Time Travel in Australia

Is there anything Australia does not offer?! Now, as we discovered over the past few days, time travel can be added to list in the form of Albury Wodonga, Chiltern and Beechworth - our personal favourite...and what a triple threat they are. We were going to pass right through them on our way back up from Phillip Island, as we wanted to drive closer to the coast, but in a last minute decision, took the left fork in the right rather than the right and off we went on a trip back in time to the 1800s. Driving to Albury Wodonga is rather a boring highway drive, but once you are breath-a-lized (yes, that would be twice for Al) and get through the outskirts, you are rewarded with so many quaint buildings and lovely museums, as well as a gorgeous museum library that has actually won awards...and so it should. We spent the day visiting the Bonegilla Precinct 19 museum describing the lives of the European immigrants that were paid $15 to immigrate to Australia with promises of good jobs, money and streets paved with gold...hmmm...reminds me of when I was recruited to work in central London also known as Feltham, Hounslow...and let me tell you those streets are NOT paved with gold! Very interesting history as well regarding the myriad of children who were basically stolen from their parents in Britain, mostly poor parents, and shipped to Australia to random families to become labourers mostly. What a shameful history and there have been a multitude of apologies since that time. Albury Wodonga is also surrounded by a ripe and fruitful wine country, which offers tastings and striking scenery. About 26km away, is a exquisitely 1800esque historical town of Beechworth, which offers a town centre packed with all the old time favourites...the local bakery, the sweet shop, the honey farm and shop and the old college that was once the site of the Beechworth Lunatic Asylum (I know we should call it the people with special needs asylum, but back them they were known as lunatics). Bless, they were most likely people suffering from alcoholism, post natal depression or even those who had fallen out with their families who signed them in as punishment. Many were also orphans or Chinese immigrants who made their way to Beechworth during the gold rush in hopes of making their fortunes. Of course they do daily, or should I say nightly, ghost tours through the old asylum and of course Alex and I venture on one last night...it was spooky, but only because we then parked the Jucy van near the asylum to sleep right after the tour ended in the pitch black dark of night. I was afraid we might be haunted by the previous 'residents' of the asylum, as we were told some horror stories about their treatment/torture and abuse, but we were not haunted in our dreams that night, and we awoke to enjoy some pink coloured Lamingtons for breakfast at the local bakery and a bag of strawberry bon bons from the old timey sweet shop for later...oh and of course, I purchased some local honey for all the brunches I intend to hostess upon my return to London. We spent our remaining hour in Beechworth touring the original court house where Ned Kelly was tried and hanged for killing 3 police officers...his mother was also jailed there for 3 years for assaulting a police officer. The Kelly Gang were a sort of Robin Hood band of thieves and misfits, but honestly their story read like a page out of Pikey Weekly! Such an awesome place and about 10km from there was Chiltern where many period piece productions are filmed and we can totally see why...a bit abandoned and much less quaint than Beechworth, but boy did it ever make me feel like I stepped into one of those books my mom loves to read. We endeavoured to visit the world's largest grapevine, but alas it was closed today so we left this trifecta of historic glory to head to the nations capital...Canberra for a day filled with walking tours and politics...can't wait for that.