Day 286, Saturday, 9 January, 2010 - Day 290, Wednesday, 13 January, 2010

Ballarat

13 January 2010
We decided we could not come to Ballarat and not go to Sovereign Hill so this is where we spent most of our day today. For those of you who have not heard of Sovereign Hill it is a ‘living museum’ that recreates the atmosphere of the Ballarat gold fields in the mid 1850’s. The recreated town is spread out over 25 hectares and is very well presented. Staff and volunteers wonder about in period costume giving it a nice feel of authenticity. We were genuinely surprised at how long we spent there as usually we find ourselves wondering through these types of tourist attractions very quickly. It was well worth the visit.

We are back on the road again tomorrow and plan to be in Melbourne in the next couple of days. Both of us are looking forward to reaching Tasmania.

12 January, 2010
We spent most of today walking through the streets of the Ballarat CBD looking at the old buildings many of which  date back to the 1860’s. We have never seen so many well kept historical buildings in one town before and they clearly show the affluence of the time following the gold rush of the 1850s.

We also changed the tyres on our bikes again. In Adelaide, at the recommendation of our bike shop in Canberra, we replaced our Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres with  Schwalbe Marathon XR tyres. The selling point for the XR was that they were tougher, lighter and foldable so they could fit in an envelope. However, we have found the XR to be a slower and noisier tyre so we have switched back to the smoother and quieter Marathon Plus. The only downside of the Plus is that it is a bugger to fit for the first time but after 12,000 puncture free kilometres it is worth the extra effort.

10 - 11 January 2010
With temperatures in the low 40’s we have spent the last two days catching up on sleep, washing and reading.

9 January 2010
One of the reasons for coming to Ballarat was to watch Andrew compete in the Under 23 Scody Australian Open Road Cycling Championships at Buninyong which is 12 km from Ballarat. The Buninyong course is known for its big climbs and fast descents. We spent most of the morning at the race which was held in hot conditions, 112 riders started and only 30 finished. Andrew was one of those who finished.

In the evening we went out to dinner with Andrew, Rebecca, Belinda and Mat (Andrew’s coach). Seeing Andrew and Rebecca made us realise that we are only 8 hours drive from home.

Zoom into the map and use the 'Satellite' layer to see our new location.

100113 - Sovereign Hill - The Redcoats are coming

100113 - The back streets of Sovereign Hill

100113 - Sovereign Hill - Old coach rides

100113 - Sovereign Hill - Gold pouring

100113 - Sovereign Hill - The small creek through the middle of the town was the scene for modern day 'Gold fever' as you are allowed to keep any gold you find

100113 - Sovereign Hill - The small creek through the middle of the town was the scene for modern day 'Gold fever' as you are allowed to keep any gold you find

100109 - Start of the Under 23 Scody Australian Open Road Cycling Championship

100109 - The peloton spreads out past the feed station

100109 - The peloton climbs out from Buninyong

100109 - Andrew starts his last lap

100109 - Buninyong's old buildings provide some great photo opportunities

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