Day 27 - 21/02/12

Today I hit the road again, destination Bendigo.
When I got there I went for a little drive around then stopped in at the Tourist Info Centre.
After my parking ticket in Melbourne, I've been very conscious of looking at parking signs and I soon discovered that to park ANYWHERE within the Bendigo CBD you need to purchase a ticket.
Now, having grown up in Wagga where there never has (and hopefully never will be) parking metres, and being rather "dollar conscious" by nature, it was a bit off putting to rock up to a new town and be confronted with this ticket malarky. I know in the grand scheme of things, it's no big deal but one thing I did observe over the course of my time in Bendigo, there were less customers in the areas that had parking restrictions than the areas that did (make of that what you will, Bendigo Council).
So anyways, I eventually got to the tourist info place and was completely fussed over by the women there and walked out with literally an armful of pamphlets, visitor guides, maps and if I had've stayed much longer I'm sure the kitchen sink was on the cards, God love 'em.
I checked out the art gallery then went for a walk around the CBD which had a really nice feel to it.

Nothing quite like a nice garden and old timey buildings

I walked past a few pubs and noticed they were advertising live music on the weekends (good to see) and popped into a music store and picked up the "Bendigo Live Guide" which detailed all the upcoming gigs around town in the next month - what a great idea!
It was then time to head to Rosalind  Park for some lunch, a read and to work on some lyrics.

Rosalind Park

I noticed a hell of a lot of younger kids, and by younger I mean teenagers, about and figured there must be a high school nearby - I hope it was a high school and not university because if these kids were university age then I'm REALLY getting older.
It's funny that now I'm not working during the day, I have time to notice other things and it was funny to observe the hairstyles, fashions and attitudes of the young ones these days.  The boys with their floppy fringes that they're always playing with so it sits just in front of their eyes and the girls with their short shorts. Ah, the times, they are a changin'. It's also funny to observe the awkwardness and little games that go on between teenage boys and girls (this will never change) - the boys showing off on their skateboards or with the soccer ball pretending they don't want to be noticed and the girls chatting to each other, pretending not to notice.
It makes me glad I'm over all that now and pretty comfortable with myself and my place in the world and don't have to go through all that bullshit anymore.
Ah, so where was I?
After lunch I went for a walk around the Chinese area:

Big fibreglass lotus flower...now that's just wong... (much like that joke)

I laughed when I saw this. How old am I?

Then went for a walk up Bendigo's version of the Eiffel Tower:

Bendigo's Eiffel Tower

The view from the top

I went for a drive to the lake and for a walk around it - quite nice. I also spotted a place overlooking the lake to sleep tonight. There's no "no camping" signs so I'm gonna chance it.

Lake Weeroona

That night I went to a Jam Night at the Golden Vine Hotel - who'd have thought, live music in Bendigo on a Tuesday! I'm soon realising that Bendigo is a place that loves music - if only Wagga could take a leaf from their book!
The host for the night got up first and played a few songs:

Funniest man in Bendigo right there

And his between band banter was absolute GOLD - he was certainly "Mr Personality".
I left at about 11.30pm and there were still at least another 7 bands still to play!
First impressions of Bendigo very good.