Ballarat: Sovereign Hill: The Gold Rush

Since I've never visited any gold mines, so I thought it would be good to visit the Sovereign Hill at Ballarat. Again, I never did much research about it, and did not want to pay AUD80-AUD100 to the local tours. Even the chinatown local tour charged pretty high on it.

I was wondering. If we were just going there for the gold mine tour, it should not be expensive, unless I'm visiting the wildlife park. Perhaps, I should get a package to the wildlife park instead. I love patting and feeding the wallabies.

So, I ended up deciding to take the V-line train to Ballarat from the Southern Cross Station. It has so much to offer with just a return fare of $20.80. More info can be found at the link. Thus, the total cost would be ~$58. It's not a lot of savings, but it's better than nothing.

The trains were punctual. And same goes to the gold rush ride to the Sovereign Hill.

A busy morning on a normal weekday

Grab a coffee at the Southern Cross Station

 On our way to Ballarat.

 The entrance of the Souvereign hill

 Pastries for sale

 That's the bacon pie.

Free Cobb and Co Coach Ride

Catch the 'red coat' Soldiers marching for a short demonstration on shooting

 Gold digging demonstration.

 I really worked and trying very hard digging for golds. If we found any, it would belong to us. Sad that all my digging efforts were in vain. Silly me. If there were golds, it would have been dug long ago.

 Performers at the Victoria Theatre. It was enlightening watching them peform.

 The mayor, and the rest of them.

 Many took the opportunity to have a photo session with the red-coat soldiers. So did we. He was one of the better looking ones.

 Some statues outside the Gold Museum. Would you lend me your hand?

Lovely flowers

The place did remind me of disneyland, as I felt as if I was in a different world, except that it's way much smaller. It was a town on its own, and I wish I would work there some day. All we have to do is to have fun with the visitors.

I did learn something new. I just realised that chinese have been migrating all over. Every town in the world definitely have at least some chinese migrants. So, that is why we have 'chinatowns'.