Glenrowan

9 – 15 March 2023

With only a short drive to Glenrowan ahead of us we took our time leaving Chiltern and stopped at Wangaratta along the way. Wangaratta is a busy town, without much parking for towing vehicles. Most of the main street and surrounding streets are metred, angle parking so we had to drive around the back streets for a while and had almost given up when we found a suitable stretch of parallel spots with free parking. We popped into a camping store and a couple of op shops before continuing on to Glenrowan.

Glenrowan is best known as the site of Ned Kelly’s last stand and the small town is geared for tourists interested in this part of Australia’s bushranging history. For us, though, it’s all about the birds. The caravan park has a lovely spot with a bird bath that is frequented by a number of species so Mick spent much of his time there. He met a number of other keen birdwatchers and photographers, happily swapping notes and tips.

An interpretative trail leads visitors to key points of interest around the Heritage Seige Precinct

Our campsite was right on the edge of the park, looking out to the bush covered hill. It gave us some privacy from the crowds who descended on the park for the long weekend, and allowed some “on the spot” birdwatching.

On Saturday evening we were joined by a family member on his way home from a golfing and mountain bike riding adventure in Tasmania. We hadn’t seen Tony for about 5 years so enjoyed a very nice evening before he set off for his night’s accommodation a few hours away. Travelling, and meeting new people, is fabulous but I do miss seeing family and friends so his visit was very special.

On Sunday we went for a drive to have a look at the campsites at Winton Wetlands. We have visited a number of times but have never camped there, so we were keen to do so this trip. We stopped along the way at each of the points where there was water and had morning tea on the edge of Bill Friday Swamp, near one of the campgrounds. From there we drove on the Nesting Ground Campground on Green Hill. We decided that this would probably be the one for us when we returned to camp later in the week.

On Tuesday we drove in to Benalla to do some shopping and also to visit Mick’s sister who lives there. Once again it was lovely to spend some time with a family member and to meet Mick's youngest great-niece.

Mick spent most of the rest of our time in Glenrowan staking out the water point, photographing birds and chatting to fellow birders and photographers. We had intended to spend four nights but ended staying for six, and probably could have stayed longer, but with the weather forecast for clear skies for the next few days we booked our spot in Winton Wetlands and moved on.