This weekend I went to Bec's hometown of Bendigo, which is smack dab in the middle of Victoria. I didn't realize it until we were driving, but she lives RIGHT NEXT to HANGING ROCK!! This means absolutely nothing to most people (especially the Americans here who think kangaroos are the only cultural difference), but to me it's a big deal. In my freshman year Australian Outback Literature class we read "Picnic at Hanging Rock" which is this really eerie and fascinating story about a group of schoolgirls who go missing there. It was one of the scariest things I ever read.
Bec decided to play on my excitement/scaredness by telling me scary (and according to her, true) stories about all the supposed 'madmen' living near Hanging Rock. It was awesome! She said she'd take me there another time. Yay!
Anyway, we stopped at a rest stop on the way (it's about 2 hours from Melbourne) and low and behold....
How cool? I thought it was super nice. After sufficiently resting ourselves and having plenty of tea and biscuits, we headed to Bec's house for the night. Friday was Good Friday and the beginning of the weekend long Easter and Anzac Day Festival.
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| Me and some chocolate sprinkle gelato! |
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| Giant lotus in Chinese District-- Bendigo has a HUGE Chinese Cultural Heritage Trust |
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| Me in the wall! |
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| Wacca the Koala drummer! |
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| A traditional Australian breakfast Bec made me-- Vita Brits and banana |
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| Dragon Procession at night. There were SO many-- and all my pictures are blurry : ( |
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| Bec and I at the Procession |
That's only a glimpse of all I saw-- it was probably one of the most uniquely Australian experiences I've had thus far. Melbourne's highly multicultural, but regional Victoria is very, very Australian. : )
Now I'm off to watch the ANZAC (Australia New Zealand Army Corps) Day Footy Match -- Collingwood v. Essendon. I'm going for Essendon!
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