Mt Buffalo and Bright

There are places where connection happens spontaneously. Not the places of your childhood, where connection comes from familiarity. It’s like a feeling of deep belonging that makes little rational sense. Bright, and more specifically the high plains of the nearby Mount Buffalo, struck me in this way almost 30 years ago, and on my return in 2023 (and in the times between) that sense of soulful belonging remained.

The Ovens river flows through the town, bubbling along. I once heard a piece of folklore telling that if a pregnant woman got into the river, her child would have a calm demeanour. While I was too late to suggest this to my wife, the thought of tales like this only add to the region’s charm. Good food is not hard to find, and at the Bright Velo hotel, you will find rooms and decor themed after famous cycling racers, a wonderful bar and one of the best panna cottas I have ever tasted.

Mount Buffalo and the high plains are a surreal experience. Up there, I just want to wander. The grasslands, the rocky outcrops, the boulder fields. All you can hear is the wind and the silence. Empty but comforting.

Leaving this place is like leaving friends behind. Few places stay with me, and even as I watched the town and the mountain shrink in my mirrors, I know I’ll return.