Mar 12, Myrtleford, Beechworth, Chiltern, Glenrowan, Benella

Mar 12

We took a walk around Myrtleford this morning, seeing their Big Tree, an extremely large Eucalyptus. We love the 'country towns' as they're called. There is so much history there and the people are happy to share it with us. The homes are a mixture of old and new and some of the older ones are charming.
Myrtleford is in a tobacco growing region and most of the growers are of Italian descent. There is a picture of a wooden tobacco kiln, like our tobacco barns, used to drying the leaves.
On the way from Myrtleford we drove to Beechwood, one of the best preserved of the gold rush towns. Someone said they owe their architecture to the American miners who came here after the California gold rush.
From Beechwood to Chiltern we startled a wallaby by the road. We were on our way to the Yeddonba Aboriginal Art Site, up a dirt road to a hiking trail. We wore our bush walking get ups as the trails we a bit more rugged than we'd been on before.
It was very difficult to see the rock paintings. They were done in red ochre and it had faded, but we could make out a snake and a Tasmanian tiger, an extinct species.
At Chiltern we saw more early architecture and the worlds largest grape vine, planted in 1867 and it's still producing grapes.
Next was the big town of Wangaratta, we were in and out of there fairly quickly and on our way to Glenrowan. The whole area we drove through today was Ned Kelly country. He was a Bushranger, an outlaw and has become legend like Jesse James or Billy the Kid. At Glenrowan where he had his final showdown with the police there was a large statue of him in his armor.
Now we're in Benalla, Australian capital of gliding and we're hoping to have glider rides tomorrow. We 're in a little campground on the airport grounds. Most of the campgrounds we've stayed in had drains for sink and shower water, grey water. Here it has been so dry, no rain in 12 weeks, they let us dump it on the ground to help save the trees