A visit to Ballarat

The first time I knew that a place called Ballarat existed was in 10th grade. It was mentioned in a Sherlock Holmes story. All I knew in those pre Wikipedia days was that Ballarat was a place where lot of gold was found and many folks got rich in the "gold rush" in Australia. 

We did visit the place once in 2004 on our first ever Australia trip. Jr. was too small to remember anything and the little one wasn't born yet. So on this trip, we did an all day trip to Ballarat. They had also added a light and sound effects show in the night in the recent years and we stayed for that. We left Melbourne after breakfast and returned at midnight on what was definitely a day well spent.

Ballarat has a few streets preserved in the Victorian era. We have visited a similar gold rush town in California a few years ago called Columbia. Ballarat is a large scale version of this. There are folks walking down the streets (all actors) in ancient clothes, stores that sell ice creams of a distant era, buildings and facades that look like sets but are for real, candle makers, horse buggies, bowling alleys that take you back in time.. 

It is a wonderful experience trying to connect to a past and this place does give you that experience in a very nice way. The guy who did the musket firing is apparently a Ballroom dancer who does this as a part time job or so he told me.  All the actors and store folks who do demonstrations are nice and polite which makes you wonder where our level of politeness has gone with time! 

The sound and light show was interesting. The  quality of it was not bad, but it needs to be edited a little better to avoid long pauses between acts. It was not as good as a Hollywood production but a great attempt at getting close to one. It was interesting for one reason. I never knew that the Australian independence movement of sorts was started in Ballarat by the miners trying to get rights from the British authority. Never knew anything about the "Blood on the southern cross"! It was a really great history lesson!

The kids did enjoy the light and sound show. But what fascinated them the most was panning for gold. They got really furstrated after 20 minutes of hard work trying to find a spec of gold. They threw their instruments down and walked back disappointed. 

They were treated instead to a museum on Soverign hill where large gold nuggets were on display. Seeing all that gold made the girls happy. It is only a question of time before they grow up and seeing is not going to be enough. If my father in law is any guide, I should start robbing banks soon so in a few years the girls can have all the jewelry they want.

On an entirely side note, we had to wait for 4 hours between the morning tours and the light show at night. So we decided to go around "Downtown Ballarat" which boasted some really old buildings, a great town center space, 4 Thai restaurants, Thai kickboxing exercise places, Thai travel places etc.. within 2 blocks (let's just say the Thai's have taken over Ballarat or so it appears) and a Pizza Hut right next to Soverign hill with large pizza's for 5 Aussie dollars including breadsticks and soda!  Still cannot believe how good that pizza was and how cheap it was!

Here is Ballarat in pictures.. 

 

Mud roads with only horse carriages going through... a Bowling lane with wood balls that for some strange reason reminds me of Angelina Jolie (hey.. different things bring different memories to the foreground!)

Plates and other metal ware made in front of your eyes using methods from the late 1800's! 

The nice lady who poses for us (guessing she is also a ballroom dancer? like the guy with the musket)

Ladies in costume.. everywhere..

Candles, soaps, candies.. all made old school way, in front of your eyes. It was interesting for everyone.

Horse buggies ! They also had a studio where the entire family could pick costumes from that era and take a group portrait.. but it was booked for the day and we missed an opportunity. 

Clouds that made the place even more interesting..

Buildings that were surreal

and did we mention Gold! Gold! Gold! Had to get that photo as a mild sepia tone..

The kids were so sincere in their search for gold.. all of 20 minutes till they figured out that the miners were all idiots for wasting their time searching!

They had a show where a single bar of gold worth 160k $ was melted and poured into a mold. It was a nice demonstration of gold metallurgy. Brought back memories of sitting on the gallery seats writing notes in Prof. PM Prasad's class! 

For some strange reason, they had a bunch of domestic birds and animals on one side to try and show how things were hundred years ago.. The alpha turkey went and did a display for us..

but what caught my attention was the sparrows. There were thousands of them everywhere. In the vents, inside the little buildings. Looked like a sparrow invasion of sorts in the place. They were fearless too. One of them ate ribbon pakoda and thenkuzhal right from my hands!

Then we went across the street to Soverign Hill and the gold museum. It was a place with a view!

both outside and inside

Some lucky bloke kicks the ground in frustration and finds this! Must have been something in those days with gold found a few inches below the surface!

These things are the size of my head or slightly larger.. so you can imagine the girls getting all wide eyed!

An old hotel in downtown Ballarat.. 

and a more recent statue in the city center area.

The place seems to be getting a big time makeover. My BIL was giving me a lesson on how Australia is trying to bring up little cities as development hubs. IBM is going to be there big time in Ballarat apparently. Guessing that their cafeteria will have at least one Thai restaurant.

The place was beautiful. The stones were screaming for a HDR picture..

There were no pictures allowed in the sound and light show and that was a surprise given we are allowed to take all the photos we want in Universal studios. You will have to go experience that one for yourself.

If you visit Melbourne area, definitely worth a visit. Budget a day for Ballarat and the entire family will come home happy after experiencing something unique.

We are nothing but caricatures…

Another year rolls by fast. The usual "IBM Childrens party" is enjoyed by the family. The kids and San dress up and Daddy Narayanan wears the same sweater yet again for the 7th year in a row for this party. Given that this is his only sweater, that is no surprise! 

The kids have this routine down nicely to the point where they know which lines are easy to get to and which ones need strategy. Feels like we are doing Fastpass lines in Disney at times, the way they race back and forths..

As usual, here are pictures..

Well, that was a picture of a picture. The original is one of our best Santa Photos and is definitely going on a frame!

Jr. picked an angel with a Halo

The little one picked a Reindeer. It came with a Jewel.. and her mole on the cheek nicely blended in as a spot on the reindeer!

This year, we went to BigAl yet again and he looks at me and goes "How many years is it, this time?" and I said "7 in a row!". The line at the Caricature stands are long and usually you have to go to the next artist open. Thanks to this blog and the pictures, I pull up the previous years collage, show it to the Organizers and go "Can you please let us go to BigAl? The first two years was coincidence. The next four was not.. Please ?!" and they warm up to us and go "fine! we will let you wait for BigAl"

Jr. saw this and went "Are we using this like the ruler on the wall to see how we are growing up?! That is crazy!"

Merry Christmas and a wonderful holiday to all of you!  

Our first cruise!

The traveling Narayanan's went on their first Cruise during the Thanksgiving break with the Cousins.  It was also a San's birthday gift of sorts..

We went to Enseneda, Mexico from Long beach on a 2 day, 3 night Cruise. I am guessing we were never really far from the coast but it was a nice and different experience staying on a ship for days and having fun.

The sunset at Long Beach was gorgeous and we got to see the Queen Mary (from the outside!) and then boarded the Carnival cruise. 

We were greeted by a nice Rainbow as we boarded the ship.. It was a nice omen?!

We were greeted in our cabin by this nice Towel Elephant. Later we were treated to a one hour class on how to make towel animals. The entire family enjoyed that. 

When we were in Enseneda for a short time, there was a paid trip to see "The Bufadora" or cave where the sea water enters a narrow rock formation and sprays out. Given we had 3 hours in the place to see this, have lunch and shop at the local flea market, we did a very bad job of rationing out the time. 

The coastline very much feels like we are in and around Carmel. No surprises there. The Bufadora was a let down. After 30 minutes there, this was the best we saw. No 100 foot spray! 

The flea market was interesting. Not much different from the San Jose flea market, but more local items and same bargaining. Every shop had the same stuff! 

We also ate at this stall of sorts where they make fresh Tacos! The little one was enjoying this the most.

After a last minute shopping attempt by the ladies, we rushed back to the bus and were back at the ship after a small detour to see an old Casino that was famous in Enseneda in the 30's and 40's. 

The flea market was very colorful to say the least!

Back at the ship we had a formal dinner, explored mini golf on the top deck, participated in treasure hunts, ate lots of fries, ice cream and hot chocolate, not to mention masala Chai! 

And yes, we know how to make towel elephants now!

Before we knew it, the ship was back in Long Beach and we were drivng home. Be it outdoor camping, cruising, etc. the first time is always an exploratory trip. It took us 24 hours to get the hang of the ship and know how to get from one place to the other. If you know where to get what, which stuff is included in your package, what is free, etc. and time various activities within the ship with a planner, one can get a lot more out of the trip. 

We were first timers and did manage to experience a lot of what was being offered. Next time, as there will definitely be a next time, we will go on a longer cruise where we spend more time on land in between the cruise. 

It is one thing to take photographs of sunsets from land. Sunset in a cruise is breathtaking!

While the land part of this trip was not as good as we expected it to be, we definitely recommend the Cruise for a three day activity for a long weekend. If you have friends and family with you, even better! The kids really had a great time! 

Nice clean fun! 

Mini me..

We had a quiet fireworks celebration in our backyard. Wanted to have a few pictures of this. So I set up a tripod and had the camera on self timer.

The first few round of sparklers was marked by me constantly requesting that all four of us start around the same time and look into the camera etc. Always get good shots with the black background, so I push for pictures.. 

After the third photo the little one yelled "Appa, I want to enjoy vedichiying the pattasu! So just come here and do this with us!" 

I promptly switched the camera off and thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the pattasu vedichiying! (crackers bursting).

Watching the little one enjoying the fireworks with such intensity brings back so many memories of me bursting crackers as a kid.

If there is a "pattasu" gene, it has definitely been passed on to the next generation! 

Pumpkinography 2013

Halloween is here already!

As is now a family custom, we carved pumpkin at the cousins place. The men did one pumpkin and the kids in each family did one by themselves. 

Here is our creation for this year.. Drac and a Mummy.. 

and here is the entire lineup including the skull and moonwalking cat from BB and family!

The kids have to get creative this year for costumes!