Ballarat

I woke up to a thunderstorm and this continued most of the day with torrential rain. This isn't the Australian weather I ordered. Its quite cool in Victoria even when dry and sadly I don’t think my sun lotion will be needed here at all !! 

I drove (quite slowly) to the old gold rush town of Ballarat and visited the living history museum Sovereign Hill. This is a recreated gold rush town from 1854 - 1858 (they have been very exact). Luckily I liked looking in the old buildings and shops, which had roofs. There was a 45min tour of the upper level of the old gold mine which was a bit cheesy but also dry.

When Europeans arrived gold was just lying about on the ground here, it being too soft for the aboriginals to have much use for it. Soon this was picked up and quartz was (and still is) mined and gold extracted from it. The town itself was modelled on European, mostly English, towns with all the goods imported. There were a lot of different cottages, shops and hotels etc to look in plus a theatre. A lot of the buildings had costumed staff in who were happy to give the history of the place and so it was a good place to visit despite the weather.

The rain eased off for a couple of hours in the afternoon which made walking around the site a lot more pleasant. It then returned with a vengeance- and hail! 

I'm staying on the outskirts of Ballarat at a motor inn which I didn't have high hopes for but my room is lovely and comfy with a squishy sofa. There is a restaurant next door so after drying off I ate out for once. 

The 'roos weren't bothered by the rain this morning 










Had a whole ten minutes of sun! 






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