Birds around Bendigo

A walk down High Street to the corner where there are two houses for sale due to subsidence from underground mining 'Renovate or Detonate'.







Our last day of sightseeing around Bendigo before we head back to Melbourne tomorrow & home Tuesday.



We walked around Lake Weeroona again, and looked at the various birds. The parrot is a galah.



Then out to Eaglehawk, which is a town with a lake, attached to Bendigo. Here we saw another type of ibis and this pair of galahs living in a hole in a tree. A mynah was very curious when they disappeared inside.

A day in Echuca on the Murray River

The Murray river runs by Victoria on its boundary with NSW. Echuca is about 100km North-East of Bendigo. The river is actually in NSW at Echuca which was busy port in the early 1900s.



As 3 adults and 3 kids were a bit of a squash in the car, Doug and one of the girls went by train. $A 5.60 for one-way, about 90 minutes trip time. Our boat was the 'Alexander Arbuthnot'.







There is a fine collection of old steam-powered paddle steamers that run up and down the river for the tourists.



We passed under this bridge where you can see the river levels reached in the 1994 floods.

Bendigo Catholic Church and an Ibis

The Catholic Church is the biggest church in Bendigo, and was completed in the 1970s using stonemasons from England and Italy as none were available locally. It's very impressive.



We visited Bendigo Pottery and in the field next door were several Ibis.

Bendigo town & trams

We took the "Talking Tram' into town and viewed their restoration workshop.





Bendigo started with battery-driven trams before 1900. The trams have come from all over Australia.



One of the trams was a Sydney double-decker, they are working on the lower deck at present. You can see the circular staircase.





Then into the centre of town (Charing Cross, by Pall Mall shows the English heritage). Here are some of the attractive old Victorian buildings from before 1880. It was a wealthy place in those days.

A day in Maldon

With the kids at school & kindy, we headed out to Maldon, an old mining town with population about 10. The roads were good, with little traffic.



A nice lunch in the local hotel and a look through some craft & collectible shops, and a motor museum.


And we met the local friendly cat (with a bent tail).