To The Central Highlands We Go

Bench outside of
Alexandra House

With the dawning of another day our stay in Lorne had ended and we were off to the Central Highlands area of Victoria to the town of Ballarat.  It was a pleasant drive from Lorne to Ballarat taking just a little over two hours.  Natalie had found us a darling bed & breakfast to stay at for the next two days but we were a tad early to check in at the Alexandra House so we drove around Ballarat sight seeing.

We found ourselves driving around Lake Wendouree which is a man made lake in the middle of the town.  It was quite interesting to see a backhoe sitting out in the middle and found out later from Gerard and Bev (the owners of Alexandra House) they were dredging out rowing paths in the lake. The lake was refilling after prolonged droughts had caused it to dry up in 2006/07.  Lake Wendouree had never been dry before and actually had been the site for rowing events in the 1956 Olympic Games. 

Ballarat Botanical Gardens

About the first thing I noticed on Lake Wendouree was the black swans.  Natalie, on the other hand, noticed we were going by the Ballarat Botanical Gardens and stopped by one of the entrances for me to go and take flower pictures.  What the....??  That took me off guard cause she liked to give me a hard time about me forever taking pictures of flowers.  First I said no...then realizing that I was giving up a photo op, I headed into gardens.

Natalie eventually joined me walking through the gardens and it was a pleasant time.  Unlike Sydney or Melbourne's gardens there definitely wasn't an overwhelming amount of people there and though we were unable to get into the pavillion as they were setting up for their annual Ballarat Begonia Festival just walking the grounds provided me with photo ops. 

After wandering around the gardens it was time to go check in at Alexandra House.  So...off we headed to find Alexandra House...and of course Natalie's 'builtin GPS' was working and we were soon settled into our two bedroom unit.  I used to think I was good with directions, maps, etc. but I definitely met my match and then some with Natalie.  Sometimes I wondered if she felt like she was 'Driving Ms. Daisy' around?!  Bless her heart!!

Tomorrow we would be stepping back in time to the 1850s and the gold rush era of Victoria at Sovereign Hills.

Until then...wherever you are have a great day!!

If you would like to see more pictures of The Ballarat Botanical Gardens here is a link to that photo album on Picasa:  Play slideshow