Bendigo sightseeing

Hello lovelies!

So a little more on my trip on the weekend. Bendigo is a beautiful town, it was founded during the gold rush of the 1850's and has that typical late Victorian Colonial feel - ornate but yet country.

The old Town Hall:

 The Cathedral - as you can tell, it was a bit chilly first thing Sunday morning.

There's a huge park in the middle of town - its very lovely...

and is home to the biggest bat (flying fox) colony I have ever seen.  This was just one small section of the park.  At first I thought the trees had some sort of strange gourd shaped seed pods ... until some of them moved (and the smell wafted toward me)!
 
There is a huge Chinese influence in Bendigo.  A lot of Chinese immigrants came to pan for gold during the gold rush, and they have left an indelible imprint on the town.

We stopped at the Chinese Museum which has some fantastic public art...

We ate dinner at the House of Khong - how cool is that name?!?   Though it could be improved if it was called the King House of Khong.

My absolute favourite piece of architecture were these beautiful art-deco-esque gates (did I just invent a word?). How fantastic are they?  I think this image will crop up in my artwork in the future.

'till next time

~Liz