On our way to Canberra, we visited Bendigo Pottery and Bendigo Woolen Mills! Bendigo Pottery was pretty interesting. It was like a museum and we guided ourselves through a
tour about the history of Bendigo Pottery! We got some cool souvenirs too.
I bought my friend a mug, mum found a mixing bowl, butter dish and salt & pepper shaker! There was a beautiful little thrift shop I loved inside too!
I really liked the atmosphere of the place. It was so rustic and intriguing! The museum was also fantastic! The pottery factory was established during the gold rush in 1858 and is still operating. One of the old fire kilns has been converted to a small theatrette which showed a short film about the pottery's founder and history.
After that we headed to Bendigo Woollen Mills! It didn't have any fancy tours or museums. It had a shop with good quality wool and patterns at a reasonable price! Mum got HEAPS of wool and a couple of patterns and now she's been knitting me a very warm special cardigan!
As we were driving, we came across a ghost town and saw a sign leading to a dirt road into the bush where there was an abandoned old cemetery. It was eerie how the Australian bush had reclaimed most of the old town and graveyard. It was so silent except for the noise of the whistling wind and rustle of gum leaves.
Finally we arrived at the war memorial.
I've been studying the First World War and we went through the war memorial and saw all the names of fallen soldiers. It was so cool! We walked up the stairs to the boards with all the names of the fallen soldiers and mum told me a story of how my great grandparents had gone to visit the war memorial to see Harry Respini's name but had forgotten his battalion number! There are so many names that without the battalion number it would seem impossible to find one particular name! Then they turned around and just saw it! Right in front of them! Amazing huh? Then you'll never guess what happened after that story, mum said "Guess what, I left the battalion number at home..." she was rummaging madly through her handbag for the number. We couldn't believe it! We'd come all this way and we had no way of finding Harry's name on the boards. Mum gave up, looked over her shoulder and said "There it is!" Harry's name was right behind us! History had repeated itself.
There is a special room put aside as the tomb of an unknown soldier. It was especially quiet inside, and I felt like I was in a sacred place. The ceiling of the unknown soldier's tomb was remarkably detailed, and around the walls were mosaics which depicted different service men and women.
The next morning we got up before dawn and drove back to the Australian War Memorial to see Harry Respini's name displayed for 30 seconds. It was amazing, we were there at 5:37am and no one was around! It was kinda sad and lonely... the names were only up there 30 seconds each and no one was there to see them but the kangaroos :( Well, the names are being repeated several times a year so maybe people will come to see them another time.
There were kangaroos everywhere! I couldn't get close enough for a good picture, and the camera
Before we left on our road trip, mum and I did some research about Harry and submitted it onto this website called "Lives of the First World War". You can read about him here
Here is a shot of Parliament house from the steps of the Australian War Memorial. It would've been great to have more time to explore the sights of Canberra.
Overall, it was a fun trip, I got some good photos, mum got some wool and we were able to honour Harry Respini. I feel so blessed to be able to have these opportunities as a homeschooler. We spent 4 nights on the road, giving ourselves enough time to enjoy the views and take in the countryside before we had to be at the war memorial and then it was time for the long drive home.
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