Bendigo…………………………Day 53

16 May 2014

This morning we went into our well practised routine of packing up and hitching the caravan to the car. The routine is just about down pat now. We left about 9.15am and pointed the cars northwards towards Bendigo. We went though some mountainous country which was unexpected and a number of tiny town, one of these being Guilford. This stuck in our memories as we have a suburb back home in Perth called Guildford.. there was a general store, a few other shops and a hotel.

We decided to go straight to Bendigo and come back later to see Castlemaine and Maldon. We got to the Gold Nugget Caravan Park by lunch and after setting up camp and having lunch, we decided to have a look around in town. We had seen a number of very old buildings in town and we wanted to have a better look. Parking in front of the original first Meyer’s shop, I crossed the road without realising there were trams running down the main street.

I was intrigued by the grandeur of what used to be the post office. Next to it are the Law Courts and it is not surprising to see they are similar when you read they were both designed by George W Watson, Public Works Architect. The Post Office was built between 1883 & 1887. It has a high clock tower housing a 5 bell carillon. I heard these bells ring at 1.45pm. These days it houses the Visitors Centre & is no longer used as a post office. In 1890 the Law Courts were finished in the adjacent building.

The Post Office:

The Law Courts:

……..and across from the Post Office is the Shamrock Hotel, designed by Phillip Kennedy and built in 1854. In 1860 it was completely re-built & is famous for Dame Nellie Melba staying there and demanding the bells from the Post Office be stopped from ringing. Prince Charles & Princess Diana also stayed there in 1983.

We also came across the Sacred Heart Cathedral which is one of Australia’s largest cathedrals and second tallest. It was hard to get the whole building into a photo and it certainly is up there with the ones I have seen in Europe and Italy. It was consecrated in 1901, but only completed in 1977. it was designed by William Tappin in the Gothic Style. The tallest spire is 87 metres high. My question was why build such a huge church here.

On our way back to the caravan park we stopped at Lake Weeroona where we saw two pelicans fighting over the same fish.

Lake Weeroona:

I left Lance at the caravan Park and went to have a look at Bendigo Pottery. I had heard of this pottery more than 40 years ago so it was nice to visit the actual pottery. I came home with 2 pottery wine glasses and a new coffee cup.