NRMA Bright

1. 26–30 December 2023

   Four nights on the way south

   NRMA Bright — tent, trailer and the gazebo out for the first time

   Our first proper trip outside New South Wales. We had crossed into the ACT and over the Victorian border before, but this was the first time we loaded the car and trailer and went to another state to stay: Sydney to Jindabyne, Jindabyne to Bright on Boxing Day, Bright to Melbourne, then home. Leaving Jindabyne we thought the only thing left to sort was fuel.

   We ran the tank down to zero, and our own arithmetic did it. A loaded trailer drinks noticeably more fuel than the same car on its own, and we had not allowed for it. Then the stations went against us: it was the Christmas holidays and everything we passed through the farms and hills was shut. Somewhere on the second half of the drive the range readout on the dash counted down to zero. We pulled into Tallangatta, on the Murray Valley Highway, early in the evening — a good-looking town, completely empty on the public holiday, with its service station shut. While we waited, the children found the bronze of Sandy the War Horse outside the memorial hall and spent the time with it: a Tallangatta-bred Waler, the one Australian horse of the many thousands sent to the First World War who came home, unveiled there in May 2023.

   Somebody was already there in the same position. A senior couple with a big camper trailer were parked up waiting: out of diesel, and they had called roadside assistance about fifteen minutes before we arrived. That was oddly steadying. I rang NRMA, it was arranged inside fifteen minutes, and the driver who came out brought their diesel and our petrol in the same run.

   Emergency fuel gets you to a station, not to your destination. What arrives is about five litres, and we still had two or three hours of driving ahead. What actually solved it was the driver's local knowledge: he named a station about forty-five minutes away that was trading over the holiday — the one he had filled his own container at. We filled the car there, filled the twenty-litre spare can that had been riding empty all trip, and drove the rest of the way with a full tank and a spare. Worth knowing for anyone doing the same run: an NRMA membership works interstate through the other state clubs, so in Victoria the call is answered by RACV, and RACV’s own terms put emergency fuel at up to five litres, free, anywhere in the state.

   After that the drive was the good part. Hills and forest, small towns, low cloud sitting in the valleys. We reached Bright the same day and found a big site waiting.

   This is the trip where we learned to set a site up properly. Tent with its back room at one end, car and trailer along the same side, and enough space left to put up the Coleman gazebo — which we had owned for years and never once used. A big plastic picnic mat from Bunnings went down under it, then the tables, then the kitchen. All of that takes two hours, not less. It is worth every minute: my wife had a kitchen she could actually cook in, and we had a shaded room to sit and eat in that was not the inside of the tent.

   What we carried. Two twenty-litre containers, and keeping them apart matters — a red metal one for petrol, a plastic one for water. The barbecue came along and went home unused. The bikes travelled on a rack mounted on the trailer drawbar, between the car and the trailer body, which was its first outing. The rooftop tent came later; it was not on this trip.

   The pool is why the children remember Bright. Our elder son walked the park on the first full day and came back having found it: a big pool, heated, under the trees. After that it was the pool every day, with the younger one joining in from the second day. That matters more than it sounds, because the middle of the day here is genuinely hot — you cannot stand about in the sun — while the mornings and evenings stay cool. That is the valley doing its work.

   The rest was walking. The town and its markets are a few minutes from the park on flat ground. We walked up a couple of times, ate out once or twice, and cooked at the camp the rest of the time. We did not range far, and did not need to: a small tourist town in a green valley, an old established park under big trees, busy with people over Christmas and all the better for it.

   One purchase changed how we camp. We had been hammering pegs in, and a tent this size takes a lot of pegs. I bought a drill and a set of peg drivers in Bright and used them from the Melbourne leg onwards. It turned a tiring job into a few minutes.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

What we have learned here

Fill up before the public holiday, not during it. Country stations between Christmas and New Year keep their own hours, and several towns in a row can be shut. Leave the last big town with a full tank and a full jerry can, and do not judge the range by what the car does unloaded.

A trailer costs you range. Ours was the difference between comfortable and stranded on this leg. Work on getting noticeably fewer kilometres per tank than usual and refuel earlier than you think you need to.

Roadside assistance is worth the membership, and it travels. The state clubs cover each other, so an NRMA membership is answered by RACV in Victoria. Expect about five litres — enough to reach a station, not to finish a leg — and ask the driver which station is open. That question was worth more than the fuel.

Allow two hours to set up, and decide the layout before you start. Tent one end, car and trailer along one side, and keep the open ground for the shelter and the kitchen. Doing it in that order is the difference between a camp that works for four nights and one you keep walking around.

Covered space that is not the tent is what makes a longer stay pleasant. The gazebo over the kitchen and tables is the single thing we would not leave behind again.

Take a drill and peg drivers. Hammering is the tiring part of a big tent, and this fixed it for every trip since.

The pool is heated and it is the centre of the park for children. Plan the days around the middle of the day being hot: town and walks in the morning, pool in the afternoon.

You can leave the car parked. Town, the markets and the river are all a short flat walk from the park, so the car only needs to come out for day trips.

• The Bright river pool and splash parkA short walk from the holiday park.The Ovens River is dammed each summer into a swimming pool at Centenary Park on Gavan Street, with a jumping platform, a Rotary waterslide, a separate splash park, electric barbecues, toilets and lifeguards in season.Howitt Park adjoins it with a large playground, gas barbecues, drinking water and a sound shell.The catch is water quality: the council samples for E. coli weekly over the summer holidays and closes the facilities during a warning — avoid swimming for a day or two after heavy rain whatever the posted rating.Free
• The Canyon WalkFour kilometres, about an hour and a half return, easy, starting at Howitt Park and heading towards the Star Road bridge.It follows the Ovens through a canyon cut into rock, over two suspension bridges and an old railway bridge, past water races left from the gold era.The practical point with a pram: the southern bank from Howitt Park to Canyon Lane is sealed and wheelchair-friendly, but the northern bank has steep steps — do it as an out-and-back on the south side rather than the full loop.Free
• Murray to Mountains Rail TrailBright is the trail’s terminus and the trailhead is at the old railway station off Burke Street, walking distance from the park.Sealed asphalt for its full 137 kilometres, and the Bright end is the flat family part — roughly fifteen kilometres to Porepunkah and about thirty to Myrtleford on gentle grades, fine for prams and trailers.The steep sections people warn about are at the far end and do not affect a ride out of Bright.Free to use
• Bike hire in townWidely available, with child seats, trailers, tandems and children’s bikes, and worth ringing ahead in peak season.We have not published a price: no Bright operator puts a rate card on its own site, and the figures that circulate belong to those operators’ other locations rather than to Bright.Not published — ring ahead
• Porepunkah Riverside ParkAbout ten minutes north and the pick of the area for toddlers specifically — river swimming with a separate toddler pool, plus a playground with slides, a flying fox, a climbing wall and swings, barbecues, toilets, tables, shelter and parking.A lifeguard is on duty by the river over summer.It also makes a natural turnaround for a first ride on the rail trail.Free
• Ladies Bath Falls and Eurobin FallsAbout twenty minutes, at the foot of the Mount Buffalo road, with roadside parking, a picnic area and toilets at the trailhead.Parks Victoria gives the walk as 560 m, twenty minutes one way, moderate; the track climbs past Ladies Bath to Lower Eurobin Falls and on to the base of the Upper Falls.Ladies Bath is the one families stop at to cool off — and Parks Victoria’s own advice is to take care on the rocks, which are very slippery.Free
• Mount Buffalo — the Gorge and the ChaletAbout forty-five minutes up a winding sealed road.The Gorge day visitor area and the old Chalet are the main stop, with the Gorge Heritage Walk at 2 km, forty minutes return, and the View Point walk at 2.2 km.No entry fee and no vehicle fee — we checked this twice, against the visitor guide and the Parks Victoria fees schedule, because it runs against what anyone used to NSW parks will assume.Take food and water; services on the mountain are limited.Free
• Lake CataniA 3.2 km circuit of the lake, about an hour, with swimming and summer wildflowers, and a campground alongside that takes bookings in the summer season.Note the seasonal closures: Lake Catani Road and Horn Road shut over winter and the campground closes for part of spring, so the lake is not always reachable by car.All of it reopens well before summer.Free · camping $31.80 a night
• Wandiligong — Alpine Park and the Wandi WalkAbout ten minutes south, or walk there: the Wandi Walk is six kilometres, about two and a half hours return, from Howitt Park along Morses Creek through rocky gorges, rapids and swimming holes to Alpine Park, over a swing bridge.Six kilometres is a stretch for young children, so most families drive and walk a short section from the Wandiligong end.Alpine Park has a playground, picnic area and shade on the creek bank, with toilets at the nearby oval.Free
• Beechworth — the gaol and the honeyAbout forty-five to fifty minutes, at the outer edge, and the standard too-hot or too-wet day.The Old Beechworth Gaol runs History Essentials tours at 10, 11, 12 and 1:30 daily, and a dedicated hour-long family tour during Victorian school holidays and long weekends.Beechworth Honey’s shop on the main street has a free tasting across more than fifty varieties, which costs nothing and holds small children for a surprisingly long time.Gaol adult $32 · child 6–17 $22 · family $85 · honey tasting free
• The Bright Autumn Festival — the other end of the yearNot a summer thing, but what the town is best known for.The 2027 festival runs Friday 23 April to Sunday 2 May, with the gala day on Saturday 1 May — open gardens, markets, a parade, music and historical tours, with the Wandiligong Nut Festival separately in mid-April.Nobody publishes when the leaves actually peak, so the festival dates are the best proxy there is.Free to attend generally

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