Top 5: Things I Love About Being Home

The end of the week just gone marks 2 years since I packed up my little rental cottage in Ballarat, stuffed all of my belongings into a spare room at Mum's, and set out to roam free! I quit my "real" job, sold my car...and haven't looked back! I am loving this total freedom!

But being this free, and homeless, I do appreciate the comforts of home - being Mum's place - when I am back for a rest from my travels, from my current FIFO work, or from the buzz of city living and trying to find a place to sleep from one housesitting gig to the next.

1. I joke about coming home to provide "Mum Maintenance", meaning spending time with Mum to work on the bank of favours I frequently call on her for. But really, being away so often has made me appreciate just hanging with Mum, the banter, the silliness, the mutual support. It's so comforting to spend time with someone who has known me all my life, and with someone who has to love me unconditionally - regardless of my broke, or over-tired, or scattered, or irrational states!
2. I love being looked after for a little bit of time - having my meals thought out and prepared for me, having food in the cupboards all the time (it's always stocked as if there will never be another chance to go grocery shopping!), having access to a washing machine and someone who may remember to bring in the washing if it was about to rain, and just having a space to hang out, care free. Even though I am meant to be a grown up by now, I really long for some respite from looking after myself on occasion!
3. Being in my hometown for a few days also means that I know where everything is! I can visit old haunts and favourite places, such a sense of the familiar. It's comforting....for a little while!
4. A chance to walk around the lake, and take in life at home. I also love checking out the chances around the main streets - there is always a new store or cafe, a shop closed down, or something moved or changed to be something bigger or very different.
5. It doesn't take long for friends to notice I am home, from social media posts, and then invites for catch-ups come through - so lovely to have lunches, or brunches, or coffee and drinks with long time friends, that I don't get to see all the time, but in these rare times I am home. It's always like I have never left, and we pick up where we left off. Such special connections.

After a few days of rest, and being taken care of, I am now heading down to Melbourne to stay in an AirBnB apartment, in a new neighbourhood to me, to hang out and catch up with friends. A prefect respite plan!

This post has been written as part of the ProBlogger forum community challenge.

Project 52: Tuesday Lunchtime

In the final days before departure for my job in Nauru, I managed to catch up with a few people, including having lunch with Dad to tell him about my next crazy adventure. We met up at Racers along Lake Wendouree.

This post is part of Project 52 with Jess from FuShMuSh.

Project 52: Tuesday Morning

Preparing for my new job, and finishing off my short term contract with my old one, I returned back to Ballarat and the old office to complete my final work days - plus I needed to stay at Mum's due to my homelessness! On my way into the office, I spotted the massive cluster of Christmas baubles in front of the Town Hall - pretty impressive!

This post is part of Project 52 with Jess from FuShMuSh.

Sarah Blasko’s I Awake

At the start of the month I got to see Sarah Blasko on stage once more, to perform most of her new album. I so love seeing a new collection of tracks come to life, as their singer-songwriter intended, and Ms Blasko puts on the most mesmorising of shows, always.

Grabbing the train after work, Andrea met me at Ballarat Station, and we went off to The Forge for an amazing dinner. A catch up among the rustic setting, with such delicious pizza choices. The old antique shop in Armstrong Street never looked and smelt so good!

Taking our seats in the fourth row of the Wendouree Performing Arts Centre, we were soon treated to lights down on the impressive theatre and Fletcher on stage. Rare for the support to have a darkend room for his set, he took to his acoustic rock-folk story-telling songs, and captured the seated audience.

Then Sarah took the stage, with Fletcher back out on guitar, and the rest of her travelling band. She wore all black as she float about on stage in her characteristic performance movement delivery. In the middle section of the set, she donned long black gloves with sparkles, to add to the effect, and it was hard to draw your eyes away from the movement and glitter!

Opening with All I Want, Ms Blasko treated us to a handful of older tracks like We Won't Run, before introducing her new album material. Hold On My Heart continues to be my favourite song of hers, from my favourite album of hers, As Day Follows Night, and so lovely to hear live once more.

I Awake has come to life for me after hearing it live this night, being the title track of the new album. Cast The Net stayed with me for days after seeing it performed on stage. Sarah was chatty and engaging between songs, so cute. She finished a rousing God-Fearing, and explained that it was about bullying, which made her angry.

I was at a gig where Sarah declared that she wouldn't play the Cold Chisel cover of Flame Trees anymore, and then changed her mind, and so I was delighted to hear her doing it again - particularly sentimental having returned to my own hometown for the night.

I was pretty surprised when Andrea said that she hadn't seen her live before, as we both walked out of the theatre at the end of the show in awe of our incredible night. Ms Blasko, it was a treat as always!

Mother's Day Classic 2013

A little group of us joined thousands of other Ballaratians this morning, and walked or ran the lake as part of the Mother's Day Classic.

My 4th year of doing this event, which is in it's 5th year in Ballarat, Katie and Kym signed up to run the 12kms event, with Renee and her Mum, and Michelle and I doing the walk - just the one lap of 6kms!

With the words resonating to this crowd that 40 women every day in Australia receive the diagnosis of breast cancer, the importance of what the fundraising event all hit home. There was a minute silence completed, to remember those we know and have lost to this unforgiving disease, before it was time to hit the track.

Another sea of pink circled the lake for the next hour, as runners and walked in different pink dress, made their way around, battling the wind off the water at many turns.

At the Olympic Rings, a school band played grunge tunes to the passing participants, and a more classical school outfit played tunes out the front of one of the rowing sheds at the halfway point.

Enjoying out Vitamin D fix when the sun broke through, and having a good chat all the way around, this was such a great morning, and an awesome and important community event to be part of.

We finished our lap, and found our impressive runners to be only a handful of minutes behind us in their completion of the two laps.

Another great event put together by the tireless volunteers in Ballarat.

Happy Mother's Day, to my Mum, and to all the mums I know!

Project 52: Sunday Morning

On Easter Sunday I was home in Ballarat! After flying home from India and arriving in Melbourne on the night of Good Friday, I got to enjoy some time at home with Mum and Katie, and - the best bit about Easter - have hot cross buns for breakfast everyday! Yum!

Ohhhh, just love those Evie-girl curls!

This post is part of Project 52 with Jess from FuShMuSh.

Giving The Magic Of Harry Potter

This week just gone Cooper and Charli turned six. So hard to believe  when we think back to those baby photos! 6!

They also started school a couple of weeks ago, into Prep. School uniforms, and school lunches, and the big wide world at their feet.

For Xmas I bought them the first two volumes of Harry Potter, with the idea of introducing them to the world of magic, sticking up for your friends, and trying to do the right things. I love these books for those lessons, and so much more.

I had left them the next 2 installments for this birthday, although surely they won't need them for a bit longer yet. Dean was assigned reader, so I will see how they are going when I get back!

Happy Birthday, C and C! I hope school is wonderful!

Beautiful Lengths: The Gift of Self Image

I just got all my hair cut off!

I have had the majority of the length chopped off, and am sending it to the Beautiful Lengths program, to be made into a wig for a women with cancer who has lost her hair.

I can't imagine the impact of losing your hair, through cancer treatment, stress, genetic conditions, or any of the other host of reasons it may happen.

The truth is that as a very low maintenance kind of girl, I don't do anything with mine. I usually tie it back, cos it annoys me. Which seem blasphemous to me when there are women out there struggling with the experience of losing her hair, her self image, her self confidence.

Of course, being so low maintenance and uncreative, my hair is uncoloured, and untreated with chemicals and heat treatments, the length cut off is a good candidate for this donation. Plus, the strawberry blonde has it's own unique natural highlights.

To donate, your hair length (cut off portion) needs to be at least 20cm, completely dry, and chopped off in a ponytail. I now send off my donation to the address on the website, and they will make a wig from it for a woman looking to retain her self image as she fights off cancer.

The ladies in Clever Cuts in Ballarat humoured me with the task, and took photos for me for this post.

I have been thinking of doing this for some time, and have been very worried about chickening out! But today was the day, ready for my travels, with light and ready-to-go hair with no fuss.

I am dedicating my donation to the memory of Jules, who lost her battle with cancer in November.

The Arch and the Pavilion

The sights of Ballarat are just everyday views for me, having grown up here.  But coming back after some travel, my eye is more appreciative of many of the pretty things my home town has to offer.

Of course, I have been home for a couple of days while I float between Ballarat and Melbourne, housesitting and staying back at Mum's, working on university essays and then attending classes back in Melbourne.

These two photos were taken (on different days), on walks from home to Lake Wendouree.

The Arch of Victory was stunning as the sun was setting behind it, catching the light.  This was the very arch that we found was mentioned in a visual display at the more famous, international Arc de Triomphe.

The colours of the Botanical Gardens caught my eye on a lap around the lake.  So pretty, and vibrant! If this was anywhere else in the world, I may have been wowed by this kind of display - although I am not always taken by gardens in a big way.  Still, the blooms and Statuary Pavilion are pretty impressive at this time of year.

I guess it takes time away to fully appreciate home! Although just for a visit, now and then!

Macaron Making Madness

My sisters have been baking a batch of blue-coloured macarons this weekend, whilst I have been toiling away at an essay.  Being at Mum's, we are in the same room with our very different endeavours, and I have been able to eavesdrop on the steps.

Jessie and Katie have done this before, for a friend's wedding.  These macarons were the bomboniere - chocolate, hazelnut and raspberry white chocolate.  So brown, cream and pink were the end product, displayed in a cute clear box for the guests to take home.  So pretty, and everyone was massively impressed.

This time, they are doing it all again for another friend's wedding.  This weekend, they were testing the oven at home in Ballarat, and also the blue dye and the use of stewed blueberries within the middle of the macaron. All preparation for the main bake in a couple of weeks time.

It's quite the production!

As I have been reading up on logic models, the girls were talking about "fold this in" and "work it and pipe it".

While I have been looking at the difference between normative need and perceived need, they were saying things like "then we get to lick the bowl!" and then "the nips I am not too concerned about" once the shells were poured and they were fussing about the tips.

The end product, as they envisaged, has a blueberry nestled in the centre of the butter-cream filling, meaning that you get a little surprise when you bite into the crispy shell and through the meringue.

Although after this batch, the girls had been brainstorming other ideas, and then whipped up a bowl of mascarpone filling to achieve of more lighter, white goo to surround the surprise blueberry.  It's all trial and error, they tell me!

We now have a ton of macarons in the fridge, and a container has been boxed for the bride-to-be to sample, and another has gone out to my aunties when the girls went out for afternoon tea.  There have also been many little morsels consumed, all in the name of research for the project, of course!

My sugar-fuelled essay is well on it's way, as I curse my lack of attention in lectures and weekly readings, all with the knowledge that there are plenty of macaron treats for a study break around.

I think that they could be doing this as a little business, because the end product at the table of a wedding as the little take-home, is so cute and delicious - a lovely addition to a special day.

The girls have certainly spoiled my view of many other macarons, given how good these and the past batches have been.  Considering I only tasted macarons for the first time in February, hearing the planning, and taste testing for the girls has made me critical of the many average ones out there!

Deep Heat in Ballarat

Alexander Gow arrived on stage with gold jacket on to deliver the most edgy set I have even seen of Oh Mercy.  This album has a different feel, and he seemed more relaxed and experimental on stage at Karova Lounge in Ballarat on the weekend.

Opening with the title track Deep Heat, at the end the song AG finished by turning his back to us, to show the words DEEP HEAT embroidered on the back! Ha!  Much more showy that I have ever seen him!

The show included big tracks from this third album, like My Man and Europa, before they started to mingle their back catalogue into the mix, albeit reworked to blend in with their new sound.

This included Keith Street, old favourite Broken Ears, and Stay Please Stay.

Drums was the liveliest of their new material among the crowd and on stage, with both support acts for the night, being Split Seconds and Millions, joining the band up on stage for it.

Stating that they would continue on and complete their encore without going off and coming back on again, AG and the band finished the night with State Trooper cover of Bruce Springsteen.

Child's Play at Sovereign Hill

One of the great things about visiting Sovereign Hill, Ballarat, in the middle of the week, is the presence of school groups all kitted out in their 1850s wear, and wandering Main Street to classes. Usually walking in their full group, the capes and long petticoats of the girls outfits are striking, and endearing.

The boys in their hats and cute half length pants. And then the teachers in their full dress outfits, and very stern demeanor.

The day I visited last month there were at least two groups on site, one a girls school and another a primary school aged class, whom I come across at a recess break out playing in the front yard of the one room school on the hill.

I am sure every kid who grew up in Ballarat has a memory of their few days learning about the life of the gold rush and the goldfields at Sovereign Hill, in addition to writing with ink and a quill, and playing with the old style toys and games. I remember our class being ordered by height to figure out the class levels within the single room classroom, as it would have ranged back in the day, and of course, being a shortie I was in a lower grade. One of the few advantages of being short when we were growing up, the tall kids had much stricter rules and handwriting expectations put on them, and ended up being part of the play-act of corporal punishment all too many times.

There are 4 schools on site, including the Ragged School for orphans, with the most iconic being the Red Hill National School. The other two being denominational schools, one of which was the beginnings of a current Catholic Ballarat primary school.

Everyday there is access to at least one school on site for visitors, where you can try your hand at the formal copperplate handwriting with ink and the old style proverbs! Another of my favourite activities was the old style bowling alley, which was still very much in action last month!

This is a post in a series to show off Ballarat's premier tourist attraction, for which I was provided a pass to enter Sovereign Hill for the day. The thoughts in this post, however, are entirely my own.

Beware The Red Coats!

A visit to Sovereign Hill would be remiss without gaining an understanding of the physical hardship and struggle the quest to find their fortune was for the miners who descended on Ballarat and surrounding areas during the gold rush of the 1850s.

The battles between the authorities and the miners are an important part of Australia's history, and the birth of the Eureka rebellion and flag. The tension between the Red Coat Soldiers of the British Army served with the duty of upholding order and taxes on the minefields, and the rise of miner's rights to land and objection to the steep costs of miners licenses and taxes is the deeper undercurrent of a visit - with the Eureka Stockade site and Visitor's Centre not far away from Sovereign Hill which focuses on the ensuing battle.

At 1.30pm everyday at Sovereign Hill a parade of Red Coat Soldiers do their rounds of the streets, complete with their guns and stern faces. They are strong and loud, and boom out their authority, and I dare you not to feel a rush of fear from them! Even modern day, they ooze their power, one can only imagine what this force was like for a miner out of his depth, or too poor to pay the mining license for his site.

Visitors can take tours of both the Gold Mine and also the Red Hill Mine, to gain a real sense of the conditions underground for the miners working on these sites. These tours run at regular intervals, and are additional to the entry fee for the park on the day.

The other area that brings home the conditions for the miners is a walk through the tent section of Red Hill Road of the park - particularly if you score a cold Ballarat Winter's day!

These basic calico living quarters are so small, and thin, and hardly wind and frost proof! All the wares of the 1850s living are on display in each tent, letting you imagine what life was like while trying to seek your fortune on these lands. I am surprised anyone survived these conditions, let alone the wrath of the Red Coats!

This is a post in a series to show off Ballarat's premier tourist attraction, for which I was provided a pass to enter Sovereign Hill for the day. The thoughts in this post, however, are entirely my own.

Sovereign Hill: Stepping Back In Time

As soon as you walk out of the ticket entrance of Ballarat's Sovereign Hill your senses are met with the sights, smells and sounds of the 1850s - the clopping of the horses drawing the coach around, the smell in the air of the steam engines and the blacksmiths at work, glimpses of men and women in full costume, the unmistakable whiff of horse manure, the repetitive chinking of metal being made into something useful somewhere close by, all contributing to the bustle of Main Street.

For me it was a trip down memory lane with all the childhood and school visits completed over the years, and I was delighted with the sight of a school group making their way through the reconstructed street, in full 1850s capes, long and full skirts, and pantaloons. During weekdays of school terms there can be a number of groups dressed in costume attending classes around the park.

The familiar stores all along Main Street were also a treat to see again, and were frequented by the many tourists visiting on this day. Clarke Brothers Grocers is always a fascinating visit, with the kitchen and homewares of yesteryear. Seeing the printing press of the Ballarat Times, you can still have your name included on a quaint sign from here. The Apothecaries Hall, with the olde medicines and remedies lining the walls.

As you wander up the Main Street, past the New York Bakery and United States Hotel where you can sit for a meal, you also pass the Criterion Store for all your 1850s fashion and lace. The Victoria Theatre hosts shows at regular intervals, and is a gorgeous example of grand Victorian design and trimmings. I had lunch at the modern Cafe by the lake, which consisted of a sausage roll from Hope Bakery, which was as I'd remembered from my school days as the best I've ever had, and still is!

Charles Spencer's is where you find the full range of infamous boiled lollies, like the amazing raspberry drops and humbugs, but around on Normanby Street you can actually watch through the windows as these confectioneries being made with all the old fashioned techniques and detail at Brown's Confectionery. I scored a taste of the still warm results, which are bound to sway your purchase choices!

Aside from the shops and places to explore of the Main Street, the other significant half of Sovereign Hill are the goldfields, which is where all the wealth was found to fund the growing population that became the Ballarat we know today. Here you can pan for gold, claiming some of the $50,000 worth of gold put in the creek every year just for that feeling of luck and fortune-making from your efforts squatting at the waters edge. There are fossickers around to show you some tricks to panning, in costume of course, and you can keep your findings.

This section of the park also contains the tents of the miners who flocked to the region once gold was first found in the area in 1851. The simple set up of these camps makes you feel for these people, placing all their hopes in finding a nugget of gold from their back-breaking toils, whilst living in the freezing conditions of a cold Winter in Ballarat in these canvas tents. Brrrr!

Each tent is set up to tell a story of the conditions or the fails and fortunes of these miners. There is also a Chinese area, where Chinese miners were clumped together in their plots to try their luck away from, but really alongside, their English settler colleagues.

There is loads to see and do here on a visit, and the beauty of your day entry is that you can have your ticket validated as a passout and return the next day to make sure you don't miss any of the features or tours.

This the first post in a series to show off Ballarat's premier tourist attraction, for which I was provided a pass to enter Sovereign Hill for the day. The thoughts in this post, however, are entirely my own.

Heritage Weekend: Childhood Memories

Ballarat hosted it's Heritage Weekend this weekend again, in line with Mother's Day, with the theme being Childhood Memories. Keen to check out the displays after our Mother's Day brunch fest made by Katie, following our walk in the morning, the three of us ventured into town to have a little look.

On the Saturday I had a vantage point of the steam train making it's glorious trips, a couple each day of the weekend for excited riders, and then there was the sight of a horse-drawn tram clopping along the Wendouree Lake tracks. Plus it seemed that every vintage bus of Victoria was doing a run around town, which were pretty novel and cute! But the thing that caught my eye for the weekend, and managed to help convince Mum of the need for an outing to have a look, was the display of old childhood toys at the Mining Exchange.


The rooms, filled with people, were decked out with pedal cars and dolls from 1930s to the 1970s, including play sets and furniture and very early Barbie.

Outside there was a miniature and very cute carousel, and then a display of vintage and restored cars and caravans.

After our wander through all the displays Katie and I took Mum into the Sweet Decadence Cafe at the Art Gallery for scones, jam and cream and tea, to complete our afternoon.

The Heritage Weekend seems to be a staying feature on the Ballarat calender now, although I continue to be surprised at it's scheduling on Mother's Day weekend. I guess they are capturing people after their breakfast or brunch with Mum in town, or after a lunch gathering, although I do wonder if they would gather more people if it was a stand alone weekend. People certainly are home for this weekend, looking for additional things to do. The challenge now will be to come up with new and interesting themes and activities each year, for the same visitors.

Mother's Day Classic '12

This morning Katie, Mel and I braved the cold of the Ballarat morning to complete the Mother's Day Classic. A sea of pink, Ballarat people all trekked out to the Dowling Forest Racecourse for the run/walk, in a growing community event in it's fifth year here.

Following the warm up, and the minutes silence to remember those lost to breast cancer and to make the reason for the raising of funds and awareness of the day all the more heightened, the runners were set off on their way up the hill for their 7km course - Katie among them. Mel and I set off on the 4km walk, brisk to ward off the chilly wind, around the outer edge of the race track.

The sun did it's best to peek out, and the rain held off til we had finished and left for home, which was awesome! Walking on the horse trotting track, sand in places to add to the challenge, the morning walk was lovely.

Moved out here in a quest to have more space, I know it meant many people did not actually come out for the day, planning breakfasts in town for Mother's Day in the morning. A shame not to be walking around Ballarat's iconic lake, but the new venue certainty put on many of the trimmings with a BBQ, coffee cart, face painting, a jumping castle, and stalls. Another day of really great and important community feel, all for the very important cause of breast cancer research. Well done to everyone who completed the run/walk, and everyone who cheered us all on and put the day together!

Happy Mother's Day to every Mum. And ladies - check your breasts!

Long (Good) Friday

“Have you been to Barbados before?” the gorgeous Bajan Customs guy asks. “Yes” I manage to say while trying not to fall asleep standing up. “Welcome back” he drawls with a smile as he stamps my passport. My heart flutters!

I have collected two stamps in my passport today, given myself two DVT-preventing clexane injections, and taken three flights, lasting a mammoth 26 hours of transit. Mum drove me to the airport as the sun was coming up in Ballarat on the morning of Good Friday, and saw me off for my first flight from Melbourne to LA. I then transited to Miami, which was another good five hour flight, and one more down to the Caribbean island, and the location of the first cricket test.

Most of my flight was a massive movie marathon, until the disappointment of no personal entertainment screens on the American Airlines domestic flight. First I watched the last half of the season of Californication that was on offer – that show is such a guilty pleasure! Then I watched One For The Money, of the Stephanie Plum crime treat fiction. I really enjoyed this depiction of a book series I have really liked over the years, and happy with the castings – Ranger is totally hot, just like he is meant to be! But it is light, and funny, and Heigl is perfectly cast for mine. I hope they continue with some more of the series.

I then watched My Week With Marilyn, and despite disliking Michelle Williams with a passion, thought it was really good. This story of her visit to the UK to do a film, and her experiences with method-acting coaching, self esteem and mental health issues was so real, and portrayed so well. I also caught J. Edgar, with Leo starring as the founder of the FBI - interesting portrayal of a very extraordinary man. Next I viewed The Cup, the Australian movie about the 2002 Melbourne Cup win, and all that was going on for Aussies and the Oliver family that week. Such a great story, and one that makes you proud of our passionate, sporting nation!

I tuned in to bits and pieces of The Adventures Of Tin Tin on the domestic flight, and got the gist of it, although it didn’t really engage my attention. I was pleasantly surprised with a bonus upgrade to Business Class for my last flight, when I could curl up or stretch out, and crack the spine of the final Harry Potter novel.

Upon arrival, and my flirty admission into the country, I have grabbed a cab and checked into the room Melissa and I will share this week, at South Gap Hotel, in St Lawrence Gap. I totally feel like this is a second chance visit to Barbados for me, because last time, 4 years ago, I got sick and feel like I missed so much of it. I am so, so excited to lap it all up, and have the greatest time!

I am now sitting out on the balcony listening to Soca tunes from a playlist Springer put together, as the waves lap below me, and the full moon shines overhead. I was just going to wait for the girls to come back to The Gap so I can have a welcome drink with them before I crash…but I think I am done. Early start tomorrow for the first day of the First Test!

It's Starting To Get Very Real....

As the final big piece of the puzzle to untangle myself from my current life falls into place, the realisation, and the excitement of the next adventure is oh so slowly creeping in.

I just sold my car, this morning! This sets me free!

I have also given notice at work a couple of weeks ago, and finish up at my job in 2.5 weeks. On Friday I said goodbye to one of my favourite clients (with one more to go in the coming week!), which was actually pretty tough. Always hard to let go of the ones you have worked through such a journey with!

My little house of the last 2 years has a For Lease sign out the front, and I have a final date for me to vacate. I have also posted online to try and sell my bigger furniture pieces, to save my poor Mum from having to store them for who knows how long!

I also got my tickets, and all the bits and pieces booked for my stopover on the way home, for my return to the West Indies for the cricket next month. I fly out on Good Friday for the 3 test series.

My plans after that trip, which is really to take a hard-earned break from my 5 year slog in my current job, and the added madness of part time uni studies for the past 2 and a half, is still not 100% locked in, but I need to complete a 3 month full time placement within the Social Work field. I am holding my breath and have my fingers crossed that this will be in a far away land...

The nerves are very present, about whether I am doing the right thing, giving up my job and heading off again. But I always counter that with the knowledge that know that I will always manage to find work in the mental health and welfare field. It's just the nerves about whether I have enough money to get me through almost 5 months of not working!

So, so excited to be doing something that feels very big, again!

The Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial

The Ballarat Botanical Gardens is the home of The Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial, which catches my eye every time I walk around Lake Wendouree.

The memorial is 170 meters long, and the wall has almost 35,000 names listed, commemorating those Australian servicemen and women who have been a Prisoner of War in conflicts from the Boer War to the World Wars, to the Korean War. These names were complied by the Ballarat RSL and volunteers in the region, growing out of a group of survivors who met on a regular basis wanting to mark the hardship and sacrifice their fallen brothers and sisters made in conflicts around the world.


In place here since 2004, according to the Ballarat Accommodation and Tourism Directory site:

The POW monuments' design uses the basic idea of a journey through and an experience of time and place. The start of the pathway is long and straight heading off into the shape of railway sleepers, a reference to the Burma Railway. Running parallel to the pathway is a polished black granite wall, 130m long etched with the names of all the Australian POW's. Standing in a reflective pool are huge basalt obelisks up to 4.5m high will the names of the POW camps. The columns are out of reach and across the water symbolizing that all the POW camps were away from Australian shores. Further on there is another wall with the words Lest we Forget engraved, allowing for an area of contemplation and reflection after the "journey".

The mere volume of names, spanning the length of the Memorial, is overwhelming. It also includes a section on the wall for the addition of further names, as details are located, researched and confirmed.

Walking along the Memorial without many people around, the design feels meaningful, and so I had to look it up! The reverence with the placement, layout and design is impressive, to incorporate so much significance, and has made this section of the Gardens an important memorial for all of Australia.

Roadtrip to Radelaide: Ballarat to Warrnambool

A roadtrip to get to the cricket test in Adelaide was so much fun last year, we decided that we would complete the country crossing by arriving from Melbourne this time. Well, Ballarat actually, as Belinda, Jess and Dillo arrived by train ready for a night out as Night Zero.

Drinks at the Miner's Cottage before we went to the Lake View for dinner, more drinks, and to show off the sun setting across Lake Wendouree. The 'Rat put on a bit of a show for the out-of-towners, before we headed back into town to JD's for dodgy cover music, and then trusty Karova Lounge for dancing. A much larger night that was intended, Laura found some slightly weary roadtrippers the following morning when she joined us in Ballarat.

We finally picked up the hire car, and hit the road, leaving Dillo in Ballarat. Taking the Sheilas back out to the outskirts of Ballarat so that they could check off the Big Miner, we were alerted to a flat tyre as we started heading out in the right direction. Not a good start!

Stopping to add air, and hoping for the best, we drove down south on my memory-map, and eventually passed the Camperdown Clock Tower, after a lunch stop at Lismore. Down here, we turned towards the coast, and found the turn off for Simpson.

Now, Dillo had made a bit of noise about us first stopping for the first night of the roadtrip at his parent's farm, but as plans shaped up he went cold on the idea, and then dropped out of this leg, and thus our visit, altogether. Not to be deterred we found the turn off his home town, and then popped into the main store to ask for directions to the family farm. All a little too easy, we were directed and then let in for tea and biscuits, and then a tour, by his mum and dad! Ha!

Back on the road eventually, we followed the directions provided by Dillo's mum as she waved us off....and we totally missed the Twelve Apostles! Oops! Another missed-train-in-China type story for us to laugh about!

We took in the rugged shipwreck coastline, stopping at each of the (more well signposted!!) tourist places, including the Loch Ard Gorge. Totally enchanted by this place as a kid and the story of the survivors who sought refuge here in 1878, it was pretty cool to revisit and take it in again. So pretty, and yet such a rough stretch of land.

As the sun stared to sink lower we checked out the now broken London Bridge before we reached Port Campbell and started to think about finding a place to stay the night.

Finding that the speedway was on at Warrnambool this night, our lackadaisical go-with-the-flow non-planning suddenly looked a little shaky as we started having issues finding a place to stay. Stopping at one of the dodgiest looking places possible, we secured a room at the Turn In Motel for the night at last! Comparing it to Norman Bates' motel, we made a trip to grab dinner and drinking supplies for the night, and settled in to watch the tennis.

Norman, aka Bill Hunter as we named him, was surprised and delighted at having 4 Sheilas stay, after he had declared his motel a speedway patron-free place. He was very friendly, and regardless of it's rustic 60s look and details, it was a perfect stop for our desire to seek out stops out of the ordinary!