The Foundry Hotel Bendigo

Can't believe it is already day 10 of our vacation! Three days until we leave Bendigo for our camping trip, and there is still a lot of work to do on Paddy's house. Today I painted more of the new baseboards, and Paul and Paddy worked on repairing the furnace, installing baseboards and building a new linen closet. All of the baseboards and door trims have been installed in ...

... 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 ...

... in and were invited to come in and look around, even though the hall was not open to the public. The room is very ornately (and freshly) decorated with gold leaf, which was applied inch by inch by a little old lady who climbed up scaffolding every day for months to complete the task. I wish I could meet this lady and tell her how much her skills have added to the splendor of this historic building.

We did some grocery shopping while ...

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 ...

... and kilns. Bought an olive oil jug, but it looks like it should hold moonshine!

This evening Paddy hosted a BBQ with friends of his, Greg, Kevin and Liam (who we met in London last year. Yummy burgers and sausages served on home made bread rolls. And noone even mentioned throwing a shrimp on the barby.

... not really a pillow, more an OTTOMAN! - of puff pastry filled with steak, eggs, cheese and bacon. One of the reasons we came to Australia at this time is to help Paul's son Paddy with renovations on their 1940 bungalow. The house has definite possibilities, but at the moment it is a brick shell, with unfinished floors and walls, electrical wires protruding from the oddest places and half-finished projects awaiting completion. I decided my ...

... my bank card for the excess when the woman looks and me weirdly and says "Can I help you with anything?", we said no and quickly ran away.I had my last drink with Mum and Dad at another bar and then waved goodbye (something they did very well I might add, make sure you congratulate them) and headed into the international departure area. I am in there with no idea what I'm doing, having just said goodbye to my parents for ...

... 1841 and missed out on his inheritance - bev wanted to find out what thomas ayers was doing here then - before the town really existed back then - but we cant find out much - will have to do some research on the internet when we get home. we do manage to catch the last tour of the day in the gold mine - unlike the one we saw in ballarat, the bendigo fields are still being investigated and mined today but the workings are very deep and its ...

... weekend, which I am very sad about, so i will just being saying my goodbyes again and going to the beach (it is so hot). My friend who I met traveling in South America is also coming to stay with us, so really looking forward to that. For those of you back in London i will see you soon!!!! Much love to you all!!!! Love always and forever Abbie

... of schoolkids visiting from the Pacific School Games left about an hour after I arrived) you realise that it's really a very good and interesting reproduction of parts of gold rush era Ballarat. I saw a bar of 99.9% pure gold being poured, went on a mine tour (a bit spooky as you're led by a disembodied recorded voice and lights which turn on & off automatically in pitch black tunnels), drank plenty of water and absorbed plenty of ...