Sunday
The rains have arrived and the fir covered hills across the valley drifted in and out of sight. The family gathered for breakfast on the verandah and Leigh managed to cook the appropriate numbers of eggs and bacon.
After breakfast with the rain pouring down the preparations were put into place for dinner as twelve lamb shanks were put into slow cookers with red wine and onion and thyme.
We were then invited by Leigh and Paul to go four wheel driving in the hills around Bright. This was too good an opportunity to miss. There are hundreds of miles of these tracks around Bright which go deep into the bush and which we never normally see.
The tour director and I set off with Leigh and Nick, my great nephew set off with Paul. After about three miles we were on a dirt road heading off deep into forest. This was fine until we left the road and then headed up hill on a dirt track, the significant thing here is the difference between the words "road" and "track". We were now in first gear and heading up a pot holed rock filled track no wider than the vehicle which made life interesting. The views across the valleys were magnificent, this is true alpine country, steep valleys, high crags, pine trees and mountains, small farms clustering on the river banks in a truly pastoral setting.
All was going fine until Leigh suggested that I might like a drive, the tour director was not too enamoured with the whole idea but he insisted and we swapped seats. Paul almost immediately decided to drive up a one in three slope and on the other side we came to what Paul said over the radio was a slight drop off. The "slight" drop off consisted of a descent which was about thirty degrees down a gravel covered track with a ridge in the middle and two deep ruts.
To be fair to me I made it about half way down before discretion became the better part of valour. I told Leigh I would prefer it if he took it down and we agreed this was probably a better idea.
Leigh took control and off we set with the tour director hanging on grimly. Things went we'll until we engaged in what Leigh later described As Sidey Sidey action. This basically consisted of us sliding from side to side as we progressed down the track, all caught on camera by phone by Paul standing at the bottom of the hill.
The tour director was not amused by the whole incident.
Back on flat ground we made our way back into Bright along logging tracks stopping off in the pub for a pint before going home.
The scenery and the experience were fantastic, neither of us have ever been rough four wheel driving or seen some of the views we saw today. In fact many of the sights we saw have never been seen by the majority of people who visit Bright.
In the evening we had the cooked lamb and several glasses of wine and spent a convivial evening. Who could ask for more.