Maz NZ and Oz

After the Great Ocean Road, we headed inland towards Ballarat to visit my mother's aunt, Vera. The landscape driving though Victoria was pretty bleak. It's difficult to imagine the effects of a severe drought when you come from the West of Ireland. Fields with scattered tufts of brown grass stretched to the horizon and there was no stock to be seen.

We arrived in Ballarat at about lunchtime and were warmly welcomed by Auntie Vera and some of the other Sisters. We then went to see Sovereign Hill, a recreation of a gold-mining town. This was how Ballarat (and many other towns and cities in Victoria) was founded. It was well worth the visit, although the height of summer may not be the best time. We were well toasted by the sun.






The following day, we had a stroll around Ballarat and a walk through the Botanical Gardens. One of the most striking things about Ballarat was the empty Lake Wendouree. The lake was the site of the rowing events in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and now, due to the severe droughts, it is utterly dry. The locals are, naturally, very concerned but Auntie Vera told us that a man who was old enough to remember the last time the lake dried up completely said that the following year, there was such flooding that the lake expanded out on to the road that surrounds it.

After a delicious lunch, we headed off to Melbourne again as we were both flying out very early the next morning.