Gold in them there hills

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A long drive ahead as we left the Grampians disappearing behind us and headed through wine country in search of gold. Our first stop was Arratt, for some supplies and already we could see a few of the extravagant Victorian gold rush buildings.

We drove towards Ballarat down the Avenue of Remembrance, a 20 Km tree lined boulevard, every tree nominated to a fallen solider. It was quite moving just the stretch of mile after mile of dedications, it ended in the Victory Arch that marks the start of the city.

Ballarat City has had many lives and is a true Aussie City, a taste of real Australia and the home of Australian Mars. It has more fast food establishments then any city really should and may be the true answer to how Australia has taken America as the fattest nation. These things aside the city is split into two, one half surrounding the man made Olympic lake for the Melbourne Olympics, has more memorials and many art galleries and museums. The other side and biggest reason for us to stop here is the Gold rush history of the 1870’s, the city was base to a large immigration from all over the world that came to try their luck in the gold fields which boomed the city.

The centre of town has many extravagant statements of buildings, the station and many inns and hotels who emptied the pockets of the gold men and built more ways to extract more.

Unfortunately the one thing that will stay with us is the fact that it also rates as the coldest city we have visited which limited our exploration and didn’t show us it’s best.

I really enjoyed seeing some true Australia, history and remembrance showing that there is more depth then beach resorts, giving an alternative side from the marvellous wildlife and ancient rainforests. There are no photos as what I could take would not represent what I wanted to show and everyone has seen enough rain.

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