The camp kitchen and riverside BBQs are the heart of the park. We loved waking up, wandering down to the water with a plunger of coffee, and watching the morning mist lift off the Ovens before firing up the BBQ for a slow weekend breakfast. With Bright's main street a five minute stroll away, you can shop at the IGA, grab takeaway and be back at your site in minutes.

Having said that, we kept returning to Sixpence Coffee, the small batch roastery tucked into a converted mechanic's garage on Camp Street. The flat whites are some of the best we've had in Victoria, and the doughnuts vanished before we'd made it back to the car. Open from 7.30am most days, it's worth the queue.

A few doors down, Gum Tree Pies is the kind of family run bakery you wish lived on your corner. Grab a steak and mushroom or a Thai green chicken curry pie and thank us later. We took ours back to the park and ate them on the riverbank.

For dinner, Bright Brewery is the town's social hub, with a sprawling beer garden, a deck over the river and wood fired pizzas that pair perfectly with their Alpine Lager. If you're after something more refined, Elm Dining sits in the old Victorian doctor's cottage and turns out a seasonal menu of High Country produce that's worth dressing up for. Walk in pizza nights at Hometown are our pick for an easy second night.

The park itself opens straight onto a swimmable bend of the Ovens River, and on hot afternoons that's basically all the entertainment you need. Kids will likely disappear toward the playground and swimming pool within minutes of arriving, and from your site you can launch a lazy float downstream on a lilo or tube and walk back along the bank.

Bright sits on the Murray to Mountains Rail Trail, one of Australia's best sealed cycling paths. You can hire bikes in town and pedal an easy 6km through golden poplars to historic Wandiligong for lunch at the 1864 Wandi Pub, or take on the full 100km loop toward Beechworth at your own pace.

Half an hour up the Great Alpine Road, Mount Buffalo National Park is a must. We spent a full day there hiking out to The Horn for the kind of view that makes you go quiet, then cooling off at Ladies Bath Falls on the way down. In winter the same road delivers you to the snow at Mount Hotham and Falls Creek within an hour.

Wine lovers should set aside an afternoon for Ringer Reef Winery just past Porepunkah, where you can graze on share platters with Mt Buffalo on the horizon. And if you're visiting in April or May, the Bright Autumn Festival turns the whole town into a ten day celebration of colour, parades, markets and live music.

The valley channels morning fog beautifully so we'd plan a leisurely coffee for the first hour after sunrise and save your river swims and rail trail rides for the warm afternoons when the light through the poplars is at its best.