Place names in Australia generally fall into one of two categories. One set - predominant in the big cities around the coast - are basically the names of British people, British places, or "New" British places. The second lot, however, feature some sort of rhyming or onomatopoeic blend of alliteration and assonance to create a word that seems pretty ridiculous to us "Poms" with our wonderfully formal linguistic sensibilities. Places like "Walla Walla" always brought a snigger when I was a lad, but now that I'm here exploring Northern Victoria I've been able to visit a whole load of them first hand!
First up was the "Rural City of Wangaratta". "City" doesn't mean anything in terms of size over here - just like England, a "city" is anywhere with a cathedral, but as a result of Australia's incredibly sparse population you have a whole load of "cities" with populations akin to a rather small English town. Wang is one such place - the LPG* puts it at 15,500 - although once upon a time it was one of many places around the area to attract thousands of migrants after the discovery of gold in the mid-nineteenth century (somewhat like Bendigo, where I was last Sunday). "Wang", incidentally, is local talk - people don't like any name longer than a couple of syllables, so Wangaratta is Wang, Shepparton is Shep, and Lancaster (a tiny village with a population of about 30) is Lanky!
The first thing that strikes you about Wang is how well preserved it is - your walk up and down the colonnaded streets of the town centre takes in rows of buildings from the turn of the century - few house the same businesses as when they were created (the Telegraph Exchange is now a bar), but the facades are intact over 100 years. The wooden structures flanking a broad central street evoke a feeling of being in America's Wild West, and it's a pretty accurate description given Wang's location in the heart of what is known as "Ned Kelly Country".
Ned Kelly is an Australian icon - according to the LPG he's "Australia's greatest folk hero...his life and death have been embraced as part of the national culture". But contrary to what being a national hero usually entails, Kelly was a serial criminal and a murderer, and was hanged at the age of 24 after his last stand and capture (after trying to derail a police train). His execution was notwithstanding some 30,000 petitions for clemency - and Kelly's Robin Hood-esque "steal from the rich" populism ensured his memory lived on long after his famous last words - "Such is life".
Kelly's last stand was in Glenrowan, a little village outside of Wang, and the hotel/inn where he was captured is now the centrepiece of a celebration of Kelly and his resistance to the powers-that-be - as well as having a massive 20ft statue of Kelly and his tin-lid helmet outside (see right). Though on the side, Glenrowan also features an excellent bakery and pie shop... which brings me back to Mooroopna...
At some stage mid-week, we took a lunchtime trip to Mooroopna Bakery to sample the officially "Best Pies in Australia". I'm happy to report that they (naturally I had more than one) were indeed very good, although I'll be holding judgement on whether they're the best in all of the land until I've sampled a few more (which will no doubt occur in time).
Back to roaming around, and Saturday saw us make a trip up to Echuca - which was presumably named by accident when a colonist sneezed. Known as "Australia's Paddle Steamer Capital", it's located on the mighty Murray River, which drains pretty much all of Australia west of the Great Dividing Range. The town came to prominence when the railway arrived, which saw it grow as a meeting point between water-based transport to inland Australia and the fast link to Melbourne by rail. However, with rail expanding inland the cargo diminished, resulting in Echuca shifting to a peaceful tourist destination. That it has very much achieved - the old esplanade has been left untouched from 100 years back (complete with a British Union flag rather than its modern Australian counterpart), and leads down to a bankside pier for boarding onto one of 6 paddle steamer boats that run tours up and down the Murray. Being basically flat land, the river is amazingly windy and incredibly broad, but quiet and peaceful banked by gum trees basking in water that comes at a massive premium anywhere else in the land. Moored either side of the river are a whole series of house-boats - modern, multi-storey deals that would be right at home in Monaco... with glorious 30 degree sunshine and the cool river breeze, I was quick to add one of them to the ever-growing list of things to buy if I make a billion quid...!
Finally, there was today's trip to Beechworth up in the "High Country" - the area of land found as you make your way up the Great Alpine Road towards Australia's "Alps". Beechworth is one of the most beautiful towns you'll ever visit - lush and green (something you rarely see here after 8 years of drought) and flanked by a valley and rising hill - itself separated from the town by a gorge carved by what was presumably a hefty river, but today is a somewhat pathetic stream. The scenic Gorge Road winds its way up through the valley and hill, providing a beautiful view back across the historic town - which holds the title of the "best preserved town in Australia". I'd been impressed with Wangaratta's level of preservation, but Beechworth is something else. Everything is original - you have no problems imagining yourself walking around 100 years back with gold rush workers running around all around you. After gold was discovered, some 36 tons of pure metal were found within just 10 years, and God-knows-how-much-more for the years that followed - so it's easy to imagine just how much money was flying around there once upon a time. Today it's much more quiet, but does feature a sweet shop that's straight out of Harry Potter. Every wall is every direction is covered with sweets and chocolates of every description - if I had more of a sweet tooth I'd probably have fainted with excitement. With my departure back to Melbourne tomorrow, I invested in some Cointreau truffles as a present for my cousin... they were sampled after dinner and they were indeed fantastic!
* Lonely Planet Guide
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