(just like) starting over: ballarat

on sunday (28/feb/2010), we drove to ballarat. the kid's grandfather has come over to visit us in melbourne and we thought it will be a good opportunity to drive to ballarat and see the place.

ballarat is situated in the western part of victoria and the drive from our place is just under 2 hours. the heritage of ballarat is clearly in its heydays as a gold mining haven for those who wanted to strike it rich. as it was a prosperous town in the 19th century due to its gold finds, the ballarat of today consists of buildings of great architectural heritage and a rich resource to the history of victoria/australia in those days. sprawling parks and gardens too dominated the city area.

our first stop is the ballarat botanical gardens. it is a large area surrounded with nicely manicured plants and flowers amidst the trees. i had looked forward to visit the acclaimed observatory as well after watching it on television not long ago. the visit to the botanical garden however weren't the best of trip unfortunately because the strong wind condition marred an otherwise good weather for a picnic outdoor. it became dusty and we couldn't stay for long. the observatory was also closed as it is being prepared for the begonia festival which happens on the 6th march.

at noon, we proceeded to sovereign hill, which is listed as an outdoor museum which captures the life and times of the miners in the area. workers were dressed in their period costumes to lend authenticity to the exhibits, which is essentially a recreated township(thank goodness the toilet facilities are modern!) i had my initial reservations about the place. i had envisioned it to be no more than a theme park to cater to the tourists like me. i was wrong. there are a lot of educational elements at sovereign hill that provide great insights on how minings are conducted in those areas. we went to a few shows, including gold pouring, lollies making the traditional way, tried 19th century bowling and even visited two mines underground. we ended up spending more than 4 hours at sovereign hill. the kids enjoyed themselves thoroughly. same for me.

alas, we had to leave since paisley needs to call it an early night as she has her school camp the next day, but not before we stopped over at my cousin's place for dinner in syndenham.