Ballarat

Introduction

Once Victoria's largest city, Ballarat was a mining centre during the gold rush of the 1800s. Visitors to Ballarat will find many reminders of this glorious era, with many grand old buildings featuring in the cityscape. The big tourist magnet in the town is Sovereign Hill, an interactive museum featuring historically recreated buildings, costumed volunteers and the opportunity to pan for gold yourself.

Sights and Activities

Sovereign Hill

© dyakhnov

Sovereign Hill

Open air interactive museum reproducing entourage and lifestyle of the city after the discovery of gold in 1851.

Gold Museum

Located right across the road from Sovereign Hill, Gold Museum has extensive collection of gold nuggets and coins.

Eureka Centre

The centre highlights Eureka Rebellion history as well as serves as Tourist Information centre.

Wildlife Park

Ballarat Wildlife Park features local animals such as koalas, wombats, echindas, tasmanian devils and free-range red kangaroos, and reptiles, including crocodiles and venomous snakes.

Botanical Gardens

Ballarat Botanical Gardens contains a remarkable collection of mature trees and marble statues set among colourful bedding displays. Prime-Ministers' Walk alley features bronze busts of every Australian Prime Minister.

Ex Prisoner of War Memorial

The memorial honours Australians who were held prisoner during wars involving Australia.

Vintage Tramway

The tramway operates every Saturday, Sunday, and most public holidays and school holidays.

Sleep

Upscale

You can use the form below to search for availability (Travellerspoint receives a commission for bookings made through the form)

Keep Connected

Internet

Internet cafés are very common in the larger Australian cities and popular tourist destinations. However, once you leave the major population centres, you might have trouble finding somewhere to log on. Free wifi is getting more and more common (either with or without a code) in places like restaurants, some bars and coffee places and hotels. Sometimes a fee is required.

Phone

See also: International Telephone Calls

Australia is on a GSM 900/1800 network, so if you have an unlocked phone that works on those frequencies, you will be able to buy a prepaid SIM-card and stick into your phone when you're in Australia. You will receive a new Australian phone number with the SIM-card.

To dial out of Australia use the prefix 0011, followed by the calling code of the country you are trying to reach, followed by the area code of the city/town (without the 0!) and finally the phone number.

Within Australia, it is necessary to add an area code to the phone numbers if you are calling from outside the area. Below are Australia's area codes:

• 02 - New South Wales & Australian Capital Territory (Sydney, Canberra)
• 03 - Victoria & Tasmania (Melbourne, Hobart)
• 07 - Queensland (Brisbane)
• 08 - Western Australia, South Australia & Northern Territory (Perth, Adelaide, Darwin)

000 is the emergency telephone number in Australia, but the international GSM mobile emergency telephone number 112 also works on mobile phones.

Post

Australia Post is the government's postal service. Most suburbs will have at least one post office. Opening times are mostly from around 8:00 or 9:00am to 5:00pm though larger ones keep longer hours sometimes. A standard letter or postcard sent within Australia will cost $0.60. Internationally, it costs $1.70 to send postcards anywhere in the world. Letters cost $1.85 to send within the Asia Pacific region and $2.60 to anywhere else in the world.^[1]. It is also possible to send things as parcels or by express mail. You can also use use private courier companies like TNT, UPS or DHL as they are competitive and reliable.

Events & Festivals

• Meredith, located 44kms away is home to the Meredith Music Festival each year. Find out more about Outdoor music festivals in Victoria (Australia).