Leaving the coast of Southern Australia behind, we hung a right at Warnambool and headed into the “bush country” taking a road which was paved in only one direction! The way it worked was that each car drove on the blacktop and when you met; one car would pull onto the gravel lane of the road. Which one is pretty much a negotiation I guess! The bush actually turned out to be small towns and wide flat grazing land filled with sheep and kangaroos. In fact, finding kangaroos hopping through the neighborhoods and gathered in mobs across the landscape as we drove by, absolutely delighted me. One actually crossed at what can only be called a leisure pace in front of our car as we drove through a subdivision and stopped to give us a measured look-over. What fun!
What luck, right out of the gate, we found the inland city of Ballarat. Not planned, but turned out to be the perfect place to stop for the night. Just saw the sign from road. The sign said “Sovereign Hill” and advertised an old frontier gold mining town which turned out to be absolutely something you should see.
The city of Ballarat was named by Scottish squatter Archibald Yuille who established the first settlement—his sheep run called Ballaarat—in 1837, with the name derived from local Wathaurong Aboriginal words for the area, balla arat, thought to mean "resting place".
The city is actually pretty populous for an inland city and offers lots of amenities, but to me Sovereign Hill, the old gold mining camp which is a living history museum tops the list of attractions. You will be taken back in time to the Victorian gold rush in Australia.
Every guide you speak to will remain in 1850’s character whether you are shopping at the general store, visiting one of the miner’s tents, visiting the school-house or a Budist altar that would have been used for worship by the Chinese workers. Best of all is the trip down into the gold mine where you walk the narrow underground channels where the wall and roofs are supported by thick wooden beams (not for the claustrophobic), see the antique mining equipment and where you can view the largest gold nugget ever found in Australia!
The city of Ballarat was named by Scottish squatter Archibald Yuille who established the first settlement—his sheep run called Ballaarat—in 1837, with the name derived from local Wathaurong Aboriginal words for the area, balla arat, thought to mean "resting place".
The city is actually pretty populous for an inland city and offers lots of amenities, but to me Sovereign Hill, the old gold mining camp which is a living history museum tops the list of attractions. You will be taken back in time to the Victorian gold rush in Australia.
Every guide you speak to will remain in 1850’s character whether you are shopping at the general store, visiting one of the miner’s tents, visiting the school-house or a Budist altar that would have been used for worship by the Chinese workers. Best of all is the trip down into the gold mine where you walk the narrow underground channels where the wall and roofs are supported by thick wooden beams (not for the claustrophobic), see the antique mining equipment and where you can view the largest gold nugget ever found in Australia!
The next morning we pushed further north, driving through more tiny bush towns. I must say that I had the eerie feeling of driving through 1950 & 60’s USA. The architecture felt so familiar to me even though I could see there were subtle differences in the slope of the eves over the long wide verandas that are a hallmark of the Australian bush home. The town main streets were lined with beautiful old Victorian buildings much like those found in America, featuring Italianate, Georgian and other favorite European styles with ornate facades and arched lintels above the doors and windows.
But the thing that finally met my movie/novel picture of Australia bush, were the sheep. Adorable, fluffy, huggable sheep. Then we ran across a wool warehouse and sale building and the picture was made complete. My vision of Australian sheep farms was met.
But the thing that finally met my movie/novel picture of Australia bush, were the sheep. Adorable, fluffy, huggable sheep. Then we ran across a wool warehouse and sale building and the picture was made complete. My vision of Australian sheep farms was met.
Stoked up on views of the great expanse of grazing land, the next day we drove until much too late in the day and found ourselves at a tiny town (think wide spot in the road here) and had to take rooms at a motel right out of route 66 and even better, the owner/receptionist was a real live Crocodile Dundee, hat and all! (Much older version though) We chatted for a bit and he assured us that he had traveled out of Australia once to visit his kids in Canada and the rooms were clean and cozy.
This crazy duality continued as we walked the one main street to a smoke filled bar right out of Victorian times. The thick cigarette smoke really turned us off, so we opted not to go in and found ourselves at a tiny pizza parlor where a small group of white and aboriginal teenagers were happily picking up a to-go pizza order.
This really brought home where we were and the modern cultural realities of inland Australia. Movie fantasy meets the real world!
This crazy duality continued as we walked the one main street to a smoke filled bar right out of Victorian times. The thick cigarette smoke really turned us off, so we opted not to go in and found ourselves at a tiny pizza parlor where a small group of white and aboriginal teenagers were happily picking up a to-go pizza order.
This really brought home where we were and the modern cultural realities of inland Australia. Movie fantasy meets the real world!
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