The Road to Robe episode 1

Most of the day was a slog down the Hume Freeway.  Very very boring.

As we neared our stopping point (Bendigo) we were on a more rural road and it seemed a good bit better.  We drove through Bendigo, to my selected caravan park at Maiden Gully, and it seemed quite pleasant.  So we dropped the camper off and went back for a look at the city centre.

Our first stop was a Cathedral we noticed on the way through.  It was open for viewing so we suspected it was Catholic.  As it was the Sacred Heart Cathedral our suspicion was correct!

A very impressive nave!

Out in the garden was a statue of St Mary of the Cross McKillop.  The sculptor has put a golden crucifix inside the statue, together with a set of rosary beads (that may have belonged to the Saint).

I don't know how well this will come out, but the Saint founded her first school in this parish and the sculptor has built in a photo of the entire school.  A magnificent idea.

There has been a big move towards community banks ion Australia, based on the Bendigo Bank model.  The original is doing well, judging by the size of their building in the town.

This pub had a very good trad jazz band happening on the first floor deck!

There was also some less good blues happening somewhere nearby, but we ignored that as much as their amplifiers permitted.

We wandered by the dragon museum , noting some not too flash oriental art nearby.

Given the importance of Chinese folk to the history of Bendigo it is even more disappointing the some neo-fascist types have chosen the town for recent protests.

The dragon museum is close to the Botanic Gardens which include a fernery.  This isn't the usual glasshouse but a large garden of ferns and palms.  It is dedicated to "All mothers" which was  a little surprising, as was the date of the dedication in 1953!

I think these flowers were on a palm rather than a fern, but hey, they aren't dicots!

We then came across the Anglican Cathedral.  As is typical of that sect in Australia the place was locked up tighter than a ducks botttie underwater.

Why are the Protestants so much less friendly than the Catholics?

Outside they had many homilies about being nice to migrants and gays and this rather odd statue to James Cook who is depicted with a life jacket (dare one say a Mae West?).  Its something to do with with the migrant stuff.

 

At the campground Blue-faced Honeyeaters were very evident.

While camp managers often get a serve from the lefties (ie the Greens) our view is that they are generally very good, but some of the residents are a real worry.  There are a bunch of fat female noisy smokers at this place that fit that description!  However when asked to hold it down, they apologised and complied.

Bird of the Day: Blue-faced Honeyeater.  Contenders were Musk Lorikeet and Long-billed Corella
Plant of the day:  Craspedia beside the roads.  Blue thing above was a contender.
Creek name of the day Crabhole Creek
Oddity of the day:  Guys walking off from a rest area with all their kit in a pusher!
Striking thing of the day:  Fernery in Bendigo
Pie rating:  Holbrook Bakery, steak and pepper:  excellent.  Nice crust, lotsa meat, little gravy and very tasty.