Ballarat, Victoria to Albury, New South Wales - Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Monday - Another beautiful day in AU!  Cal & I left Ballarat this morning meandering our way back to the Melbourne Airport by 1:00. Today we saw more autumn colors on the trees than we have seen before.

All went well returning the car and finding the ‘arrivals hall’ at the airport. It was not long until two Rotarians for D-9790 arrived.  We knew both of them, so we have a nice visit until the group from Auckland, New Zealand.

However, upon their arrival, all plans changed!  One of the team members needed to get to the hospital immediately. While on the plane he was helped by a Doctor who was on board – he did a slight medical procedure and advised him to get to a hospital ASAP. The Australian Rotarians who would be hosting us had arrived at the airport in a small private bus, which was great, as the bus driver took us directly to a hospital.

While he was waiting to be seen by a doctor in the ER, we went to eat a meal.   When we returned to the ER, instead of dismissing him, they were keeping him overnight.  He will take the train tomorrow to meet us. 

It was 7:00 before we left Melbourne for a 3+ hr bus ride to the town of Albury, which is north, just across the Murray river in the State of New South Wales. NSW is the State just north of Victoria, in which Melbourne is located.  We arrived in Albury at approximately 10:30, met our host families and were dispersed to their homes for the evening.    

Tuesday – It is a very cool night and this morning is also very cool.  Our team member who is in the hospital, will be there for the day.  They may have to do another procedure today.   They want to keep him for another day. 

Yackandandah Street

Yackandandah Walkway

Choice of Pies at the Bakery

The Bakery for Lunch

Having a Sample at the local Micro Brewery

The rest of us are off to explore the area.  At our meeting spot, an 18 passenger bus was there waiting to carry us from place to place. At our first stop we climbed to the top of a hill which gave us a 360 view of the area.  We are in an area where the south side of the Murray River is in Victoria and the north side is in New South Wales.

Beechworth Street

Honey Store

Choices of Honey

Anglican Church in Beechworth

Inside the Church

After the vigorous climb we went off to two old gold mining towns. Yackandandah and Beechworth, were both gold rush villages during the 1854 gold rush in this part of Australia. Beechworth was located in the center of the gold rush area and was therefore the center of more wealth which is reflected in the buildings of the town.  One of the stories in the area is the account of Ned Kelly, a “Jesse James” type of character, who tries to start an independence movement but in the end met his demise because of his actions.

Our lunch consisted of pastries/pies from one of the local bakeries.  We had a beef pie, a “Bee Sting” which is a pastry with vanilla filling and a custard pie.  All was very tasty.  After lunch we were given a tour of Beechworth by a local Rotarian, before going to a local micro-brewery for a sample and to the Honey store and local Anglican church.

It was a great day.