Blogs from Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, Oceania - page 5

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 ... read more

Well, finally our departure date has arrived. 9 hrs & 28 minute until departure as I write, but who's counting!!! The past couple of weeks has been hectic with us moving out of Langwarrin and making sure everything is right for the move to Ballarat on return!! Had to move Tim out of his Ballarat digs & we managed to break the drought. It started raining as we packed the trailer & didn't stop for the next 12 hours. No power at the new Ballarat address made it interesting unloading Tim's gear there!! But we managed through. Cath was a little ray of sunshine that brightened up an otherwise stressy day!! Thanks to all the well wishers & people who were able to find the time to send us off at either our place; St Judes ... read more

Only 13 days to go until i finally leave for London! My Visa was granted so i now hold a 2 year working holiday visa for the United Kingdom! No luck with the teaching assistant jobs..decided i wanted to sort out some work before i leave home, have arranged to be placed in a live-in job in a pub somewhere on the outskirts of London or in a rural community..not sure yet, they will let me know by email when im travelling! only 3 more shifts at my current job..im going to miss it soooo much! the people are amazing the kids we work with are just as amazing and Clunes has become my home..it will be hard to leave it all behind! Im getting excited now but still nervous as hell..OS Travel is a new ... read more

One of those things with moving to another city (or country), is getting your friends/family to visit you. I've been quite creative in the past, even forceful (I'm not saying blackmailing here, but I could be blamed for that as well). A little triumph again this time, getting Anthony across from Sydney.... "How about going to Ballarat and surrounds".... which has a lot of history revolving around the victorian gold rush. With Anthony being a history buff, it was a straight bullseye ! Anthony organised a great weekend away to northern Victoria in 2001 right after I'd moved over to Sydney. We stayed in a small village called url=http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Yackandandah+VIC,+Australia&ie=UTF8&cd=1&geocode=0,-36.312970,146.837903&ll=-36.208823,146.837769&spn=0.793373,1.870422&z=9Yackandandah, yes, that is an actual village name. It was a great weekend all up, so the bar f... read more

"Copy cat from Ballarat went to school and got the strap", We used to say that when we were kids. We have been doing lots of day trips from Bendigo. Anita tooks us to Malden and Daylesford to visit lots of great shops! Kris did't think they were so great but he enjoyed a pie and was very patient. We visited Castlemaine and took the girls to the butterfly sanctuary, had a lovely picnic in the Botanical Gardens. Things are pretty dry here though and most places have severe water restrictions. We went to Torquay {Bells Beach} for the day with my Aunty Joan and cousin Jo to See Aunty May! The last couple of days we've been in Ballarat at another Cousin, Laurie, and stayed with his family. The kids have been kissed by so ... read more