Goldfields Motor Inn Bendigo

... gold fields quickly became Australia's richest goldfield, and the 7th richest in the world. Bendigo had 5,600 gold mines, and the Deborah mine was one of the last two remaining mines to shut down in 1954. In just 15 years, she produced 29,865 oz of gold. Now you can take tours ranging from 75 minutes to 2 1/2 hours. Even one minute underground is too long for me, so ...

... volunteers dressed in Chinese costumes, and the snaking appearance of the oldest parade Dragon in Australia, and perhaps the longest. Tourists come from all over Australia to take part in or watch the festivities.

Bendigo is home to a small, but wonderful Chinese Garden and Golden Dragon Museum, and that is where we learned about, and saw this dragon, and its newer, younger replacements.

In the evening, we attended the ...

Bendigo is well known for its interesting and well-preserved architecture, especially the cast iron ornamentation found on so many of its commercial buildings and private residences.
Today we spent the afternoon exploring Bendigo on foot and delighting in its historical buildings and whimsical Christmas decorations.

The Sacred Heart Cathedral was a typical discovery. The cathedral was beautiful and of sufficient size to rival some ...

Well ok .. we drove here today but i didn't actually do anything in Bendigo until tomorrow ... but i will put it all in the blog anyway ...

So ... we drove into Bendigo and visited a Gold Mine ... cool ... there was gold in the walls .. and it wasn't ...

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 ...

... interior wall paint, runs $72.00 AU per gallon, which with the exchange rate right now, that makes it $67.00 per gallon). I got everything primed today, and tomorrow will paint the color coats. I'll also paint the new baseboards so the guys can get them cut and installed on Tuesday. We were told to expect 100+ degrees heat this time of year, but so far it has been cool and showery both days. We should see some warmer weather in a couple of days.

... things I picked up a few exercises on that will help me illustrate the point. I also had a wonderful introduction to Theta Healing. I have to say it was quite astounding. Sophie Simon was the first person to mention it to me. I remember shortly before coming here picking up a book at hers and practicing my speed reading on it. The creator ...or discoverer of Theta healing managed to repair herself from Cancer, she has now been working for fifteen years sharing her ...

... mocht ook ik een poging wagen. Vreemd hoe zwaar zo'n schapenscheerapparaat aanvoelt, je voelt de druk van de metalen stang die aan een soort aandrijfas verbonden zit. Het lijkt erg op het scheren van een mens met een tondeuse, maar het nadeel is dat je door de dichte wol de rondingen van het dier niet goed kunt zien. Er zit geen beschermingskap op de clipper en je wilt het arme dier geen pijn doen... Toch bleef die enorme ram netjes stilliggen tussen mijn voeten en had ik zijn ...

... a fellow named Shane (whom I'd met a week earlier). Most of the weekend was spent with he and his best mate Michael, although I did get to meet a few of his other aussie friends as well. I had a fabulous time though and Shane is definitely a true blue aussie (accent and all!). So let's see- a quick rundown of all that I did. My first night, I had my first aussie fish and chips (french fries we call em). They were greasy ...

... place. Sounded good to me so I got the farmer's number, arranged a pickup and was introduced to Lenne's Orchard. Matthew Lenne was the son of the orchard owner but manged all the backpackers. He was really nice and laid back and made my intro into the world of fruit picking go really smoothly. My initial ladder techniques were pretty **** I have to say and generally left me hanging from branches of the trees, but he gave all of us some good ...