What is a pickelet you ask? Well we asked ourselves the very same thing. And it turns out- a pickelet is a very good thing.
Our only real stop along the way to the mountains on Saturday turned out to be Glenrowan, Victoria. Our arrival here was almost entirely random and to understand how we ended up here eating pickelets and learning about famous Aussie outlaws, we have to go back to our Honeymoon stop-over in Hong Kong, where we stumbled upon (with the sound guidance of Lonely Planet, no doubt) an Aussie bar called Ned Kelly's Last Stand. Now, I am no Aussie history buff, so I just thought it was a cute name and thought very little of it. We proceeded to get absolutely annihilated on free shots provided by the proprietor.
Us, having a great time at Ned Kelly's in Hong Kong.
Back in Australia, we happen across a highway sign for none other than Ned Kelly's Last Stand! The original bar? No, as it turns out (and Dave "claims" he knew all along) Ned Kelly was a infamous Australian outlaw and he really did have a last stand. And as it turns out, his famous last stand happened to take place over a hundred years ago in a town right along our route to the mountains! Imagine the coincidence. So clearly, we had to stop and check out the sights.
This is Ned Kelly.
As we quickly found out, Ned Kelly was an Irish-Australian infamous for his cattle rustling, criminal feats and defiance of colonial authority. His illustrious criminal career came to an end in 1880 here in Glenrowan when Kelly and his gang confronted police in home made iron armour made from farm equipment.
Pretty crafty eh?
Unfortunately for Ned, the armour wasn't enough and after a dramatic and deadly shoot-out, he was eventually taken down by the police thanks to a few shotgun blasts to his legs and was later hung in Melbourne.
Ned Kelly and his gang have a following in Australia similar to that of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid do in the US. Some people think he was a common criminal and others revere him as a revolutionary and the Ned Kelly legend has become a part of the Australian folklore.
Replica Kelly Homestead
Dave in the gaol.
After a great time at the museum, we were off to the shop next door to discover some fantastic Australian cuisine.
OK, scones I am cool with. But damper? Fluffy Pickelets? No idea. But our interested was peaked and despite having already had breakfast, we were in the market for some Aussie specialties.
And it was delicious!
A pickelet turned out to be a lovely little pancake which came with homemade raspberry jam and fresh whipped cream.
And this is damper. Which is a slice of yummy bread off of a massive round bread/scone creation, served with fresh butter and an abundance of home made jam.
What was VERY funny about this very small little town is that it seemed to have the whole Curtiss family covered....
Here is Dad & Dave's
And here is Linda's.
(Sorry Ben, no store for you and I)
After being sufficiently carb-ed up from our little mid-day snack and having received our daily dose of culture, we were back on the road.
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