Bright Ideas (The Falling Leaf Tour 2023)

08 May 2023 / Words and pictures by Rod & Maryanne Nicholas

Bright Ideas (also known as the Falling Leaf Tour 2023) is another of Ken Keeling’s extraordinarily well-organised runs. After doing all the hard work to put the run together, Ken and Diana had to pull out of the run and tasked me with the leadership role. Ken is a master in multi-day run preparation, and had offered several alternative routes down to Bright, so there wasn’t much for me to do other than choose the route, double-check the lunch / dinner reservations, and communicate with my fellow travellers.

I chose to travel from Canberra to Adaminaby (via Cooma) for a re-caffeination pitstop, and then on to Corryong for lunch taking the Link and Tooma Roads. I hadn’t travelled most of this track beforehand, although I had very promising (and very recent) feedback on it from a member of our group. And of course, Ken’s recommendations. What. A. Blast! The road was in great nick, and as twisty as I could wish. It was not exactly top-down weather, but there was no real rain, and the road surface, although damp in spots, was plenty grippy. We encountered a pack of poncie posers in pricey Porsches on a narrow spot just before the Tumut Pond Dam and I (at least) smugly reflected that we were having just as much driving fun as them at a fraction of the cost.

We stopped at the Dam for a few happy snaps and continued on our way to Corryong for lunch.

A downpour of rain was merely a temporary inconvenience before we pulled into Tallangatta for a comfort break and some directions to a shortcut from one of the locals (I was as confused as she was, so stuck to my original plan). We rocked into Bright only a few minutes later than I estimated, settled into the motel, and then made our way down to the Bright Brewery for dinner. The place was busy, understandingly so given the high standard of their ‘pub food’ and craft beer!

Saturday took us to Beechworth - down the Great Alpine Road to Myrtleford and then up and over the hills to Stanley and Beechworth. Coffee was first up for some and shopping for others (including a quick stop in the Bridge Road Brewery for a few takeaways), but our time in Beechie was limited as we had booked in for lunch at a couple of spots further down the road. About half our tour group went to Sam Miranda’s King Valley winery restaurant, while the rest wandered off further still to the Mountain View Hotel at Whitfield. Long and lazy lunches ensued, and then back to the motel or wherever. For me, ‘wherever’ turned out to be the King Valley Brewery just 4 km out of Whitfield for a quick sample and a few tinnies for later.

Saturday night was a DIY affair, with folks going hither and thither for whatever took their fancy, pizzas, Japanese takeaway, fish ’n’ chips, cheese and bickies or another visit to the Bright Brewery.

Sunday was a slowish day, allowing some folks a sleep in or a wander through the town and along the river. Lunch was planned for most of us at the Red Stag Deer and Emu Farm, a short (but dull) 20 km drive up the road from the hotel, or (as my small group found) a very enjoyable 120 km, via the Tawonga Gap and Happy Valley. Dry roads and almost no traffic made for a spirited drive (all within the speed limits), including a brilliant stretch up Tawonga Gap Road that had the ND singing with joy.

The Red Stag Farm is located on a hillside at Eurobin, with great views up the Ovens Valley to Mt Buffalo and there are plenty of deer, emus (and ostriches) in the farm paddocks. The restaurant menu includes a selection of game meat options, and several of us enjoyed the venison pie or venison burger. It was a most enjoyable luncheon visit under blue skies, but with news a big storm was approaching most headed straight back to the motel rather than dally elsewhere. And the storm did come, dumping rain with accompanying thunder for a few hours, and keeping most of us indoors. By evening it had slowed to a drizzle, allowing us all to take the short walk to the Star Hotel (not the one from the Cold Chisel song) for a farewell dinner.

By morning, the rain had pretty much cleared and the roads had begun to dry. Leaving Bright, I took everyone back up the Tawonga Gap for some not-very-scenic views, along the Kiewa Valley and the Murray Valley Highway, to our re-caffeination stop at Tallangatta. Refreshed and renewed, we took the Granya Road, and meandered (at a suitable pace) along the Murray before we crossed into NSW at Jingellic. One car missed the turnoff and had to be chased for a while until the message got through that we had turned off the Murray River Road. A short rest at Jingellic and we were off again on great roads, stopping at Tumbarumba for lunch. After a very enjoyable lunch, our group broke up to travel independently back to Canberra, some 245 km to Tumut and then the Hume Boreway back home.

The trip home was uneventful, as expected. Traffic was light, the weather was good enough, the roads are fine, albeit unexciting. None of that took away from the fact that we had all had a great looong weekend, driving interesting roads in a beautiful part of Australia, in (generally) pleasant autumnal weather, and in the excellent company of out MX-5 friends. It was not likely to be otherwise, given this was a Ken Keeling Special (the only downer of the trip was the absence of Ken & Diana).

By the time I got home, I’d travelled a little under 1,400 km, consumed 83 litres of fuel (for which I’d paid $172) and reaped a return of 6.1 litres per 100 km. Gotta love that! Gotta love these trips!

Rod Nicholas

There are more photos on our Facebook page.

Rod’s photos can be seen here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/wSfJnMjYXXsNLXE48.