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Day 43
Horsham - Horsham <Map>
Today: 158kms, Total 4797kms
Off to do a bit of exploring in the Western Grampians today.
We drove to Buandik campground, then John and I set off up a gully looking for a waterfall.
We found this nymph sitting on a rock instead.
Some beautiful ferns were growing in the cracks between the rocks in the gully.
Further up the valley, we came to Billimina; an Aboriginal rock art site in the lee of a giant 3 storey high boulder.
In front of Sue and John is an area used for communal gatherings.
This section of the wall shows some human figures as well as 'tally marks' drawn in red ochre mixed with either water, egg yolk or animal fat to bind it to the rock. There is no indications what the 'tally marks' are actually tallying.
More human figures. The darker brown horizontal markings and the brown dots in both the photos above are natural strata marking in the rock.
All these strenuous exertions called for lunch.
There were a number of birds in the vicinity.
This Kooka was very interested in anything that was left unattended on the table. They're experts in removing food from campers!
This male Superb Fairy-Wren was totally unafraid of us and I had great difficulty photographing him as he was constantly on the move, hopping around catching small insects.
After lunch we visited another rock art site.
This one had the more traditional hand stencils.
On the walk back to the car, we passed a mere metre from a Red-necked(?) Wallaby who was grazing in the undergrowth.
We only discovered it was there because it moved and rustled the undergrowth. It was totally unconcerned about our presence and we sat and stared at each other for a couple of minutes until it got bored looking at two Homo Sapiens and wandered off to find better grazing.
Day 44
Horsham - Ballarat <Map>
Today: 205kms, Total 4797kms
Well, today was to be a sedate drive from Horsham to our campsite near Ballarat. However, about halfway between Stawell and Ararat, this happened.
Just a bit beyond the resources of my puncture repair kit, I think?
This happened at about 90kph. I felt only a small vibration and looked in the side mirror to see bits of rubber fleeing the scene of the crime. Fortunately, we were near a farmer's laneway between two wheat fields, so could pull off away from the B-Doubles roaring passed at 100kph. I was very grateful that there was no tendency for the van to pull the Cruiser about or even jack-knife. The tread had totally separated and then wrapped itself around the axle between the brake drum and the suspension, whereupon it proceeded, fortunately unsuccessfully, to try to beat parts of the van's plumbing to death. It took a bit of getting out.
It took about 90 minutes to get us back on the road again as finding a secure place to fit the bottle jack was causing problems and I'm not keen on messing about under two tonnes of precariously balanced caravan. Looks like two new tyres in Ballarat as the opposite tyre is about the same age so it'll get replaced too.
A stiff drink was certainly called for when we got to the caravan park!
We opted for a caravan park out of Ballarat as it's still school holidays. This one is 15kms outside town, but overlooks the (currently) full Lake Burrumbeet. We've got a lovely spot on a grassy knoll, but it's unlikely anyone of interest will drive by...
Day 45
Ballarat
Today: 43kms, Total 4840kms
A relaxing day catching up with washing, cleaning and getting the blog up to date. Into town this evening to see 'Blood on the Southern Cross'; a sound and light show at Sovereign Hill recreating the events leading up to the Eureka Stockade gold miners' rebellion in 1854. It was brilliantly done and very informative as well as entertaining. No photography allowed, so nothing to see here. :-(
Day 46
Ballarat
Today: 45kms, Total 4885kms
A 'Couth and Culture' day today. Despite the miners' attempts to rebel against Queen Victoria's rather corrupt mining officials, Ballarat has a great history of supporting the British Empire and its way of life in the 19th and 20th centuries. It has some magnificent buildings, laid out along wide tree-lined streets.
After ordering the new van tyres to be available for our departure the day after tomorrow, we made our way to the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery. This is Australia's oldest and largest regional art gallery and is housed in the oldest purpose built art gallery in the country. We were both amazed at the collection of well known Australian late 19th and 20th century artists such as Streeton, Roberts, Lindsay, Boyd, Drysdale and Hans Heysen.
It also houses the remains of the flag at the centre of the Eureka revolt, the 'Southern Cross' flag.
Apologies for the quality of the photo, but it's in a very dark room to protect the fabric. It's about 2.5m x 3.25m (8' x 15') and has been in the museum since 1895. <Flag link>
The item that was causing all the problems at the diggings - The Miners' Gold License. Governor Hotham had raised the cost of the license to £2 for three months as a way of getting the colony of Victoria out of debt; an exorbitant amount for the times, especially as it had to be paid regardless of whether a miner found any gold or not.
This all came to a head at the Eureka Stockade; Australia's first and only armed uprising.
After lunch with the swans and other water birds at the lake, we crossed the road to the Botanical Gardens, as Sue had found out that there was a Begonia Festival in the Conservatory.
Just a brilliant display of Begonias of all colours.
One should always find time in life to stop and smell the roses...
... or admire this centrepiece of succulents.
Next to the Botanical Gardens is the Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial.
The polished granite wall contains the names of all Australian service personal who were captured and spent time as POWs during the Boer War, WWI, WWII and the Korean War. It also lists some civilians who were imprisoned. The walkway in front of the wall is supposed to depict railway sleepers as these figure prominently in Australian POW history.
The six smaller vertical columns are engraved with the countries where Australians were imprisoned, while the fallen column depicts those who died while still POWs. It's a very simple but moving tribute, but we're not sure why it's here and not in Canberra with all the other memorials on Anzac Parade.
Continuing in a memorial theme, the road back to the caravan park is called the Avenue of Honour, and has at the Ballarat end the Arch of Victory.
The arch was restored to its former glory during a six month project in 2011.
According to the plaque:
This ARCH OF VICTORY was erected and this AVENUE OF HONOUR
planted by
THE YOUNG LADIES OF E. LUCAS & Co. Pty Ltd
in honour of
THE SAILORS, SOLDIERS and NURSES or BALLARAT who took part in
the great war
The arch and the avenue were initiated by Ballarat textile company, E Lucas & Co with over 400 girls employed by the company being involved in raising the finance and planting the 3800+ trees, each one with its own bronze plaque naming one of Ballarat's sons or daughters who had enlisted in WWI. Planting began in 1917, and the arch was unveiled by the Prince of Wales in 1920.
While the arches and avenues of honour are not unknown elsewhere, this one is the longest in the world at 22kms (13.6 miles) as most of the trees are deciduous, it was starting to look magnificent as the weather turned cool.
A section of the Avenue of Honour near our campsite.
Day 47
Ballarat
Today: 52kms, Total 4892kms
More wandering about Ballarat this morning. There are so many beautiful old restored buildings that it's hard to know where to look. Fortunately, the local Tourist Information centre has a free booklet on walking tours, so we set off to see what we could until the need for coffee caused us to stop (or the parking meter ran out).
The Ballarat Town Hall, 1870, complete with statue of Queen Victoria looking decidedly unamused.
From the left, The Alexandria Tea Rooms (1888), the Old Colonists' Hall (1888) and the Mining Exchange (1887-89) in Lydiard St.
The Titanic Memorial Bandstand, erected to commemorate the bandsmen of the RMS Titanic who played as the ship went down. At 2:10am on April 15th, 2012, local bands played here in memory of the 100th anniversary of the sinking.
The weathervane on the bandstand is a silhouette of the Titanic.
We'd have to admit being a bit puzzled by this. Obviously more modern than the buildings we'd been looking at, it's in a plaza in front of the University of Ballarat's Arts Academy. For the detail aficionado it comprises, from the bottom, a white plinth, a blue wooden pallet, an inverted grey elephant balancing an inverted white plastic chair on top of which is a 40lt yellow plastic water container, a white plastic screw(?) and a black knob on the top. All suggestions welcome. :-))
By now, the taste buds were acting up, so we repaired to "Sweet Decadence" next to the Art Gallery.
Again, for those who need detail, from the bottom, a hot chocolate, two marshmallows (not shown), a chocolate Brownie with added cream and garnish of chocolate, and a cappuccino. A good wholesome, non-fattening, calorie-free break after all that walking. :-))
NB: All the calories from the Brownie have dissipated as it's been broken open.
Day 48
Ballarat - Wangaratta <Map>
Today: 380kms, Total 5272kms
Just a travel day today. We tossed up which route to take and decided on highways rather than our usual back roads as we had both caravan tyres replaced before we left Ballarat.
Two new tyres, one hour and a lightened credit card later, we left Ballarat. Not too much else to report for the day - we used the Melbourne Ring Road and had fun playing in the traffic, then off up the Hume Freeway to Wangaratta and a nice quiet caravan park away from the highway.
Day 49
Wangaratta - Rutherford - Corowa - Wahgunyah - Wangaratta <Map>
Today: 93kms, Total 5335kms
A bit of exploring today as we've entered the Rutherglen / Milawa wine growing region of Northern Victoria. Rather than wander around sampling various wineries, we decided to settle on one that a) had a restaurant, and b) did tours with a winemaker. One that fitted both criteria was Cofields at Wahgunyah, just south of the Murray River.
The lunch was superb and full of local produce, but after the main course we made a grave error and asked to see the chalk board with desserts.
Butterscotch and Walnut roulade with chocolate and butterscotch sauce. No calories here...
NB: We shared this. We challenge anyone to demolish one single-handed!
To walk this off, we then did the winery tour.
This winery does a lovely range of Champagne-style whites and in the bottom of the photo you can see them arranged in a huge crate specially built for turning as a block rather than the time-consuming old method of doing each bottle individually.
Sue and Plonk (the head mouser at the winery) compare yawns.
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