8 October 2024 - Maryborough to Geelong

Up betimes (but a little late - it got down to -1 Celsius in Maryborough overnight more than amply vindicating the Prop's decision to book into a motel for our last night in Victoria).

Made a somewhat half-hearted attempt to locate the elusive Richmond Street but it has apparently disappeared!

Plan B was to attempt to locate the former business premises of Mrs P's maternal grandfather, Percy Hooker who was a cobbler by trade and also ran a bootstore - or, in the modern vernacular- was a footwear retailer R3.

We searched the main street of Maryborough but found no clue - but did find a few interesting buildings.

 The curiously named "Bull & Mouth Hotel

.        The Maryborough Post Office 

100 years later it is perhaps difficult to fully appreciate the importance that was attached to a reliable postal service in the days before telegrams, then faxes, then e-mails.

The Maryborough Courthouse...

...and, perhaps inevitably, the nearby "Supreme Court Hotel"

.               The Flagstaff Hotel

Herring & McMillan - the "scales" of justice are evenly balanced in Maryborough

Mandeville's Coffee Palace and the Paramount Theatre - just the ticket for a big night out

Elias Crameri & Sons, Produce Merchants

                        (i.e., Providores)

.         Maryborough Railway Station

The Victorian Railway Institute Croquet Club - surviving but not thriving?

Having left Maryborough aat about 11.30 am we arrived in Geelong at about 1.00pm and made for the bathing pavilion at Corio Bay - not to swim but to admire the view and waste a couple of hours before we were due to queue up to board the Spirit of Tasmania 2, for Devonport.

.               Corio Bay, Geelong

                           Ship ahoy!

7 October 2024 - Bendigo to Maryborough (via the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion)

Up betimes at the Big 4 Tasman Holiday Park to take a ride on the Bendigo "Vintage Talking Tram Tour". 

The Tadpole at the Tasman - rarin' to go!

Unlike Melbourne, Bendigo ended the commercial use of trams in 1972. However, a group of local tramway enthusiasts has managed to persuade the City Council to allow a "hop on hop off" service for tourists to continue operating for the past 50 years or so.

.       The Bendigo Tramway Museum

Bendigo Tramyard complete with 600 volt overhead wires.

The "business end" of the Talking Tram

The Prop was informed by the Talking Tram of the curious origin of the name Bendigo. 

Gold had been found in a creek which became known as 'Bendigo Creek'.

The creek had been named "Bendigo Creek" after a local shepherd and employee of the Mount Alexander North run (farm) nicknamed for the English bare-knuckle prizefighter William Abednego "Bendigo" Thompson!

The Bendigo Tram Café - used to be a working tram, now providoring!

During the course of the Talking Tram Tour the Prop spotted yet another interestingly named legal office.

'HQ LAW' -Or are they 'HQBW LAW'- or are they Brewers and Electricians? 

Not far out of Bendigo (or, possibly, more correctly, 'Abednego') stands "The Great Stupa of Universal Compassion". 

The Great Stupa is intended to be an exact replica  of the 600 year old Great Stupa of Gyantse located in Tibet and, like the original, has its origins in the beliefs associated with Tibetan Buddhism. It was blessed by the Dalai Lama in 2007 and is not expected to be completed for at least another 83 years.

"Why Bendigo?" one might well ask. 

One possible explanation may be that a local family decided to donate about 200 acres of land for the project.

For more information see:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Stupa_of_Universal_Compassion

During our tour of the Great Stupa the Prop was mystified by the sign which appears below.

At first the Prop was mystified by the words "Condensed Benefits of Stainless Pinnacle Lotus Mantra". 

On further consideration, the Prop thought that it may be that the words which appear immediately above those just mentioned constitute a "mantra" called the "Stainless Pinnacle Lotus Mantra" and the purpose of the sign is to concisely explain the benefits to those who recite the mantra?

Alternative explanations welcome.

Thereafter we returned to Maryborough in the hope of locating the elusive Wellington Street (see 25 September 2024). 

Stay tuned.

6 October 2024 - Shepparton to Bendigo

Up an hour before betimes because 'daylight savings' started at 2.00 am so we had to check out an hour earlier. In fact, we checked out at 8.30 - 90 minutes before we had to so we could have slept in after all.

We set off from Shep in search of somewhere to have a light breakfast but it soon became apparent that the "Providore Scene" has not yet reached Shep so we headed towards Bendigo hoping to find a Milk Bar. (International readers may find this link helpful:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_bar)

 As luck would have it, as we approached the town of Stanhope we saw a sign which proclaimed that on this very day the town was hosting its third annual "Food &Wine Festival".  So, with spirits lifted, we parked the Tadpole and approached the town centre.

(See:https://www.stanhopevic.org.au/projects)

Unfortunately for us, we had arrived at Stanhope at 10.00 am but the advertised Food & Wine extravaganza was not due to commence until 11.00 am!

We got to Stanhope an hour too early!

"Fresh Fruit & Vegetables' - neither a providore nor a Milk Bar but a costermonger?

After paying a gold coin donation in order gain entry to the local bakery so we could get some breakfast, we headed to Bendigo but not before stopping to "appreciate" the "Montevideo Maru Tragedy of 1942 

See:https://www.naa.gov.au/help-your-research/fact-sheets/sinking-montevideo-

Bendigo has a population of 103,818 making it Australia's 19th-largest city by population. Bendigo is the fourth-largest inland city in Australia and the fourth-most populous city in Victoria. But these facts obscure the rich history of this city which was founded on the "gold rush" of the 1850's - which it's architecture more than adequately demonstrates.

          A very thin hotel with "Pokies"

The Alexandra Fountain, Charing Cross, Bendigo

           Statue of Queen Victoria

       The impressive Hotel Shamrock

At a firm called "Ultra Aesthetics" one may (for a price) obtain each of the listed services.

A "traditional" Milk Bar and Providore

When the Prop commenced legal practice in the late 1970's the names of nearly all legal firms consisted of the names of the partners. For example. the firm by which the Prop was first employed was known as "Page, Seager, Bethune, Thompson & Gray"

Latterly, things have changed, as illustrated by the signs in the Bendigo CBD. 

Like Melbourne, Bendigo still has an operating tramway system.

Having explored the centre of Bendigo we repaired to the curiously but aptly named 'Tasman Caravan Park' for another night in the Tadpole - but not before a quick trip to the Bendigo Botanical Gardens'.

A most unusual sight - a beehive in a eucalyptus tree.