Blogs from Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, Oceania
Ballarat, Mildura and Broken Hill
Published: April 17th 2012Oceania » Australia » Victoria » Ballarat » Sovereign Hill
April 17th 2012
It has been ages since my last blog. Sorry everyone, but you know I’ve been busy doing annoying bush walks with my dad. Ballarat was great. We went to Soviegren Hill. I loved it there. We went to an old fashioned lolly store. We bought some red hard boiled lollies. They were delicious. Went got tickets to go on a horse carriage. When it pulled up it was very high. We had to jump on. It was very bumpy. We went to watch on how to make gold. James and I were called down to touch the gold. It was very precious. The bar was worth $150,000. Mum and dad wouldn’t let James go down incase he put his hand in the fire or something else that James might do. At the end I got to ... read more
In the Goldfield at Ballarat - day 2
Published: April 18th 2012Oceania » Australia » Victoria » Ballarat
April 17th 2012
Réveil à 8h dans la fraîcheur, Nico lui est déjà debout depuis une petite heure et discute avec une habitante. Le petit déj et la toilette de chat fait, on revient sur nos pas à Ballarat. Il y a beaucoup à voir mine de rien dans cette ville de 80 000 hab au passé chargé. On se décide à faire la ville en elle-même, beaucoup de bâtiments d’époque ont été conservés, un vrai décor de film ! L’Art Fine Gallery est chaudement recommandée dans le guide et on comprend pourquoi : en plus d’être la plus vieille du pays (1897) c’est certainement l’une des mieux. Uniquement de l’art australien, du 19ème à nos jours, peintures mais aussi sculpture et beaux meubles. Toute une partie est sur l’évènement de l’Eureka Stockade, révolte des chercheurs d’or suite à ... read more
April 16th 2012
Comme prévu on part lundi matin de chez Stuart & Tiana. Les au revoirs sont chaleureux, Nico fait plein de bisous au petit Harry et Tiana est vraiment émue et a les larmes aux yeux !! On était si bien ! On se promet de s‘envoyer des nouvelles par email. Mine de rien le chargement du van prend du temps et ce n’est qu’à 9h40 qu’on décolle, direction Greensborough car il faut qu’on passe à Virgin Mobile et à la Poste. Les affaires réglées il est déjà 11h, on quitte le Plazza commercial, qu’on visitait pour la 3ème fois ! Et là c’est le début l’égarement le plus total : notre plan de route est sommaire et notre cerveau aussi visiblement, et au lieu de rejoindre la « motorway » on s’enfonce dans la Yara ... read more
December 18th 2011
Macedon, Melbourne, Ballarat We had an enjoyable picnic and walk to the waterfall at Stanley Park in Macedon with Mel, Gareth and Maya. We then all travelled to Airport West in Melbourne to stay the night together. Being without a car only meant that we had to travel differently. Taxis, trains and buses really are quite useful, but maybe not quite as convenient as having your own set of wheels. When travelling back to Macedon the next day we caught the wrong train (thanks to the Station attendant) and so we had to sit in heat at Gisborne for an hour with no pubs, coffee shops or bookshops open. That’s all part of the adventure and we were soon on our way for the remaining 5 minutes of our trip back to Macedon. The weather had ... read more
November 25th 2011
Murray Bridge(M) to Ballarat(B) with stop at Bordertown(BT) skate park (18751 km to 19295 km ) CADES DIARY Bordertown - skate park crossed border into Victoria Ballarat - Best caravan park mini-golf for free. Had last swim of my holiday and dinner at restaurant.... read more
Our first step into the past....
Published: October 1st 2011Oceania » Australia » Victoria » Ballarat » Sovereign Hill
September 30th 2011
After Jemana's poor tummy keeping her up all night, we had a slow (and very cold!) start to the day, but oh so very beautiful as where we were staying had a magnificent view of the Grampians. We headed towards Ballarat but made a spectacular detour to see the rock art we'd learned about at the Brambuk centre the day before. The setting was amazing - gorgous bolders with incredible views of the Grampians in the distance. We were all very impressed by the painting too - it looked exactly like we'd expected and it meant so much more as we already knew the story it depicted from the day before. Ballarat was our next destination (after a quick stop for a photo outside the Giant Koala!) and we arrived just after lunch. We had thought ... read more
January 17th 2011
Sunday 16th January – it was a dry and sunny morning and we had decided to go to Sovereign Hill, the main tourist attraction in Ballarat, to check it out and see how busy it was. Even though we were quite early there were already a lot of cars there. After getting some information from one of the young ladies on duty we bought tickets for the ‘Blood on the Southern Cross’ show for the following night as we thought it might be a quieter night than at the weekend. We then decided we may as well go in to the Sovereign Hill attraction as we were here and joined the queues to enter. Movement was swift so we were soon inside and once through the entry gates it was like stepping into another world of ... read more
There's More Than Gold In Ballarat!
Published: January 18th 2011Oceania » Australia » Victoria » Ballarat
January 15th 2011
Saturday 15th January – we were relieved to find that it was a dry and sunny start to the day. We were a bit slow to get going but I managed to do some washing and hung it out to dry. Then we drove around town to familiarize ourselves with the general layout and found our way to Lake Wendouree where we parked up, went for a stroll and then sat for a while. We ventured onto a small boardwalk and got chatting to a local couple who commented on the depth of the water. It looked a perfectly normal scene to us but they said how wonderful it was to see the lake so full. It seems that, in recent years, there had rarely been any water in the lake. People would walk and even ... read more
January 14th 2011
Thursday 13th – hurray – we had a decent night’s sleep with no disturbances by the possums. The sight of Graham brandishing a metal bar or the thought of him haranguing them again in his “budgie smugglers” must have frightened them away! The news from Queensland was slightly better this morning. Unfortunately there was sad confirmation of more loss of life and many people were still unaccounted for. But the river had peaked at about 1½ metres below what had been forecast thus reducing the threat of a greater disaster. Hundreds of houses had still been flooded overnight and the damage to the infrastructure will cost millions of dollars and take years to put right. The sight of yachts, pontoons, floating restaurants, boardwalks etc floating down the river into Moreton Bay was scary indeed. We have ... read more
Apollo Bay, Otway Fly and later to Ballarat
Published: November 22nd 2010Oceania » Australia » Victoria » Ballarat
November 22nd 2010
Yesterday we awoke to the town being covered in mist, which did not lift all day!! It was a really strange sensation not really knowing what time of day it was. We went to the Otways on Monday to go on the rainforest walk which is called the Otway Fly. It is a huge walk way which allows you to travel through the many storeys of the rainforest eventually to the canopy at 47m. The forest is full of Mountain Ash which is the largest flowering plant in the world. Each year, for the first 50 years, the tree ( which is a Eucalypt) grows 1m. They can grow to be greater than 100m and are as straight as you can imagine. The forest is also filled with Myrtle Beech and Blackwoods which are also huge. ... read more
