ACOY Daytrip to Ballarat Wildlife Park & Sovereign Hill (July 30th 2005)

On the 30th of July the first regiment of St. Paul’s and St. Nicholas’ church, set out on a mission. Led by commander S. Rabbs, their mission was to have fun! From discovering the Wildlife Sanctuary in Ballarat to exploring the replica historic township of Sovereign Hill - the gold rush era’s most famous township - there was sure lots to look forward to.

It was 9.00am on a cool, blue-skied Saturday morning at St. Pauls where the mission began. “All aboard!” roared commander Rabbs to the St. Paul’s crew, who by nature are habitually late (by 1 hour or so). However, this time commander Rabbs had disciplined his solders and managed to depart a record 10 minutes after the scheduled departure time of 9pm, on track to the next destination: St. Nicholas’.

As the St. Paul’s Team settled in, we reached our first destination at St Nicholas’. Without anymore time to waste, the commander in charge and his fellow officers (2nd in charge) conducted a head count and off we went, on a two and a half hour bus trip to the Wildlife Sanctuary in Ballarat.

An hour had passed and the two teams, St. Paul’s and St Nicholas’, where settling in together, preparing for a highly action-packed day in the country. As the soldiers loosened up, the true atmosphere which was to dominate the mission all day long exploded on the U.S. Bus line bus we where traveling on. The atmosphere was, well, quite like “a troop of kids high on sugar” as Lieutenant J. Harvey put it. There was mingling, sharing, chanting, and even counseling at some stages of the mission, which where all part of the fun.

Eventually, we arrived at the first of our two attractions in Ballarat: the Wildlife Sanctuary. After a quick briefing by Commander Rabbs on the do’s and don’ts and the forecast for that particular visit, we where all deployed into the Nature Park. We began the Park visit with a tour, led by Rhiannon, one of the rangers at the park. Again to continue the flow of briefings she explained how to and how not to treat the animals we will meet and told us a bit about the park itself. Then the more exciting part began.

First we where lucky enough to be introduced to a baby koala and everyone had their chance to give it a good stroke before moving on further up the park. We then met Wally the wombat (a VERY VERY VERY…. Huge wombat) and all got a good pat again, learning that as smooth and silky as a wombats fur may look, it’s actually very rough.

Following this, Rhiannon took us to kangaroo hill, where most of the free roaming kangaroos in the park could be found. Here we all where given kangaroo feed and could actually go and hand-feed the kangaroos. I’m sure everyone would agree this was one of the highlights of the trip. Despite the sticky hands and the scratches we where left with after feeding the kangaroos, it was very enjoyable being up close with them. For those that where daring enough, attempts where made to feed the free roaming emus that wandered around the park, but no one was actually brave enough to keep their hand there as they attempted to eat the food!

After all this, we had one more set of enclosures to explore! The reptiles housing room. Here we saw gigantic turtles that can amazingly live to be 200 years old, and dangerous Australian snakes that can kill up to 2000 rats with one expulsion of venom. Along the way, the troops picked up a few tips on how to survive a snake bite and whether it was a myth or fact that sucking venom out of the bite area was effective in reducing the severity of a bite (if you want to know the answer, ask someone who went!!). However, the most intriguing reptile of all was the ironically named crocodile called “Gator”. This was approximately a 3.7 meter crocodile that had lived in the Sanctuary all its life. We where educated that the difference between a crocodile and an alligator could be seen in the jaw of the reptile and that a crocodile would actually kill you if you enter its territory, where as the alligator is less vicious in such circumstances. As we finished filling our minds with interesting facts on reptiles, we had also nearly come to the conclusion of our visit to this fascinating wildlife wonderland. So we prepared for the second stage of our mission in Ballarat.

After a short break in the park, where we could roam freely amongst the animals, we saluted the park goodbye and marched back towards the bus to an eagerly awaiting Commander Rabbs with his folder and head counting skills intact ready to usher us onto the bus. This was something the Commander became famed for throughout this journey. Once everything was wrapped up at the park we headed for the much anticipated Sovereign Hill, just a 10 minute drive from the park. As we headed towards our next destination we realized that the weather was beginning to change. Our clear blue skies had transformed into darkening overcast weather with the possibility of rain. However, that wasn’t enough to deter us from what we had come to do!

On our arrival to Sovereign Hill, we again - yes, you guessed it - went through the same briefing from Commander Rabbs, and headed for lunch at the Sovereign Hill kiosk. Following this we had a short tour by our uniquely and locally dressed guide Ben. He showed us all the knick knacks of the town and what events can be seen where. In other words he showed us “the places to be”! Again, we had our freedom after the conclusion of this short tour. The troops went around in small groups exploring this theme-park-styled town. The vibe throughout the town was quite amazing. There was nothing modern or anything which reminded its visitors of the typical modern towns of Melbourne. From dirt roads, to horse and carriage for transport, even the shops sold items that would have been sold in the Eureka era over 150 years ago. Goods purchased where served in a paper bag, and when I asked for a plastic bag, I was hit with an unexpected reply by the shopkeeper who looked at me puzzled and said “plastic bags have not been invented, however heres a paper carry bag!” I played along despite the fact that they sold sweets from a box wrapped in plastic!

Recovering from the changing scenery shock from one extreme to the other, we went on to explore the town. From discovering the mine where the biggest gold nugget in Victoria was found, to panning for gold in the river; we watched the musket firing, saw the $50,000 gold pour and just strolled through the array of shops that lined the main street of the town. The gold pour was where $50,000 worth of gold was melted into a liquid and made into a solid gold bullion. Jason K was hypnotized by the sight of the bullion, volunteering anything and everything to get up close to the bullion from the moment he entered the room! However, to Jason’s disappointment he wasn’t going to get anywhere near the bullion as officials hyped up security after they discovered his eagerness!

How can we mention Sovereign Hill without mentioning the confectionary shop! We watched from scratch how boiled sweets are made and many of us couldn’t resist entering the alluring confectionary shop to purchase some of Sovereign Hill’s unique sweets!

By about 5:30pm that evening we all met up after a tiresome day to go to dinner at the Charlie Napier Hotel. The warmth of the restaurant was a real relief after the chilling weather outside - a typical winter’s night setting in. We where presented with an all you can eat buffet which I must say was comparable to homemade food! As we talked about the day’s events together we were preparing for our next stage of the day (as if we hadn’t done enough already!), the sound and light show “Blood on the Southern Cross”.

We left the restaurant and headed to the theater where we viewed a short film presentation on the history of the Eureka Stockade. This was followed up with a trip outside to the gold panning creek which at night is turned into a sound and light spectacular! We watched a visual presentation of the history of Eureka. Then we where taken by bus carts to the outdoor theater where the story continued. They explained to us the animosity that had existed between diggers and the forces over mining licenses and the prejudice of the forces and law enforcement agencies at the time. We also heard how the uprising occurred and was resolved between the forces and the diggers. Many of us learnt a lot from Sovereign Hill that previously we hadn’t known. It was a great experience and was much enjoyed by all!

We headed back to the bus at about 9pm to end a mission well accomplished and prepare for the long journey back home! The trip back home was no quieter than the trip up, which tells a story in itself! It was a 12 hour day for us all and yet by the end everyone had the energy to maintain the atmosphere created in the bus on the way up, just showing how much fun the whole day had been for us all! (I guess the sweets had some effect in maintaining this too!)

Special thanks must go out to all those involved in organizing the trip from St. Nick’s and St. Paul’s behind the scenes, and those that helped on the day ensuring everything flowed smoothly.

By Joseph Mattar, 31^st July, 2005

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