Porepunkah

We had never heard of Porepunkah before we ventured to this northern part of Victoria and the Mount Buffalo National Park. What a lovely little town. Can you believe that there are five caravan parks in this small place with only about 1,000 residents. We stayed at the BIG4 Porepunkah Holiday Park which is located on the Great Alpine Road as you head towards Bright  - a great spot.

The Rail Trail is a bicycle path that enables people to ride from Wangaratta to Bright and we found a lovely cafe at Porpunkah called the Rail Trail Cafe. This is obviously a favourite stop for cyclists with an interesting display of forgotten water bottles hanging over the entrance. I can highly recommend the scones, jam and cream when you visit the Rail Trail Cafe. Tables are scattered around the garden under shade trees.

Another recommendation when in town is the Porepunkah Hotel or Punka Pub as it is known to locals. This had recently been renovated and has an amazing atmosphere as well as great food. Two things to take note of when visiting the Punka Pub are the wine barrel bases inserted into the timber door at one of the entrances, and the toilets.  Yes the toilets - check them out!!

Porpunkah is a great place to base yourself and explore the Mount Buffalo National Park - head up to The Horn Picnic Area and admire the view from the top. This is amazing .It snows here during winter and has some great cross country skiing as well as toboggan runs. On the way home from our visit to Mount Buffalo we called into the Mount Buffalo Olives - a must visit for great produce.

Porpunkah is surrounded by other wonderful producers -  wineries, berry farms, nut farms, pumpkin seed producers, The Red Stag (a deer and emu farm) and much more. Don't worry if you do have to time to visit them all just call into Punka Pantry (near the pub) and select from their great range of local goodies.

We very much enjoyed the warm, friendly feel of this great location and would not hesitate to recommend it.