The next week was consumed with necessary evils and chores like extending our visas, getting tooth cleaning, working on the Troopy, getting our final, revised airline tickets, filing our income taxes, etc., etc. There was also some fun stuff like visiting with Heather J., watching "Walking with Dinosaurs", shopping for "stuff", mailing out gift packages, and seeing a puppet play based on one of our favorite literary works, "The Hobbit". Finally, it was time to hit the road again.
Heather rode with us to the central Victorian town of Bendigo where we dropped her off with a cheery farewell, to visit with some friends she has there. In the mid 1800's, Bendigo was a booming gold mining town, and continued to produce gold into the mid 1900's. The last mine to close, the Central Deborah, has been converted into a tourist attraction. It’s a good one, and includes a tour of the underground mine shaft. We really enjoyed it, until the cave in. Good thing we had Karen along to dig us out!
The Chinese played an important role in mining in Australia just as they did in the US. There is a great museum in Bendigo that documents the Chinese involvement in gold mining and acts as the repository for the many Dragons that have been used over the years in the annual Easter Parade.
Due to the large number Catholic Irish and others fleeing religious persecution in Europe, there seems to be a grand Cathedral in just about every town of any size. Bendigo is no exception.
Given the poverty that many of it’s citizens must have lived in, it’s amazing that these edifices could have been constructed in these communities. The grandeur of the cathedrals and their appointments would have been a constant reminder to the citizenry of the power and wealth of the church!
Never-the-less, they are beautiful representatives of high Gothic architecture that often show up in the most unlikely places. After it’s gold rush days, Bendigo settled down into a delightful community supporting the ranching and farming industries of the surrounding countryside. We enjoyed a great tour of the city on a historical tram ride which included a stop at the tram museum where there is an impressive collection of old trams from all over Oz. We felt the tram ride, mine tour, and Chinese Museum were all excellent values and shouldn’t be missed by visitors.
Then it was off for several days in Ballarat (don’t you just love these names?!), another old gold mining town a little over a hundred kms south of Bendigo. This one went bust much faster than Bendigo and is now a sizable country town. Aside from a very interesting historic downtown area, there are several other worthwhile places to visit. The Eureka Stockade is a well done museum commemorating the closest that Australia ever came to a revolutionary war. The issues were taxation without representation and oppressive British military rule (where have we heard this before?). In 1854, the gold miners were being heavily taxed to work the gold fields and objected. The appointed Governor had a strong military background and refused to compromise. After a couple of provocative incidents, the miners made up their own flag, erected a flimsy stockade, burned their taxation cards, and declared their independence from the government. Not surprisingly, there was an Irishman and some Americans among the rebel leadership! The Governor sent in the troops, and several miners along with a few troops were killed in the ensuing melee. The general populace was shocked and supported the miner’s cause. Unlike during the American Revolution, the British administration reacted in a conciliatory manner and defused the conflict by sacking the military Governor, abolishing the tax, and pretty much excusing the surviving rebels. A similar incident occurred during the Shearers rebellion of the 1900's, but was also handled in a diplomatic manner. A general revolution was avoided, Australia became a constitutional monarchy in 1901, and remains so even today, with the Queen of England still the official head of state! Incidently, both the Irishman and the Americans survived the shootout, with the Irish becoming a statesman, albeit short by one arm which he lost in the battle. No account remains regarding the ultimate fate of the Yanks, but it was probably less glorious.
Also in Ballarat is Sovereign Hill and the adjacent Gold Museum. Both are well worth seeing! The Gold Museum has all sorts of interesting information regarding money. Seems that the history of civilization and the history of gold are inextricably bound together! Did you know that the term "2 bits", referring to a quarter, comes from the old practice of dividing a Spanish gold doubloon ( and later, a gold dollar) into eight pieces so that two pieces (or bits) would constitute one quarter of the whole? This place is full of old gold coins in incredible condition and lots of great information regarding the history of money around the word - fascinating stuff!! Did you know that the biggest gold nuggets in the word were found here in Australia? The biggest, as I recall, weighed 71kg or about 160#!!!
Sovereign Hill is the recreation of an 1860's gold mining camp similar to what Ballarat might have looked like in it’s hey days. The "townsfolk" walk about in period costumes and act as though they are still in the mid 1800's. One old guy that we encountered was clucking his tongue about that terrible civil war that we had going on in the States and was a licenced practitioner of "phrenology ", the science of determining one’s personality and mental condition by examination of the skull. This is where the term "Having one’s head examined" comes from, and he insisted that it would be the primary science of the 20th Century. He examined my head, but I refuse to disclose the results! Some aspects of the "town" are quite touristy, as might be expected, but the prices in the various shops for items manufactured or made there are very reasonable! There is a foundry, bakery, confectionary, candle shop, coach building/repair shop, blacksmith shop, and several variety stores. We were sufficiently impressed with the quality and prices to purchase several things to send to friends. The power to run all of these industries comes from an old, restored wood burning central boiler plant with 100 psi steam distributed by an above ground piping system to steam engines in each building. The steam engines drive overhead systems of pulleys with leather belts which in turn drive lathes, wood working tools, foundry bellows, sewing machines, etc. to manufacture the products. Unbelievable mechanics and authentic technology for the times - I was impressed!
We finally tore ourselves away from Sovereign Hill and continued on our way south to the coast. Our goal was to travel the Great Ocean Road along the southern coast of Victoria to the Otways National Park. The first several days in the Otways were spent at the Aire River campsite where we found this guy hanging out in a tree above the outhouse!
We saw at least half a dozen Koalas climbing and sitting in the trees around our campsite, as well as some cute owls who hoot-hooted during the night. The Otways National Park includes some beautiful coastal scenery and several temperate rainforest walks. We walked and fished (to no avail) for several days and visited this lighthouse on the Otway Point.
From here we continued west along the Great Ocean Road which, for the most part, hugs the coast line and offers spectacular views of the coastal cliffs. The coast here is composed of old limestone which is being eroded away by the Southern Ocean at a rapid pace (in geological time, that is). The result is spectacular formations like the Twelve Apostles.
Don’t bother trying to count twelve - they can’t all be seen from one spot. This arch is typical of several such formations made when the waves cut in behind a harder point of sandstone which is eventually isolated from the shore left to jut out into the ocean for a while like the Apostles.
We continued on to Warrnambool, a small coastal town, which we used as a base camp to visit the Grampians. The Grampians are the remnants of a very old and very high mountain range that has been eroded almost flat. The operative word here is "almost". The relative steepness of the mountains and precipitous escarpments provides for dramatic views of the cliffs and surrounding countryside. This is Karen along one of the canyons that we climbed that day.
The corrugated walls of the canyon that can be seen in the background are typical of the area and make it a challenge for Australia’s technical rock climbers. The view of the interior valleys from this perch were fantastic!
From Warrnambool we continued along the coast through Mt Gambier with it’s volcanic crater and Blue Lake and then spent a few days in Beachport, a sleepy coastal fishing village. It was during the height of the Easter Holiday so the caravan park was noisy and crowded. We spent most of the day time exploring the adjacent Canunda National Park and some unproductive fishing in the surf. Continuing on our way west, we stopped in Robe for a look around and then in Kingston where I was almost eaten by the "Big Lobster"!
Our next stop was the southern end of the Coorong National Park where we set up camp in an out of the way spot. The Coorong is a long, sandy peninsula which extends to the west where the mighty Murray River enters the ocean. Huge sand dunes line the coast. We were camped a little inland of those and I tried my hand at some surf fishing - again without success.
As you can see, the surf was rough and difficult to fish. I decided to take Karen out on a little dinghy and discovered that not all the fish in the surf are small!!
After that incident we moved further up the beach to an entirely remote spot along the inland side of the Coorong at Pelican Point. Our camp was quiet, sheltered and altogether beautiful. The nights were clear as a bell with all the stars out and the Southern Cross shining brightly. The sunrise in the morning came flooding through the windows of the trailer to wake us gently with a red glow and the sound of more birds than we could identify. This juvenile Great Cormorant is only one of the many fishing birds in the area. He had some kind of a flying problem so I picked him up for this photo and then delivered him back to the water where he swam away indignantly.
I had to hold his head securely as that beak is surprisingly strong and delivered more than one nasty bite during his capture! These pelicans were all around the area and we spent many delightful hours watching them and the other shore birds ply their trade.
I inflated the rubber Avon dinghy and took it out for some fishing but could only catch one small Australian Salmon which I used for bait in an unsuccessful attempt to lure a mulloway. Fortunately, there was a professional fisherman working the area and I was able to buy a mulloway and a couple of flounder from him, so we got to taste what they were like. Delicious! This is the type of sunsets that we were treated to during the four days that we camped here.
Finally it was time to pack up and head on down the road. We were reluctant to leave the quiet, peaceful setting along the Coorong, but we’ve still got a lot of Oz left to see and a date to keep with Heather LW in Adelaide!