Much of our journey from South Australia to Melbourne was along the Great Ocean Road. Billed as one of the greatest drives in the world, the coastal road meanders along some of the most spectacular coastal scenery we have seen anywhere. However, late winter is probably not the ideal time to do this trip. We had some sunshine but southern Australia can be a miserable part of the world when the wind and rain pelt in from the Southern Ocean.
Melbourne is the brunt of jokes about the weather and its supposed unpredictability. We challenge that notion. This time of the year it is highly predictable! Lousy!
The upside of visiting Melbourne in the winter/early spring is the European ‘feel’ that the city has. Bare, deciduous trees, blustery cold winds, people dressed in heavy black coats, the mix of languages that fill the air and almost constant grey skies give the city a real cosmopolitan feel - especially for us winter visitors to the Northern Hemisphere. Once, Melbourne’s international character was attributed to the large number of people of Greek origin who have made the city home since the Second World War. It still claims the largest Greek population outside Athens. While this may well still be true, the Greek population has become so much a part of the city that it is not as obvious as it once was. Greek can still be heard from time to time, but now it is Hindi and Chinese that predominate.
Melbourne’s claim to be Australia’s cultural capital is fairly secure. Perhaps the most striking example of the cultural status of the city is the National Gallery of Victoria. While the title is somewhat presumptuous, the collections of Australian and International Art are both world class. Truly iconic works like Brack’s ‘Collins Street 5PM’ and McCubbin’s ‘Pioneers’ make a visit to the Australian Collection in Federation Square a Melbourne must-do.
7 September - Outside Maldon, Vic
Rain, rain and more rain! Over the past few days, Victoria has been awash. Much of the North East of the state is experiencing the worst floods for almost two decades. So where might we be? Of course, heading north, towards Wangaratta, the epicentre of the flood zone. Despite all the doom and gloom broadcast by the media, we have seen very little water and confronted no road closures as we wander through the Goldfield towns around Ballarat.
Gold ‘made’ Victoria in the mid 19th century in much the same way as the minerals booms have ‘made’ Australia in the early 21st century. These were far more exciting times though. Miners thronged to what was then virgin bush, setting up camps and shanty towns that boasted populations in the tens of thousands. As the wealth started to flow from the mines, camps became substantial towns and cities. Ballarat is a prime example. Today, its grand 19th century buildings are a lasting testament to those heady days.
Sadly, many of the larger towns have lost much of their architecture, or it has been transformed beyond recognition. Some smaller towns like Maldon, 20 kms from Castlemaine have survived in a time warp attributable to the struggle for survival of towns in Australia’s rural areas. Lack of funds and population decline have meant that virtually the whole main street of Maldon is as it was at the turn of the last century. Some preservation and conservation has occurred but most buildings have not been altered or modernised in any way. Most importantly, the town fathers seem to have banned the use of street signs and hoardings that are out of character. Nothing is worse than seeing a magnificent old 1888 Bank building sporting a KFC sign and a roof painted in corporate red and white!
Castlemaine has made some effort to retain its goldfields character, but it all gets a bit lost behind modern shopfronts. On the positive side, Castlemaine
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