I've been in Ballarat for almost ten months now, having moved over from Perth. I'm assimilating well, however I have noticed many things in this land that are not what I am used to, this is a continuation to the previous post Things I have Noticed About Ballarat # 1...
- People expect to park right out the front of any store or venue they choose to visit.
- You are able to park right out the front of any store or venue you choose to visit (mostly)
- Winter is very long here. It's almost October and i've just stopped wearing a beanie every day, but I'm still wearing a jumper most days.
- Most restaurants and eating establishments close around 8 to 9 pm, this is stupidly early.
- There aren't very many good eating houses here, but if you look hard enough you'll discover some gems.
- There is a lack of quality Asian food, this is very disappointing. I badly crave a night wandering Northbridge.
- I'm yet to find a quality bottle shop that does good wines (please comment below if you know one - that corner of Dan Murphy's doesn't count).
- Things are fairly casual around here eg: Today I called up a lawn mower guy, he said he'd pop around and give me a quote, I said when, he said now... what? (that wouldn't happen in Perth, there he'd probably pop round sometime later in the week or maybe next week).
- The lawn mower guy turned up as he said he would, he gave me a quote that was half the price of one I would expect in Perth. I asked him when he could do the job, he said now... WHAT?
- Posting a letter from Ballarat to a anywhere else in Australia will take at least 5 - 6 days to get there.
- They have sea breezes in Ballarat, even though it's 100 km's from the ocean and 435 metres above sea level.
- The streets of Ballarat always appear empty(ish) of people, as if nobody is even in the city. Come the first sunny day in ages and the place explodes. It seems that everyone just hibernates for 8 to 9 months of the year. They're in the city, as busy as any city, they're just inside.
- There is some awesome theatre and artistic events in Ballarat, a whole artistic sub culture that I'm starting to discover and embrace. This makes me smile.
I'm sure there are many more things that I just can't remember right now or that I will discover in the coming months, which is why I'm numbering these posts, stay tuned.
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