Farewells, Flatties and Anzac Snow, Victoria

The inevitable had to happen yesterday morning, Tuesday the 24th of April. We had to say goodbye to everyone after a fantastic week.
We all had brekky together at the famous Beechworth Bakery in Echuca and said our farewells, again, sensitive Harry had lots of tears, he loves his family...

The cousins have brekky together before leaving

Harry gets a big hug from Nanna

Mum, Richard & Dad say goodbye

Goodbye bro!!

Bye everyone, see you soon

We had a long and winding 7 hour drive ahead, with plans to get back to Metung, but within 45 minutes of leaving we heard an almighty bang and that terrible smell of burning rubber..yep! We had a flat tyre.

Bugger

Richard got to work on it while I tried to direct traffic and hand over the tools.

Richard gets to work

The boys had their football handy so they kicked the footy in a paddock. It was disappointing that no one stopped to ask us if we needed help, we laughed when an elderly couple pulled over and asked us for directions, wanting to know if we were lost as well, but no mention of the tyre. Funny!

The kids with the flat tyre

Eventually the tyre was changed and we headed towards Shepparton where we called in to see the owner of Shepparton Nissan, Jarrod, who also has a tyre shop. He ordered in some tyres which weren't going to arrive until 3:30 in the afternoon so we had several hours to kill.

Jarrod kindly lent us a car and we went and wandered the shops and had some lunch. When we arrived back at the dealership around 4, the tyres still hadn't arrived. So we waited and waited...
By around 5ish the tyres turned up and by 5:30 two new tyres had been fitted to the back of our car and we were on our way.

Metung was no longer an option so we decided we'd stay the night in Bright. We had driven through the town a week earlier and it was beautiful.
We stayed in a small Inn for the night in the heart of town called the Cycle Inn.
The kids watched TV and had dinner in their room while Richard and I had dinner in the dining room and began chatting to the owners, Wayne & Susan.

Several bottles of red later we had offered to look after their Inn while they took off for a few days R & R. It will be interesting to see if they call us but the prospect of running an Inn for a few days sounds like fun.
Wayne & Susan are both mad keen cyclists, competing in cycling events around the world. So the Inn has a cycling theme. We stumbled up the stairs to our room well after midnight and after an interesting night. 

This morning, Anzac Day 2012... the alarm went off way too early. Before the crack of dawn we were up and dressed for the frosty conditions and on our way down the main street to the dawn service. It was the kids first dawn service....

The kids at the Dawn Service in Bright

We will remember them

A vet speaks to the kids about his medals and the medals of his grandfather

On the way back to the Inn we stopped off at a coffee shop to find some warmth in a coffee, while the kids had hot chocolates....

Warming up with a hot chocolate

We then packed up and said goodbye to picturesque Bright with its quaint historic town and tree lined streets.

Pretty Bright

The treck then began up the winding Great Alpine Road before excitement hit, when Jack spotted some snow on the mountain tops.
By the time we were in Hotham the kids were beside themselves wanting us to stop so they could get out of the car and touch snow for the very first time...

Harry makes a snowball

More snowballs

Jack takes aim

Making a snowman

Within minutes they had built a snowman and were having snow fights. I have never seem them all so excited, it was gold! We then stopped at a cafe in Hotham for a hot drink while the kids continued to build snowmen...

The kids first snowman

Beautiful

Winter wonderland

There was more excitement when the owners of the cafe came out with three bob sleighs for the kids. Within moments they had found the nearest hill and were having a ball...

Nina on a bob sleigh

Icy Hotham

The Hotham Hotel

The snow was completely unexpected but the kids had such a blast on a day of firsts for them.
By the time we had reached the bottom of the mountain, there was a hint of sunshine and a rainbow. Welcome to Victoria...

The rainbow at the bottom of the mountain

Lunchtime, we were back in Metung unpacking the car and washing a weeks worth of clothes. Just to add to the work load, the fridge in the caravan had been off due to a power shortage, so I had to go through the fridge and freezer, lots of fun.. NOT!
This afternoon we watched the Footy and relaxed before an early dinner and bed after a long day and a big week.