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Melbourne was made by the great Australian Gold Rush of 1851. Before this year it was a relatively insignificant Australian City but its location as a gateway to the gold fields changed all of that. We decided to take the long way back from Merton and see the Gold Country and its two most prominent cities, Bendigo and Ballarat. It was a full day; we left Michael fairly early and got home to Abbotsford fairly late. It was even after dark, which is something for us: we are rarely out without the sun to accompany us.

Not even to Bendigo we discovered little Rushworth, once a boom town and still largely preserved. Because it is on the path to nowhere (except if you are in little Merton) time has stood largely still in it. Bendigo turned out to be much bigger than anticipated; it is a regional center and, because it is within two hours of Melbourne (when the trip is made directly) easy for tourists to attract. Consequently it has aspect of the Poconos (we hope you know what that means). We liked it nonetheless, enjoying a walk among the many buildings preserved from the late 1800s and a visit to the Tram Museum, stuffed to overflowing with trams preserved from the early 1900s.

From Bendigo we went on to Maldon, in effect a big Rushworth: that is, it too is largely preserved, but is three times the size and has, here and there, more trapings of modern life, including a nice IGA supermarket. Just outside Maldon is Victorian Goldfields Railway museum. While Gerry hoped on an off a few old steam trains Jan stayed in the car (and slept?). Michael had entertained us too well for her delicate consitution.

Our last stop was Ballarat, most famous to us by name, but probably the least interesing of these old towns. We spent an hour walking about the historic center, which is a very small part of the place, and then set off for home. We were about 15 kilometers out of town when we remembered that we should have bought gasoline: the tank was nearly empty. We knew for sure we could not get all of the way back to Abbotsford; we were very doubtful that we could make it to the next service station. Consequently we were continually on the alert for a sudden lurching and the accompaning noise that would indicate the engine was about to quit. We were very happy to learn that about halfway back there was a highway rest stop with a gasoline station.

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