Comfort Inn Shamrock Bendigo

... foyer and hallway that I painted last week, and it does actually look pretty good, if I say so myself.

It was pretty hot this morning, and we felt exhausted when we finally stopped work about 2:00, but a quick shower and cold drink revived us enough to go into Bendigo for the Central Deborah Gold Mine Tour.

After gold was discovered in Bendigo in 1851 ...

... left the gold fields and began stores and services for the miners. That was the beginning of a along and rich Chinese heritage in this area.

Beginning in the late 1800's, the good townsfolk of Bendigo began an annual fund raiser for the local hospital. It struggled along for a couple of years, until 1000 of the Chinese citizens signed up to help raise the funds. Thus began the Bendigo Easter Chinese Parade, which features hundreds ...

... prices. (Gas, for example, is about $4.50 per gallon).

Paul made a gorgeous green curry stir fry for dinner, and then we went out to see if we could find some 'Roos. We came across a gang (not a herd . . . a Gang) grazing, and one large female had a cute little Joey poking out of her pouch. We also spotted a flock of cockatoos, a kookaburra bird and a red parrot in the trees, all within 10 minutes of the house. Pretty cool, huh?

... all claustrophobic the tunnels were really tall and wide and i had to put on a hard hat hahahaha

and then i went on tram that went all around the town ... and that was my day! But it was loads of fun .. and then we drove back to Melbourne

c xxx

Up with the birds again today, weather is cool and cloudy with sunbreaks.
Painted the walls for a couple of hours, then Paul and I visited Bendigo Pottery. This pottery uses a white clay found a couple of hours drive from Bendgo. We watched a Potter create a quiche pan and poked around the original ...

... gift to Paddy and Leona is to furnish the paint, supplies and labor to paint their entry foyer and central hallway, an area about 200 sq ft with 9 ft walls and beautiful moulding around the high ceilings. so after breakfast we visited the Bunnings center (think Home Depot with an accent) and after getting over the sticker shock, I purchased brushes, rollers, paint and all the necessary tools for completing the job. (Paint, by the way ...

... Feldenkrais and picked up a few things to explore. For instance how looking actively with the eyes can automatically enable your body to twist a great deal more whilst it still remains in a relaxed state. The exercise shows me how much the body likes a stimulus for it's movement. It's funny twisting the body for twisting sake goes only so far, but add on top of that REAL GENUINE curiosity to what is behind you and bingo the body becomes so obliging. That's one of the ...

... waarschijnlijk last van vliegen die larven in hun huid gelegd hadden. Toen we een schaap scheerden dat duidelijk getroffen was, stroomde het bloed overal, zo dun en beschadigd was zijn huid al. We hoefden het slechts gedeeltelijk te scheren, omdat de vliegen hun larven bij voorkeur rond de staart of op de buik leggen. Toch gingen we de volgende dag opnieuw met de dieren aan de slag: Brett had besloten om het dier toch volledig te scheren en jawel, nadat de kop en de poten gedaan ...

Ok, so I'm writing this entry a little late, but heaps has gone on since my birthday. In Australia, when you have a holiday- usually it is from Friday to Monday (which is great for aussies and bad for travellers looking for a place in a hostel!) So Friday I took a two hour train ride to the 'country' town of Bendigo. It's about 100,000 people and just an interesting city you wouldn't normally visit. I was lucky enough to stay ...

... of money as the slow ones, and I learned later that is a pretty Mickey Mouse way to run a farm. After a few days in the hostel I started to meet a few people and get chatting about work - or lack thereof. One of the guys had arranged a placement himself on a pear farm nearby and had recruited a few others to join him. He said it was $6/night to stay right on the farm and that it had a kitchen, common area, a washing machine and looked like an ...