this time we were not disappointed - the food was imaginative, cooked perfectly (the chef and owner delivered our mains personally) and our waiters all attentive and helpful. M&M gave it another half hat for their trouble.
Then there was the 90 minute drive home across the mountains in the pitch black darkness, which, I might add, M did all by herself. In fact, she drove the entire two days without relief!
We drove home without obstacle the next day. I finally took the wheel for the boring Hume drive. Because our Bright adventure was such fun we decided that we must explore more of Victoria in the future. Hooray!

* Jetstar stuffed up our planned Sydney holiday