Good Morning! I woke up at 5.30am today so that I can have enough time to take a bath before my cousin sister prepared herself for work. Get ready at 6.30am and she kindly drove us to the Extragreen tour comapny to wait for the coach. Kinda early and I really tired. So, I took a nap on the way to Box hill and city. When we reached city, we changed to another coach to Sovereign Hill.
Ballarat was the place where the gold was discovered in 1851. There were lots of people rushed to this place to search for the gold. It was a fabulous goldrush decade. And Sovereign Hill's exhibits and interpreters will reveal the diversity of the heritage collections and stories of the goldrush days.
It was about one and a half hour journey traveled from Melbourne city to Sovereign Hill. We visited the Gold Museums first. There were different kinds of gold found in different places in Ballarat. The quality of gold found in different places are all different. The process of how to dig and pan the gold being displayed in the museum too.
Then, our tour guide Mr Alan brought us to Sovereign Hill (疏芬山). When you entered the village, it seemed like you had entered the time tunnel that brought you to the 19th century. There are historically recreated buildings along the main street and there are many costumed staff walking at the street.
The gold pour performance.
This show showed you how the gold in liquid state turned into gold bar. It can reach 500 degree celsius and slowly get cold in the water.
And turned into a 3kg gold bar valued $150,000!!!
Dunno what is this machine. XD
We walked around the village before the time to take the train to the underground.
This is the main street.
There are coaches passby quite often. When the coaches passed by, it became very dirty as the sand 'fly' all over and it was very smelly. I could smell the horse before it appeared. Well, I didnt take the coach rides.
There were a lot of gentleman and lady who wore in 19th century walking here and there in the village. So, I kept taking photo with them. They wore like the England drama Downton Abbey.
It was time to take the small train to start my Gold Mine Tour! It was about 2 mins train journey to go deep into the underground to experience how the miner dig for the gold in the old days. It was very very dark in the underground even with the small kerosene lamps. I couldnt imagine how tough the miners' life would be last time.
The miners' rest room. The miners had to stay underground for hours or days *couldnt remember* to search for the gold. They could only rest for a while. The most horrifying incident was the stone collapsed and if they couldnt find a way out, they will get buried and died. Though this is an extremely tough job, still a lot of people from all over the world came to Ballarat to try their luck and hoping that they could be rich. The enchantment of gold...... :)
This is how the gold 'grow'
There was a short video played through the reflection on the rock. It was a sad story about Chen brothers who came here from China to try to hunt for the gold. The eldest brother discovered the gold but unfortunately he was unable to dig it out as the stone suddenly collapsed. He didnt die but he never have the chance to get the gold again. Everything is fated include the wealth. :(
The small box train.
We strolled around the village and discovered what was inside every small cottages in the village.
The school in 19th century.
All the students here are real students. They were having their 3 days 2 nights learning camp here. They dressed in 19th century and experienced how people led their life during the old days. I personally think that this is a meaningful activity for the students as they can learn by themselves, but not only through the text book. We Malaysian learn our sejarah by memorizing and memorizing, but we never have the chance to experience how Tunku fight for independence, thats why history always being disliked.
The bedroom in one of the cottage.
The fire place in the kitchen.
Another group of students. They dressed in 19th century and acted like the young lady and learnt sewing.
The pretty girl and her art piece.
The church filled with students' laughter.
Costumed lady in the house.
There was one coach manufacture factory. Several olden times couches being displayed.
The performance of Redcoat Soldiers was one of the highlight in Sovereign Hill. There was one commander gave his command and the rest of the soldiers marched and shot.
How could we miss the chance of panning our own gold at the Red Hill Gully Creek? There were so many visitors pan for gold at the river.
With the man who taught us how to do panning. He demonstrated for us and taught us patiently.
Pan for gold.
First of all you need to use the dig out a lot of sand and rocks from the river. Slowly you wash it and get rid of the big rocks and impurities. Slowly it left the sand and you try to find whether any shining piece on the basin. My aunt successfully get a very little tiny piece of gold here. So we spent $1 to buy a small bottle to keep it.
With the costumed China lady.
With the costumed lady. Gorgeous dress isnt it? I always like the dress like this.
The teacher and kids.
With the police and butcher?
It was about 3pm and our time to left this lovely village. It was a nice memory here to experience how people pan for gold and have a look on the life of people during the 19th century. Get the gold or not, it is all fated. The goldrush day was really amazing and hustle bustle, I think.
The next destination was the St. Anne Wine Yard. We went there to taste the wine. I was in dilemma, drink it or not. At last I decided to try the wine. Haha XD
Grape farm. New knowledge learnt: Red wine or white wine are all made by green grape. The type of wine differs because of the skin of the grape being added or not.
With the wine altar. So bright this photo.
37 types of wine. I drank 6 glasses 6 types of wine.
I love number 3 and number 37 the most. Miss it now!! *Craving for wine*
End of my Gold Trail day. :)
TO BE CONTINUED......
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