While Kerry has spent some time in northern Victoria, albeit many, many years ago, Des has not had the pleasure. We really enjoyed our visit both for the wonderful beauty of the region, and the food and wines and other produce we sampled. We were also looking forward to being there for the autumn colours of the trees – we were not disappointed.
We went to Wangaratta between 26 April to 1 May 2019. We had aimed to get to Bright for 4 days after Wangaratta, but the weather forecast was pretty foul so we crammed all we could into our time in Wangaratta before heading home.
This post covers our time in Wangaratta and visits to the Kings Valley, Benalla and Milawa. Other posts cover Bright and Beechworth, which we explored from Wangaratta.
Kerry’s snippets in fuchsia
Getting There
Echuca > Wangaratta ~ 177kms.
History
The Pangerang First Nations people are a nation of sub-clans who occupied much of what is now North Eastern Victoria stretching along the Tongala (Murray River) to Echuca and into the areas of the southern Riverina in NSW. Their land includes the Wangaratta, Yarrawonga and Shepparton areas.
The hunter-gatherer lifestyle of the People was well suited to the broad expanses of the King and Ovens River floodplains. ‘Wangaratta’ means ‘Wonga’- resting place of the long neck wonga (cormorants) and ‘ratta’- meeting place of the river. For thousands of years the land was managed and conserved by First Nations Australians.
The first British exploration of the area began with Hume and Hovell (1824) and their reports were further enhanced by those of Thomas Mitchell in 1836. The first settler was George Faithful who arrived in 1838. Others soon followed, including Thomas Rattray who established the first punt service across the Ovens River, and the settlement of the Wangaratta district commenced and flourished.
The original punt was eventually replaced by a narrow bridge (in 1855), a wider bridge in 1886, and an even wider one (at the present site) in 1934. The modern day bridge was built in 1967.
The 1850s gold rush in the North-east helped the new township to establish itself as a major centre, and the first bank (the Bank of New South Wales) opened in 1859. Steam trains arrived in 1873. By 1884 the town had a population of about 1,400, four churches, two breweries, three flour mills, two foundries, a hospital, a tannery, a tobacco processing factory and a theatre.
As with many towns, geography was to play its part in the development of Wangaratta. As part of its golden era legacy, Beechworth was for many years the major administrative, and legal services, centre of the North-east, but gradually gave up this position to Wangaratta.
A wool-processing mill was opened in 1923, with several other mills opening over the next 30 years, with textiles continuing to remain important. World War II brought about many changes to the town, with several manufacturing complexes (including an aluminium factory) being built for the war effort. At this time the town had its own power station, and the availability of cheap power was a factor in locating the facility in Wangaratta. After 1945, the town continued to attract manufacturing, particularly textiles, and the town was to gradually evolve as a service centre, as well as a manufacturing centre.
Wangaratta was declared a city in 1959, and amongst its many assets are some well-kept historic buildings such as the Anglican Cathedral, dating back to 1860; St Patricks Roman Catholic Church from 1863, as well as the close proximity of many of the regional premier tourist attractions, and a wide range of excellent accommodation. Because of these factors Wangaratta is today one of the more popular bases for touring in North-east Victoria.
Day 1 – Wed 26 Apr – To Wangaratta
Our plan was to head east but to keep north of Shepparton. The major roads in this part of Victoria seem to all go north-south, so that if you want to go east-west, you have to zig-zag around. These roads are also not as good as the north-south roads. Our travels took us through mostly farmland, across irrigation channels, past orchards, past beef and sheep farms, and under arches of trees over some roads. It was an interesting drive. I can’t believe that the water in the channels is higher than the roads… ALL of them.
We pulled up at St James as we needed a break and to change drivers. There are few if any rest areas on these east-west roads. We boiled the billy for a cup of tea in a little park in a very small village. We were very surprised to see quite a few caravans and trailers pull into town and stop further along the main street. Then the penny dropped – silos. There are some wonderful painted silos in town and clearly many people come to have a look. These are just fabulous.
The drive to our van park is more of the same – narrow roads and lots of agriculture.
Our van park is the Painters Island park, on the river and easy walking distance to town. It was $37/night. It’s a big grassy park and we have a very large drive through site. The facilities are very good – we really liked this park. We got both Optus (our 4G modem plus my phone) and Telstra (Kerry’s phone). There are also some beautiful coloured trees in the park and a suspension bridge to walk over the river to the town. The park became quite busy as there was a Probus Club function on through the week. But that had no impact on us. Probus Clubs are basically for retirees. They have meetings, get togethers and this is the 2nd time we have seen a large group of them in a Caravan Park. They are pleasant and quiet.
After setting up we walked over the bridge to have a look at the town. You may not be surprised to hear that there are some wonderful historic building right through the town – churches, pubs, civic buildings and homes.
Day 2 – Thu 27 Apr – King Valley
Heading south we soon left the flatter countryside around Wangaratta behind us and began to see the mountains in the distance. Also some wonderful autumn trees and many different farms. It really is lovely country we drove through.
We drove up to Paradise Falls, through the little village of Whitfield and then Cheshunt, knowing full well that we could rename it “dry as a bone” falls. After Cheshunt, it is a gravel road up into the mountains. But it was a good drive up into the King Valley.
It is an interesting walk to the falls, especially the lichen on the rock faces. The falls are indeed bone dry, but is is a great gorge we walked through. Beautiful coloured rock formations.
The falls would be dramatic in the wet. The massive rock face slopes backwards so the falls would be a direct drop into a deep natural basin. As it is so dry, it is hard to walk down the steep sides of the basin, where a family with 2 two young kids were making the most of the basin echo. Great spot, even in the dry. The echoes were really amazing…. a real natural amphitheatre.
We drove back to Whitfield to drive up the mountains to Tolmie, passing some lovely farmlands on the way, and some gorgeous coloured trees. As well as houses draped in Grape Vines.
The drive is very narrow and windy, with occasional great views across the valley.
About half way up we turned left to go out to Powers Lookout – its about 5km to the Lookout. Harry Power, an Irish convict, was a notorious bushranger in the 1870, who used this natural vantage point to look our for approaching police. Power was said to have been a courteous villain who never killed anyone and often took only a little cash from the poorer folk. But he always took a horse. When 14, Ned Kelly partnered Power on several hold-ups and learnt a lot from Power about escaping to the bush. Fabulous views from the Lookouts – there are 2. The first is close to the carpark. Its said that Ned Kelly was Harry Power’s apprentice.
The second lookout is a must-do, only about a few hundred metre walk to a stunning rock outcrop. The last section is up and down some steel ladders to get over a steep gorge. The views are breathtaking.
We drove back to the road up to Tolmie and near the intersection the autumn colours are amazing.
Just before Tolmie we turned left there to take the C517 to Benalla. This is a steep and winding gravel road with corrugations, some bad, especially on the tight corners. Drive carefully, in what is lovely forested country.
Close to the bottom, the road was sealed and we were in cleared farming country.
Benalla is known for its street art. There are many examples dotted through the town. Increasingly recognised as one of Australia’s leading street art destination, Benalla hosts an incredible variety of murals created by artists from around the world. The two shown below were on the side of a large building – just stunning. We had heard that there were also some painted silos in town but we could not find them.
There is also a magnificent church.
From there we drove to Glenrowan, and we were quite underwhelmed. This is the site of the final siege and capture of Ned Kelly and his gang in 1880. There was Ned Kelly stuff everywhere, but little looked authentic, more like something strung together simply for the tourist dollar. We did NOT go to the museum. It all seemed so fake. The Pub where the siege was burned down at the “finale” of the siege and is actually on the other side of the creek. The museum and other touristy things just don’t seem right somehow.
We walked through the town, not large, and on a side road leading over the bridge we saw a sign proclaiming something like “the actual site of the shootout this way. It was not an official sign, just a painted board, but we followed it across the bridge. We found a few timber posts showing where the police were and where the Kellys were, with interpretive signs, but all quite shabby. We left disappointed.
But we did see a lovely old car.
Day 3 – Fri 28 Apr – Milawa
We drove out to Milawa past some lovely trees and a fragile looking old building. The town is just a large variety of wineries and places selling local produce of all forms.
We went first to the Cheese Farm, which was good. Outside was a beautiful grape vine with leaves of glorious reds. Inside there were many cheeses to taste. We bought a few.
We went to a few other places but did not buy much. Then finally we went to Brown Bros, where the family have been making wine in the area since 1889. The original Barn is still used – circa 1860. Lovely atmosphere to this place. We strolled in. Brown Bros is one of the relatively few wineries in Australia which makes prosecco (it is excellent) and I’ve purchased it over the years regularly. BUT surprise!!! they had a few different P’s too – a vintage one and a rose style…. The vintage was lovely, but the rose too fruity for me…. Des tasted several different vintages / styles of Shiraz – a couple quite unusual. Lots of $ was spent by us here.
We enjoyed a little wine tasting and bought a case of Prosecco for Kerry, made with grapes from King Valley, the home of premium Prosecco. I got a case of Limited Release Tempranillo & Graciano (2017), and a case of Ten Acres Shiraz (2016), a single vineyard wine.
To see photos from this post, click here
To see a short video on the King Valley, click here
To see video from this post, click here