Peter and Christine's Australian Road Trips

When I was planning this trip, the intention was to spend a full day exploring in and around Bendigo. I knew Peter would love the Central Deborah Gold Mine, an underground display of the gold mines that were so typical of the area in the 1800’s.

While he ventured underground, claustrophobic and mobile-impaired me hopped aboard the Vintage Talking Tram that rattled its way right through the heart of Bendigo, with a commentary of the sights and the history of the city. It was fun and a good way to get an overview of the city.

It was a round trip and Peter finished his tour not long after my return. We turned our attention to the other places we wished to visit. Next on our day’s entertainment was Bendigo Pottery. It was quite fascinating to see a small slice of its history, but, overall, I was quite disappointed at what was on display and the lack of demonstrations available.

From there we went to the Bendigo Woollen Mills, where, again, there was no access to the workings, only a retail outlet. I did come away with some interesting yarn however. I can hear most of you exclaiming, ‘Of course!’

After a break back at the motel, we went down the street to have dinner at a beautiful Italian Restaurant. There was quite an interesting precinct of different shops either side of the restaurant, the most interesting of which was a Vintage Bookbinder called SB Libris. This shop/gallery caught our attention of course. Several others also were worth a visit – Passion for Design and Expect the Unexpected. We both browsed different places before having a tasty meal at Borchelli Ristorante.

We were both exhausted and the last thing we needed was a disturbed night, but that’s what we got! The motel was host to a group of children – actually young pre-adults, from what could only be described as privilege and money. They were HSC students on a ‘school camp’ and they decided it was appropriate to dance on the ceiling above us, use something heavy to thump continuously like a drum and laugh and talk loudly until the wee small hours, even after being reprimanded by their supervisors. I reprimanded them in the morning in my best teacher’s voice, but I’m sure they thought I was just some old woman who wasn’t even worth acknowledging as someone who mattered.