Ballarat

9th February
So time to get moving!! Alarm at 7.15am, showered and at George to fill the metre for 7.35am. Organised him a bit and back to backpackers. Unfortunately in doing this I tried to rearrange some things, and in the process found 2 coke cans and a Carlton Draught can that had exploded – turns out it’s not just extreme cold that’ll blow ‘em up! Added to the two Classic Blondes in the fridge that had gone earlier in the week, and I had a lovely sticky, smelly van! I had breakfast and updated some blog, before heading upstairs for final clean-up. Back to George for 9am (when my money ran out) and moved him over the road to Maccas car park, listening to some devastating reports of the horrific fires. Not being able to hear anymore I headed back to check out and was on my way to Ballarat by 10am. A good drive I arrived at the Eureka Stockade and Visitors Centre just before noon, and raided their brochure stand. Around to the caravan park behind the Stockade I was able to get in and plug in George. Lunch, photos of the blown up drinks and more messing around, I was in no hurry to go anywhere, eventually walking back to the visitors centre about 2.30pm to do the Stockade, but was told it would be better to come back tomorrow on the two day pass and have two full days. So I walked into town to see the historic buildings and statues down the main streets. The streets are so wide that to get into the middle you have to wait for 3 sets of lights (middle to the edge, cross the side street and then back into the middle – pain in the rear! Some really interesting architecture and history, with some fantastic tributes to local Ballarat people. Stopped in at Coles on my way out of town, and then walked for 30 minutes back to the caravan park – it seemed much quicker on the way there with no groceries! Back to George and decided to watch a dvd and cook taco’s in the camp kitchen, but on arrival found a couple also setting up for dinner. She was from Belize, near Mexico (so she found my tacos funny!), and Chris was from Switzerland, but they were both living in Holland. I wasn’t really up for talking, but they spoke beautiful English, and had some interesting stories about the wedding they’d been to (in 45 degree heat – at Cape Liptrap), and how she nearly didn’t make it because they’d forgotten about visa’s (which resulted in an overnight trip to Berlin!). They said goodnight about 10.30pm, and I then had to clean up and head back to George, setting up the bed and messing around until about 12.30am.

10th February
Alarm at 8.15am, slept til 9am, breakfast, internet and really in no hurry to go anywhere. Made reception for about 10.30am to book another night before having a shower and packing my lunch and backpack, heading out about 11.30. I’d packed an umbrella, but should have really packed a weather jacket too as the spitting became slightly heavier, and I searched for shelter along the road, taking cover under a corner deli and then in a phone box (just call me Clark Kent). Arrived at Sovereign Hill where I paid my entry and booked for the night show, only to realise my credit card wasn’t on me – CRAP! Spent the day bumping into my Dutch friends from the caravan park as I wandered around, taking in all the old buildings, the way things were done ‘back in the day’. There was so much to see, and read, like the $130,000 gold bullion being poured! Had a good chat with the guy running the steam room, who said they’d recently surveyed the area for any gold, and believe the 100 000 ounces they’d mines was only 1/3rd of what is actually here, and with gold worth almost $1000 an ounce, by 200 000 ounces...... yes, we are talking big buck people! Saw the battery working, and how they make boiled sweets, using most of the original equipment from the 1800’s. It started raining a bit so I took some shelter before jumping between other stores, finding the grocer selling all sorts of stuff, including really old toys like knuckle bones, spinning tops and marbles. I wasn’t feeling really flash by this stage, so leaving just on 5pm I headed over to the museum, to look at the beautiful jewellery, information on coins and more info on Ballarat and replica (and authentic) gold that had been mined there... but I wasn’t really concentrating! Managed to hang out until they kicked us out (at 5.50pm) and wandered back home, doing a real zig zag to the caravan park, taking just over half an hour. Collected my credit card from the reception and headed to the van for a night of not doing very much! Left over tacos, another job application, fix up my ipod (which was very frustrating) and was in bed for 11pm, feeling tired and quite sorry for myself! Let’s hope a few hours sleep helps for tomorrow!

11th February
Blah! Alarm at 7.15am on the intent to be at the Eureka building for 9am and back to the caravan park around 10.30. That didn’t happen. Up at 8am, by the time I did showered, breakfast, dishes and then sorted the van to be able to clean the floor it was just after 10am, but that wasn’t bad considering I was feeling pretty average! My friends came and bid me goodbye, they were off to the Grampians (and I was glad they hadn’t left late yesterday, or they probably would have gotten ‘up close and personal’ to some wildlife!) Headed around the corner to the Eureka Stockade and spent the next two hours reading about the events and the people that defined a big chunk of our history and our democratic rights. A quick lunch in the car and it was back to Sovereign Hill for 1pm, and the next 4 hours went way too fast, only having about 10 minutes to actually pan for gold (and still no luck!!!). The most amazing part of the day was the wheel making, and as the only place in the world manufacturing wagon wheel parts authentically it was extremely impressive. They have to dry the wood out and as I found out later there is no way to speed up the process with good results, so they have a mountain of wood stored that is just airing – some for over 20 years. They make the hubs, put the holes in them, make the stokes (and now I know why hammers and axes have a narrow section near the top), insert the stokes and fit the rims. Very, very interesting! I had a couple of questions to ask, so hung around, and then managed to get an ‘extra’ demo on how they fit the steel rims to the wheels – with lots and lots of pressure! 700 psi, which just moulds the steel in around the wood, and there is no way of getting that baby off once it’s on! So I asked my questions and was just about to head off when they said they were going to ‘bend this thing into shape’ and did I want to stay for that too? So I saw them bend a 4 metre long grain piece of steamed wood into a cross between a U and a triangle – and they don’t have long to do it I can tell you. About the only thing they do with new technology is migweld the steel into the circular shape. Went down the mine (on a train, in the dark – cool!) and we did a walk through a section that Sovereign Hill dug out (finding a little bit of gold, but nothing substantial) and showing us the original cage, air vent shaft and water pump before looking at the crib room, widow maker and then a non company shaft that they happened to stumble upon whilst making the new one. With no requirements to register the work (or gold) they have no idea how much gold was taken (although by the depth they imagine it was fairly reasonable take), and assume they were Cornish by the workmanship. Back to the surface (after another train ride, also very cool) and a quick stop for some panning before trecking over to the museum to check that out before it closed again. Into town I parked at Coles and walked Lydiard St, the other historic street in Ballarat. Into Woolies quickly before heading to Lake Wendouree (although I didn’t get out for a look, there didn’t appear to be much, if any, water in it!) where I cooked up some fish for dinner. Back to Sovereign Hill for the sound and light show, and after an absolutely fantastic couple of days there I was slightly disappointed by the show, although the ride there and back was quite cool in the dark. For anyone who hadn’t seen the rest of Sovereign Hill, or read about Eureka Stockade it would have been fantastic (I guess there just wasn’t much suspense for me!). But extremely well done, and the fact I was struggling to stay awake didn’t help. Finished at 10.30pm I headed to the park near the caravan park I took a quick night shot of the flag before pulling up stumps for the night... at 11.30pm.

12th February – Veronica’s Birthday
8.15am my alarm went off, followed by the second one I set at 8.20am. Sat up just and looked around just as a garbo was walking past – good timing! Toilets were unlocked (thank you!) and I had a shower in a can and breaky before writing some birthday and postcards and blogging until 10am. Into town I again parked at Coles and headed off to the Art Museum to check out the Eureka Flag – my trip to Ballarat would surely not be complete without that! Did the bottom floor of the Arts building (interesting, in the way that art is) and found the flag. Nanna called then, which was a great excuse not to head up to the first floor, and after buying my own eureka flag I walked back to the car, concerned I’d left the back door open – which I hadn’t. Back down the main street and to the post office and hair dressers, where Heath too control. I was a little bit concerned, to say the least, about having a male hairdresser, however he was the best one I’ve ever had – bloody awesome! So I left with a whole lot less hair and a few lollies, and headed for Beechworth Bakery for my free bottomless tea and coffee... and the best broccoli and cauliflower cheese pie, followed by vanilla slice, I have ever had. I could have stayed all arvo, reading the books and papers, but eventually left and it was time to say goodbye to Ballarat after a quick shop at Woolies. Over to Daylesford where I stopped at the natural springs – the first one was very disappointing, with just a little trickle out of a tap. The second one had a really nice walk around the lake and 3 fountains, so I filled up my bottle (it can’t be that bad surely, if they have 3 fountains there) and then proceeded to head upstream to find the twin bridges – no luck there! Back again, and with it being a bit warm thought I’d give the water a burl. Well it was like a party in my mouth, and I couldn’t swallow it, with my whole mouth tingling. Back to the car (and some fresh water) and I headed into town to go to the information centre, when I thought I might check out the place Ern from Cradle Mountain had written to me about. A phone call (that didn’t connect – should have been an early warning sign) before heading off on the 80km odd trip. Well there was nothing but paddocks and fences when I finally found it, Matilda, so I drove in and followed the instructions I’d scratched onto a paper bag from the internet. Found the family retreat but no sign of the balloons, and after getting stuck at a fence (and crashing the bike into dirt mound as I did a 100 point turn (ok, it was more like 8, but who’s counting) I decided to give it a miss and headed for the Macedon Caravan Park. Very casual, checked in and set up, needing a shower and doing some laundry. Time for dinner and over to the camp kitchen for kebabs and salad and had company in there for about 20 minutes before he left (i think I’d smoked him out) and I stuck on the tv, and flicked between The Practice and the Bushfire Appeal with Eddie, which got very hard to watch in places, especially when John Williamson sang True Blue. Highlight of the night however was Orlando Bloom, who was in the call centre (and at that point I nearly rang up!). Watched it until 12.30am, and did my list of 25 things about me on facebook, before heading to bed.