Back from Europe...hence the 14-day hiatus!! Anyway...Here's part 2 of the Melbourne series! I'm gonna start off with some cute pics of Aggie the college cat. I swear, she is so adorable and so irresistable!
I gave Aggie a tennis ball, and she looked at it cautiously to ensure that no one snatched it from her...
And then she started playing with it! She was the cutest kitty I've ever seen - with the fluff and all, and she was gripping onto the ball with her cutie paws...and doing some bunny kicks...my heart just melted there and then. Even looking at all these pics makes my heart melt all over again. I'm so glad I managed to cuddle her more during this trip (this trip lasted 12 days and of course I saw her almost everyday!).
Oh yes - she "requested" for a more 'model-like' pic, so here we go!
Anyway back to our main topic of today - exploring places outside Melbourne.
Stopped by the Ballarat War Memorial for a quick look - and they've got names of all the soldiers who sacrificed themselves in various wars - from the Boer War, to World War I, and even World War II.
One fallen stone amongst the others - to commemorate those who had died in the war.
Stopped by the Ballarat Botanic Gardens after that...
The Ballarat Botanical Gardens was located opposite the iconic Lake Wendouree - where the rowing regatta for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics was held. It was opened in 1857 by the City of Ballarat, and preserves the Victorian garden style. Lake Wendouree itself has been a popular recreational lake in Ballarat since the 1860s. Didn't get to tour around the lake, but we did have a really good walk around the Ballarat Botanical Gardens!
Check out the gorgeous tree-lined pathways in the Botanical Gardens! The Botanical Gardens celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2007.
A major landmark of the Ballarat Botanical Gardens - the Prime Minister's Avenue. Bronze busts of Australian Prime Ministers line each side of the road, shaded by greenery. It was quite an enjoyable walk down this road, and each Prime Minister seemed to have a unique story to tell.
I absolutely love the roses and other flowers in the Botanical Gardens. They look so fresh! And I couldn't stop taking pics of them.
Gorgeous marble statue I spotted along the way. This was part of the Stoddard statue collection.
Some of the prime minister busts in the avenue. The most recent bust was that of Kevin Rudd. Some of the pics I took included those of Kevin Rudd, John Howard, Paul Keating and William Hughes. Of course, there were many more.
Beautiful old trees in the Ballarat Botanical Gardens. I reckon they're over 100 years old!
Earlier in the day, we actually went to Mt Macedon and Trentham Falls - as I was quite curious about Trentham Falls (looked it up earlier on the maps).
The winding road we took to get to Mt Macedon...and we passed by some picnic grounds too.
The Mt Macedon Memorial Cross on the summit of Mt Macedon - a commemoration of those who sacrificed their lives in World War I. The memorial itself is 21 metres high, and the original cross was established in 1935. The area around it had been destroyed by the 1983 bushfires, but have since regenerated.
Went to Trentham Falls after that. Trentham Falls was formed about 5 million years ago by molten lava rapidly cooling, and it is the highest single-drop waterfalls in Victoria, plunging 32 metres into the Coliban River below. This area has been extensively protected. The waterfall itself is pretty spectacular both in summer and winter.
Admired the waterfall for a while, and then we had some snacks in the nearby picnic grounds. We could actually hear the waterfall from the carpark!
And that's it for today's post! Part 3 will be coming shortly!