For the big kids: Wangaratta

Wangaratta is a good sized town boasting grass tennis courts, a river walk complete with a few good cafes and some lovely building from the early 1930’s Art Deco period. We found a little park north of the town and bunkered in for two nights. We almost had the place to ourselves. The kids managed to find a few new best friends and spent most of their time bouncing with them on the trampoline, swimming in the pool or holed up in their “den” which was in fact a little recreation room with pool table, foosball, air hockey etc.

Whilst Wangaratta is a nice functional place, our real interest was in Glenrowan about 20 minutes south. The town where the Kelly gang finally met their end has down a good job marking and explaining the events of June 1850 in a self guided walk. There is a walking trail that takes you past the sites of the showdown. The Glenrowan Inn stood where a horse paddock is now and Ned himself was cut down and captured behind the current blacksmiths place. The Glenrowan train station still exists although trains do not stop there anymore. That’s where they patched Ned up and shipped him off to Melbourne to be tried and hung.

There are the usual clutch of souvenir shops making a living off the reputation and one very high tech animatronic show that recreates the Kelly gangs two day ordeal. It was rather expensive and the guy who ran it seemed like a bit of a nutter – too intense for me, so we backed away slowly and then made a dash for the bakery across the road. Still a good mornings outing, though.

After Glenrowan we drove to a little place called Milawa, probably best known for being the founding winery for Brown Brothers. We paid the brothers a visit along with a few specialty foodie shops and I treated myself to some Beechworth honey and some Milawa Balsamic Mustard. Georgia got herself some local olives. It was just a day or so before Christmas, afterall!