Blogs from Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, Oceania

Today we all piled into Moyra's Hyundai to visit the Julie and Mike McCarthy's and stay overnight in Romsey, north of Ballarat. We had a warm welcome from all the family and after a tour of their lovely big home and garden and after being entertained by the children, we had a delicious BBQed lamb lunch. The highlight of the entertainment was an amusing musical play, put on by the children, directed by Ella and supported by Charlotte, Paddy and Tom, playing the part of Father Christmases. We think it was the best entertainment we have experienced for a long time. In the afternoon we all went on a circular walk to the creek and got some ideas of the local area, and plants surprisingly there were some Buttercups and daffodils! The family enjoyed looking at ... read more

Today’s destination is Ballarat. I’ve never been there before but I’ve watched 36 episodes of the Dr Blake Mysteries (more than once) so it feels very familiar. We start at the Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka, venue of the Eureka Stockade; a miners’ uprising violently put down by government forces. The museum covers the uprising and democracy in general. (Oh, and features in Dr Blake series 3 episode 4). It’s the old man’s birthday so he gets his first senior discount, which makes him happy. Then on to Ballarat town centre to Lydiard Street and its grand Victorian buildings built during the height of the gold rush (that coincidentally feature heavily in Dr Blake). We tour the art gallery which has a great collection of Australian art (series 2 episode 8). Then we buy picnic ... read more

Despite the disappointing time at the Swan Hill Pioneer Settlement, we had planned to spend an entire day at Sovereign Hill, the replica gold town in Ballarat. In fact, we had also booked to do the sound and light show (called Blood on the Southern Cross) at Sovereign Hill, which is almost entirely focussed on the Eureka Uprising of 1854. We were up bright and early this Friday (pre-Grand Final Day in Victoria) but the traffic was very light and there didn't seem to be anything happening. We stopped for some fuel and I asked the attendant was it particularly quiet for a Friday? She replied that the Victoria Government had declared that a Public Holiday should be celebrated on Grand Final Eve. Not hard to believe when Victoria is the only place in the world ... read more

Our overnight sailing back to Melbourne proved to be uneventful arriving at 6.30am in the dark.How we ever managed without GPS I don't know, navigating out of the docklands and onto the freeway would have been a nightmare without mine.We are headed for Ballarat a former gold town with a very important place in Australian history.The 1800's saw a gold rush in Ballarat and surrounds bringing in thousands of would be gold diggers from all over the world with a significant Chinese contingent.The second largest gold nugget in the world was found here. Ballarat is also where the Eureka Rebellion took place and the birthplace of our current day Democracy. An exhibition reconstructs the Eureka Stockade and tells the story behind those dark days that gave us democracy. On proud display is the original flag flown ... read more

Když v okolí Melbourne probíhala zlata horečka, konkrétně tak se dělo ve 3 městech v okolí: Ballarat, Bendigo a Beechworth. To první z nich (má 80tisíc obyvatel) jsem navštívila díky CouchSurfingu. Jak se to stalo? V létě 2013, když jsem začala svůj francouzský výlet, jsem v Lyonu poznala slečnu z Austrálie. Tato slečna mě loňskou zimu navštívila v Praze a minulou sobotu se po 2 letech vrátila domů z Evropy - do města Ballarat. Jednak je to pěkně město s architekturou ve viktoriánském stylu, známý je ale především pro Sovereign Hill. Sovereign Hill je vesnice postavena podle stylu Main Street v Ballarat - hlavní ulici tenhdejsi zlaté chřipky (horečka zaručena). Člověk jako by se ocitl v roce 1851. Dobrovolníci oblečení v dobových kostýmech hrají různé role a fotí se s turisty. Na 25 hektarech stojí krámky ... read more