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Day 8 - Melbourne, Ballarat, Avoca
Morning,
and fairly mild hangovers, considering. Today was the tour of the
Goldfields (and a couple of wineries, obviously).
First,
and main, call was Sovereign Hill, a reconstructed Gold Rush town in Ballarat.
Lots of people in period costume showed us round, including one very patient
type who guided a party round the mines, responding tactfully to one brat's
many questions, all of which were variants of "Are we nearly finished?"
Mark
stayed true to type by wandering off and looking at the parts of the township
devoted to government and administration while the rest went to watch some
gold being poured using period equipment. The demonstration was somewhat
anachronistically disturbed by David's phone going off, playing an irritating
tune at great length while David tried to switch the thing off.
And so more wineries. A small friendly place called St Ignatius
run by Argentine expatriates was the first call - then to Mt Avoca, which
had an absolutely fantastic (and rather pricey) noble Semillon, which at
the time of writing is waiting for the special occasion on which it should
be drunk.
Mark was feeling fairly hacked off, as he was required to take the tastings
a bit easy given that it was his turn to drive. It's just as well,
however, that his adherence to the drink-drive laws was rather more conscientiously
done than his approach to the speed limit, as the return trip to Melbourne
found him blowing into the breathalyser as he discovered just how strictly
the traffic laws are enforced.
Strange are the ways of the Rodmell.
as he speeds on Victorian roads.
When required to stop
by Australian cops,
how much will he grovel? Well, loads.
Well,
the copper let Mark off with a mild bollocking, partly because of Mark's
uncustomary politeness but probably also because he was already bewildered
by the UK driving licence and despaired of the paperwork involved in issuing
a ticket.
The
2000 kilometre mark was reached today. David celebrated this by setting
up his camera on the boot of the car to take a timed photo in such a way
as to ensure that it would topple over and smash on the ground just before
the shutter went.
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