Leave a lot of time for your exploration of Sovereign Hill. Aside from what was already mentioned by Chris, the streets are lined with various 1800s businesses and buildings, including shoe makers, blacksmiths, phrenologists, dodgy magic shows, candle makers, saddleries, a masonic lodge, apothecaries, and pubs. All of them have been recreated with meticulous attention to detail, and many come with live demonstrations. The walls are plastered with letterpressed posters.
Sure it's not packed with high density excitement, but the experience is believeable and refreshingly devoid of glamourising 21st century bells and whistles.
Things you can buy for yourself at Sovereign Hill are:
• a parasol
• cold ginger beer
• a miniature bugel
• gold jewellery
• a portrait of yourself in period clothing
• a cast iron shovel
For $9, I bought myself pen and ink, as well as a book entitled A Catechism of the Rudiments of Knowledge, Specially Adapted for Australian Beginners. It's kind of funny in what I hope is a satirical way. Here's a page of it:
Ballarat the town has some cool things in it too. I particularly liked the antique store on the way to Bakery Hill which stocked some extremely valuable Beatles memorabilia and first edition Spiderman comics, as well as boxes of aged Australian postcards and photographs which you could purchase for a dollar each. The town is worth at least a morning's stroll, so don't leave that out of your planning!
No comments:
Post a Comment