http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Bendigo/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Oceania , Australia , Victoria , Bendigo en-us Sun, 26 May 2013 09:29:52 +0000 Sun, 26 May 2013 09:29:52 +0000 On our second day here we began with breakfast at The Pancake Kitchen in downtown Ballarat. Scott and I both ordered the Country Breakfast which featured eggs stewed tomatoes sauted mushrooms pancakes and an entire rasher of bacon which as it turned out is more bacon than I could even finish From the lovely Pancake Kitchen we headed out of Ballarat hitting the highway towards B http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Bendigo/blog-752902.html Friday 10th February having had no reply from our friends at Nuggetty yet we decided to travel to Castlemaine and Maldon anyway as today was an ideal day for touring round. We can afford to hang around Bendigo for one extra day but with a limited number of days left in our adventure and still a lot we can do we need to keep to a bit of a schedule. Hopefully well be able to meet up with t http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Bendigo/blog-686298.html Tuesday 7h February started dry and bright although there was a fair bit of cloud about. We woke quite early because the exit barrier at the caravan park makes a noise when a vehicle travels over it and our current site is close to the exitentrance. Many people in the park are residents and obviously start work early we were aware of the barrier noise from about 600am onwards. We had no major http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Bendigo/blog-685831.html I hopped on a bus and made my way to Bendigo where my friend Jess and her husband live. Jess and I met back in Ireland. I hadn39t seen her since St Kilda fest back in Feb so it was great to see her again.I used my time here mainly to just relax and catch up on my blog while Jess and Steve were at work. Jess and I did a bit of shopping on the weekend and she even took me to a candy shop that sel http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Bendigo/blog-653598.html Bendigo29th Dec I took the train from Melbourne up to the old Gold Mining town of Bendigo 2 hour journey.Many of the original miners were Irish Cornish Scottish and Chinese most of whom influenced the town in some way shape or form as you'll see from the photos.Temperatures were 30 32 39 24 that's centigrade.The day I took the video clip was 39 deg with quite a strong wind especially u http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Bendigo/blog-556606.html Nice wake up to the sounds of rain. There was a pond and small river connecting the camps which made moving around fun The rest of the guys were waiting to open and me and Mum were waiting to get on the road to Sydney. Only 850kilometers to go.We left the show grounds at about 1130 and after getting to 1 locked gate we decided to call Phil and get him to do the drive of shame through the whole http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Bendigo/blog-541319.html Up with the rest of the crew after hearing there wake up calls. Nice for me to be able to watch people work and not have to go and do anything Weather is looking good and looks like a hot day is in store.Nothing much planned other than having a look around the show and NOT doing any driving. On one of our walks around we happened to be in the rite place at the rite time to see some pig racing an http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Bendigo/blog-541063.html Up early after a BIG sleep I finally wasnt cold and obviously needed some extra sleep 12 hours later and we are ready to go. Bit of a small problem as there were a few peacocks onsite but they kept there distance so all was ok. Out on the road again and now heading to the famous springs in hepburn. The navman messed things up for us and told us the wrong kilometers 100k out of our way to see a http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Bendigo/blog-540826.html 3 SLEEPS TO GOWe have 3 sleeps to go in the shed. We can't believe that it has come to an end. It just felt like yesterday and we were planning to movein and wondering what it would be like to live in the shed.We have all enjoyed being on the farm again and doing something out of the ordaniary.please no one tell Danny we did not enjoy the nights the new calves would arrive. http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Bendigo/blog-538777.html I have a small cocoon in my stomach there is a butterfly about to hatch and I anticipate this to happen at mid day today. I have managed to control the excitement thus far but it is too close now. This will be the first time I leave these shores. Two days to go still haven't packed and the list one of 47 I have misplaced. Billy Tarm http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Bendigo/blog-491540.html We drove into Melbourne from Wilsons Prom like the Beverly Hillbillies. We hadnt showered since Eden and were just feeling a bit grotty. The city attitude of every man for himself was very apparent from the outskirts and was quite a shock to the system.Over the West Gate we went and landed at Yarraville in the driveway of Aunty Charlie Uncle Daz. It was great to be on known terri http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Bendigo/blog-485433.html At 9.30 am it was already too hot to go for a walk but as it was our first day in Bendigo we walked around the botanical gardens and the path along Bendigo Creek there must have been water in there somewhere but all we could see were reeds and weeds. By the time we got back to the car it was 40 degrees. Even my knees were sweating. Back at the camp we leapt out of the car and into the swimming http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Bendigo/blog-366707.html Hi everyoneHope you all had a good holiday.We came north from Melbourne for some warmer weather and we sure got it Up to 45 degrees at Shepparton. We got their hottest day for over 6 years. The tar on the roads melted and our air conditioner in the van and the car got a workout. We went exploring by car on the hottest days. We enjoyed our week in Shepparton met some nice people and had Happy http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Bendigo/blog-365985.html This is our last blog entry for this trip so we hope you have enjoyed our entries.29th June. Today we left early to catch our train to the Rockies on the Rocky Mountaineer train. Some of these carriages are double deckers with the dining area on the lower level and on the top you have great seating with windows in the roof so you have a fantastic view all the way. These carriages also have an http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Bendigo/blog-300788.html It sort of seems silly to begin a travel diary before I even begin traveling but right about now its getting me so pumped I want to crap my pants. So more for my benefit than that of anyone reading I'm going to give the back story for this whole trip so you can see how I got to this point. So here I go.The year is 2007....late 2007 I don't know exactly when because at the time the event didn't re http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Bendigo/blog-298342.html Well its a sad day today. We left our little Jakey at school in Melbourne. He is happy to be their and the school is fantastic. He does his football training 4 times a week and the school football team is associated with the Western Bulldogs. They train at Victoria University and the school itself has great facilities. A 50 metre indoor pool huge gym Tennis courts and being built this year indo http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Bendigo/blog-241228.html Cann River to Bendigo via Melbourne I am afraid somehow I have lost the pics I took I think it was because I was being hassled out of a Libary .sorry peoples there was some interesting pics you will just have to use your imagination This is the 26th January Australia Day a Public holiday and creates the Long WeekendIt commemorates the landing of the First Fleet in Sydney Cove on that day http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Bendigo/blog-123466.html We got up early today about 77.30 and I spent some time trying to find out wether we are alllowed to bring seashells with us or not. Lonely Planet has nothing to say on the matter so I guess we are. Our breakfast arrived around ten minutes to eight and fourty minutes later we were off. First stop was at Otway Fly Tree Top Walk a very beatiful place where metal pathways allow you to walk among http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Bendigo/blog-24801.html Wonderful breakfastPancakes ice cream and syrup.Yummy for tummyWe had an entertaining time last night. The five of us piled into Yasmine's car and headed into town. Our first stop was at the pub where Han's friend was having a going away bash and also her friend's band was playing for the event. We got there before the band was up so we grabbed some drinks and headed to the second floor to si http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Bendigo/blog-12448.html Bus to BendigoWalkabout town and bakingGoldmines in Han's YardI didn't have the best sleep last night since there were a couple of coughers in my room and next door talk about paper thin walls Plus the door to the wing where my room is situated was super squeaky and creaking all night and it kept slamming when people passed through. So when my alarm went off around 715 it took a while for http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Bendigo/blog-12447.html