Monday, January 12, 2009

Road Trip 4: architecture

One of the pleasures of travel is seeing the architecture of Away.
Sometimes it's just the angles of a modest nineteenth century cottage, like this one in Violet Town.

0901 Violet Town house top

Or the pleasure of seeing a classic corrugated roof weatherboard cottage with wire fence and a tumble of pink roses - this one also in Violet Town.

0901 cottage, Violet Town

Or else something grander, like the Art Gallery in Bendigo, Victorian sandstone and the clear influence of nineteenth century gold rush money.

0901 Bendigo Art Gallery 02

0901 Bendigo Art Gallery 01


We parked next to the Art Gallery, in a car park overlooking the oval and this graceful grandstand - iron lace done well, as historically it was (and in modern terms, usually isn't).

0901 Bendigo grandstand

In the city centre, there were lots more buildings to admire - influences from English architecture, other tall thin buildings with mansard roofs that looked like they might be found in Paris, and a whopper of a cathedral (which I didn't photograph).  Rosalind Park has this Soldiers' Museum, with Queen Victoria keeping an eye on things:

0901 Soldiers' Museum, Rosalind Park, Bendigo

For me, it's sometimes the smaller details that are most engaging.  Here's the ex-fire station, next to the Gallery - a wonderfully grand side door:

0901 former fire station, Bendigo

And (from memory on the same street, View St), this relic of past activity:

0901 Bendigo laneway and sign

In Castlemaine, the visitors' centre is in what we guessed was once a wool store, with wonderful green paintwork.
0901 Castlemaine tourist info centre

Lots to see, and much more than I could photograph on one short visit.  Castlemaine (that's cassulmaine, not carslemaine, one learns - rhymes with hassle rather than parcel) and Maldon (wonderful main street!) too are rich in beautiful buildings, large and small.

4 comments:

Candy Schultz said...

I have given you an award. You can see it at my blog. Technically you are supposed to pass these along but I look upon these memes as the internet version of chain letters (no offense to anyone) so you do what you would like. I only awarded them to people I really thought deserved an award like this.

BizarreQuilter said...

It's wonderful to see and hear your viewpoints on my home-town (Bendigo). It was like looking through the eyes of a tourist. You really captured it's beauty.

Thank you.

Loz

Anonymous said...

Our visitor centre in Castlemaine was originally built in the goldrush days as a market, and used as such until the 1960's - I still remember Market day, fruit and vegies, and poultry. Great photo.

Jeanne said...

Thanks for sharing the wonderful photos! I wish I were with you!