Sovereign Hill - Ballarat (Day 6)

It was a warm day.. supposedly 30°C.. but it sure felt hotter than that! We used the GPS for the first time to drive up to Sovereign hill in Ballarat. We didn't always instinctively trust 'the voice' (although I really should in my case) and veered off the recommended route on several occasions.. 'recalculating'.. but we made it to lunch at a local fish and chips shop.

Sovereign Hill is located on the site of one of Ballarat's major gold diggings. The discovery on August 21, 1851 by James Dunlop and James Reagan that sparked the Ballarat Gold Rush was the 'Welcome Nugget' which weighed 69 kg (2,200 ounces) and contained 99% pure gold. It was valued at about 10,500 pounds when found and now worth over US$3 million! The current area depicts buildings.. houses.. tents.. and tools used in the early years of the gold rush. The boys tried their hand at panning for gold at the winding creek.. but unfortunately found absolutely nothing!


There was even a Chinese camp at the settlement.. and yes.. where there's gold.. there's bound to be Chinese people! They obviously brought along their essential 'ka-chang'.. chopsticks.. rice bowls.. abacus.. straw hats and baskets.

Browns Confectionery (a family owned business) had a live demonstration of how hard-boiled candy were made by hand in the 19th century. The recipe.. boil water, sugar, glucose in the cauldron.. pour the liquid on a greased table to cool.. add colouring and citric acid to make it sour.. cut into small pieces.. squeeze them through the selected mould which forms the shape of the candy (they switched to brass moulds when lead was discovered to be poisonous).. break the harden candy into individual pieces.. and put them into a jar. We also witnessed the candle-making process.. the wicks were tied to a frame.. attached to the 'nodding donkey' and dipped between 40-60 times into paraffin (lard was used back then).. the frame was then placed on drying wheel.. the candles were repeatedly dipped until the desired thickness was achieved.. and the finished lard candles had to be hung high up on the ceiling to prevent rats from nibbling them. They even had bowling way back then.. the alley actually had a gutters on either side.. and there was even a system of returning the ball.. but unfortunately the pins gotta be set up by hand.

We also signed up and paid for the Mine Tour.. surprisingly all of us have never been on it before. The guide led us down via the 90-second tram ride in pitch-black darkness (Jared was excited.. 'Woo Hoo! Finally a ride!).. walked through the labyrinth of tunnels.. introduced to the widow maker (men died from silicon dust poisoning).. 'fire in the hole'.. white quartz rock that yielded gold.. the black carbon line that indicated larger quantity of gold.. the talking timbers that warned miners of imminent danger of cave-ins.. and at the end of it all.. we were driven back on a mini train with 'straddle' seats.. ha ha.. another ride for Jared!

After a brief visited to the Gold Museum.. we headed to the nearby Ballarat Botanical Gardens and Lake Wendouree that hosted the rowing and canoeing events for 1956 Olympic Games. The lake was surreal..calm waters disturbed only by the birds.. we saw a black swan with 3 cygnets swimming in tow.. they seemed to have one leg out of the water while paddling with the other.

Dinner was Mac Donald's burgers from the drive-thru.. Jared's obvious choice. The attendant mixed up the orders and we didn't get the meal deals that came with fries and drinks. Apparently, you had to order them separately as 'add-ons'. We played Pictionary in the evening.. Jared and I made a great team.. despite the melting ice cubes that looked like boxes or tables and some difficult words like 'massage' or 'vulture'. I realised I got sunburnt on both shoulders but it wasn't not too painful after applying lots of cream.