Sovereign Hill is a theme park with a working township recreating the gold rush days of Ballarat. Paid actors in uniforms and local craftsman complete the experience.

The local shops

Gold pouring demonstration

The real deal

Underground tours

Cobb & Co

Hope Bakery – wood-fired Scottish ovens – lamb pies in our top 3 in Australia.

Now that is a vanilla slice – thin crisp top you can bite through with exquisite filling.

Celebration for the king

Christmas in July with artificial snow

Shantytown where the poorer miners lived

A horse is a horse of course of course

Baa-ram-ewe. Baa-ram-ewe. To your breed, your fleece, your clan be true. Sheep be true. Baa-ram-ewe.

It was very cold all day – the maximum temperature in Ballarat had not reached double figures for a whole week. It snowed at a hill outside town the night before.

A cold wet day but we had a great time – more things to see tomorrow on our free second day entry.