Wangaratta and the King Valley

[khiemtran]

So, it's the school holidays in New South Wales and Liem and I are off on a "boys only" road trip while Hsiu Lin stays home.


As luck would have it, we're travelling in, what is for me at least, a highly unlikely conveyance: a Ford Falcon XR6. Note: that's not my house in the background. Of course, it's not even my car in the foreground either...



I'm normally more of a Yaris kind of guy myself, but since this is an Australian roadtrip, we could do a lot worse than to travel in Falcon, especially since they're now a dying breed. They're big, noisy and thirsty, and the cockpit is about as clunky as you can get while still aiming at "high tech". But they are nicely styled, and four litres of engine displacement means they can certainly move. I was quite sad to take it back, but I won't be the next time I have to fill up my little city car.



First stop, Goulburn and the Big Merino...



By lunchtime, we've made it to Wangaratta, where we'll stay for the night. Wangaratta's tourist information website lists "Find a shady spot near a river for a picnic and relax to the gentle sounds of water gently passing by" on its page of "Things to do", possibly scraping the bottom of the barrel just a little. Here's the Ovens river. It would indeed be a nice place for a picnic.



As nice as the ricer was, we went for pizza instead. Here's Liem eating an "Aussie" pizza. If you come to Australia and order an "Aussie", it will have egg and either ham or bacon, along with cheese and sauce (often tomato, but sometimes bbq).



Wangaratta's big tourist attraction is Ned Kelly, whose last stand took place at the nearby town of Glenrowan. Apart from the Big Ned statue, there are museums, souvenir shops and a frankly strange animatronic "Last Stand" theatrical presentation.



One tip if you're going to see it: the show assumes you're already intimately familiar with the story (which most Australian kids probably will be), and so a lot of events will be referenced only obliquely. Personally, I've never been taken with the whole Ned Kelly mythology. The more you dig, the worse a person he comes across as. As usual, wikipedia has an excellent summary.



Here's the final shootout outside the hotel. Interestingly (although not mentioned in the show), although the police had intelligence that the Kelly gang had made themselves armour, most of those involved in the siege were unaware of it, and many took Ned to be the Devil or even a Bunyip, when he emerged from the trees in the dark having slipped through their lines. The man who finally brought him down, Sergeant Steele, did know about the armour, and had also very shrewdly brought along a shotgun having anticipated the problems of hitting a small target at night.



Next, we go to Milawa, home to the Brown Brothers winery. "That one can't be any good," says Liem. "You spit it out!" Yes, but between the two of us, I'm the designated driver, and he's not getting the keys to the XR6...



Meanwhile, back in Wangaratta, the name "Milawa" appears again, this time in a far more sombre context. Two monuments stand side by side on the main street. Here's the first. Note the dates.



And beside it...

Comments

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

"She walked in her world all alone."


That's so sad. :(

And thanks for the shot of Liem eating pizza. It reminds me to go get my dough started so we can have pizza for lunch, too. :P

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

I wonder how old she was when she died. If she made it much past fifty, she could probably even remember the first white settler in the valley.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

I only know the story of Ned Kelly from the ballad, which contains the memorable lines: "Although his guns were empty he made them turn and flee, but one came in behind him and shot him in the knee." That someone was presumably the well-prepared Sergeant Steele.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

The bad guys get all the best ballads...

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Who could possibly find armed men with buckets on their heads boring? Or giant sheep?

The quotation on the second of those stones, the one for Mary Milawa, is really heart-breaking.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's the same sort of hidden story you'll find just about everywhere in Australia if you scratch just a little below the surface.

[soon_lee]

Brown Brothers: we were visiting one Easter and stopped here because it looked interesting. It was, and we've been drinking their wine ever since.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Yes, their wines are always interesting. I especially like the way they're not afraid to bring new varieties to the mass market.

[soon_lee]

When we visited, they were giving all visitors a complimentary glass of their Moscato which went a long way to making us fans.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

I haven't tried their Moscato, but I bought some of their Heathcote wines after the tasting. A Durif and a Montepulciano. They also had a Tempranillo blend that was only available from the cellar door (like Montepulciano), but I wasn't as taken with that one.