The Cube

Both Bright and Beechworth are towns in North East Victoria, about 3.5 hours drive away. Bright is a known base in winter when skiiers flock to Mount Hotham (a popular ski resort) or to explore the peaks of Mount Buffalo National Park. In autumn, both towns puts up beautiful autumn colours. 

I was there in summer, however, merely because of the annual mandatory time off. This year, it is a good 3 weeks. The initial plan was to fly to Perth again and join sis for camping but as we all know how things are these 2 years, it didn't happen. This was my plan B - 3 nights in Bright and another in Beechworth, then back to Melbourne. I read that these towns get really busy between Christmas and New Year though, so if possible, try to avoid visiting during that period. 

Regional town in Australia is best travel via a car but since I don't own one and didn't want to drive for more than 3 hours myself, I decided on train travel. One can buy the tickets online or at the counter, I did the latter as I wasn't sure if they would ask for a printout after purchasing. I encountered a lady who showed her ticket on her phone when I was travelling back to Melbourne though, so it looked like paper tickets are not a must. The V/Line page here would let you know where to buy tickets if you are at any town that doesn't have a train station. 

Services between Melbourne to Wangaratta is usually via train, followed with bus services after. Bus replacement was in place on the day I was travelling to Bright though, so I had bus travel to Wangaratta then transferred to another one to Bright. 

Buses on the way to Bright and to Beechworth were really empty so I didn't expect the train back to Melbourne was full. It was nearer to Christmas but I was caught surprised. I had a middle seat of a 3 seater and facing another 3 seater. Mask is compulsory on public transport. 

I had a night in Hibernian Hotel in Beechworth, to my surprise was an apartment which include a kitchenette, separate bathroom and bedroom. I didn't realise that when I made the booking as this came up as most affordable option versus review. 

My itinerary was very simple, this was all planned. If you drive and want to travel longer, there are other nearby towns to include. 

Echuca is a town in northern Victoria. It is across the Murray River from Moama, a twin town in New Souther Wales. Echuca was the busiest and most prosperous port town on the Murray River when paddle steamers plying the Murray from 1860. Twin towns, paddle steamers and river. What's not to like about it, so that was my 3 days 2 nights regional getaway. 

Well, I seem to have a knack for picking the wrong time for planning a holiday because my 3 days 2 nights getaway turned to be a day trip because the day I reached Echuca, it was announced that Victoria would go into a 5 days lockdown starting the next day. Anyway, I decided to cut short my holidays and returned back to Melbourne on the same day, i.e. day trip to Echuca.  

Between reaching Echuca and my return ride back to Melbourne, I had about 4+ hours plus to spend in Echuca. I was in luck and made it in time for a paddle steamer ride after lunch. 

Lunch was at Shebani's and I had their falafel salad. I opted for a vegetarian meal as it was day 1 of lunar new year. It was pretty good. 

I only had time to do one activity in Echuca, I made it for a 2:45pm Echuca Paddlesteamers PS Alexander Arbuthnot ride, $27. 

PS Alexander Arbuthnot was the last paddlesteamer built for river trade. It was built in Koondrook in 1923 for used as a logging towboat. PS Alexander Arbuthnot sank in 1947 but raised in 1972 and restored. After operating in Shepparton for a few years, it was further restored and relaunched again in 1991. 

After a one-hour river cruising, I was back to Port of Echuca Discovery Centre. Access to Interpretive Centre, Outdoor Displays and Echuca Wharf is free of charge for access but guided tours remained a paid experience. 

I spent the balance of time walking around the township area before heading back to the train station to catch a coach back to Melbourne. 

Then it was back to Melbourne, in time before lockdown started. 

Side note: The office Echuca Moama website has good information on things to do. 

Contrary to the usual 2 weeks mandatory leave, we were to take 3 weeks off in 2020. Like most people, I cancelled my planned leave days in 2020 but no negotiation for these 3 weeks leave. 

Western Australia closed it's border to some states including Victoria until early December (yes, no interstate travel either). As I have 3 weeks of leave to spend sitting at home and could travel to WA, I jumped on the opportunity to visit my sister and family over this period of time. Sis also had planned a camping trip to Margaret River that I was looking forward to join. 

Long story short, I left Melbourne and spent 3 days-ish freely in Perth till an announcement was made on the last day of 2020. The announcement mandated that all travellers entering WA from VIC are to go on self-quarantine for 14 days in a suitable premise retrospectively from the day of entry. So no Margaret River camping for me and it became a 'staycation' instead, one where I was confined to a room.

Prior to entering into 'staycation', new eateries tried are Little China Girl and Shi Wei. We had dim sum in Little China Girl and I noticed I failed to take any photos. This was the first time I had brown sugar walnut bun and they were delish. Shi Wei was a takeaway meal. 

New place visited this round was Mettam's Pool. The temperature were consistently on average of 35 degrees or so daily when I was there so we hopped by to a beach. 

This was the only place I managed to get to before an unexpected 'staycation'.