Bendigo to Everton

Monday, November 17, 2014

Patricia likes to watch the news in the morning, so after the news and our porridge we packed up and went on our way to Bendigo, where we arrived shortly after 9 am. We came back to Bendigo, because what we saw yesterday looked very much of interest.  We parked at Weerooma Lake and after a short chat to a very kind lady we took the walking track, Bendigo Creek Trail,  into the city on her advice.

We encountered the Chinese Precinct first, which in itself was worth a closer look.  As usual I forgot to take pictures of all we saw, but at least I have some that are of interest. We didn’t go to the museum, as (for the time being) I have seen enough museums to last me a lifetime, but we had a good look around in a Chinese temple instead.  There were many offerings and everything was colourful, as one will only find in Chinese temples.  As it was a religious place I burned incense as an offering and felt quite at peace in those peaceful surroundings.  This time I don’t have pictures to show as I don’t like taking pictures in churches or other religious places out of respect for the people. I did take some photographs outside though.

The Chinese Precinct

After that visit we walked into the city centre and oh, what a beautiful old city it was.  Bendigo really came as a surprise to us and what was more surprising was that it had the look of a European city.  You could easily belief that you were walking around Paris.

Town Hall Bendigo

Family Law Court Bendigo

Crochet Art

We took pictures of the town hall and law court and other interesting old buildings. And as an extra bonus I discovered a beautiful fountain that doubled as an earth cache!  Yep, of course we keep doing our geocaching on the site. 

Alexandra Fountain

Cache: Alexandra Fountain

On the way back we passed through a park where we wandered through a greenhouse full of plants coming into flower.  Just a little bit too soon for full bloom.  I can only imagine what the hortensias will look like in their colours blue, white and pink...

Just before we got back to the lake where we started we picked up another cache:

Game Set Match

Cache: Game Set Match

As we have done a fair bit of walking we’d welcome a cup of coffee, so we stopped off at the Boardwalk cafe for coffee/lunch.  Lunch was only a shared bowl of hot chips, but it’s been long since I have tasted such delicious and hot chips.

Boardwalk Cafe

By the time we leave it’s about midday and we drive on via Rushworth, Murchison and Violet Town.  At 2 pm we stop for coffee at Murchison where I take this picture of a beautifully painted cow (of which there were many):

'Cow Art' at Murchison

Picnic area at Murchison

The aim for today is Everton, near Wangaratta, where Bob and Rhonda live.  They are Patricia’s friends and she hasn’t seen them for 25 years, so she’s really looking forward to the visit.

Patricia calls for the exact address and at about 3.30pm we arrive at their place.  We are welcomed with a cuppa and while Patricia puts a load of washing on I log my caches so as not to lag too far behind.  Dinner is royal: Duck and roasted vegies! 

Near Bob & Rhonda's place