History Lesson

One of Australia's more controversial figures from the past is Ned Kelly.  He is considered to be either a folk hero or a cold-blooded killer, depending on your interpretation.  Regardless of one's feelings about Ned Kelly's activities he is an enduring image in Australia today, with numerous portraits and portrayals of him in his home-made armour.

Sidney Nolan Painting of Ned Kelly, Melbourne NGV

Ned Kelly was arrested on several occasions for a variety of crimes and was associated with gangs and bush rangers who committed robberies in Victoria.  His real problems with the law began in 1878, at the age of 23, when he assaulted a police officer who had come out to the Kelly farm to question Ned.  This same police officer was also there to woo Ned's sister Kate, who was only 13 or 14 years old at the time.  It is unclear about what happened between Ned, the police officer, Kate and Ned's mother Ellen, but the police officer was wounded by either an ax or a gun, or both, and Ned Kelly was on the run from the law for the rest of his short life.  He formed a gang with his brother and two friends, all of whom were killed in 1880.

In his final shoot out with police the members of the Kelly gang wore armour to protect their bodies.   We had thought the armour was no more than a couple of glorified metal buckets, but it was actually real armour.  It was strong enough to repel bullets but it only covered the men's heads and torsos, leaving their legs completely exposed.  The shots that brought down Ned Kelly were to his legs.  His armour was dented but hadn't been shot through.

Ned Kelly's armour, Melbourne State Library

After his capture Ned Kelly was quickly tried, found guilty and hung for his crimes.  His dramatic final shoot out with police and the ingenuity of the armour has over shadowed the crimes that he committed and he is remembered as someone who fought for the poor.  During one of his bank robberies, Ned burned the bank books so that any records of loans and mortgages were erased, and those people with the mortgages were then debt free.

Our excitement this week (not quite as dramatic as a shoot out in homemade armour) came about because Santos, where we both work, is going to be in Calgary on a recruitment drive in June and have started to advertise in the Calgary Herald.  Santos was contacted by CBC radio in Calgary and JB recorded an interview with them about her experience as a Canadian moving to Australia.  It was a short interview and focused on how transferable skill sets are between the Calgary industry and the industry in Brisbane.  We'll post a link once it airs.

Melbourne (Part 3)

St. Kilda is a suburb south of the Melbourne city centre.  St Kilda is well known now as a hot bed for restaurants and, like much of Melbourne, is crazy about sports.  We did a self-guided tour from one of our guidebooks and walked from the suburb edge all the way to the ocean front and boardwalk, which took about an hour. 

Melbourne CBD skyline from St. Kilda

St. Kilda has a great feel in the area around the waterfront (the only area we really explored) and there is definitely a look of a beach resort town from another era.  Most of the part that we were in was built between 1880 and 1920 and we found it quite charming.  Melbourne is given credt for revolutionizing the way that Australian drink coffee and JB had the best cappuccino in St. Kilda.  Here in Australia they drink espresso based coffees, just like in Europe.  Those looking for drip coffee find much woe instead.  (Why would anyone pick drip over espresso?!)  

Sidewalk Marker

To the south east of Melbourne, on Phillip Island, there is a huge colony of Fairy Penguins, a small, blue penguin that lives in Australia and New Zealand.  It is a very popular destination for tourists, who pay to be driven out in the evening and spend a couple of hours watching the penguins wander in and get into their little rock caves.  It was highly recommended, and sounds quite cute, but we didn't think that it would suit us as an outing, so we thought we would miss out on seeing the little guys. 

St. Kilda Pavillion

We walked out to the St. Kilda Pavillion at the end of the boardwalk and noticed that there was a little path that lead to a rough seawall.  Once we got there we noticed signs up that we were not to disturb the fairy penguins or the water rats (as if we would go near anything called a "water rat"!).  We could hear little peeping and chirping noises coming from under the boulders and then a lady called us over to see what was making the noise.  It was a cute little fairy penguin!  We don't know why he was there during the day but we very very glad to see him, and now we can understand why people stay up all night to watch these little blue birds wander home from the sea.

Fairy Penguin

Melbourne - Part 2

During our week in Melbourne we decided that we wanted to visit some of the wine country.  Rather than drive ourselves or get on a big coach tour, we bucked up for a private vehicle to take us to the Mornington Peninsula.  This was definitely the best choice for us and we had a fantastic day.  The major wine region near Melbourne is the Yarra Valley, to the northwest of the city.  We chose to go to the Mornington Peninsula, which is about 90 minutes south of Melbourne.

One thing that made us choose the Mornington Peninsula over the Yarra Valley is that there are fewer big wineries and more boutique vintners.  We didn't see any big coaches, and only a few mini van tour groups.  We were also interested in sampling Pinot Noir, and the Mornington Peninsula is definitely the place in Victoria for that.

Vines covered in nets to keep away the pesky birds

The climate is somewhat "mediterranean" with warm sunny days and cooler nights, and cool humidity from the ocean breezes.  It is also somewhat hilly so, much like in the Napa Valley, there is a wide range of elevations.

View of the coast line from Franklin's Point

The area is really pretty, with the ocean to the south and all green hills.  It would have been easy to spend our entire week here, visiting wineries and relaxing on the beaches.  A one day trip from Melbourne was a great way to spend a day and we would happily do it again.  We visited four vineyards in one day: Yabby Lake, Stonier, T'Gallant and Main Ridge Estate.  They were all impressive and the people running the tasting rooms seem to have the best jobs in the world!  Although we were focussed on Pinots, we tried a number of Chardonnays and even a Shiraz or two.  By the end of the day we were tired and ready to relax...over another glass of wine, of course!