Selfie Friday!!!

What is it with selfies?

What shall I do next?

The pool here at Avani is a beautiful infinity pool but there are not too many sunbeds, so we’re surprised to easily get a sunbed in the shade and settle down to read. We’re not there long before a group of Chinese tourists arrive, go in the pool and perform every pose possible all the time taking selfies of themselves. I honestly don’t think they’ve looked at their surroundings. They obviously don’t go to the pool to swim, sunbathe or relax, just to pose and take endless selfies. God knows what they do with so many pictures of themselves.

This process of groups arriving, posing and taking selfies continues all morning and not a stroke was swum by any of them. Finally, an older family arrives, not more selfies, I think. No, they start trying to drown with style because you couldn’t describe their efforts as swimming, more like controlled drowning!

All this picture taking is too much, we retreat to Smiley Beach for a beer and sit there watching the tide come in. Oh no, more Chinese, more selfies!!!

Sunset at Avani

Sun, sea, sand and shopping

I enjoyed sitting on those sunbeds so much that we return for the morning and just watch the world go by. In the afternoon we join the coach for the Mitsui shopping mall and to be honest we have no idea where it is, the journey is an opportunity to see the surrounding countryside. We’ve already given our names and room number to book a place on the coach but, when it arrives, we realise booking was not necessary. It’s a 44-seater coach and there only seems to be 7 of us on it. But first, there’s the essential step of establishing who you are.

We eventually understand the driver is asking for our room number, 093, “mmm, 096? No, 093. Mmm, ok 093.

The next passenger is more complicated, “room number?” “122, I come back”, “ahh, you go mall?” “mmm, I come back” “come back?” “Yes, I go mall, come back!”

There are 3 passengers who are only going to the mall and not coming back! What happens to them Dave and I wonder. When we reach the mall, we realise that there is also a free shuttle bus to the airport, hopefully they reached their destination!

Sepang Motor circuit near the airport and Mitsui Mall

Over-water villas

Paradise is...

We’ve both always dreamed of staying in an over water villa and here at Avani we’re living that dream. The room is large with a high-pitched roof and an exposed thatched roof both on the inside and outside, it’s beautifully cool with both air conditioning and a ceiling fan. This is just as well as it’s a steamy 34⁰C outside and 80% humidity. Dave has woken early and spends a peaceful hour sat outside watching the sun rise, I’m apparently unrousable. Breakfast outside of the main restaurant Bila bila, which in Malay means Anytime, contains every kind of food you could wish for from toast, to omelette and Asian style congee and curry.

Over water villas

The resort is shaped like a palm tree with villas off the trunk and fronds and restaurants at the junction of them. The main reception is a huge round space with a high conical thatched roof and many areas to sit in the cool and admire the beautiful surroundings. The private beach has rattan sunbeds set under palm trees and powdery white sand as far as we can see. This really is a little bit of paradise.

The evening brings a meal at Bia bila with so many groups of Chinese people I think we may have been transported to China. Then there’s the walk to the beach for the fire show. They are a group of 5 or 6 young men and initially I think oh, spice boys as they strut their stuff while twirling their fire sticks all to music. But then the big boys appear, breathing fire. The show continues to hot up with the moves getting ever more daring, one of the guys even stands on the sunbed in front of me swinging fire either side of me! I now understand why these guys have no hair on their chests or face….

Fire show

Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur

Our Australian adventure comes to an end today, it’s time to go to the airport and check in to our flight to Kuala Lumpur. As we approach the check-in line it becomes clear that a good number of Malay people look like they’re moving back to Kuala Lumpur. We’ve never seen so many overstuffed, overweight cases and boxes all destined for the hold of our flight. Every case seems to need to be repacked then reweighed several times before being accepted. Needless to say, this creates pandemonium and an ever-lengthening line to check-in for the flight. I’m getting stressed that we’ll miss the flight, Dave’s just annoyed, “why can’t they just obey the rules!” Eventually, we’re checked in and yes our bags were well under the weight limit! We make a bee line for the airport lounge which, is a haven of peace and quiet.

Arriving at Kuala Lumpur or rather the transit through the airport is just as stressful, trying to follow the signs to baggage reclaim, walking miles, being transported by train to another city, or so it seems. Then there’s the interminably long line for immigration all before we reach the carousel for baggage reclaim. We stand there for ages until we realise someone has removed our bags into a pile on the floor between the carousels! Now the bags have to be x-rayed to go into the country, Dave is beginning to be quite vocal and politically incorrect shall I say!!!

Time to purchase a voucher for a taxi ride, easily done, but we’re both more than a bit edgy when we’re escorted to a quiet area of the terminal before being loaded into the taxi. However, all is well, the taxi ride is smooth and 45 minutes later we’re checking into Avani Sepang Goldcoast resort.

Mount Wellington

It’s more than a bit cloudy today but still worth the drive up to Mount Wellington or Kunanyi as the Aboriginal people call it. It’s at least 10⁰C colder up at the top so today it’s a very chilly 4⁰C, the 2 Dave’s, Toni and I are needing all our layers to keep warm. The clouds keep parting briefly on the way up to the top and for a time keep Hobart and the surrounding area shrouded in cloud and hidden from sight. But, one section at a time the clouds part and show us the various views of Hobart, the Derwent River, the islands and surrounding hills. It’s almost as if nature can’t reveal all of its magnificence at once as it would be too much to take in.

We don’t have time to explore the walking tracks in this area, but we do make time to enjoy lunch sitting outside the Last Freight, the only café up here on Mount Wellington. Afterwards there’s time for a bit of sightseeing around the apartment before we catch the flight back to Melbourne.

Mount Wellington with Hobart in the background

Mad MONA

Another aspect of Hobart is MONA, now, this is not the children’s cartoon caricature, no, it’s the Museum of Old and New Art. It was started by David Walsh as he attempted to put back into society after he had made millions at gambling and wine making. The museum is quite a way up the Derwent estuary, so Dave W has booked us on the ferry to MONA, unknown to us he’s booked us in the Posh Pit. What a great idea, turn left as you get on the cat, sit in a comfy leather seat and drink bubbles while eating canapes, awesome.

X-Rays but what's the subject!

Cement mixer on low loader

The river approach is the best way to get your first view of the museum, along with the magnificent views along the Derwent and of the houses overlooking the river. There are 99 steps up to the museum entrance and the first exhibit visible is a low loader with a cement mixer on the back, but it’s made from galvanised filigree metal. 

The prism house

There’s also a prism house and a filigree metal chapel. As we enter the museum, we’re given a programmed iphone which tells us about each of the art works, its artist and as it says “art wank" the collection is huge and varied, Dave and Toni do a great job navigating us through the floors, which incidentally are underground, and corridors to see all the exhibits. The art ranges through every medium imaginable, paint, electromagnetic, water, metal, air, sound and light. It’s all very mind blowing and, in my case induces an attack of vertigo in the blue light tunnel!!

Water and metal beads connected to internet search

Live subject with tattoo art

Back on the ferry in the posh pit, more bubbles and canapes before a stroll back to our “pod” for a bit of washing, packing and relaxation before a final evening meal together at Peacock and Jones. 
The restaurant is warm and intimate with a floating gas fire in the centre of the room, lots of wood and leather comfy chairs. The meal and wine are equally impressive with heritage tomatoes and olive tapenade to start and Lamb with Farro, roasted vegetables and feta to follow. Good food, good wine and the most important ingredient in any day good company makes for another perfect day.

Salamanca Market to Battery Point

Antarctic Explorer's Statue

How do you describe a perfect day, well, it probably goes something like this. Got up when we woke up, enjoyed breakfast together looking at an amazing view, wandered down to the 300+ stall Salamanca market minutes from our apartment, spent 2 to 3 hours wandering through the stalls admiring the craft work, have a coffee in a bar, lunch in our apartment on the deck, then walk to Battery Point via the old town before returning home. Oh and on the way plenty of chat and laughs, sounds pretty perfect to me.

The evening is spent having a lovely Italian meal at Maldini’s. Yes, it was the perfect day.

Old Houses in Battery Point

Bruny Island

We set off on another blue skied, sunny morning to drive to Kettering, no, not in Northamptonshire, it’s just outside of Hobart where we’ll catch our ferry to Bruny Island. The ferry is a small roll on/roll off ferry and only takes 20 minutes to cross to the island and then we’re all off travelling in convoy on the one road from the ferry until gradually cars peel off to go to either the other side of the North Bruny Island or the whisky distillery. We stop at the cheese company and try a flight of cheeses but none of them are to our liking.

"The Neck", Bruny Island

The next highlight on Bruny Island is the lookout at, The Neck. It’s here that we can see the small strip of sand bar which connects the North and South Islands and the stunning turquoise blue sea on either side, fringed with white sand. There is some debate between us whether this strip of land is called an isthmus or a tombolo and after a google search, it’s clear that Toni is right it is a tombolo. Below the board walk and steps are numerous holes which are the burrows of the penguins which nest here. We’re far too early to catch a glimpse of them.

We’ve been advised to have lunch at the Bruny Hotel which is set on a picture postcard bay on South Bruny. All the tables are reserved when we go inside but they manage to squeeze us in on a table for four. We comment that it’s strange that all the tables seem to be reserved and within half an hour they are all full of people who have pre-booked. The meal is excellent with good country portions of salmon, battered fish and breaded calamari, all freshly caught in the seas around Bruny.

Adventure Bay

The lighthouse is down a dirt track road which will probably take an hour to reach it, not an attractive option. A team decision to go to Adventure Bay and do a walk to the headland there is a much better option. The weather is not looking quite so good now, with spits and spots of rain but the scenery is still beautiful with light turquoise sea lapping over silvery sand and dark twisted trees framing the view. 

Echidna

We pass an echidna busily digging for ants and not in the slightest bit concerned that we are so near to him. The path wins through the trees and shrub to a small rocky bay. The return journey takes us past some small wallaby’s foraging for food. Dave and I thoroughly enjoyed this bush walk but are very pleased to not have seen any snakes!

Toni and the 2 Dave's

A Convicts Tale

Port Arthur

The drive to Port Arthur today quite frankly blows us away. It’s through thickly wooded forests, past sapphire blue bays and the occasional galvanised metal house. The beauty of the surroundings belies the awful history of the place we are visiting. 

Port Arthur

It is the convict settlement of Van Demons land as it was then called, a beautiful and awful place all in one. The convicts from Britain where treated dreadfully for even the most minor of infringements and so many died. But equally the place they built in such a stunningly beautiful place defies imagination. Jet, our guide for the first section of the tour tries to paint a picture of life in the colony and does a reasonable job but for me it’s Christine the boat guide who fills in the spaces on the canvas.

Port Arthur Isle of the Dead

Our drive back via “the Blow Hole” and isthmus separating Port Arthur from the main part of Tasmania, where we stop to check out the view. The Tasmania Tuna Club are having a bit of a barbie with the lady in charge giving out her orders. It only remains for us to do a bit of shopping to stock up for a BBQ of our own on the deck overlooking the city, yummy.

Us outside Port Arthur church

Wombat Hill to Hobart

We’re driving to the airport today for a flight to Tasmania to meet our Aussie friends, Dave and Toni but we’ve got time to waste first. I’ve seen on the map the botanical gardens here in Daylesford are at Wombat Hill, I’m itching to see them. It is a beautiful area covered in trees but there are very few views, in fact you can’t see the town just tree tops. We even try climbing to the top of “The Tower” as it’s denoted on the map, still no joy, just trees. We do manage to find a begonia display in a locked glasshouse but after Ballarat, it’s a bit disappointing.

Honour Avenue

On we drive, through Glenlyon which has one of the oldest stores in Australia, but then they all say they have the oldest, tallest, longest etc. it’s hard to know who to believe. On through Macedon where there is an area called Honour Avenue. It’s a street lined with 154 oak trees planted to honour those men and women who enlisted for service in the WW 1 and at this time of year the leaves are just beginning to be tinged with the golden colours of autumn.

As we drive further, we’re both anxious to be near the airport ready to off hire the car by 4pm so we stop at Westfield Shopping centre only 5Km from the airport and surprisingly enjoy an excellent roast pork dinner, 4 laps of the centre are required to help settle the feast afterwards. Finally, we’re off hiring the car at Melbourne airport and into check-in and it’s here we realise there are 2 planes to Hobart today and we’re booked onto the second one. Cheekily we ask if we can transfer onto the first one which leaves in an hour, they agree but tell us to hurry as bag drop closes in 5 minutes! It’s now a speed test to check our bags in with the check in lady gabbling through the statutory precautions before tagging our bags and sending them off down the travellator. Now we’re running to get through security, stripping off belts, watches and coats as we go. Even our puffer jackets try to join in, exploding out of the case to gallop down the belt to be scanned. We arrive at gate 9 which is of course the furthest away, out of breath and red in the face, but we’ve made the flight. The flight to Hobart is so short no sooner have we taken off than the air stewards race down the cabin throwing drinks and a snack at us. Minutes later they’re retrieving the rubbish ready for landing!

View of Hobart from Avalon Apartment

Dave and Toni meet us from the plane and drive us to our city centre apartment, and wow, what a great job Dave has done finding this gem. The Avalon Apartment is at the top of an office block with great views, impressive artwork and even a bath on the deck overlooking the city. We cannot believe our luck in staying in such an amazing apartment. We elect to eat at the local “pub” tonight, The Astor Grill, and it turns out to be a very high-class restaurant, not at all pub like. Steak, salmon and asparagus risotto are all amazing and accompanied by a few glasses of wine and good chat make for an excellent first evening in Hobart.

Wine Tours & Walks

The plan for today is a morning wine tour and we’ve been advised by Clay to “have a big brekkie”, so it’s down to the local café for coffee and a toastie to start today. Clay and his wife run Daylesford Wine Tours and today Clay picks us up and while driving us round gives us information about the Daylesford area, its people and their attitudes to life in general. He’s a good story teller, which fits in with his other profession as an actor. Clay takes us to the first winery, Fontanella, which is really laid back and personal as we’re the only people on the tour and he has the keys to the tasting room. It feels like we’ve broken in! We’re guided through 7 wines, starting with prosecco, white and finally red, it’s hard to decide which is the best. The next stop is at Passing Cloud, a much bigger wine producer, I didn’t realise that the producers here take the grapes and process them for the small vineyards keeping each of their batches separate. The pressing room resembles a clinical laboratory with numerous labelled barrels all racked up at one end of the shed. Again, we’re given a selection of 5 wines, mainly reds this time and much heavier than those at Fontanella. The final stop is at a distillery that produces, gin, vodka, port and herbal liquors. I opt for gin and Dave for port. I come to the conclusion that I really prefer the London dry taste, I’m obviously a traditional gin and tonic girl.

More than a bit merry, Clay drops us back in Daylesford and we stagger to the bakery to pick up lunch. A walk in the fresh air may help clear our heads. Daylesford Lake is a beautiful area with several good picnicking spots. There are just a few people walking round the lake but lots of geese, brown ducks, cockatoos, to name a few. All round the lake there are the most beautiful houses and apartments ranging from the traditional outback style tin roofed house, to an old restored heritage house to an ultra-modern steel and glass house. It’s a great place to dream where you might like to live.

Daylesford Lake

Royal Daylesford Hotel veranda

Still in dreaming mood, the veranda outside our room is a good place to sit with a drink and watch the people and traffic passing by, old cars, new cars, huge trucks and tractors. We go out to eat slightly earlier tonight, arriving at Frango’s just after 7.30pm and just as well, the kitchen is getting ready to shut for the night! A quick decision is required, slow braised lamb with tzatziki and Greek salad for Dave, spicy Thai beef salad for me and oh boy was it spicy!!

Daylesford

Well, what a difference a night makes! After a stormy night, the temperature has gone from 32⁰C yesterday to 12⁰C today and it feels freezing especially as it’s windy and raining. We’re driving to Daylesford today via Ararat and Ballarat, the roads are sprinkled with small branches, leaves and puddles.

Ararat is a convenient place for coffee, and it turns out a convenient place for a quick fringe trim for me. Mission accomplished, we continue to Ballarat, stopping at Lake Wendouree. Our walk around the lake boardwalk is so short it’s non-existent because it’s so cold and wet. The old lake pavilion is now a restaurant called Pipers by the Lake which has been beautifully restored and is serving very good pumpkin and sweet potato soup which is very welcome. The Ballarat Botanical gardens opposite are beautiful especially the indoor begonia house. Not only are the flowers amazing, it’s dry and warm too!

Begonias in Ballarat Botanical Gardens

We’re staying at the Royal Daylesford Hotel tonight. It’s a well restored old hotel and our room has a door onto an upper veranda overlooking the main crossroads in Daylesford. The town of Daylesford is equally old and now restored, the main street has a lovely selection of old buildings now used as small shops, cafes and restaurants. A walk uphill out of Daylesford leads us to the Farmers Arms Hotel which is an iconic old building which still serves as a bar and restaurant. As we enjoy a drink, the bar gradually fills up with men calling in for a drink presumably on the way home. Afternoon gives way to evening and after a lesson by the young barmaid in turning an air conditioning unit to a heater I am finally warm enough to get ready to go out!

Tonight, we fancy a steak and we’ve seen a steakhouse advertised in a doorway, it looks promising. There’s no frontage just a door, up the stairs is a two-room restaurant with the smaller looking like a gentlemen’s club complete with real wood fire, gorgeous. The steak is amazing and according to the waitress just for lunch time, but they’ll do it now for us, if they think it isn’t big enough, they’re wrong!

The Grampians

The Grand Canyon

View of Lake Bellfield from The Pinnacle

We have just today to explore the Grampians and to be honest it’s quite a daunting prospect because the area is vast. We’re going to follow the advice we got yesterday from the manager when we checked in at Kookaburra Motel. She had suggested that we set off at 8am to avoid the heat but we miss that timeslot and it nearly 10am when we finally get going. So, our first stop is The Pinnacle, according to our information it should take us 3 to 4 hours, once we set off. I’m concerned I might need to double that target as I’m stopping so often to get my breath. The route winds constantly uphill through the Grand Canyon, past the Cool Chamber, past Echo Cave, the Lady’s Hat, up through the Silent Camber until we finally emerge onto the Pinnacle. Now, the views and rock formations have been spectacular all the way up, but it really doesn’t prepare you for the jaw-dropping view from the top. 

The Pinnacle

We take a few pictures, but I’m not going to be standing near any edges like some of the other people, in fact, I’m really unhappy with Dave getting too near the edge. Time for the return journey, I’d like to say it’s easier but to be honest our knees are shaking from the unrelenting descent. Did we make our guides target time? Only just!

Dave at the top of The Pinnacle

Next stop, Mackenzie Falls, not far on the map but the winding tree lined road makes driving slow. Just as well really, it gives us chance to cool down and recover! Again, the route is well marked and the views from the viewpoints are spectacular. Once we reach the top of the waterfalls, I see a notice which states, “260 very steep steps to base of the falls”. And, I can confirm this is a more than accurate description, however, the path gives small glimpses of the majesty of the falls. Once, at the base of the falls, the thunder of the water is deafening and the spray as it hits the pool is so welcome. Time to climb back up to the car park, only 260 steep steps and a hill to reach it!

Mackenzie Falls

We’re done with hills and steps now, but Dave does agree to stop at The Balconies on the way back down to Halls Gap. The view from Reid Lookout by the car park renders us speechless, its so vast, miles of green trees and majestic peaks in the distance. We can only say wow, as we try to take it all in. The walk to the Balconies is relatively flat, just as well, but we seem to walk for ages until suddenly we around a corner and there’s the view. Again, jaw droppingly beautiful. And aptly the rock formation by the view point has the nickname, The Jaws of Death.

View from Reid Lookout

The Balconies, The Jaws of Death

Our final bit of sightseeing is the road down to Lake Bellfield, a winding road through trees and at times one way, occasionally the view opens out giving us glimpses of the reservoir which is Lake Bellfield. We follow a National Ranger in his 4x4 and he kindly stops every so often to point out photo stops. Surely that wouldn’t happen in England! 

View from The Balconies

Finally, we’re at shore level, I guess that the sandy perimeter of the lake should really be covered by water but, because there has been so little rain the water level is really low. This exposes eerie dead trees that stretch their silvery fingers towards the sky, it would make a great location for a gothic murder mystery film. We finally get back to our motel for a relaxing coffee only to witness a flying display by a flock of Cockatoo’s. Judging by the noise they are making they are not happy, and we are not going to have a siesta!

Lake Bellfield

  

Halls Gap

It’s sadly time to say goodbye to Sandy and her beautiful house but first we have one more visit to make to meet Alyssa, Beau, Kade, Dyson, Avery and Nixon. They live on the other side of Bendigo in a gorgeous heritage house. All 4 children are quiet at first but soon get used to us being there and all dressing up as their favourite superhero’s. As always time passes too quickly, and we have to say goodbye and start our journey to Halls Gap.

Our route takes us through Maryborough where we have lunch in the trendy Bull & Mouth Hotel. We’ve been surprised to learn that being called a hotel doesn’t mean that it has rooms you can stay in, no, that’s a motel! The route takes us on through, Avoca, Moonambel, past Barkley and on through Stawell. Its not a long drive by Aussie standards and much of it is on long straight roads edged with bush with the occasional house set back in the trees. We hardly see another car during the whole drive.

Kangaroos outside our room at Kookaburra Motel

Halls Gap is a small town with one street which seems to contain all the essentials to sustain a community and some tourists, supermarket, petrol station, fish and chip shop, ice-cream shop and a smattering of pubs and cafes. The lady on check in is so helpful giving us tips where to go tomorrow and where to eat tonight. Our room backs onto an open grass area with a dam and extraordinary views of the tree covered mountains. On the grassland are numerous kangaroos, I can’t tell you how long Dave spent searching for a glimpse of a kangaroo at Sandie’s and here we have them feeding and sleeping within feet of us!

This evening we’re eating at the Kookaburra Restaurant which is a popular laid-back restaurant, we decide on Italian lamb and barramundi with prawns and scallops. It’s all delicious and we now need a stroll around the local park and town before returning to Kookaburra Motel.

Kookaburra

The Great Stupa

The Dragon

This morning we’re going to visit the Great Stupa, we have no expectations of what it will be like. The dirt road to the Stupa doesn’t give us any indication of the enormous building that is developing in the clearing. The Stupa seems to sit up on a hill and before it 

Prayer wheels in the Stupa garden

are gardens planted with lovely native trees and plants, there are prayer wheels, a statue of St Francis of Assisi, a dragon and an elephant, all representing different faiths. 

The Great Stupa of Universal Compassion (top section under construction to the right)

The stupa itself is still being built and had only reached the sixth level with the cone of the stupa being welded on the ground beside the stupa. Inside the stupa it’s cool compared to the heat outside, a Buddhist monk shows us around, explaining that the stupa will be completed in height later this year and then the building phase will be done. They will then enter the decoration phase which will take about 45 years. The jade buddha is huge and carved from one single piece of jade. It’s all very impressive and so peaceful, may be the Great Stupa of universal compassion is working its magic.

Following lunch at the MHA pub, Sandy is driving us to see Tara, Darren, Mya and Connor on their farm. It’s a wonderful drive through the vast farmland and bush but it’s all so dry and brown from lack of water. The farm is so different to any farms we see in the UK, Darren is eager to show us all his boys’ toys, Holden’s, bikes and farm machinery. Its great to meet our extended family and spend time with them chatting and eating a meal, watching the sun get lower in the sky and kangaroos emerge from the bush while Galas and Cockatoos fly around in great swarms overhead. Then it’s time to drive home with eyes peeled looking out for kangaroos which may try to jump in front of the car.

Castlemaine

Our sightseeing today starts at Bendigo pottery, the old kilns are still there, and pottery is still made here, though it looks old fashioned now by today’s standards. No doubt it’ll all come around again. There’s a man making small narrow pots on the wheel, he has an order for 50 of them, he’s only on number 8 of the batch.

Dave is looking forward to our next stop in Castlemaine, as this is the place that has been talked about for as long as he can remember. It’s where his aunt and uncle settled in Australia. Sandy takes us to their first house, where his aunt and uncle worked, where they moved to, where his aunt last lived and finally where they are both buried. It’s good to finally put pictures in our head to places that are talked about in the family and stories of what the Aussie part of his family got up to.

Wall art at the old wool factory

We’ve been told that an old wool factory has opened as an arts and crafts centre, time to check it out. The main hall has loads of memorabilia / antiques or in Dave’s words “Tutt” the only bits he’s interested in is the old albums, I don’t think we have enough room in our cases for all these though! We enjoy lunch in the restaurant which is very trendy and serves very good bagels. We try to follow signs for both the wine cellar and tap room, but both seem to be shut today, the smokehouse though is open, and all the produce looks so good. On the way back to Eaglehawk we stop at a garden centre and butterfly house. I could buy so many plants here if only I could get them home!

Discovering Bendigo

It’s a beautiful hot morning with barely a breath of wind. The kangaroos have been and gone before we were up, but the birds are still singing loudly. Sandy’s taking us into Bendigo today to explore its heritage as a gold mining town and its subsequent development.

Central Deborah Gold Mine

Our first stop is the Central Deborah Gold Mine, the lady selling the tickets says if we hurry, we might just catch the 10.30 tour so rushes us through to meet Jez our tour guide. Turns out there’s only us 3 on the tour! But Jez is obviously under a time pressure as he rushes through the first 15 minutes of the tour before slowing down to a easier to understand pace. The tour makes us realise how hard the life of the miners was with risks of death from tunnel collapse, inhalation of quartz dust and blast injury. The tunnels from the numerous mines around Bendigo undermine the whole town and even stretch out to Eaglehawk, Dave and I are pleased to hear there are no spiders down in the mine, one less thing to worry about then! Above ground, there’s opportunities to pan for gold though to be honest I don’t think there’ll be even a grain of gold left in the sand. We climb to the top of the walk way to enjoy the views over Bendigo, Dave’s very impressed that I’ve made the climb up the exposed ladders.

Bendigo Trams

On to the vintage tram takes us through Bendigo to the tram depot where trams can be seen in various stages of repair, though a couple of them look so dilapidated its hard to imagine they will ever ride the rails again. There’s even a rescue cat here who is more famous than the trams but he’s no where to be seen! A lunch stop at Lake Weeroona revives us especially looking at the beautiful view across the lake, watching the birds especially the pelican floating majestically across the lake.

Jan & Sandy

Golden Dragon Museum

Lansell Monument

The afternoon fly’s by with visits to the Lansell Monument, the Golden Dragon Museum, the Alexandra Fountain and Rosalind Park where we realise that what we thought were birds flying overhead are huge bats and they are so noisy, continually screeching. Our final stop is at Eaglehawk, a small old town with several lovely buildings, covered walkways and Victorian ironwork. It seems to have all the shops you’d need, a butcher’s, a baker’s and…a candlestick maker’s? But that’s an old nursery rhyme isn’t it.

Eaglehawk

Our evening is spent watching the sun go down, the sky turning from palest pink, to the deepest red, then purple and finally night. The full moon rises almost looking like it’s climbing up the tree branches to reach the night sky and finally the stars show themselves, away from light pollution out here we can see so much more, so beautiful.

Sunset at Sandys