Finally some history!

G'day all

Ok, so the title of this post is a slight exaggeration. There is more history in Australia than most Brits and many Australians would have you believe, especially when you take into account Aboriginal history which they reckon dates back 50,000 years. But in terms of ancient cathedrals and castles and the like, there's not much to see. Where Victoria comes into its own in terms of history is with the nineteenth-century gold boom which quickly replaced sheep farming as the newly colonised region's major source of income. And nowhere was the gold boom's impact more pronounced than in Ballarat, where it all began.

In 1851 Ballarat (or what was to become Ballarat, about 80 miles west of Melbourne) was the site of the first gold strike in the state which led to a gold rush and created a town with some incredible architecture for its size. As if wonderful architecture wasn't enough to entice the tourists, they've recreated a gold mine town called Sovereign Hill where you can pretend it's the 1850s and even look for gold yourself.

Yes, it's touristy but the horse-drawn carriage is still a fun way of getting round Sovereign Hill.

See that long shiny thing in the foreground? That's an ingot of gold that this guy has just poured. It's worth $180,000/£120,000. We weren't allowed to hold it.

Back outside there was a steam festival going on. Not sure what the connection with gold mining is but they were vaguely impressive.

Some 'locals'. They've obviously gone to a lot of effort in recreating a gold mining town - as you'd expect when you're paying $42/£26 to get in.

Gold panning. Apparently they pour $1000 worth of gold into the river each week and what you find you keep.

You can buy a small bottle in which to keep the gold you find while panning. As you can see, my little bottle is sadly empty. There was a moment when I thought I'd found quite a few small bits of gold and had collected them on my finger, ready to put into the bottle. Unfortunately, the guy helping everyone with their panning pointed out that what I actually had on my finger was glitter, gold glitter, accidentally (!) dropped in the river by school groups.

Lovely Ballarat. Built on the back of the gold boom.

More of lovely Ballarat's lovely architecture.

The Art Gallery of Ballarat is one of the best of its kind in the country. It's pretty small but has a good mix of pieces.

Just west of Ballarat's centre is Lake Wendouree. A natural lake and the town's original source of water, it was widened in 1956 for the rowing events in the Melbourne Olympics of that year.

Ballarat is also famous as the site of the Eureka Stockade. Early gold prospectors had to pay for a licence before they could start digging. The authorities argued that this was to pay for amenities, policing etc in a fast-growing community, but many of the prospectors saw it as unfair and in 1853 they began demanding an end to the licences. Pledging allegiance to the Southern Cross flag (above), their demands expanded to include votes for everyone and other democratic rights, and they created a stockade to protect themselves from the government. Worried authorities eventually sent the troops in, dozens of prospectors died, and the movement disintegrated. The stockade did inspire others though, and Australians look back on the events as the start of democracy in their country.

And that was Ballarat.

This weekend it's off to Sydney and the start of my final Aussie trip. A few days in Sydney, then overland to Melbourne via Canberra, the mountains (including Australia's highest, Mt Kosciusko), the Lakes District, and Wilson's Prom, the southernmost tip of the mainland. Hoping the weather will be better than the impressive but holiday-ruining thunderstorm we had today.

G'bye.

Cliff

It's my birthday and I'll wear shorts if I want to

G'day

Inevitably when you spend a year in a place you're going to have a birthday there. For me it was my 43rd and deciding what to do was tricky. Organising drinks with friends was the easy part. As was going out until 5am (getting up the next day wasn't quite so easy). But what to do on my actual birthday which fell on a Monday? Obviously I would take the day off work but I was at a loss as to what to do in Melbourne that I hadn't already done. At least three times. Read on to find out what I did!

So, after a lovely lunch with a lovely friend, I decided to take a walk through one of Melbourne's lovely parks. The weather the whole weekend had been great and on my actual birthday it was sunny and 28 degrees, and the park (Fitzroy Gardens, just east of the CBD) was in a very spring-like mood. The conservatory in the middle of the park was full of flowers (answers on a postcard telling me what they are) - nice eh?

One of the very few things I hadn't done in Melbourne was visit the Johnston Collection. This is a huge number of antiques and artworks displayed in a beautiful East Melbourne house (above). It was collected by an Australian who was slightly ashamed of his humble beginnings and so appropriated anything connected with wealthy aristocrats as he amassed more and money as an antiques dealer in London (he owned 33 properties in East Melbourne - one of the city's most expensive neighbourhoods). When he died he left his collection to the public and the house is now run by a charity with guides who take you on a tour. All very refined (though I did switch off when we were being shown the 52nd table with carved rosettes on the legs).

And then it was back across the park into the city centre and to the Hopetoun Tea Room for afternoon tea. Well, not exactly tea, more a chocolate ice-cream sundae and a huge piece of toblerone cheesecake. Bit full after all that. (Meant to take photo before I started but forgot, hence you get the remnants)

And then in the evening it was off to a pub quiz with some more friends. Bit of a rubbish quiz (lots of Australian sports questions) but a great end to a great day.

And on a less happy note, just four weeks till D(eparture)-Day and counting. Sad face.

G'bye for now.

Cliff

Tropical my arse

G'day

Another post, another trip to somewhere in Australia. This time it was a five-day jaunt up to Queensland and a stay in the "tropical", "relaxing" Whitsunday Islands (specifically Hamilton Island). Only, at around just 21 degrees during the day and with a cool wind in the evenings, it wasn't exactly "tropical". And I've realised I don't really know to "relax" - sitting still "enjoying" the view gets boring after at most five minutes. Anyway, enough speech marks. There were plenty of good bits on the trip too (though eating at the overpriced restaurants wasn't one of them) including the Great Barrier Reef, lots of swimming in the sea (top tip: take goggles so your eyes don't sting! Why had I never thought of this before?) and spotting some whales - see if you can spot them too in the pics below!

This is how people get around on car-free Hamilton Island. In golf buggies. At least people who have driving licences get around like this. Other, more vehicularly-challenged people, just walk.

Hamilton Island Marina. Some of the yachts are bigger than the ships that Colombus sailed to America in! I guess people who can afford to buy one of those can afford to pay £25 for a decidely average pizza in one of the marina restaurants.

There are some nice walks around the forested bit of the resort (though some were still closed after the huge cyclone that hit earlier in 2011). I followed the path to Pinnacle Peak where there were great views over the rather ugly apartment blocks and the rather lovely Catseye Beach (my ugly apartment block is second from the left). And I think the luminous blue thing bottom left must be a butterfly.

View looking the other way from Pinnacle Peak towards some of the other Whitsunday Islands (so named because Captain Cook first explored them on Whitsunday 1770-ish)

View of pale tourist with other Whitsunday Islands in the background.

The boat taking us out to the Great Barrief Reef may have been called Fantasea, but for most passengers it would be something of a nightmare. The ocean between the islands and the reef itself was a bit choppy which led to around 75% of those on board to vomit profusely (not me though - stomach of steel!). One woman even passed out and had to be given oxygen (while her two friends just continued eating their ice-creams - I doubt they're friends anymore!), while the crew rushed around handing out sick bags and scraping lemons to freshen the air. It didn't really work.

Reefworld! The brown sludgy thing in the background is 'the reef'. The small floaty thing in the foreground is 'the world'.

Yes, the Great Barrier Reef does look more like an oil slick rather than the largest living organism on the planet, but, honestly, it was better once you were under the water.

Outside I'm smiling, but inside I'm crying, imagining what I must look like dressed in this. Still the stinger suit (the blue thing - protects against small jellyfish that can sting and sometimes kill you) and the wetsuit kept me a bit warmer than I would have been without them.

I'd like to say that this is a so-and-so type of fish. But I can't remember what type it is. It was big though and swimming under Reefworld so let's call it Biggus Fishus Reefus.

So, Reefworld is a pontoon anchored by this stretch of the reef with showers, a shop and even rooms if you want to stay. From it you can swim off, snorkel on, to explore the nearest bits of the reef.

There's also a semi-submersible boat you can take with a glass bottom so you get to take photos like this one of the coral.

And this one.

Heading back from Reefworld.

Heading back from Reefworld and not taking photos looking directly into the sun.

Another day, another boat trip. This time to Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island itself. This beach is regularly voted one of the most beautiful in the world.

The sand is brilliantly white and backed by a national park.

And the only way to get there is by boat. Your own private yacht for example.

Or, if you're a lot poorer, on an organised trip with lots of other people. And yes, you had to get off into the sea and then walk through the shallows to the beach.

View along Whitehaven Beach.

View from the top of the Solway Circuit Walk above Whitehaven Beach (not sure what the connection is with Cumbria but Solway and Whitehaven are both places in Cumbria - that look nothing like their Australian namesakes.

View from my balcony on the last day. What's that in the water?

And that was it. As relaxing as it could be for someone who doesn't know how to relax and, to be honest, despite the lack of tropicalness, rather a beautiful part of the world to spend a few days.

G'bye.

Cliff