Mar 13, Benalla, Shepparton

Mar 13

Last night Samson went to the Gliders Club of Victoria, to find out about our chances of gliding. He had a couple of beers with the mates and listened to their stories. They all share a love of flying and gliding and they help each other out and have fun.
So at 9 this morning we went back to the club and sat in on the morning briefing, where the flyers learned about the weather conditions for the day.
After we paid for our flights, we went out to the launch zone and waited for our glider pilot, Ken. He towed his glider out there and gave us an overview of the instruments and what to expect. Then he and Samson put on their chutes and climbed in and buckled up, Samson in front, Ken behind.
The glider was hooked up to the tow plane by a long rope. The tow plane had a modified Chevy S series engine 460 hp, with a radiator, which allowed the plane to gain altitude more quickly. The tow plane took off with the glider rising behind, going up in a gentle spiral to 4000 ft, then Ken had Samson release the tow rope and they were on their own. He could tell by the way the nose went up or down when they approached or left a thermal (rising hot air). They maneuvered in the thermals for 45 minutes.
Even though it was cloudy, he could see mountains in the distance and back to Glenrowan and down to Benalla. There was a river and a few irrigated fields, but mostly dry looking land with trees here and there and some cattle grazing.
As they maneuvered, they slowly lost altitude and when they were about 1000 ft up, Ken positioned them closer to the field for the landing and they came in right down the runway.
Then it was my turn. I noticed how quiet it was up there. Ken and I could talk easily and he talked about farming in the region and Ned Kelly and what the glider was doing and he warned me when we were going into a couple of areas of turbulence.
Ken is a Catholic priest from Melbourne, who has been a glider pilot since the 70's and is also a glider instructor. He doesn't own the glider, but uses the club's and the club gets the money we paid. He also does some spelunking. We couldn't have asked for a nicer person to take us up.
From there we drove back into Benalla to see a Gaudi-like structure that the town built with volunteers and some famous artists. It was covered in terra cotta tiles, some plain, some decorated and looked very organic.
Our next stop was Shepparton, a large town that calls itself the food basket of Victoria with food processing plants and other manufacturing. Our destination here was the Bangerang Aboriginal Culture Centre. It was a round building with displays set in a ring. On the outside wall were artifacts, stone axes, baskets, boomerangs, beads. There were bark paintings, burial trees, totems, a dugout canoe.
On the inside walls were dioramas of Aboriginal life; hunting, fishing, ceremonial gatherings and one on the gathering of begong moths. There is an area near Mt Buffalo, where the Aborigines gathered in October for the moths. The men when up into the mountains and smoked the moths out of the caves. Some were roasted over fires to eat right away, some were cooked and rolled into balls to eat later. It was also a time when boys went into the mountains for initiations.
There was an Aboriginal man there who helped us get some of the lights turned on. He was wearing a Chicago Bulls tshirt that his cousin had brought back from Chicago.
We drove south through Euroa and are now parked in a picnic area on the way to Alexandra. There is a field of cattle across the road and an orchard behind us.