18 Days On..............

......and incredibly the fires are STILL burning in Victoria, with an expectation that things will flare up again badly on Friday.
All those poor firefighters (most of them volunteer firefighters) must be utterly exhausted.
It's hard to believe that half of Queensland is under water at the moment.

Anyway, here's a photo of ...... well, I'm not exactly sure.
Probably some sort of hay carrier - he was zooming along a side road
with the wind in his hair having a lovely time.


Photo: Between Ballarat & Ararat - Feb, 2009

Aradale Lunatic Asylum

That's what it used to be called in the olden days.
Then it was the Aradale Mental Hospital.
It operated for around 130 years, closing in 1997.
Now it is home to the Australian College of Wine.
It's a strange kinda place.


You can see bit and pieces
here
and here
and
here
or here


Photo: Aradale, Ararat - January, 2009

Treasure Hunting

So much treasure, so little time.
Who doesn't love a poke around the second-hand dealers?
What's that you say?
You'd rather stick hot nails in your eyes?




Photo: de Baere House Antiques, Beaufort (down the road from Ararat) - Oct,2008.

Dreamtime

Up on Mt Langi Ghiran, under a sheltered ledge on a huge rocky outcrop,
is a wonderful little secret.
A Koori (aboriginal) rock painting.
I was surprised by how moved I was when I saw it.



Photo: Mt Langi Ghiran, Ararat - Nov, 2008.

Looks Can Be Deceiving

Looks idyllic, right?
You'd never guess there was a stinky, rotten, fly-blown, dead animal part just out of shot.


Photo: One Tree Hill, Ararat - November, 2008.