Highlight of the week (25-31 Jan): Bendigo.

Not a bad weekend to get away.  Chinese history, pottery and “Belgian style” training. Why Bendigo? It's way out there in the bush you say. Well, one, we know people, and, two, exactly, get away from the city. Bendigo is about the size of Athens (home of the one and only University of Georgia Bulldogs). Big enough to get government funding and able to support a museum and large botanical garden yet still have the feel of a small town. Nice people, horses, and fairgrounds. (Lots of Pics inside!!)
What I was most surprised about were the sporting facilities. Namely, the velodrome (go figure) --worth noting, Australia nearly has more velodromes in one State than all of the US. They also had a couple Cricket and Aussie rules rugby grounds with stadium seating and the usual bowls clubs.
Saturday: We all went out to see the Golden Dragon Museum which honours Chinese history in the town of Bendigo; a significant part of the excavation of about 9 billion dollars of gold in the late 1800s. Along with many European and Aussie settlers, there was a large influx of Chinese to the area. After the gold rush, many of the Chinese left but imparted a lasting impact on the town’s history. This museum was resurrected on top of the China town that once stood and the historical pieces donated by surviving descendants. The museum covered typical Chinese culture and structure, adaptations to Western mores, as well as some of the prejudices passed upon them.
Sunday: Bendigo Pottery, an historical attraction and operational to this day. They have the “world’s most significant collection of heritage wood-fired kilns.” The kilns are Enormous, and it is Australia’s oldest working pottery. Started in 1858, it’s going on 152 years! There are some nice pictures of the facility on their website. I didn’t leave empty handed. I purchased a coffee mug--in fact, two coffee mugs. One, a yacht mug, for future days (and it reminded me of my grandparents). The other, with which I am really pleased, was from the last batch of wood fired pottery ever made at Bendigo Pottery--vintage late 1980s. Made with a special salt glaze, it’s my favourite mug already.
As for training: windy and the roads--the whole lot of them--were one nasty false flat. Sunday's ride was not as monotonous at Saturday, but I rode into the wind most of the ride. It took two hours on my way out of town, into the wind, and 1 hour to cover 45km on the way back. I have always been disgusted with the wind but never knew how much skill and strength it took to ride in it. It is always nice to finish a ride feeling like a superstar at 45km/hr.

(the pictures are from outside the gardens of the museum, used book store in town, the museum, and the train ride from Bendigo to Melbourne)