Albury, Kelly Country to Echuca

Tues 3 March The plan was to visit Beechworth (Ned Kelly Country) but a phone call from the van mending man scuppered that as he could fix the van pm instead of Wed. Spent most of the day getting up to date with the blog and it took several hours to upload pictures to Picasa.Peter said it would have been quicker to put them into Boots for developing and posted them. The weather is on the change, very hot still but windy. Ideal conditions for bush fires and they have forecast electrical storms tonight.
Got the van back, fettled, now all it needs is a wash.
Wed 4 March The threatened storm never happened, tho everywhere is covered by a fine dust,ash from the bush fires, whipped up by gale force winds overnight. We decide to go on a detour to Beechworth after all and head south through Albury and Wodonga(solongawodonga) for 40K to Beechworth.It's a lovely country town with a histoy of the gold rush and Ned Kelly.Lots of the buildings are original though have been renovated.We intend to to visit all the places of interest, starting with the courthouse where Kelly was tried and sentenced to hang. An intriguing place and is exactly as it was 130 years ago. It was a lot smaller than we imagined and all polished wood.We were able to wander at will throughout,and we were the only ones there, Peter stood in the dock where Kelly was sentenced and I sat in the Judges seat at the front. The jury room, constables room and judges chambers were fascinating and we spent much longer there than we intended. After the court we visited the Burke Museum in town, of Burke and Wills fame, the first Europeans to cross Australia from South to North. There was lots more to see but time was pressing and we didn't know where we were going to spend the night. Left Beechworth to visit Woolshed Falls but like lots of falls there is very little water in it. This is also Kelly Country. Onto the small town of Chiltern which is so outback Australia it could be used as a film set.Very old fashioned. Then to Rutherglen, famous wine producing area and stopped at one cellar door for a tasting. There are lots round here but we have to get on.After a quick look at the map,Corowa seems a good place to stay. It's back on the River Murray which fits in with our plans. This is a large site with few people on it but there is a flock of Ibis (60plus) and literally 1000s of sulphur crested cockatoos squawking.The noise is incredible! The temperature has plummeted now from the mid 30's to the low 20 's
Next day (Thurs)We still intend following the river but will take diversions to visit places of interest. We are off to see more of Kelly Country, Glenrowan, where he made his last stand where he was captured. Also the village of Greta, where his Mother lived in the house he built for her. On the way we stopped at Wangaratta (Jazz Capital of the World!)( they haven't heard of New Orleans then!) to do a bit of shopping.It wasn't a good choice as we could only find an Aldi, first disappointment of the day. At Glenrowan they boast a museum and an animated show of Kellys' last stand. It looked so tacky we didn't bother we also didn't bother with the Kelly Burger House or the Kelly Gang Devonshire Tea Shoppe! The second disappointment. We thought an infamous a legend as Kelly they might have given us a few facts. On to Greta where there were no signs or any thing related to history or we blinked and missed it! Carried on back up to the Murray through Benella and Sheparton, biggish towns where we could have shopped until we arrive at our destination Echuca ( Steamboat Capital of the World). Our next disappointment came when we tried to book in for several nights and were told we could only stop one, as we had set our hearts on spending some time there. The place is fully booked tomorrow and all over the weekend as it's a state holiday weekend and we didn't know.
Parked up and walked into town along the river, which has loads of houseboats moored up some really posh ones.Echuca town is really quaint and is a port,albeit on the river. There is a chocolate factory here which the navigator thought might be of interest but it was shut. There is lots going on here but we are not likely to be around, and the weather has taken a turn for the worst ready for the Bank Holiday Weekend! Later that night, just trotting off to visit the amenities before bed, I spotted 2 possums just outside the van, so we got the torch, the camera and cut up a couple of tomatoes and Peter hand fed them whilst I took photos. It was an adult female with her cub?/baby?. They are funny little creatures and seem to be a cross between a cat, a squirrel and a tiny kangaroo, but very cute.They reckon you can tame them quite easily. Photos to follow.