Rutherglen and Surrounds

 The Beechworth Bakery.

 Dead foxes which are an invasive pest.

 The Rutherglen Hotel.

 Good PR

The All Saints Estate.

Sunday, July 31^st

As predicted, we were up early again thanks to the boys. While I waited for Graham and Tess to get everything packed and organized I went for another walk around town, as I had to get some money to pay them my share of the cottage. Once we were organized we drove to another town called Rutherglen. This is another small, colonial, mining town. We walked around a bit and then stopped at the local bakery for another pie. This one has won dozens of prizes for the best pies in the state.

Later we drove to a local winery, the All Saints Estate. The building looked like an old castle and they had a cheese factory on site too. We had a tasting session of both wine and cheese. Then we split up as they wanted to get the boys home at a reasonable time and I wanted to go for another scenic drive before I headed home. The drive was through the country passed farms, pasture and bush. As I was driving I spotted the foxes hanging on the fence. Fox were introduced here by the British for hunting, but quickly adapted to their new home and bred... well like rabbits. Australia doesn't have many predators and the fox have taken to eating a lot of the local wildlife, driving to some to extinction or near extinction. They have decimated ground nesting birds and have a taste for lambs. The farmers hunt them and kill as many as possible. I'm not sure why this farmer or hunter decided to hang them on the fence though.

The drive home was pleasant enough and I arrived in Melbourne with enough time to go grocery shopping for the week.

Here are a couple of links to go with this weekend. Enjoy.
Ned Kelly article
Dead fox article