Bruthen businesses reopen for business after bushfires
Despite being hit hard by bushfires, Bruthen businesses are calling for tourists to return as the town recovers. The local brewery has cold beers, there’s a great pub and beautiful cycling routes.
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Neil Triggs is ready for hungry hordes to descend on his Bruthen Bullant Brewery. The doors are open, the beer is cold and the oven is hot.
The hip eatery in the historic East Gippsland town is the only business the 68 year-old chef has left, after losing his Sarsfield home and four, award-winning holiday cottages in the recent, devastating bushfires.
But despite the fact the grass surrounding pretty Bruthen has been flushed verdant green following recent rain and, on the day the Herald Sun visits, the skies are blue and free of smoke, a few tourists wander the town’s wide main street.
Custom at the Bullant Brewery — which offers boutique beers matched with food sourced from local producers — is 80 per cent down on this time last year.
“We need to get tourists back into the town,” Mr Triggs said, rolling out pizza bases.
“That’s the best thing that can happen to get Bruthen and the whole area going again.”
While the town’s mid-February Blues and Arts Festival has been cancelled this year, there is still plenty to see and do, in and around the town, which features old buildings, beautiful gardens and picturesque picnic areas.
The rural village, 24 kilometres northeast of Bairnsdale, is perched high above the Tambo River flats, and the perfect place to set off on a wine and food tour of the surrounding countryside.
For a relaxing weekend away, Bruthen was hard to beat, Mr Triggs said.
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Keen cyclist and Mount Taylor CFA member Leigh Thompson, 69, said Bruthen, on the Great Alpine Rd, also made a great stop-off point for those keen on cycling.
“This area is making rapid recovery from the fires and it would be really nice if people visited,” Mr Thompson said.
“Bruthen is beautiful. We have had a lot of rain … so the grassland has all recovered very rapidly. It would help a lot of local businesses is tourists came and visited.”
Just a short drive to popular swimming spots in Lakes Entrance, rural Bruthen offered the best of all worlds for a family holiday, he said.