Sovereign Hill

i'm finally back in Bne after 3 weeks spending my holidays in Melbourne. it was one of the best winter trip and i felt so reluctant to leave Melbourne. my sis was the best host ever and she pampered me in so many ways. and i am so blessed to have her. sometimes, i wish i was studying in Melbourne instead and perhaps life would not be that miserable.

on the11th day in Melbourne, we went to Sovereign Hill in Ballarat, about an hour drive from the Melbourne City. Sovereign Hill was an old mine town and i personally enjoyed this trip more than my Philip Island trip. we rented a car (Hyundai i20) for our long journey to Ballarat.

the Hyundai i20 and i had the whole back seat to myself.

along the western Highway, on our journey to the Ballarat Town.

and after an hour drive, we finally arrived at Sovereign Hill. and it was freezing cold compared to Melbourne City. and i did the biggest mistake by wearing the Thinnest shirt i had in Melbourne. right now, i am feeling a little hot in Brisbane and I am craving for Melbourne's Weather.

we kicked off our tour around the old mine town by visiting the education center. wrong choice for sure. because it was boring.

and once we entered the real gold mine town, that's when the fun started.
they pretty much retained the landscape of the old town and everything at there such as the mining area, the underground mine, the shops and even the houses.

the homes of the miners. i could never imagine myself working as a miner. it was one of the hardest and most dangerous job. so please appreciate what-ever gold you had.

even the miner's restaurants are pretty old-school style.

the interior of one of the homes. there were other homes that were far worst than this. without the fireplace for instance

fireplace is a MUST in Sovereign Hill because there was no heater around and it was freezing like hell.

the pan-mining area. apparently, you could mine for your own gold and my sis's bf did successfully found one small tiny piece of gold. unfortunately, a person with lack of patience like me will never find one.

no matter how long i sat by the river till my fingers were frozen, spinning my pan and all I ended up with were only stones, sand and rubbish.

the more modern way of mining. well, if you still remember you history, you will remember the different tools used in the mining industry.

the Chinese Site and that's the old Chinese temple.

'Tabib Cina' camp. though i can't read Chinese, i assumed those must be the herbs in each drawers.

trying to be the Physician.

it was really enlightening to experience the old lifestyle that the Chinese had many years back. pretty amazing on how they could survive on such minimal items.

me, totally obsessed with their kitchen. cooking steamed pau!

the other version of fireplace for boiling water and cooking food.

horses, the main form of transport back then.

and we sat the horse carriage. my very first time and it was really saddening to see the horse working so hard to pull the carriage. i was born in Horse year and so i love horses.

next, the town for the bosses and big men.

in an old-school boutique where they displayed their wardrobes. fascinating i shall say.

compared to the old crappy camp we saw earlier, this was the home for the richer ones. totally different and so classical.

the underground mine tour was really amazing. the mine was rather dark,small and musty and I could never understand how those men could stay underground for hours mining for something that was not guaranteed to be found. hard life.

the boiler which supplies the energy to move the mining machine in the underground.

ooo, and i had my very first candle-dipping experience.

and we proudly present to you our rainbow version of candles.

there were more pictures in my sis's iphone and sadly i did not had it. so i guess, that's the end of my Sovereign Hill post. the trip to Sovereign Hill was worthwhile and I had loads of fun experiencing the life of a miner.
anyway, my uni is resuming tomorrow and I know life's gonna be difficult again.
how i wish i could freeze time and stay with my sister forever.