Happy Canada Day

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Bus to Bendigo
Walkabout town and baking
Goldmines in Han's Yard

I 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 7:15 it took a while for it to register to me that it was MY alarm that was beeping. A couple of snoozes later I eventually rolled outta bed to wash up and pack up my stuff in the dark. I triple checked with the light from my cell phone that I didn't leave anything behind.

Check out was quick and before leaving I put most of my stuff into locked storage. I wasn't sure how long to rent the locker for so I did 36 hours just incase...lots of coins! After punching in my secret code several times because I kept wanting to put stuff in the locker, I was on was on my way.

Thank goodness the weather was dry which made the walk to Spencer Street Station enjoyable. Once I got to Spencer Street Station it was just chaos because 1) major construction and 2) all the school kids are now on school holiday. I bought my ticket and was lucky enough to get one of the last seats on the express bus to Bendigo. Phew! The bus ride was pretty uneventful...ate a few snacks, read a bit, napped a bit and chatted with my seatmate for a bit. She's headed to Adelaide and it will take her 11 hours on two buses. Crazy!

So as I said, a very uneventful bus ride to Bendigo. About 5 minutes after my bus arrived in Bendigo Hannah arrived at the station. Hugs and greetings and we were off touring round Bendigo. We parked the car and ran a few errands like picked up fruits and veggies from the cute little produce shop that Han worked at last year, fixed Han's glasses, checked out an OP shop (you never know what Bric-a-Brac you'll find!) and checked out a clothing sale. It started raining so we ran back to the car and headed to the grocery store and where we were lucky enough to see the talking tram! lol

Then it was back to Han's place. Her cousin Yasmine and her two friends Rachel and Katherine were also over visiting Han for a few days. Han's parents place is awesome. Her parents and sister Ester are currently away in Europe for a few months.

Han made me the best ever hot chocolate - frothy milk and everything! - and Han, Yas and I enjoyed our hot drinks and some vanilla swiss roll that I brought from Melbourne. Yum!

We figured the gray weather was a perfect time to be doing some baking so Han decided to try her hand at baking some bread since her first attempt the other day was not so successful...Jamie Oliver's "basic bred recipe" called for 30g of salt...is that correct? While the bread started to rise by the warm fireplace the five of us went out with Leroy the family dog and went for a walk around the property. Since it's been raining it was pretty muddy out and surprisingly my boots did not turn into ice skates like they usually do. haha

Bendigo was founded during the times of the Gold Rush here in Australia and there are mines and caves still present in their backyard. It was pretty cool walking amongst the trees. Han says there are times when the kangaroos come right up to the property but that's more when it is really dry out and they want the grass that is closer to the house which is greener. Out on the property because it’s been raining so much it is pretty green out there. We also saw an abandoned car on our walk and a reservoir where firefighters grab water if there are fires...really full at the moment because of the rains. So as you can probably imagine it was quite the walking tour!

When we got back, Han went to check the bread but it had not risen much more than before the time we left for our walk. How disappointing. We popped them in the oven anyway and soon after were treated to some hot bread with loads of butter and cherry jam...very delish! The bread was a bit dense but still yummy especially with the crispy crust which I like. There’s nothing like a slice of freshly baked bread with some butter. Oh and the smell...divine!

Han whipped up some fried rice for us to eat for dinner and we also had a bit of leftovers as well. Hot food. Yum.

Before we knew it, it was 9:15. What! How long have we been watching Big Brother?? It was really funny watching the relay races. It was an Asian theme. The best race was the one where the contestants wore huge foam like mattress/cape on their back and then they had to run down a slippery runway and get the fortune out of the fortune cookie. The twist was they had a fan blowing really hard at them - gale force winds perhaps. It was hilarious to watch the first few attempts. They had to revise the rules a bit because of some "glitches" so the first and second contestants had to do the relay three and two times respectively while contestant three only did it the one time. Not really fair but contestant one won in the end.

Now we're all getting ready to go out to see Han's friend's band play at a pub. Well, since I only have two changes of clothes with me I'm ready! LOL

To be continued...

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