Old gold and revolution

Ballarat- the birthplace of Australian democracy.
Spending the day in the Sovereign Hill  theme park showed us the cruelty of the administration in the 1800s, and how the gold miners life was a difficult one. Not many of them actually struck it rich, yet at the height of the gold rush here over 40,000 men of various nationalities toiled above and below ground for the elusive metal, having walked here from all over Australia pushing their tools and possessions in wheelbarrows.
Despite that the town was and still is very rich, as I shall show later. Within twenty years from 1850 to 1870 it grew to be the most prosperous city in Australia, and some say the world.

At Sovereign hill we can pan for gold, descend a mine and experience a cave in, (well almost) and handle the real thing. There is still gold here, a number of small mines dot the landscape within a few miles, and it is still possible to find the odd piece here in the stream.
There are many volunteers dotted around the town, totally in character, one playing a drunk woman, and of course the diggers themselves. Some of the children are in period costume, and are learning how their ancestors had to live.

The 'diggers' had to buy a licence every month, initially at £1, but soon rose to £1-10s, (£1-50), which many of them could not afford. The police and the corrupt magistrates enforced it, and would daily tour the workings looking for miners without a licence, as they would get half the fines that were administered. The diggers resented this of course,  to the extent that eventually they revolted by burning their licences, and building a stockade around the diggings.
The authorities brought in the army and the navy, and very early one Sunday morning, when many of the miners were away visiting their wives, they pounced. Shooting down the defenders, they killed around twenty miners, and lost eight of their own ranks.
Arresting 13 of the men they said were the ringleaders, they took them to trial for high treason in Melbourne, but all were acquitted by sympathetic juries.



After being castigated in the world's press the authorities realised that they must treat the people with more respect and a new social order was established throughout Australia. Some of the leaders of the revolt became MPs, the dreaded licence fee was abolished, and the corrupt police and magistrates sacked.













Sovereign Hill now has many fine old buildings, some brought in from outside, but many original including the diggings, with tents and even a Chinese village, as many of that race came here to seek their fortune.We attended a sound and light show which enacted the revolt and it's consequences, and a good show it was too.

Anne got to hold a genuine gold ingot, just smelted and still warm, worth £100,000. She tried to pocket it but was seen and almost ended up in the clink!
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The city of Ballarat itself also has a lot to offer, many of the town centre buildings were designed and built in the 1870s, including a lovely Town Hall, still in use today. The architecture is a measure of the wealth of the town at that time, and we spent a few hours walking round the streets admiring the buildings. We also went into an art gallery, not usually my scene, but they had some very interesting drawings and paintings  depicting the gold rush and the uprising.

I shall leave you with a few pics of the streets and buildings, and one of the pictures from the gallery.

Port Albert and the Prom

Well- we're back in Oz, a couple of days sorting out and a get together with cousins Paul and Marrianne (first two on the left)Geoffrey and Jennette(first two on the right, over here from the UK for a couple of weeks). So we had a meal out in an Italian restaurant with Barbara and Dave, ( more cousins!) and a great time was had by all.

Paul generously allowed us to use his weekend home in Port Albert for a couple of days, he had built it and another next door with a view to selling a few years ago when Port Albert was due to become a big marina, but unfortunately that fell through. So it has proved difficult to sell at this time.It's a lovely house though, three good bedrooms and two bathrooms, with a big living room and a log fire. Maybe when the economic situation improves they will go.

Port Albert itself is a sleepy little town, more a fishing village than anything else, when it was built in the 1840s it was thriving on the back of the goldfields up country a bit. But by the 1860s a road had been built to Melbourne and the big ports and Port Albert declined.
Since then it has survived on a small fishing fleet, and weekend fishermen who come down here to their little holiday homes.
Anyway, it gave us a chance to chill out a bit for a couple of days after our whirlwind tour of NZ.




We had arranged to meet Lee and Karen and the children on Wilson's Promontory, for a weekend. So on Friday we left Port Albert and made our way over to the national park, to find a campsite absolutely packed. It's a good job that Lee had booked us two pitches, as we arrived there was a notice saying camp full. And that's with over 400 pitches!.
Anyway, it turned out to be a lovely area, with a river and a beach close by, and a lot of wildlife.

As we sat in the evenings a a very large wombat just strolled by nonchalantly, totally unfazed by the fuss he was causing around him. Karen has a thing about them, it seems one ripped open her sister's tent to get at some food. Anyway that's the first time I've seen them in the wild, although Anne has elsewhere.

The Rosellas were so tame that they would eat out of Anne's hand, very cheeky actually, they just come up while we are eating looking for a handout. They are impossible to resist, they have such vivid reds  blues and greens in their plumage.

We did a fair bit of walking over the weekend, five miles on the Saturday and six on the Sunday, uphill and down dale, As we hadn't walked for a while we were shattered, particularly as gale force winds kept us awake most of the nights.
But we had a great time with our friends, Lee cooked a roast of pork in the Weber, (which has become a bit of a tradition with us over the months since we met them!).And of course the wine and beer flows, I have found a good alcohol free one which I like. So it was a bit of a wrench when we came to part on Sunday afternoon, just as the weather improved, and made our way back to Mornington for a couple of days before we continue our adventure.

A day (or so) in Auckland.

It's a fair trip from Bay of Islands down to Auckland- more than four hours.And it takes a bit longer if you are searching for fuel when you think you are running out!.
But we got there in one piece, and booked into a good hotel on the quayside. So close to the docks that when we awake the following morning we were greeted by a view of two cruise ships outside our window, the Sea Princess and P&O's Aurora. The latter was on a round the world trip, Sea Princess was out from Sydney and touring NZ.

Walking around the harbour we came across a number of very expensive sailing boats, some worth maybe a couple of million dollars or more. This one was just arriving and docking, probably 120ft long and a similar height, with a crew  or around twenty. We saw them take down the sails as they arrived, and expertly dock.The owner and his wife, ( or was it mother?) watched from the deck cabin, and then emerged to come ashore while the crew washed the boat down and prepared for a night in the dock.


We took the ferry across the bay to Devonport, a nice little town, touristy and probably dormitory for Auckland business people. It's just a ten minute sail across, so it must be an easy way to get to work and home again.

From there we had a great view of the Auckland skyline, although it isn't the capital of NZ it is probably the largest city, and much of the financial and trading work goes on there. In the centre of the CBD is the Skytower, and earlier we had taken a trip to the top, I can't remember how high it is but it is bl**** high!
Anne doesn't do heights but just this once I managed to persuade her to go up, a picture to prove it too!






A great view of the whole city, and as it was a clear day we could see for many miles around. Auckland is built on an isthmus, so there was water almost all around us, Devonport can e seen across the bay in this picture, with the docks below, and to the left the very expensive boats. It is a very busy harbour, pleasure boats, yachts, ferries and cruise ships come and go all day





Along the waterside there are some very attractive old buildings. This one was built in the 1890s as a ferry terminal, and still serves that purpose today. Of course nowadays the docks are surrounded by flats instead of wharves, the world over they fetch a premium beside the water.

And so it came to the parting of the ways, we were flying out early the next morning back to Melbourne, David and Mildred later back to Perth. Our last meal together was a good one, and we chatted about our four weeks afterwards.

We have had a great time together seeing this beautiful country, there was very little that we did not enjoy immensely. Time was against us - we could have taken another month and not seen it all, even though by comparison with Oz it is a tiny country.


I think we will be back to see a bit more sometime, perhaps a little more leisurely next time. However now we have a few more months in Oz to look forward to.

This, by the way, is the 200th entry in this blog, so I'll leave you with a pic of a wicked van we saw in NZ...........

An unspoilt gem and a day on the bay

Russell- an unspoilt gem of a town a short ferry journey across from Pahia and the Breakwater Motel, where we are staying. It's quiet waterfront is a mix of old buildings serving as restaurants, cafes, private homes and a museum. But it wasn't always so. Following James Cook's  visit in 1769, whalers, sailors traders and missionaries soon met and mingled here, earning it the soubriquet "Hell hole of the Pacific" from Charles Darwin, on his way to the Galapagos. The town was the first capital of NZ, but only for ten months when Auckland became the capital before Wellington took over a few years later.
After the Maori/ British signing of the treaty at Waitangi the Maori became disillusioned with their treatment at the hands of the Brits, and in 1840 local Maori chief Hone Heke cut down the flagstaff flying the Union Flag above the town no less than four times.
The lower half of the current flagpole is metal, but the upper is the last pole to be cut down.

This led to the sacking of the town, but, because he was Christian, Hone Heke spared the church and the Catholic Mission, and it was some years before the town was rebuilt.
The museum is well worth visiting, containing a one fifth replica of James cook's Endeavour, and many artifacts from those days.
We enjoyed a superb dinner at a waterfront restaurant with the setting sun in the background, followed by a leisurely walk back to the ferry home.



The R. Tucker Thompson is Northland's iconic tall ship, which sail daily around the Bay of Islands. She was originally built here to take part in the bi-centennial sailing from Portsmouth to Australia and NZ with the first settlers from England.
A sail training vessel that takes youngsters on week long adventure training, in the summer it sails the bay daily taking tourists. Anne and I joined the ship for the day, sailing from Russell. A two masted topsail schooner, she has three squares on the foremast, two jibs, a gaffsail on the foremast, and a mainsail and a gaff staysail on the mainmast.

We had the opportunity to set the sails, climb the mast, and steer the ship through the islands to a beach, where most took the opportunity to have a swim before lunch and the sail home.
A pleasant day relaxing, as the wind was variable to say the least, but when the sun came out Anne took the opportunity to top up her tan!.





















We have had a very relaxing few days here in the Breakwater Motel, a lovely view from the balcony, newly renovated modern facilities, and interesting surroundings to take in. Today we have visited the Waimate Mission, one of the oldest surviving houses in NZ. Originally part of an English village created to fulfil the dream of the Rev Samuel Marsden, he established a Church Missionary Society farm here to grow wheat, and to train Maori to farm.
Built in 1831, the mission is the sole survivor of the village, with the exception of the Church next door, still in use today. Many interesting gravestones surround the church, including those of the early incumbents
All good things must come to an end, tomorrow we leave the idyllic Bay Of Islands for a day in Auckland, I think we could be back here.

Maori and British history.

Our next day in Rotorua took us to a Maori village and a church that had a window beside the altar with a picture of Jesus on it. What was special was that Jesus appeared to be walking on the lake behind him. Unfortunately, like most Maori areas we were not allowed to photograph it, but we could picture the roadway, which was breaking up because of a geyser which was coming through. Can you imagine living here where hot water could boil up though your living room floor at any time?
There was a Maori funeral taking place in the meeting house just across from the church, so we did not disturb them, there were hundreds there from all over the north of the island. Most are Christian, so there was a minister presiding.

Later we went to the Rotorua Bathhouse, one of the most photographed buildings in New Zealand. Built in 1908 to take advantage of the healing properties of the spa, it tempted the "rich, ill and famous" to come to the area to take the waters. Unfortunately the properties of the water soon rotted some of the building away, leading to expensive repairs.When it was finally closed in the middle of the century it first became a night club, then was left to rot for a while until the Government and the local council took it over as an art gallery and museum. We were able to see some of the old baths, and the pipe work in the basement that still exists. Nowadays it has to be carefully air conditioned to preserve it and it's contents.

The view from the roof is excellent, we could see that Rotorua is built entirely in the crater of a volcano, the rim of which can be seen in the distance. About 80,000 tons of water flows every day from the geothermal field below, some into the lake itself. Unfortunately that makes it oxygen poor, which means that little can survive in it.

We have now travelled up to the Bay Of Islands, in the Northland, yet another beautiful area of New Zealand.
The view from our motel balcony is spectacular, right across the bay to the first capital of New Zealand, before Auckland and then Wellington took the title.
This is a big tourist area, which also contains a lot of the early history of NZ. Readers will remember that last week was Waitangi day here, when NZ celebrated the signing of a treaty between the British and the Maoris, and we witnessed a local celebration near Hastings.

We are now very close to Waitangi itself, where the original treaty was signed, and we took advantage of this to visit the area where it all happened
On 6th February 1840 Captain William Hobson landed here to negotiate the treaty with around 500 local Maori chiefs, who had arrived here on foot and in war canoes to negotiate and sign the paper which gave the British Crown the right to rule New Zealand, and protect the Maories from the many rogues and scoundrels who raided the coast around.
It also gave the Maories the rights to possession of their lands, their forests and their fisheries.
Each year on the anniversary re-enactments take place here and in many places throughout NZ, this one being the main one which the Prime Minister and many of his ministers attend.

The flagpole now marks the spot where the signing took place, just in front of the house where the James Busby, the local British resident charged with keeping the peace in the area lived, and where the treaty was translated into Maori almost overnight by two local missionaries. It has been carefully reconstructed to show the Resident at work, and now the whole treaty area is maintained for the people of NZ by the National Trust.

I'll finish today's entry with a picture of someone enjoying a healing spa.......

Taupo and Rotorua

Lake Taupo- a caldera from an extinct volcano. At least that is what we think, it hasn't erupted for a lot of years now, but with what goes on round here you never know. Across the lake in the hills beyond we can see a live one, at first we thought it was a forest fire, but no- it's a steam outlet.There are dozens around here, some of which are used to create electricity almost for free.




We took a boat trip up river to the Huka Falls, a spectacular gorge outlet from Lake Taupo into a reservoir. It brings down so much air with it it is said that any boat who ventures into the cauldron will sink. No less than two Olympic swimming pools come over every ten seconds, not rapids I would care to raft over!





Later we visited Orekei Korako, a hidden valley of colour, hot springs and natural beauty. The colour is caused by hot water algae which forms at about 60 deg C. Several small geysers play in the valley, which was formed in 111AD by a massive earthquake.

Terraces were formed around the same time by earthquakes, this one is about 6 mtrs high, and is white with the limestone that comes down with the hot water.
All around are old forest, an abundance of tree ferns grow among the indigenous trees.
It is said that this is one of the finest thermal areas left in the world, it is certainly worth seeing.



Moving on to Rotorua, we visited Pohutu  geyser, one of the largest in New Zealand. It erupts on average once or twice every hour, and can reach heights of 30mtrs. (90ft).It is thought that this geyser has an intricate plumbing system involving one or more chambers many kms into the earth into which hot water, steam and various gases are fed. Eventually it becomes pressurised and hot enough for the water to boil, which forces the water up the vent and then ejected. It is spectacular to see the water and steam ejected with such force, however there is not the colour variation that we saw earlier in the hidden valley.

There are a considerable number of mud geysers in the area also, this one bubbles continually with boiling mud, and the pit is contually growing towards the buildings behind, and will eventually engulf them it is thought. Hopefully not while they are still occupied, but we are told that a geyser can erupt anywhere in this valley, under a house, a road, anywhere. And they are just a mile up the road from our motel.......

Haka and Art

The whole of New Zealand lies on a major fault line on  the Pacific plate, which makes it prone to earthquakes and other volcanic activity. The west coast of North Island suffered a major quake in 1931, which wiped out much of Wellington, Hastings and Napier. In the case of Napier the quake was followed by a major fire, which left the town destroyed.
Both of the latter were largely rebuilt in the style of the period, in the case of Hastings, Art Deco and Spanish Mission, and for Napier, mostly Art Deco.



Using reinforced concrete, the architects ensured that any repeat of the earthquakes would be less likely to result in the devastation that occurred earlier.
Both cities have been extremely well maintained since then, the town centres are a delight to the eye.
In the case of Hastings, most buildings were adorned with flower boxes and baskets throughout the CBD.

 We visited Napier on Waitango day, New Zealand's national day, the anniversary of the signing of an agreement between the Maori and the British, when the population here dress up and re-enact the signing in the places that it originally took place. One such was near the coast here, in an estuary, which we witnessed.
The Navy came ashore followed by the chiefs in their canoe, and a ceremony took place which included the Haka, which is always impressive.

Later the document signing took place, firstly by the dignitaries, then everyone present had the opportunity to sign. We gave that a miss as foreigners!