Several Melbourne folks had told me that that I should check out Ballarat, a historic town in the Goldfields region of Victoria (located to the west of Melbourne). Since my itinerary has been filling up with plans, today looked like the best day for the trip. I woke up at 0530 after a nice, uninterrupted, sleep. I called Mollie but she was at the VaTech graduation ceremony. Instead, I went to breakfast just after 0630. Back in my room, I packed for my day. At 0815, I left the hotel and walked across the Yarra. I then took the westbound tram on Flinders Street (to get to Spencer Street) and later walked to Southern Cross Station. To maximize use of the Myki card, I visited the V/Line ticket booth they gave me a paper ticket. They also expanded my access to the complete Victoria transportation system (just for the day) - this made the whole trip out of the city possible. I’d planned to take the 0915 train (45 minutes later) but then noticed there was one departing in six minutes. With a little bit of hurrying, I made it on board in time (0836). The train headed out of Melbourne to the west and we made stops at Footscray, Sunshine, Ardeer, Deer Park, Caroline Springs, Rockbank, Cobblebank, Melton, Baccus Marsh and Ballan on the way. The weather was ok (mostly cloudy with temps in the 50s) and the scenery was pretty (mostly flat farmland). We reached Ballarat at 1000 and I managed to get off before the train continued west. In the station, I got some brochures and maps. I thought I was ready to go exploring but ended up getting delayed by a phone call with Mollie. At 1100, I realized that most of the interesting things to do in town required a bus (or a heck of a lot of walking). Since I’d seen had information about a museum at the Eureka Center (it was related to the Victorian Gold Rush of the 1850s), I figured I should start there. I found a V/Line service desk at the station and the nice staff gave me a map for the Number 20 bus that would take me out to Eureka. Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait long to depart and, once on the bus, I rode through town and some nice neighborhoods. This little journey helped me get my bearings. On the way, a bunch of kids called for a stop at the Ballarat Wildlife Park so I decided to get off with them (1200) to learn more about the attraction. After learning that they had kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, dingos, emus and koalas, I bought a ticket. The lady at the entrance asked if I wanted to buy some seeds to feed the kangaroos but I declined. Inside, though, I saw why she’d asked - the friendly, docile animals came right up to people and you could pet them! I watched little kids having the time of their lives... By this point (1230), I was quite hungry so went into the little snack bar to get some lunch. While I was eating (fish & chips), a lady with her kids (and her mother, I think) engaged me in conversation about the park. They were all understandably proud of the local attraction and told me about some of the things I shouldn’t miss. As I was leaving, one of the women gave me some of their leftover kangaroo food. Going outside to feed them, I found that they had all decided to take a nap. A young lady who worked at the park showed me another field that had more “active” free range animals. Even better, she also offered to photo and film me feeding and petting them. The pigeons flocked around the snacking kangaroos but everyone seemed to get their fill. Next, I walked a short distance to watch a presentation about the little blue penguins that are famous in the Melbourne area. Since I’m planning to visit them in the wild in a few days (but will not be allowed to take photos then), this was a great opportunity to learn about them. The show was good and I next walked through the koala and wombat areas. They were so close that I could definitely touch the animals if I wanted! A bit later, I strolled by the dingo enclosure - they looked so friendly and docile and I couldn’t imagine how they got their horrible reputation. Just after I walked away from them, they started the most amazing howling session but I had no chance for video. I walked another circuit of the park before there was a presentation at the dingo enclosure (1330). It was so interesting to see them interact with the staff during their feeding time! After the program was over, I reluctantly left the Wildlife Park - I had a lot more I wanted to see and do before catching my train back to Melbourne... I was able to catch the bus almost immediately, which was fortunate because the town didn’t really have many sidewalks. It was a short ride to the Eureka Center, where I got off the bus (1400) and bought a ticket for the museum. I learned the building was actually a memorial to a group of miners who had tried to organize (in 1854) for more political representation. Their movement was called the “Eureka Rebellion” (the locals use the term “Eureka Stockade”) but the freedom seekers were cruelly repressed (22 died). They got their way in the end, though, and the concessions they’d sought ultimately became law. Their banner, the “Eureka Flag”, is now a sort of National symbol and has been lovingly preserved. The exhibits were every informative - I was reminded of some parks in the US that had similar famous flags (Sheldon Cooper would definitely have had “Fun” there). I’d hoped to catch another bus to get closer to town, since time was running short, but I had bad timing. Instead, I walked west (through more neighborhoods) until I reached (the rather steep) Sovereign Hill area of town. I’d heard that the venue was the “real” museum of the Gold Rush period and, when I got there, it made total sense. In a nutshell, it was one of those living history towns like Plimouth Plantation or Colonial Williamsburg. Even though I had less than two hours before park closure, I bought a ticket and eagerly entered (1510). I immediately encountered a recreation of a gold mining camp, complete with panning opportunities. Not surprisingly, I didn’t find anything but other people near me found significant amounts of dust and one little nugget. Moving on, I took a self-guided “4D” tour of the Red Hill Mine. A little group of us were able to travel down 50+ stairs into a series of mining tunnels and got to see, hear and feel what it was like to look for gold underground. There was a part of the tour when we got to see a replica of the famous Welcome Nugget (almost 150 pounds in weight) that was discovered in Ballarat in 1858. Climbing the stairs again, we returned to the surface with a new appreciation for the hearty “diggers” of Victoria. During the rest of my visit, I explored inside the many types of buildings on the property (machine shops, schools, churches, hotels, etc.) and interacted with staff members dressed in period clothing. Overall, I was inside the park for about 90 minutes (done at 1630). I’d hoped to be able to catch another bus back to the train station but the first one I boarded was not actually headed in my direction. Fortunately, I’d asked when I got on and the driver let me off again. At that point, I gave up on buses and walked back to the center of town. I passed a sign for Bakery Hill, which I later learned was the real location of the Red Hill Mine (where the Welcome Nugget was actually found). Since I was not sure about the exact train I wanted to take back to Melbourne, I stopped into a restaurant (1655) I’d first seen during my bus ride in the morning. The Rusty Spud served baked potatoes with cool toppings - I got one called “Italian Stallion”. Since I was the only patron, I sat down to eat in the restaurant and struck up a conversation with the owner. When another customer arrived, I took the opportunity to check on the train schedule and figured out I could catch one at 1735. This required me to quickly walk to the station (it wasn’t far) and I made it in time. Once aboard, I noticed that the train drove very slowly on the way back to Melbourne for some reason. Unlike in the morning, there was really nothing to see after the first 10 minutes because it got dark. Each time we stopped, the train filled up more and more passengers. Most were young people who were dressed up for a Friday night on the town. We arrived in Melbourne at 1915 and I visited a couple of the customer service desks to better understand how I could use my Myki card to get to the Tullamarine airport. The weather was nice so I walked back towards my hotel on the north bank of the Yarra (until Queensbridge). At 2010, I stopped in the lobby and finally tried a couple of beers (both from the Mill Brewery in Melbourne) at the 24 hour bar. I was finally back in my room by 2115 and spent the evening reading and resting. Went to bed at 2215 after another awesome day in Australia!
