Sovereign Hill

It is probably 20 years since I last visited Sovereign Hill.

I don't remember there being any gardens there last time:

But lots of the houses and cottages have ornamental and vegetable gardens.

I presume this iron work was made by the on-site blacksmith:

Herb garden behind one of the cottages:

A patchwork quilt in a cottage decorated by the CWA (Country Women's Association).

A sampler in the same cottage:

The only sewing machines I saw were in the harness-making workshop:

Some things don't change:

But this is definitely new:

Pouring a 3-kilo bar of gold:

Worth $160,000 at today's gold price. It is locked in a safe at the end of the show.

Interesting brick sculpture outside the Gold Museum:

 Terrestrial, 1985, by Peter Blizzard, celebrates 100 years of the Selkirk Brick Works.

The Gold Museum's current exhibition, Re-Awakening the Dragon, features antique artefacts from the Ballarat Chinese community, including the head of the third-oldest dragon remaining in the world (from the 1890s):

A 1-day entry ticket allows you to visit for two consecutive days, which means we didn't have to see everything today. We'll be back tomorrow!