Our travels: Wangaratta day 2

The morning dawned misty and cool. The forecast was for a fine day however.

Our accommodation

After a substantial breakfast everyone was at the coach promptly for our day out in and around Wangaratta. We started with a guided tour of the town itself which was very informative and interesting. All the major historical buildings are pointed out as well as the substantial public buildings and lovely parks. The tour ended at the Apex park just on the fringes of town which runs down to the Ovens River.

We heard about Major Thomas Mitchell’s tree or at least a tree that he supposedly camped under while, as Surveyor-General, he was surveying the area in 1836. We were also told about a different town icon. A child’s rocking Yogi Bear has been in the park for some time but has come to represent a measure of how severe the Ovens River flooding is. The further up the bear the water reaches is noted even to the extent of locals providing goggles if the water is likely to rise above its head.

Major Mitchell's tree

After morning tea we finished off the town sights and then headed for Benalla, a town some 30 minutes further down the highway.

Known for its superb gliding conditions in the summer, Benalla is also home to a museum with a substantial collection of material associated with the bushranger Ned Kelly. A very interesting hour was spent wandering through and reading some of the details of this young criminal’s life.

Adjacent to the museum just along the lake shore there is a whimsical terra cotta structure from where I am writing this blog after our lunch stop. These photos were taken earlier after our visit to the museum.

There was also more evidence of the journey made by Major Thomas Mitchell while surveying the area. He had also made camp at Benalla. He was responsible for naming The Grampians in western Victoria and also Mt Macedon just to the west of Melbourne.

Lunch had been arranged for us at the Art Gallery just across the lake which is also where the rose garden is located to commemorate the life of Edward ‘Weary’ Dunlop one of our war time heros. The roses in summer would be spectacular I’m sure. The spring growth is already looking substantial and very healthy.

After lunch we walked in to town, meandered the shops and then found a pathway along the lake edge to take us back to the museum where we would later pick up the coach. Along the way we came across this analemmatic sundial – it told the time accurately too!!

Back on the coach again we drove the short distance to Glenrowan the town made famous more than 120 years ago when Ned Kelly and his gang made their last stand and Ned Kelly was finally arrested after only a few years as one of Australia’s most infamous bush rangers. He was hanged in Melbourne aged 26 in November 1880.