The Manna House: Sunny Days and Ned Kelly country

Oh the glorious sunshine! We have been blessed with lovely sunny weather for the last week. Despite that, I was'nt able to muster the courage to go microlighting. Being scared of heights didnt help and besides, there were lots of other things to do in Bright. Sat. saw the beginning of the Spring festival with many open gardens, thankfully in walking distance from the town. I am blown away by the incredible variety of trees, shrubs and flowers in this region. We took ourselves off to the Community Center for dinner and a show that night. "A Sentimental Bloke" It was very funny and amazingly well acted by a travelling troup. On Sunday, there was a big brass band concert in the park just over the river which we enjoyed from the comfort of our van park. On the way out of town on Mon, we stopped at the Old Tabacco Sheds,(formerly used for drying tobacco) now a series of antique shops (26 in all) and had fun poking around all the unusual bits and pieces. We only had 60 ks to Beechwood so we took our time, stopping in the towns we passed through. They are all so pretty and seemingly, historical. The Ovens valley still seems to grow lots of tabacco and there are many wineries. We stopped at Myrtleford for morning tea and happened accross the most amazing, eclectic shop, which just appeared to be a cafe called Fez, but once inside, revealed another world...very exotic collection of Moroccan, Chinese and Indian imports for the house and garden.And, yes, I did manage to part with some dollars there.

On to Beechwood, Ned Kelly country. To get us in the right frame of mind, we hired the movie "Ned Kelly" before looking at all the historical buildings including the goal where he was imprisoned. Our van park is 2 ks from town, but its a beautiful walk beside Lake Sambell. Our RV is parked overlooking it. The town is

full of old buildings and the streets tree lined like Bright.Its very beautiful and peaceful.

Vicki