Prussian Blue
Oct. 30th, 2011 09:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
todayiamadaisyThis week's photos of the day:
Day 296. Office dinosaur, Day 297. Pineapple, Day 298. Feed me, Day 299. Looking into John's workshop, Day 300. Pattern on the floor, Day 301. Bike race, Day 301a. Watching the bike race, Day 302. Lake Bolac, Day 302. Narrapumelap lion
Today I have been to the small town of Wickliffe, some 100 odd kilometres north of the City by the Sea, for the open day at the Narrapumelap homestead. I would love to tell you how to pronounce that, but I heard about five different versions of it today, so if you do want to say it aloud, just take a stab. As long as you sound knowledgeable, you'll get away with whatever you come up with.
Narrapumelap is apparently one of rural Australia's finest examples of French Gothic revival architecture, which would seem to be damning it with very specific praise. It's lovely though. Well worth a look if you happen to be passing.
On the way back, we stopped for lunch in the slightly bigger nearby town of Lake Bolac, eating sandwiches overlooking the lake. The town has a multi-purpose building that comprises the tourist information centre, heritage display, shop for local handicrafts, a Medicare office and the local bank branch (the last two weren't open on a Sunday). The woman looking after the visitor information centre was quite excited when she heard we were coming back from Narrapumelap, and gave us a free Narrapumelap postcard to commemorate our visit. Amongst the handicrafts were hand-made cards that said 'For the person who has everything' on the front. Opened out, the card contained a pipe cleaner with a bow tied around it: a belly-button brush. I didn't get one.
My mother said something to the visitor centre lady about the lovely view over Lake Bolac while eating our lunch, and it became obvious we had made an embarrassing faux pas. That sad little salt lake wasn't the mighty Lake Bolac, home of the famous eel festival, she told us. No, we had been looking at the lesser-known and vastly inferior Lake Paracalmic. The visitor information lady gave us a map showing us how to get to Lake Bolac (she could have just told us to turn left between the school and the Catholic church), and showed us some photos of a man holding the biggest eel ever caught in the lake and the parched lake bed in the drought years when it dried out completely. 'We had to have a mass burial of all the dead eels,' she said. 'It was very sad.' She paused. 'And quite smelly.'
1. Narrapumelap entrance, 2. Topiary, 3. Rose, 4. Tower, 5. Homestead, 6. Court yard, 7. Court yard, 8. Light shade, 9. Lion frieze, 10. Tower staircase, 11. Chimney, 12. Entrance lion, 13. Fish pond
Plus! Extra special bonus:
Portrait of the photographer and her mother
Day 296. Office dinosaur, Day 297. Pineapple, Day 298. Feed me, Day 299. Looking into John's workshop, Day 300. Pattern on the floor, Day 301. Bike race, Day 301a. Watching the bike race, Day 302. Lake Bolac, Day 302. Narrapumelap lion
Today I have been to the small town of Wickliffe, some 100 odd kilometres north of the City by the Sea, for the open day at the Narrapumelap homestead. I would love to tell you how to pronounce that, but I heard about five different versions of it today, so if you do want to say it aloud, just take a stab. As long as you sound knowledgeable, you'll get away with whatever you come up with.
Narrapumelap is apparently one of rural Australia's finest examples of French Gothic revival architecture, which would seem to be damning it with very specific praise. It's lovely though. Well worth a look if you happen to be passing.
On the way back, we stopped for lunch in the slightly bigger nearby town of Lake Bolac, eating sandwiches overlooking the lake. The town has a multi-purpose building that comprises the tourist information centre, heritage display, shop for local handicrafts, a Medicare office and the local bank branch (the last two weren't open on a Sunday). The woman looking after the visitor information centre was quite excited when she heard we were coming back from Narrapumelap, and gave us a free Narrapumelap postcard to commemorate our visit. Amongst the handicrafts were hand-made cards that said 'For the person who has everything' on the front. Opened out, the card contained a pipe cleaner with a bow tied around it: a belly-button brush. I didn't get one.
My mother said something to the visitor centre lady about the lovely view over Lake Bolac while eating our lunch, and it became obvious we had made an embarrassing faux pas. That sad little salt lake wasn't the mighty Lake Bolac, home of the famous eel festival, she told us. No, we had been looking at the lesser-known and vastly inferior Lake Paracalmic. The visitor information lady gave us a map showing us how to get to Lake Bolac (she could have just told us to turn left between the school and the Catholic church), and showed us some photos of a man holding the biggest eel ever caught in the lake and the parched lake bed in the drought years when it dried out completely. 'We had to have a mass burial of all the dead eels,' she said. 'It was very sad.' She paused. 'And quite smelly.'
1. Narrapumelap entrance, 2. Topiary, 3. Rose, 4. Tower, 5. Homestead, 6. Court yard, 7. Court yard, 8. Light shade, 9. Lion frieze, 10. Tower staircase, 11. Chimney, 12. Entrance lion, 13. Fish pond
Plus! Extra special bonus:
Portrait of the photographer and her mother