Midwinter ice

Freezing winter nights, frosty mornings and ice sealing over the water for the birds. I had to break  thick ice in  Mr Pip's water bucket too. Despite ice and the frost, and on the grey days the rain, it has been a dry autumn and a dryish winter.

Southerly posts has been frozen for a while as I plunged into a postgraduate degree at the University of Ballarat. I'm managing everything a bit better now, and have a good working relationship with my new computer, so I'm breaking the ice on this blog and having some fun again.

Clunes Bookweek happiness

 Cold, bright and dry, a perfect autumn day for the annual Clunes Booktown weekend. The town was so packed with booksellers and books for the weekend, that I spent five hours blissed out looking at books, and only got halfway round the town. I also forgot to get a ride behind these beautiful horses - maybe next year.

 I took these pictures at the end of my day, sitting on one of the straw bales scattered through the town, waiting for the free (thank you booktown committee!) bus back to Ballarat.

 I was sitting right by my favourite bloke in Clunes, and saw across the road that we're still in a fire danger period. It's been so dry, with no real rain for a months.

 See that little group with a banner just at the right? (Just click on the image and you'll see them)

Yes, the Clunes footy club (and netballers) were raising funds with bags of spuds and sheep poo - both local products.
For those not familiar with the Australian idiom, 'Yoohoo!' is what my Mum and my grandmas would shout over the back fence when they wanted to have a chat with the neighbours.

I was sorry that I didn't have room in my backpack for either spuds or poo, although I did get a jar of quince jelly - but not from these lads.

Autumn colours

Mr Pip admires the Autumn colours

Nerrina or Little Bendigo

 
160 or so years ago, Nerrina was the site of a return gold rush from Bendigo back to the hills above Ballarat.  The miners named the place,with total lack of imagination but lots of hope, Little Bendigo. This hilly little settlement is now a suburb of Ballarat and called Nerrina - no doubt to prevent letters going astray to Big Bendigo.

 Nerrina's two old churches aren't in use now.

but the primary school is flourishing.

In the nineteenth century the Victorian government put up this beautiful brick primary school in Little Bendigo.
In the 1960s it was down to a handful of students, but now lots of kids go to school here because the area has been filling up with new houses.

 Look at the roof -  those finials are exquisite and just the colour of new gum leaves.

Despite all thye new houses that have gone up in the last twenty years the place is still full of trees, 

dead-end roads,

 and cottages and farmlets folded into the hills. 

A few old remnants from the past hang on next to the modern developments.

You can walk here from the city centre of Ballarat, but it's a long, hot walk, so today Yin drove me about.

Buns and bao for Easter Monday

Easter Monday. 

Hot cross bun bakers in Little Bourke Street, Melbourne

with the father of one of the bakers..

 

In the  yum cha restaurant ready to eat bao (steamed, sweet, red pork buns) and other goodies.

I took the bakers' hot cross buns home to have for brekky tomorrow, but had to try one for supper.

The buns contain chocolate as well as fruit and spices .

Yum.

Sunflower Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday. 

Bunches of sunflowers opening up all around the house.
Glorious!

 

Good Friday in Sebastopol

For nearly 100 years the Victorian country and city fire brigades have raised money  for the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne. Here is the Sebastopol brigade, CFA volunteers, out collecting on Good Friday.

This is the original station building, with additions, which was moved over the road from its first site sometime in the early twentieth century.

The brigade began in 1868, about 6 years after the Ballarat brigades began, and within 4 years of the establishment of the Borough of Sebastopol. Like  most of the CFA brigades that have been fighting the fires around here the last few months, it remains a largely volunteer organisation. 

The Sebastopol brigade didn't have horses, so until motorised engines came in, the firemen ran and pulled their equipment along the streets of Sebastopol to put out fires.

For more pics of Sebastopol, have a look here