We have of course been to Bendigo many times, but it’s been ages since we actually spent time in the city centre. We’re here for two days of orienteering at Eppalock – one of our favourite forests – but we added an extra day, and found ourselves a nice little AirBnB in Kennington (not far from Ted and Margi).

When looking for things to do, I found not one, but TWO Lego exhibitions! Then I found a gluten free café. Then I found a new Lego shop. I am officially the Best Tour Guide Ever – even if I do say so myself.

Our morning began at the Discovery Science and Technology Centre, near the railway station. The building was formerly a huge shed in the historic rail yards, used for storing various goods before being freighted to far flung places. Now it’s a perfect space for large scale exhibits. We were there to see “Curiosity”, a Lego exhibition focusing on breakthroughs in scientific discovery, created by Ryan McNaught, aka Brickman (of Lego Masters fame). The showpiece was the lifesize model of Perseverance, one of the Mars Rovers. It’s huge, very detailed and accurate, and took about 1000 hours to build (and a shed load of Lego bricks). There were lots of other space themed displays, but we really liked the clever Periodic Table of the Elements. It had a window box for each element, featuring a Lego depiction of what that element is used for or found in (so Potassium = a banana; Chlorine = a swimmer in a pool – you get the idea). There were models of a Falcon 9 booster on a landing barge, the Parkes dish (featured in the movie of the same name), and some Soviet space displays – plenty to keep us interested for the rest of the morning.

Next, we wandered downhill towards the city centre. Our second stop was the new Lego shop, just near the famous Fountain. Ian rummaged through the Pick A Part bins before deciding he needed more time there, not to mention fortification in the form of lunch.

So it was off to the Crooked Kitchen café. This completely gluten free establishment was bursting at the seams with customers. Ian ordered a chicken burger, while I went for pancakes, eggs, mushrooms and hollandaise sauce. There was a communication failure, and after a long wait and an enquiry, our food arrived, along with a complimentary muffin. It was all delicious, and we weren’t in any hurry.

Sated, we headed to the next stop on my Best Ever Day In Bendigo itinerary. This was the second Lego display, this time inside the Visitor Centre in the old Town Hall. The local Lego group was celebrating its 10^th anniversary by displaying their builds of a dozen or so of Bendigo’s most notable buildings – the Shamrock Hotel, the Central Deborah Gold Mine, the old Post Office, and so on. There were only about 4 people credited, so they must have each spent hundreds of hours on each exhibit. The scale, and the attention to detail was impressive.

Ian returned to the Lego shop for some fossicking, while I wandered around Rosalind Park. I remembered doing a Sprint race through here some years ago. This time I stumbled across a lovely Chinese garden and adjacent temple, and spent a happy half hour wandering over bridges and along paths, admiring the enormous goldfish in the ponds, and photographing the last of the autumn foliage. Who knew?

I completed my park walk by strolling to the other end of the park, where I found the Bendigo sign, a magnet for selfie takers as these city signs always are. Ian was happy with his shopping, scoring himself a bagful of obscure Lego parts, which he is now sorting through in order to update his inventory.

Sometimes it’s nice just to be a tourist.