Ballarat

Our Hotel

Beautiful tilework

The Grounds

Ballarat built up around the richest alluvial gold field ever in the world. As with many gold mining towns, it had its ups and downs, but is today a city of over 100,000 with some great old buildings, a beautiful lake in the center of town, and some interesting modern buildings. It is also the setting for one of our favorite PBS mystery series, Dr. Blake. Dr. Blake was sent to China during World War II, married a Chinese woman, and stayed there until his father died and his wife disappeared so he returned to Ballarat to take over his father’s practice and become the medical officer for the local police. His methods and rather arrogant manner create problems with the police chief and local politicians even as he solves murder after murder.

We had been excited to be able to view the special exhibition of Dr. Blake at the Gold Museum, but it had closed a few days before we arrived. Too late or too early seems to be a theme on this trip. Instead of the exhibition, however, we were able to take a tour of Dr. Blake’s Ballarat with two lovely tour guides who have been giving tours as a couple for over thirty years. We had a great time with them as we toured the city learning about its history and remembering several of the episodes we had seen over the years. We even got a bit of a preview of this season’s shows which we won’t be seeing in the US for another year or two. We will get a to see a few of them as the new season began last Sunday on local TV.

Crimson Roesella