Such Is Life

In one of the more significant events of my adolescence in Tucson, Arizona, I stumbled across a phonograph album in an El Con Mall department store. The album was the soundtrack to a film by Tony Richardson and starring Mick Jagger: Ned Kelly. Kris Kristopherson and Waylon Jennings were featured on the album and the interior notes of the cardboard cover gave the most sketchy details

of Australia’s “Iron Outlaw.” I bought the album, waited breathlessly for the film to show up in Tucson (which it did, eventually, as the second feature at a local drive in movie and even then only for a week) and I have been interested in Ned ever since. I have read quite a bit about him, and find his myth to be a compelling sort of Australian Jesse James figure, notwithstanding the recent comparison by Robert Utley of Ned to Billy the Kid.

I remark on this because today, during our 11 hour train journey from Sydney to Melbourne, we passed through the heart of “Kelly Country,” including Glenrowan, the site of his last stand against the police that had come to track him down, and Euroa, the site of his gang’s first successful bank robbery. I was beside myself with awe, even though my dear wife continues to refer to Ned as “Stupid Head” and spent most of her time reading as we passed through these historic sites.

Now we are comfortably settled into a pool side cottage that is nothing short of palatial compared to our other lodgings during this trip. After the lengthy train trip, and a short jaunt in a sweaty cab across downtown Melbourne, we were welcomed by our host who

had thought of everything. In addition to the well stocked larder for our evening meal and detailed instructions on how to use the train to get from the suburb of Kooyong to downtown, she even offered us bicycles to ride and showed us the bike paths. Unlike Sydney, it appears you can ride a bike here without taking your life in your hands.

Our final day in Sydney was somewhat of a disappointment. We went to Paddy’s Market where I bought a Ned Kelly t-shirt, as I always do when we visit, but when we tried to go to a restaurant in nearby Chinatown I picked the very worst one. To make a long story short, after plunking down sixty seven dollars I was presented with some shrimp and rice served in glop of unspiced cream sauce which

covered the squash it was cooked in. I doubt I have had a worse meal on this continent, and I have eaten some pretty sketchy meat pies, believe me! Our apartment in Sydney, although located convenient to the conference I attended, left much to be desired as well. We are glad enough to now be here in Melbourne, and tomorrow we will explore more. After all, the Victoria National Library here has Ned Kelly’s armor on permanent display...

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