We're now settling into the prosperous and growing inland city of Bendigo as our central Victorian base for a while. Bendigo can proudly boast that it has one of the finest collections of Victorian buildings of any inland city in Australia. The streets are literally awash with huge granite edifices and, in the centre of the city, an ornate fountain dedicated to Queen Victoria's daughter-in-law, Princess Alexandra, looms large in the main street. A great way to experience the city is to join the "talking tram" - the trams date back to the gold rich era of the 1890s. Another great alternative is to simply walk around - wandering through the many parklands, wide streets, grand old buildings and laneways of the city whilst enjoying the delicious food and beverages on offer.
History
For the trivia buffs, Bendigo is the only Australian town named after a boxer. In the 1850s there was a world-famous English boxer named Abednego William Thompson. His nickname was Bendigo. Such was his fame that a local shepherd, because he was a good boxer, was called Bendigo in his honour. A local creek was named after the shepherd and so, when the town came to be named, the tradition continued. The town didn't become Bendigo officially until 1891. Before then it was known as Sandhurst. This story is a lot more interesting than naming the town after some British aristocrat!
Food, glorious food!
Bendigo is not named as a City of Gastronomy for nothing. One of the strengths of the region is the diversity of produce with excellent fruit, vegetables, dairy, cheese, meat, bread, wine, beer and cider just to name a few. There are lots of award winning restaurants, farmers markets and creative foodie outlets. So far we've sampled the best from Alium Dining where the menu is inspired by local produce, spanish influenced tapas at El Gordo located in a funky laneway in the city, excellent french patisserie and british/italian inspired fare at Franco's in the nearby town of Maldon. Yummy!
Local recreation
There is no shortage of parks, lakes and reserves to enjoy a bit of recreational walking and bird-spotting. Generally surrounded by beautiful ironbark forests, we've discovered a few local spots to stretch the legs and enjoy nature, all within a short drive of our home base.
Camping here we come
Jim recently returned to Tassie to pick up our Domino camper trailer, so we're ready to start our outdoor adventures in central Victoria! A recent quick tour to the north east found us meandering along the banks of the Campaspe River which is part of the Murray-Darling basin and helps to keep the region so lush and productive. We also discovered a number of lovely camping spots on the banks of the river, including one that Burke & Wills used on their ill-fated expedition to the north.
Comments