Ararat, Vic.
Unless Australian places are named from Aboriginal names, most of them are from places overseas, particularly England and Scotland, seeing our first white migrants came from there. Ararat is a bit different. I thought it might be based on an Aboriginal word until Ken reminded me yesterday that it was more than likely named after the one in Turkey, but we wouldn't be finding remnants of the Biblical ark at OUR Ararat... I don't know why it was called Ararat, especially as it was founded by a Chinese population back in 1857. Anyway, you can click on the link and find out more for yourself if you are interested.
We drove there to attend an Avicultural bird sale, and also to have a look at the cemetery, as Ken's grandfather's brother is buried there. Ararat is about 240 kilometres (nearly 150 miles) from our home, and it took three hours to get there, but we stopped on the way for a coffee in Ballarat, which added about half an hour to the trip. Ken bought a blue budgie, a Charcoal Zebra Finch and a canary to add to his aviaries. After that we strolled around Ararat, had lunch, and visited the cemetery.
When we left Melbourne at 8 am, it was cold and foggy. The fog turned into rain as we approached Ballarat.
The rain continued to fall during our brief stay, but I managed to get a few photos of some of the interesting old buildings in this historic town.
By the time we reached Ararat, the clouds were dispersing, and the day turned out quite fine, although it was still cold. Here is part of the main street - I love the way it winds around as it goes up the hill.
Art Deco styled hotel - this form of architecture is found in many of our country towns.
At first glance the older section of the Ararat Cemetery looked like a small cemetery, but after we'd been wandering around for an hour, we realised it was quite extensive.
This gravestone was for a Wilson from Scotland, and Ken thought it was his ancestor, but the date didn't tally with his information. (We later found out the grave he was looking for was on the other side of the cemetery.)
Graves like this one are a bit sad. No identification left at all. Ken kept apologising to the ghosts of people whose grave he walked over where there was no gravestone or other identification, except for an oblong bump in the ground..
This was the only grave where flowers were actually growing in the ground. I thought "what a lovely idea", but after reading the tombstone, I got a bit tearful. It was for a 5 day old baby...
On our way home, we passed this derelict building, and I urged Ken to stop, so I could take some pictures. We didn't have time to walk around it, so I have no idea what it was once. Next time we're over that side of Victoria, we'll make a point of asking around the towns if anybody knows the history of it.
We were surprised to see a Wind farm just off the highway. I knew there were some in Australia, but had never seen any closeup. Not that we could get any closer than this, mind you!
Another 100 miles to go...
We drove there to attend an Avicultural bird sale, and also to have a look at the cemetery, as Ken's grandfather's brother is buried there. Ararat is about 240 kilometres (nearly 150 miles) from our home, and it took three hours to get there, but we stopped on the way for a coffee in Ballarat, which added about half an hour to the trip. Ken bought a blue budgie, a Charcoal Zebra Finch and a canary to add to his aviaries. After that we strolled around Ararat, had lunch, and visited the cemetery.
When we left Melbourne at 8 am, it was cold and foggy. The fog turned into rain as we approached Ballarat.
The rain continued to fall during our brief stay, but I managed to get a few photos of some of the interesting old buildings in this historic town.
By the time we reached Ararat, the clouds were dispersing, and the day turned out quite fine, although it was still cold. Here is part of the main street - I love the way it winds around as it goes up the hill.
Art Deco styled hotel - this form of architecture is found in many of our country towns.
At first glance the older section of the Ararat Cemetery looked like a small cemetery, but after we'd been wandering around for an hour, we realised it was quite extensive.
This gravestone was for a Wilson from Scotland, and Ken thought it was his ancestor, but the date didn't tally with his information. (We later found out the grave he was looking for was on the other side of the cemetery.)
Graves like this one are a bit sad. No identification left at all. Ken kept apologising to the ghosts of people whose grave he walked over where there was no gravestone or other identification, except for an oblong bump in the ground..
This was the only grave where flowers were actually growing in the ground. I thought "what a lovely idea", but after reading the tombstone, I got a bit tearful. It was for a 5 day old baby...
On our way home, we passed this derelict building, and I urged Ken to stop, so I could take some pictures. We didn't have time to walk around it, so I have no idea what it was once. Next time we're over that side of Victoria, we'll make a point of asking around the towns if anybody knows the history of it.
We were surprised to see a Wind farm just off the highway. I knew there were some in Australia, but had never seen any closeup. Not that we could get any closer than this, mind you!
Another 100 miles to go...
posted by Gina E. | 9:57 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home