Day 85
Thursday
23 March 2017
Ballarat
Our last day in Ballarat and it was still cold and wet. Paul
was happy to get out and under way, while I stayed under the covers a while longer.
Once out, we both went about the general bits, in no hurry to be anywhere or do
anything. I continued loading on the photos, finally catching up.
We went for a walk through the wetlands next to the park. We
were hoping for a longer walk, but were happy to get out for the short stroll.
Back at the van, we busied ourselves. Our package from Nigel from We Love Craft
Beer Australia arrived. Phew. We were starting to have visions of it following
us around the country.
Damon rang, so Paul had a good chat with him, catching up on
everything happening back home.
Paul donned the new tshirts that came in the pack and we were
off beer reviewing. Our first stop was Cubby Haus, a one-man show, who is self
taught. It was great to see his set up and listen to what he has going on, as
he guided Paul through the beer tasting and then showed up around his set up.
Our next port of call was Rebellion Brewing, who make O’Briens.
This is a gluten free product, so Paul was keen to try them out. He was lucky
enough to be given 8 stubbies to take away, after we were given the tour of the
premises.
With the breweries out of the way, we returned to the van
for lunch, rang ahead to Geelong Caravan Park and booked in for the next four
nights and then gathered our things and went to check out M.A.D.E – Museum of
Australian Democracy Eureka.
The museum was very interesting, housing the original Eureka
Flag from the stockade. I was surprised at how large the flag was. 40% of it is
missing though, but it has been meticulously pieced back together as best they
can.
We continued to wander the various exhibits about the
stockade and also the Chinese miners, which was also very interesting. We
stayed for a couple of hours working our way through the interactive exhibits
and learning a bit more about our Australian History.
Following the museum tour, we drove into Ballarat and
wandered the streets for the final time. We drove on to the Mallow Hotel, which
Paul had been told about. They had a few craft beers on tap, so he was able to
try out another new one. We then returned to the Hop Garden to try another new
beer and to hear word from one of my ex-colleagues, Clete who we were keen to
catch up with. Paul spoke to Scotty back home, wishing him well with his
barracking of Carlton in the footy tonight.
In the end, we ate at Zambrero and then met Clete and his
gorgeous almost 3 year old, at his home in East Ballarat. We had a great time catching
up on life and hearing how he is getting on as a deputy at Canadian Lead PS and
being a full time single dad. The two hours we were there flew by. I was so
glad we were able to make it happen. It would have been a shame to have been in
Ballarat and to have missed each other.
Knowing he had to attend to his little one, who had fallen
asleep on Clete and was obviously super tired and now well out of routine, we
said goodbye, wished him well for the future and then returned home to our van.
I got busy with the computer stuff and checking the footy
score. Not happy Jan, Richmond were going to roll Carlton in the opening round
of the season at the MCG.
Paul read before heading to bed and I followed not after a
long sms conversation with Sue back home.
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