An Aussie Pub Crawl

Australians have, in my view, mastered the art of the corner pub.

In virtually every town across the country, you'll find corners punctuated with a grand architectural statement.

Some towns are blessed with multiple pubs and almost to the last, they're grand and ornate.

The Provincial Hotel above, is a beauty I photographed in the old old gold mining town of Ballarat - a city blessed with superb architecture - much of it built during the wealthy gold mining era.

In Kyneton, a small town about 90 minutes north of Melbourne just off the Calder Highway, I spotted these two beauties from a later period. Top is the Newmarket Hotel and the bottom image is the Shamrock Hotel, both in the main street of town, a few steps apart.

Back in Ballarat, I stepped inside The Grand Hotel, lured in my its etched glass windows that reflect back the other side of the historic street.

And also in Ballarat, The George Hotel, a stately beauty with elaborate verandahs.

Bendigo, another city with a wealth of hefty and ornate architecture from the gold mining era, delivered this corner beauty near the Arts Quarter.

And this old treasure clings to a backstreet corner in Kyneton.

Little Trentham - half way between Woodend and Daylesford, about an hour north of Melbourne, is home to the old Cosmopolitan (above), which still operates a popular restaurant and beer garden; and the sturdy bulk of an old main street hotel (upper image), which has long-since ceased operation as a pub and is now an antique shop filled with terrific furniture and a quirky selection of taxidermy animals and an old ride-on Skippy the Bush Kangaroo.

I've written about Australian pubs on this blog before. Just click on The Australian Crawl and Aussie Pubs in the label line below if you'd like to see more.

Sightseeing in Australia - 6

When I arrived in Adelaide for the first time 2007, I never expected to see pink spring blossoms and a bounty of lush green grass - South Australia after all, is one of the driest places in Australia. But up in the Adelaide Hills, things are a little different - cooler for a start - and just twenty minutes from Adelaide City, you'll find plenty of vineyards, wineries, farmlands and artist studios. not to mention cute little villages with names like Birdwood, Stirling, Hahndorf and Lobethal. I took this photograph in one of the small towns we passed through. This commanding tower belongs to one of the buildings of the University of Ballarat, in the city of Ballarat, Victoria. Founded in 1870, it's the third oldest centre of higher learning in Australia. Over 25,000 students attend courses in a number of different campuses. This building is right in the heart of the city and I was so busy walking backwards so I could fit the whole tower in my camera lens, that I tripped on a doorstep behind me and just about concussed myself on the massive stone wall of another old architectural beauty - of which Ballarat has a bounty. It was while I was driving to Ballarat in 2010, that I passed through the cute little town of Creswick, 18km north of Ballarat and 129km northwest of Melbourne. I HAD to stop. There were so many divine old limestone buildings begging to be photographed - many of them a legacy of the town's early wealth. Named after the three Creswick brothers, who started a large sheep station in the area in 1842, it was at its peak during the Victorian gold rush of the 1850s. It had a population of 25,000 back then.

I visit Daylesford often - every time I visit Victoria in fact, because it's not too far from Woodend (an hour north of Melbourne) where I usually stay with family. Daylesford is to Melbourne what Akaroa is to Christchurch, and Waiheke is to Auckland - the perfect weekend getaway, close enough to be convenient and far enough away to be 'of a different world.' Every weekend it's packed with incoming BMWs, Porches, Mercedes and the like and the many classy boutique accommdations and designer stores do a roaring trade. Today it's known as Victoria's Spa Town - which probably originated from the fact that nearby Hepburn Springs (a small village to the north), has long been renowned for its natural spring mineral spas. If you're visiting Melbourne, it's well worth making an overnighter to Daylesford as they also have great markets, cafes and restaurants. The photograph above is of one of their terrific old Aussie pubs.

Reflecting on Melbourne

It's that time again - when my thoughts turn to Melbourne.

Sadly, I have to wait a few months before I can return, but I've been pottering about in my Melbourne photo files again and here's a few of my favourite cafe and restaurant windows.

Windows, graphics, reflections - always a big attraction for me.

Above, Flinders Station reflected in a pub window.

A whispy set of reflections at the classy Spanish restaurant, Movida Coffea at the Queen Victoria Market

Highrise reflected in the Negroni window

Ito in Chinatown

And some of Ballarat's terrific architecture reflected in the Grand Hotel window.

I still shudder when I remember how baking hot it was the day I visited Ballarat. I fell in love with the place - mostly with its architecture - because certainly the heat just about killed me.....as did missing my footing and falling over and whacking my head on one of those historic stone walls! The stuff of good travel tales.

Australian Railway History

On my recent trip to Melbourne, Australia, I took great delight in spreading out into rural Victoria. It's something I do every year when I visit and this year, finally, I made it to the city of Ballarat. It did not come recommended but I fell in love with almost as soon as I arrived. If you enjoy architecture, photography or both (like I do), then it is a small historic paradise.

Located northwest of Melbourne, Ballarat is riddled with evidence of its spectacular rise from humble mining settlement to wealthy city. Statues and huge, elaborate buildings abound and this one - the Ballarat Railway Station - was one I particularly loved. American author Mark Twain stepped onto the platform here in 1891, later commenting at length on the city in his work "Following the Equator."

Today, thousands of commuters hurry through the station every week and it stands like a grand old madam, at one end of historic Lydiard Street. Constructed when the railway first began sewrvicing the area in 1862, it is one of the grandest buildings in Ballarat. The ornate tower section was built 26 years after the original block and the building in its entirety is a wonderful example of Ballarat's early architecture and a typical example of late 19th century railway systems built to the best of British standards and construction.

The station prompted much of the later building activity, especially the development of Lydiard Street north, throughout the 19th century. I spent a lot of time roaming up and down Lydiard Street photographing stately buildings (more another time) - I even managed to fall over in the process, giving my head a nasty whack on an historic stone wall. But I survived - just as so many of Ballarat's stunning buildings have survived. The Railway Station is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register and now, as I sit here in my Christchurch office writing about it, I wonder why on earth I didn't even step inside it. I blame the fact that there was so much to see in so little time. In reality, it would have been nice to have stood where Mark Twain once stood - and certainly the cool interior would have been a blissful respite on what turned out to be a baking hot 36-degree day. www.visitballarat.com.au