Another nice quiet night in the bush – very peaceful indeed. This would however be a good time for us to note the weather experiences we have encountered around the island. From July to December 2009 we experienced the warm, hot and dry of Queensland, NSW and Victoria and the extreme 45 degree heat of the outback around Mildura. On our return in February we were once again in the summer heat with the added variation of heavy rain and the resultant flooding while driving through the centre to Darwin. Whilst in the north we experienced some of the monsoon wet season with high humidity, heavy downpours and thunder and lightening. Then followed progressive cooling and strong winds as we moved down the west coast to Perth and beyond and into winter along the southern coast with the associated cold wind and rain. Last night was however the coldest weather by far that we have come across whereby the inside condensation on the roof air vents of the van was come morning frozen with the ice detaching and falling on us as the sun came up. By all accounts we feel therefore this trip has given us an excellent sampling of the sorts of weather Oz can dish up and that it is indeed a place of extremes.
On our departure from Wannon we came across a huge flock of cockatoos feeding in a paddock and once disturbed they flew to a nearby tree to become the fruits of the tree – some sort of philosophic life/death statement perhaps given the tree was quite obviously well past its use by date and yet full of life. We passed by the southern tip of the Grampians and with the misty morning they presented an interesting silhouette.
On arrival in Ballarat we tracked down the information centre – a bit of a mission with the way the city is laid out and then sorted out a caravan park for a couple of nights. The park we chose was right next to the “Eureka Stockade” which was the sight of a massacre of gold diggers (28 miners) by government troops back in 1854. They were protesting at having to pay exorbitant prices for gold mining licenses and things got nasty. Apparently the rebellion is associated with the birth of democracy in Australia. Nothing seems to have changed however as the current government is in the process of trying to implement a new tax on mining companies. No gunfire as yet though…
While there we had a good drive around the city and a long walk through the inner CBD. Lots of nice old buildings from the money days of the gold mining era but also quite a mish mash of housing and buildings and generally. With it a very cold and grey winters day the place did not appeal much to us at all. It is only about an hours travel time to Melbourne so a bit of a satellite city so we will be on the freeway system most of the way there. Funniest thing with the All Whites scoring a point at the soccer world cup with Aussie media saying things like “Could things get any worse. Even the Kiwis are beating us at the world cup” and then with it being referred to as an “Australasian” point – LOL… From Ballarat we are heading through Melbourne to our private little caravan park and our good friends Chris and Glen(ys) in Gembrook for a few days R&R.
