Thursday 23 May 2013

BEAUTIFUL BEECHWORTH IN VICTORIA
 The beautiful Beechworth Post Office
 The main street with its beautiful old buildings.  I was astonished to hear a guy we met at the pub say that only 15 years ago a lot of the shops were either boarded up or had people living in them.  They are now restored or modernised and everyone is occupied by a business.  The shops were beautiful and elegant.  Reminded me of European shops.  There were lots of restaurants too.
 Of course with our husbands, we took a walk down the mainstreet late in the afternoon when the shops were closed!!
 The  historic precinct consisting of the old courthouse and telegraph station now museums.
The back of the old town hall where the council chambers operate as well as the tourist information shop.  Behind the red doors were the old lockups for prisoners, with dirt floors.
 A beautiful misty morning in the park in Beechworth

  The old school house.  Now a gallery.
 Daryl chatting with the fireman at the station just in the next block from our B and B in Camp Street.
 This was the 'front' for a two dollar shop in the mainstreet.  No need for the goods to be stacked out the front on the footpath when you have these gorgeous old show case windows as your entrance.  Originally it would have been a department store. 

It is wonderful that Beechworth has so many of these old features still there and not removed or 'modernised'.

 Next to the Old Bank building, now a gold exchange and jewellery shop, is the famous Beechworth Bakery.  We ate lunch there the two days we were in Beechworth.

 Christ Church Beechworth.  It even has a set of bellringers.
 In the bar of the lovely old Nicholas Hotel where we ate dinner both nights because the first night we played Trivia and won food vouchers for the pub, so our second night's dinner was 'free'.
The lovely guy who ran the Trivia Night which we won.  I had never played trivia before.

Monday 13 May 2013

BEAUTIFUL ROSE COTTAGE B AND B IN BEECHWORTH VICTORIA
 Rose Cottage B and B is in Camp Street Beechworth.  It is run by Tony and Lyn McCure.  Jeff and I stayed there 7 years ago and were hoping that this year it would be just the same, and it was.
 The gardens are just magnificent.  There were remnants of the Christmas lights and decorations around the garden too.  It must look absolutely spectacular at Christmas time.  So much time and effort goes into the garden.  It is a joy to just walk around it and discover some hidden treasures, like a couple of gnomes hiding under a shrub.
 Our beautifully decorated bedroom.  With central heating it meant that our fire did not need to be lit.
 Our bed was so high that there was a little foot stool to help you get up onto it.  The electric blanket kept us snug and warm.  The B and B was so quiet at night.  But then the whole of Beechworth retreats indoors at sundown and the streets are almost deserted.
 The lovely entrance hall.  I love all the decorations.  I thought my house is a bit overdone with its decoration and my collections, but this is so much more.  There are so many beautiful and interesting things to look at. 

Tony and Lyn McCure have a good eye for collecting and decorating, with great attention to detail.
 The beautiful tea making facilities in our bedroom, discreetly house in an antique cupboard.  It was a joy to use the fine china mugs and the green stemmed water glasses.
 Julie in the lovely topiarised garden.



The house has four guest rooms and we preordered our breakfast the night before, so just about 10 mins after we sat down at the table, Tony arrived with our ordered breakfast.  Jeff asked for barbeque sauce for his bacon and eggs and Tony returned NOT with a sauce bottle, but with sauce  a tiny crystal jug sitting in a miniature china saucer.
At night we sat in the lounge room in front of the fire and played Upwords.  Daryl found an interesting book to read among the piles here and there in the room.  He read aloud amusing bits that we appreciated.  He also managed to catch up with some reading of his files for work too in such an elegant restful situation.

Wednesday 8 May 2013

BRIGHT  AUTUMN FESTIVAL
Beautiful autumn colours in Bright, Victoria.

The roundabout was ablaze with begonias.s.




 Julie and I spent a wonderful time in the Christmas Shop.  



 We had lunch in a gorgeous Cafe.  I loved the vintage serviettes, but found it very hard to soil it by wiping my lipstick onto it. 

 The China was vintage too and I loved the touch of the fresh flowers in jugs and vases.
I love interesting cafes with interesting food.  This one was very organic.  Everyone was so friendly.

Monday 6 May 2013

WAGGA  WAGGA TO BRIGHT

 After we left Wagga we went to The Rock,left, thus named for its rocky outcrop.
I LOVE silos and we lots of them.  Full of wheat beside the railway lines.

At Henty we saw the one and only XPT for the day arrive and pick up a family from Sydney who had been holidaying with family.

 We crossed the border at Albury.
 Then we came to Chiltern just outside of Albury.  It is an old goldmining town and virtually untouched.  It was very quiet on a Saturday afternoon.  Only a secondhand shop was open.  It had some treasures, but we had no room in the car.
Chiltern has a lot of potential as a tourist town like Berrima was.
 The Museum was opened and cost us only $2.50 to have a look.  We even got a guide.  He was quite passionate about his hometown.

 One of the pubs.


This Grapevine was amazing.  It was as thick as a tree trunk.