Friday 4th April

We’ve had a very busy day, starting in the rain – so what’s new? The street that the motel is on is called Sturt Street, but the part from the Arch of Victory, on the main road heading West out of town, is known as Remembrance Avenue. It’s 22km long, and lined with 3,900 trees each having a plaque naming a single soldier from Ballarat who fought in WWI. The Arch itself is most imposing, although I don’t know the exact dimensions. Beside it stands a small rotunda with a Wall of Remembrance alongside. This contains all of the names in alphabetical order, and the number of the tree planted for them so relatives can find the correct one. The Australians are big on remembrance and their memorials are certainly awe inspiring. We’ve been most impressed with those we have seen. A car full of elderly people were there when we stopped and one of the ladies stayed to talk to us, asking if we knew the significance of the Wall and the trees. Luckily, we had read about it so didn’t look too ignorant! She was taking the others in her car to find the tree on which is her husband’s father’s name.

I had searched the local phone directory last night so had a few addresses for craft shops in town. Ballarat is much bigger than we had at first realised so it took us some time to drive into the centre, where we parked and separated so I could do my thing and Tom could have a haircut. I found 2 of the shops I wanted but the other was too far to walk. I’ve got some really good Australian themed paper for the scrapbook(s) and some suitable stickers too.

We met up at lunchtime and had a snack – no stickies today – and Tom had also found a medical centre for me. For some strange reason, I haven’t brought enough Metformin (one of my diabetes drugs) with me, so needed to get a repeat prescription. It cost $65 to see the doc and I was in for all of 3 mins, and 100 pills cost $14.95. The medical centre is very modern and very busy but you just walk in off the street and see a doc – there was a wait of about an hour and a quarter but having checked in, we went away and came back later – no worries!

When we drove to find the needlework shop, which had been too far away for me to walk, we drove round in circles, and even a Postman couldn’t tell us where to find it! Eventually we phoned and got directions. Now don’t ever complain about our English way of numbering streets! The particular street I wanted starts pretty much in the centre of town and goes east up to no. 119 on the north side and 116 on the south – nice and simple so far? We were looking for 215. We had to come back to the start of the street and go WEST where the nos. started from 121 on the SOUTH side and 118 on the NORTH. It’s not just the country that’s upside down!! And having got there, the shop didn’t have what I was looking for! But the proprietor is going to get it and send it on so that’s one more thing I can tick off the list. After all that, I could have walked it easily had I known how the stupid system (if you can call it that!) works.

On the way out of Ballarat to Geelong, we stopped at a most impressive patchwork and quilting shop, Gail’s Patchwork Emporium. It’s more packed than just about anywhere I’ve ever been – Mags, you’d have thought you’d died and gone to heaven – the range of fabrics and accessories is amazing. Unfortunately, she didn’t have much in the way of Australiana, but I did get some co-ordinating fabrics and a couple of oddments typical of Oz. Both ladies there were very helpful. We arrived just as a group who’d done a half day course were leaving, and Gail was telling them that she has a regular group from Sydney who come to do courses with her – she must be good! Her choice of fabrics is certainly extensive and the packs are very imaginative. Even Tom was impressed, especially when he was offered a cup of coffee while I browsed! He’d already been pleased in the needlework shop to find a chair marked “Gentlemen’s Waiting Chair”! I said yesterday that it had been the shortest travelling we’d done, well, today beat it – we only drove 95kms. We reached Geelong just too late to find accommodation from the tourist office, so bumbled our way out of the town south towards Torquay and eagle eyes Tom found a motel with wireless access and here we are in the Golden Palms motel. It’s much warmer here than inland so let’s hope that the coast road westwards will be good to us.

Despite the rain that has fallen here lately, their water supplies are at an all time low of 8.9%. Lake Wendouree, where the Olympic rowing was held during the Melbourne Games, is so dried up that you can walk across it. They are on stage 4 water restrictions – the highest we’ve come across so far.

Thinking of the distances we’ve been finding mind-blowing – we got chatting to a couple at the Eureka Centre yesterday. They come from Queensland and said that they find it strange that places are so close together in Victoria – they’re so used to travelling 500kms with no habitation and not thinking anything strange in that. It’s all relative, isn’t it?

Well, we’ve had one of the best meals we’ve had all holiday tonight, in the hotel next door to our motel. Tom had chicken parmigiana and I had lamb koftas – mmmmm, yummy! Back to salads tomorrow!

Keep safe, Love to all. Goodnight for now.