Bundoora - Beechworth - Bright - Bundoora

Alhamdulillah, due to some unplanned circumstances, our postponed trip to Bright finally took off jugak today. Panjanglah ceritanya, tapi dipendekkan cerita selamatlah kami pergi dan selamat kembali semula ke Bundoora, balik hari.

Sebelum ke Bright, kami detour ke Beechworth (2 plus hours from Bundoora) to stop by Beechworth's famous Honey Experience. Kedainya jual mcm2 produk madu lebah, ada yg madu berkacang, ada yg dengan halia, madu biasa pun ada mcm2 jenis, gula2 madu, honey drinks, honey soap dan all sorts of souvenirs. Harganya berpatutan. Yg di dalam botol kaca mahal sedikit drpd yg di dalam botol plastik. Ada juga honey yg dijual borong, 2 for AUD6 shj. There's even a display of live honey bees and a mini museum/exhibition attached to the shop about the history of honey production in Beechworth.

Then, we all pusing2 pekan Beechworth yg comel itu. It was bright & sunny. Kami berhenti Solat & lunch di Queen Victoria Park dekat2 town. As we were having lunch, suddenly the temperature dropped by a few degrees. Gegas2lah sarung jaket2 semula. Ambik wudhuk pun satu round jer, sbb sejuk gila airnya ;-).

Aliyah under a giant tree in Myrtleford

Disebabkan siang skrg dah pendek, we cut short our trip in Beechworth. Ingatkan nak singgah Latrobe University di sana, tapi it's about 30km dr pekan Beechworth. So we passed the sign to go there je lah and head to Bright, which was about 50 minutes from Beechworth. Along the way pass through pekan2 kecil lagi mcm Myrtleford. Sempat jugak berhenti take a few snapshots of the scenery there.

After Myrtleford, a few kilometres from Bright, we passed some of the places affected by the bushfire last January. Yang menariknya, kebanyakan pokok2 yg terbakar itu masih hidup. Kadang2 nampak shj hitam dr luar, tetapi pokok2 tersebut masih meneruskan perjuangannya untuk melitupi bumi Allah ini. Malah ada yang mengeluarkan bunga2. Tak tahulah kalau ianya sejenis tumbuhan parasit, tetapi cantik2 jugak bunga2nya, berwarna seakan2 ungu/violent gitu.

Sampai di Bright, Subhanallah memang cantik. Terasa seperti berada di negara org putih...eh..bukan Victoria ni tpt omputeh ke...ha..ha..ha. Anyway, we are really rushing after sunlight. So pusing sana-sini lah nak tangkap gambo.

Then, dah penat pusing2, we took a walk along the Ovens River. Sungainya cantik & clear, but nampak sejuk sgt. In fact, there's a holiday park right in front of the river. Beautiful view! On the other side of the river there's a big adventurous playground. Apa lagi budak2 ni seronoklah run up & down.

Masa tgk2kan the children play, we all terserempak dgn Kak Laili & Abg Ropidi. At first, I thought I saw Abg Ropidi & his children at the park, but takut tersalah org, tak berani nak tegur. Alih2 bila dah jumpa Kak Laili, so confirmlah depa sekeluarga dtg holiday bersama ada beberapa kawan2 lain dr Dandenong. Their family were spending the night there. Depa dgn baik hatinya jemput kami solat di lodge mereka at a tourist park in Churchill Avenue. Malah Kak Laili & Abg Ropidi, dan kawannya Kak Maimunah dgn seronoknya men'kempen' kami bermalam di situ. Mereka esoknya nak ke Nut Festival, Market dan satu lagi rasa something to do with wool or is it shawl...he..he..he. Memanglah teringin nak tidur situ, sbb Bright is worth more than a few hours of your lifetime. You must not rush to enjoy it. But lepas timbang tolak campur bahagi...we decided to go back anyway. Lagipun, Ibrahim has no problem with night driving.

So after Solat dan dijamu nasi lemak sodap (yg sudah lama diidam2kan) oleh Kak Laili sekeluarga, kami pun mintak diri dulu. Terima kasihlah byk2 kepada mereka sekeluarga. Insya Alllah panjang umur, murah rezeki kita berjumpa lagi. By 7 pm we were off on the Great Alpine Road towards the Hume Freeway already. Most of the journey back, almost 2 hours was using the Freeway (free indicating no toll!). We thot jalannya gelap gulita lah mcm PLUS highway kat Malaysia, sbb most of the way mmg takde lampu jalan. Tapi, tak gelap pun sbb ada a type of 'cats eye' on the road & memang we can still see the sky, the trees, the mountains, left & right. Mungkin sbb bulan mengambang ke atau sbb langitnya takde awan ke, tak tahulah nak kata. Tp it's not pitch black so memudahkanlah perjalanan kami pulang. By 10 pm we were in Bundoora already, Alhamdulillah.