Cakelaw's Travel Tales

    On the Labour Day long weekend in March, Tim and I stayed for three days in Bendigo.  We have been to Bendigo a number of times before, as it is an easy 2 hour train ride from Melbourne, and just has a vibe that we love.   My photos are a little eclectic because I have photos of the usual touristy things from other visits.  Some of these photos come from our walking tour with Jill and Pete , two fabulous local guides; others come from our ramblings through Bendigo during our stay.  I hope that you enjoy these photos for a little taste of Bendigo.   First up, there are the fruit bats that hang upside down from the trees in their thousands in Rosalind Park, and make the most ungodly twittering noise, while they fan themselves with a wing to keep cool:     The Bendigo bats are well travelled - scientists tagged three bats that they dubbed Byron, Bradley and Borat to track their travels.  All of them flew for miles, and Byron and Bradley returned to Rosalind Park a

On the Labour Day weekend, Tim and I visited Buda Historic Home and Garden in Castlemaine.  Buda was occupied for over a hundred years, from 1863 to 1981, by Ernest Leviny and his family.  Ernest was a Hungarian-born silversmith and jeweller . Ernest and his wife, Bertha had 10 children.  Of his six daughters, only one married, and the rest of them spent most of their lives at Buda. The Leviny women were talented artists in a number of different fields, including embroidery, enamelling, painting and woodcarving.  Examples of their work and Ernest's silversmithing are exhibited in the house.  I was excited to learn that the Leviny daughters knew Margaret Preston , and there a number of Margaret Preston prints on the walls at Buda.  I am a fan of Margaret Preston's art, and I am currently reading this excellent biography about Margaret Preston .  The tie-in to Buda therefore delighted me. These two photos are of the servant's kitchen - I think it loo