Ballarat

Ballarat's wonderful old architecture.

Ballarat is a beautiful Victorian rural city, born out of the gold rush of the 1850's. It is only 75kms from Melbourne. Due to the riches of the gold rush, the town boasts wonderful old heritage commercial and Government buildings, as well as theatres, private schools and so many magnificent old homes and gardens. Add to that the wide avenues and the parklands, Lake Wendouree and the Botanical Gardens, the political history, Sovereign Hill and the Eureka Stockade, and you have weeks of exploring to do. We have 4 days!!! We will need to be selective!

The Arch of The Avenue of Honour.

Spring at Lake Wendouree.

Wonderful wysteria in a private home.

We are staying at the Big4 Ballarat Goldfields Holiday Park, just 300 metres from Sovereign Hill, and less than 5 minutes drive to the centre of town. It is a lovely park with great facilities, and again we have a huge corner site.The weather is cool days and very cold nights. We started out with a drive around town to familiarise ourselves with the layout of town. We are immediately struck by the wonderful buildings and the wide avenues. The main street, Sturt Street, has a wide nature strip down the centre, full of spring flowers. As we drove along Sturt Street out of the CBD, we passed the many grand old private school campuses, and churches and countless huge old homes with equally huge gardens, all beautifully manicured. Finally we arrive at the huge Arch that marks the beginning of The Avenue of Honour, which is lined with trees, each one a memorial to a fallen soldier with a plaque bearing their name. It runs for miles and is like no other we have ever seen. A drive along the shore of Lake Wendouree shows us more grand homes and gardens, and lots of well maintained Boat Houses, some privately owned, others owned by clubs and schools. For those that can remember, Lake Wendouree was the rowing venue for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, and the course is still in use, or should I say back in use after a period when the lake was dry due to the long drought of the early 2000's. 

At Ballarat Botanical Gardens.

Poor Man's Orchid display.

We stopped at the entrance to the Botanical Gardens and headed in for a look around. There are a  number of glass houses from the 19th century. One holds a fantastic collection of marble statues donated by a wealthy benefactor. We headed for the new modern looking glass house, and once inside were presented with a visual extravaganza of colour. The display of "Poor Man's Orchids" (sorry but I'm not even going to try and spell the botanical name), is breathtaking.

Carolyn among the orchids.

Back out among the gardens, we walk through avenues of huge American Redwoods, and so many other species of huge old trees. Interspersed are the blossoms and new green foliage of spring. Even if your thumb is brown, this is impressive. A walk along the Avenue of Prime Ministers was nostalgic. All those great people cast in bronze and surrounded by colour. At the end of the avenue was a concrete slab on the earth. My hopes were raised but then dashed as I read that Julia's bust (well head) was currently under way. We only saw a part of this great garden. Apparently the tribute to Australia's Prisoners of War is a very moving sight, but we were running out of time.

In town there was no shortage of places for coffee. We chose a delightful little Italian cafe specialising in home made scones and pies. There was a lady behind the counter making and baking her pies, pasties and scones. John chose the plain scones with strawberry jam and double cream, while Carolyn went the whole way and tucked into Raspberry & White Chocolate Scones with more jam and cream. They were absolutely the best scones we've ever had, so light and moist, and the coffee was excellent too.

The Mine at Sovereign Hill.

The police keep the kids in order!

Main Street Sovereign Hill.

Hopefuls seeking gold.

Next day we were off to Sovereign Hill. It came to life in the 1970's and is an unbelievable attraction. The entire Ballarat gold fields town has been re created from old lithographs and photographs. You pay your fee, $36 for seniors, and it lasts for two days, and you step through the gates and back in time. It is a working, life size town. Actors roam the streets adding to the authenticity. Everything is in working order. There are skilled tradesmen making things the old way. There are blacksmiths, wagon wheel makers, foundries with their metal workers making tin & copper plates, and all the stores are staffed with men & women in period costume selling items reproduced to reflect their age, and packaged accordingly. In the centre of town you can pan for gold in the stream. They seed the stream with real gold specks and you can hear the cries of glee when someone finds a golden speck.

Musket firing demonstration.

The kids thought it was hilarious.

Cobb & Co Coach rides.

Ladies out for a stroll.

At various times there are demonstrations and of old skills, and mock disputes. There are Red Coat soldiers marching through town, and the real life Cobb & Co Coach takes visitors for rides around the streets. We particularly enjoyed the musket firing demonstration conducted by a larriken policeman, who had the kids and adults in stitches with his antics. There was also a street altercation between a gentleman and a lady of ill repute, that involved the police and most of the crowd. It was pure entertainment. We enjoyed a very full afternoon, as we walked among the old buildings, seeing how life was in the 1860's. We finished off the day with an actual demonstration of a gold pouring, but alas there was no sampling! This is an attraction not to be missed in Ballarat. If you only have time for one thing to do, make it this. Across the road, is the Gold Museum, and your ticket includes entry here as well. This was also excellent, as we followed the history of gold, not only in Ballarat, but the role it has played in the world's cultures from times BC to the present. You can also see some amazing gold nuggets that lucky buggers have dug up, fallen over, or found with metal detectors, and coinage from all around the world.

Buninyong Fresh Produce Markets. 

Our last day in Ballarat started with a thunderstorm, a hail storm and freezing winds, but cleared to be a lovely spring day! Gotta love Victoria's weather! We took ourselves out to the nearby village of Buninyong, where the Fresh Produce Market was in full swing. We filled our bags with loads of fresh vegetables, some meat and smallgoods, and some home baked bread. It was a good market. Small, but quality. The village of Buninyong has a lot of history and some grand old buildings. as we discovered as we followed the heritage trail around the small village. We enjoyed a Chinese Yum Cha lunch, Ballarat style. It wasn't quite what we were used to in the hustle & bustle of Sydney's Chinatown, but it was tasty. That afternoon we decided to escape the cold and take in a movie at the beautifully restored Her Majesties Theatre. We saw the new movie Lawless, all about the prohibition era and hillbilly moonshine. We enjoyed it, though it was pretty brutal in parts.

The new Australian Centre for Democracy @ Eureka, was not yet open, so that will definitely be on our next visit list. The history of the Eureka Stockade and the role it played in Australian democracy is a great story, probably not fully understood by many Australians.

So there you have it. A whistle stop tour of Ballarat. Next day we are off to meet up with Lynne and Paul at Warburton.

Stop Press!!
Monday morning, the alarm is followed by a phone call from Lynne & Paul. They arrived in Warburton Sunday afternoon in steady rain. The Caravan Park was a perfect example of how glossy brochures can lie. It was a shocker. It was a bog. They somehow managed to get set up for the night, and went to bed with visions of our caravan sinking up to the axles, so next morning they were quickly on the phone, and we agreed a quick change of plans. So now it's back to Beechworth for a week of rest and relaxation.