Blogs from Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, Oceania - page 4

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

A gloomy start saw us on our way to Ballarat (it actually almost rained at one stage!) - we took a ‘side road’, which is always a bit chancy here as you might end up on an ‘unsealed’ road - which means its little more than a dirt track and you’re in for some bone shaking. As luck would have it, not only did the road stay with tarmac, but we saw two kookaburras. We stopped at a town called Buninyong on the way, which was established before Ballarat. The town wasn’t all that, but we spent a fascinating hour or so with the volunteers at Tourist Information discussing the area and family history. The lady, Mrs Eason, was a descendant of the Austin family that brought rabbits into Australia - apparently, she just can’t live ... read more

Photos taken on the 20th of April 2008 The gang went to Ballarat for a tour of Sovereign Hill, the occasion was for Eugene's bday. Entrance was about $35 per person but not it seems to be $39.50 - it also includes entry to the Gold Museum across the road. It's about an hour and a half drive from Melbourne. Sovereign Hill is a huge outdoor museum depicting Ballarat's gold-mining history. There are different exhibits to see to fill a whole day. It's best to plan your day so you won't miss out on anything. Be sure to wear closed-toe shoes or risk having dusty feet. My friend and I were wearing thongs and needless to say, our feet was covered in dust & dirt. We ate at one of the restaurants called United States Hotel ... read more

Photo's for this are below on Jan 13th! We had to pack up today as we were leaving and heading back to Melbourne. We were stopping off at Sovereign Hill in Ballarat on the way. Sovereign Hill is the gold fields living museum. It is a village with blacksmiths, bakers, grocers and sweet shops all in period dress. There are also the diggers huts, tents, old meeting places, horse drawn carriages and the Chinese Village. It costs around $37 each to get in but well worth it. We spent about 4 hours there but could easily have spent the whole day. There are different events happening throughout the day at different times. We got to see gold smelting & pouring which was a brick of real gold worth $120 000, The march of the red coats, ... read more

We drove from Lorne along the Great Ocean Road again, stopping at the ex-Diggers memorial, Aireys Inlet lighthouse (where the ABC television children's show 'Around the Twist' was filmed), and Bells Beach. From Torquay we travelled through Geelong into Ballarat, where we stopped for a late lunch and play at the Adventure Playground. The lake there (Lake Wendouree) was dry and we later learnt that because of this, the police had recovered quite a few discarded weapons and were able to solve several old crimes. Obviously the crims hadn't allowed for the drought when throwing the evidence in the lake! We travelled north to stay with Jeannie and Vin at Lamplough Estate, just south of Avoca. They are parents of a friend of ours and kindly offered for us to stay with them. We had a ... read more