Ballarat

Sunday afternoon 5pm.

I know I said I wanted to avoid the winter but I didn't expect to arrive here and have to endure the British summer!! Thursday was spent in Torquay , as I said, when it was cloudy and a bit cool (20C - remember I'm used to 30C now!). Arrived in Ballarat and spent Friday looking at the town (more later) - it was cloudy at first then a thunderstorm burst over head. It then went manky and grey and then rained. And then it rained pretty much non stop until this morning i.e. 48 hours. Cloud was very low and it was about 18C. The 10 quid tent did ok - not dry - but ok. It only seemed to leak along the bottom of the tent where it joined the groundsheet. As I was perched high on my air bed no damage. However, packing up a wet tent this morning, whilst it was raining all over me brought back memories of Hughies field!!

However, Ballarat was very good. Its the largest inland city in Victoria (Melbourne and Geelong are on the coast) and was the centre of the 1850s gold rush. There were some excellent museums and buildings in the centre of town . Architecture reminded me of the centre of Manchester, Bolton, Blackburn - rich Victorian northern towns. The only majore difference was the width of the streets. In 1851 there were no buildings in Ballarat , none, just some sheds and tents. By 1861 the gold boom had been in full swing and there were some very impressive Victorian buildings - amazing what a bit of money can do.

Saturday I went to Sovereign Hill. Its like 'the Black Country Living Museum' for gold mining. Very well presented. Web site is http://www.sovereignhill.com.au/ . There are a number of streets with old shops and businesses and the chance to pan for gold (didn't find any) , go down a mine, watch an ingot being pored and (most interesting for me) watch them make a wooden wheel. fascintaing. Sadly for the museum they had faithfully reconstructed it as it was in the mid 19th century. So no guttering, no tarmac just grit, plus they had horses and carriages driving around. And remember it was raining all day. By early afternoon the streets were mudded up to the eyeballs - not very pleasant trying to cross the streets as added to the mud was all the horse s&@t all over the place. Still I really enjoyed it.

Woke this morning to more rain and the prospecvt of even more to come so headed for Melbourne and got here early afternoon . Will let you know how I go on.

However, I have got tickets for the Australian tennis open tomorrow afternoon (Monday) so 21 years after my last visit to a tennis grand slam I'm very excited to be going to another.

hope you are all well and wrapped up against the rain. They could do with all the water they can get here!