Brrrr! We woke to an 8 degree temperature this morning – it was very hard to get out of bed. Finally, we dragged ourselves out from under the doona, grabbed a quick brekkie and joined Kev & Maz for a walk through Ballarat. We threw the bikes on the back of the cars as we planned for a later ride, and found our way to Lydiard St where we had heard some of the older historic buildings are.
Wandering around the streets for about an hour, we enjoyed some of the sites, called into the Tourist Info Centre to get the ‘good oil’ on where we could go. Devastatingly, we heard that the botanical gardens were closed, just for this week, to get ready for the Begonia Festival. Could our timing have been worse? We really wanted to go there for the flowers, but also because they have a statue of every Prime Minister of Australia which would have been good to see. Oh well….
We decided to head out to Lake Wendouree, only a short drive from the CBD. There we found a lovely café where we coffeed up, okay, also scone, jam and cream for me and Gaz. Did I mention that it was still freezing? By this time the temperature had risen to about 13 degrees but it was very windy so with the wind chill factor…
Kev, Maz & I rode around the lake (about 6km) while Gaz took a short stroll and then sat and thought about nothing (that’s what he told me!) while he sheltered from the wind. It was a tough ride on a gravel path in some strong winds but was enjoyable none the less. Maz and I lost Kev at some point and went on to gaze longingly over the fence of the botanic gardens which was across the road from the lake.
We also found the Adam Lindsay Gordon cottage and the Australian Ex-prisoner of War Memorial which were both very interesting. I loved the concept of the memorial and I read more about the Australian poet, Adam Lindsay Gordon, when I got back to the cabin later – I love google!
We picked up the boys, and Gaz and I went off in search of new shoes for him, which we found at a very large Rebel Sports store. It was then back to the cabin where I put together some sandwiches and we watched the Oscars for a little while. Marion and I then went off for another bike ride on a local track that shadows a creek. It wasn’t very picturesque and was still pretty cold, so we were back within an hour.
A quiet afternoon was just what we needed. Gaz had a nap and then it was time for Kev and Maz to come over with their beautifully prepared pasta dish. It was awesome … I love pasta! We chatted about our plans for tomorrow – it’s a ‘moving’ day as we move on to the Mornington Peninsula - Gaz almost died when we proposed to leave at 8am and he looked relieved when that was amended to 8:30am … but that’s early enough. Better have an early night. It’s still pretty cold so bed’s looking good!
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