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Ballarat Car Boot & Farmers Market dates list 2018

Car boot and farmers markets in Ballarat and surrounds are a great morning our with family and & friends.

You never know what you might find, from fresh fruits, nuts, vegies and home cooked goodies at farmers markets, to furniture, bikes, odds and ends at bargain prices at the car boot sales.

Most have been running for years, if not decades, and are a chance to support not just local producers,Artisans, home crafters & bakers, as well as larrkin wheeler dealer hobbyist second hand merchants, but also the charities and service clubs that run them in some cases.

The markets don’t generally have set dates each month- they work off particular weeks of the month in most cases.

There are also the occasional specialist or occasional market event that is organised, such as the inaugural colossal swap meet at the Mitchell park airport each year, which will offer up a veritable treasure trove of rare and unusual goods, and tasty fare.

Visit Ballarat is a great resource for finding excellent markets in Ballarat and surrounds that might be updated more frequently than this site, so be sure to check out their website

http://www.visitballarat.com.au/events/markets

The blog eat local Ballarat is also not a bad resource; it has not been updated since 2016, but most of the information is still fairly current.

http://eatlocalballarat.com/ballarat-regional-farmers-markets/

Dates of Saturday Farmer’s Markets Ballarat, 3350 Victoria

 1st Saturday of the month 9 am – 1 pm: Bridgemall Farmers Market

http://bridgemallmarket.com.au

https://www.instagram.com/bridgemallfarmersmarket/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_ipw3OzS-OsKEW2e_HRkDA

2nd Saturday of the month 9 am – 1 pm: Ballarat Farmers Market- Lake Wendouree (Lakeside, opposite the botanical gardens)

3rd Saturday of the month 9am – 1pm Creswick farmers market

http://creswickmarket.com.au/

4th Saturday of the month 9 am – 1 pm:  Ballarat Farmers Market- Brown Hill Hall- 357 Humffray St Nth, Brown Hill (all weather market!)

https://ballaratmarkets.com.au/

https://www.facebook.com/ballaratfarmersmarket/

Dates of Regular Sunday Farmers Markets in Ballarat

3rd Sunday of every Month: Talbot Farmer’s market (Talbot 3371)

This market is a popular and varied market which basically takes over the town of Talbot, with streets closed in the “CBD” for the market.

You can get everything from fruit & veggies, to plants, or even a chook, goat or farm equipment, or clothing.

http://talbotfarmersmarket.org.au/

https://www.instagram.com/talbotfarmersmarket/

https://www.facebook.com/TalbotFarmersMarket#

EVERY Sunday! – Daylesford Sunday market

http://www.dscr.com.au/sunday-market.php

 

Dates of Regular Sunday Car boot Market in Ballarat

EVERY single Sunday, every month at the Ballarat showgrounds Run by the rotary club of Ballarat south.

There is the odd sunday where the market does not run due to a special event, the show or other reason such as extreme weather- check the facebook page to see if there’s an exception or not.

https://www.facebook.com/marketballarat/

http://www.ballaratmarket.com.au/

 

List of Occasional and special interest markets in Ballarat:

Design Exchange Market (At the mining Exchange, Lydiard Street)

Artisan clothing, crafts, sculpture, paintings & ceramics.

http://www.thedesignexchange.com.au/dates/

https://www.facebook.com/thedesignexchangemarket/

https://www.instagram.com/thedesignexchange/

Ballarat Swap Meet- Mitchell Park (airport) (19th Feb, 2019)

Possibly the biggest and most interesting market that you are ever likely to see.

Stall holders come from all around Victoria and the entire country to meet, sell wares and have a yarn.

Thousands of stalls + food and other oddments. $10/day entry fee

http://www.ballaratswapmeet.com.au/

Ballarat Springfest- Lake (November) Wendouree parade, Ballarat.

Big, bright and bashful- this market festival is a mix between agricultural show, car show& shine, and a swap meet / farmers market.

Expect to see stalls ringing the entire lake!

The annual springfest is run by rotary Ballarat.

http://ballaratspringfest.com.au/

https://www.facebook.com/Rotary-Club-of-Ballarat-248166368573606/

https://www.instagram.com/rotaryballarat/

Nshry cafe restaurant bar Middle Park Pier – Albert Park Melbourne

Nshry. its an odd name, for a cafe that makes dishes that are, well, just a little bit odd, but in a very gooooood way!

Its not often that I can say that I’ve had a truly exceptional meal, but at Nsry, I certainly did!

As the name, and the paper crane logo suggests, this cafe is a wee bit foreign in inspiration, most likely Asian.

Why do I think this? Mexican standards like chilli bean tacos end up deconstructed in a bowl, with rice inserted into the mix,  with the Korean favourite of a random egg cracked on top, Japanese panko crumbles feature prominently, as does wasabi, sesame mayo and all the other delicious things that make asian food truly delicious and great. Theres that, and the fact that the owner, Michael Nham (pictured below) comes from a Vietmanese and Taiwanese cultural background. Next time i go back, ill have to ask what inspiration is truly behind the name.

At first glance, the menu contains all sorts of typical standard cafe fare… but then you look closely, and you realise that its anything but a normal offering. its inspired, its different, and above all, its tasty. Tasty enough to write about with passion, that’s for certain. Nsry lunch menu

We chose the Taco rice bowl, and the “Umami” burger. They were expensive lunch options, at over $20, but hey, we had just gotten engaged, and the location at the foot of the pier looking over the beach, with the Spirit of Tasmania docked in the distance was a nice atmosphere.

A nice touch was that in the outdoor dining area, because it was a cold day, woolen blankets were supplied to wrap oneself in (or snuggle up in).

Anyway, back to the food. The Umami burger, which consisted of a beautiful marriage in a BIG fat intensely satisfying pattie consisted of a unique and well thought out mix of both Wagu and Angus beef, married with slow roasted tomato and onion jam came with a little selection of very, very exceptional sides- a sesame coleslaw with micropickles, and very crispy, very golden fat chips, and three dipping sauces, traditional sweet tomato, garlic aoli, and chilli mayo.

Anyhow, little did I know at the time, but this burger won a prize as burger of the the year, 2011, and little has changed about it ever since. You don’t mess with perfection, clearly.

The Umami Bruger of Nsry, middle park pier, Burger of the year, 2011.

Thanks to the following blog posts that I borrowed photos from:

http://theburgeradventure.com/2012/02/the-burger-of-the-year-2011/

https://www.timeout.com/melbourne/restaurants/nshry

http://www.bambinoweekend.com/nshry/

 

http://nshry.com.au/

129A Beaconsfield Parade

Albert Park, Victoria

03 9682 1077

Tuesday – Sunday

8am to 4pm

Herkimer Diamond Engagement Ring Melbourne Australia Corky Saint Clair

This post is a little thank you to the inspired and insightfulJeweler Chris Bril, of Corky Saint Clair who created the ultimate token of my love (A 1.81ct Herkimer Diamond Solitaire Engagement ring. set in sterling silver) for the lass, to whom I proposed to on Saturday, while on a bike, in a subway, of all places.

Since making my decision to ask the most charming and beautiful friend I have in this world to marry me, I’d spent many months searching and agonising in Melbourne and beyond over exactly what engagement ring I was going to buy for the lass, not to mention a lot of stress over the cost.. and most of the options fit the bill- nice and sparkly and shiny.. but they were a little.. generic, and not quite me, or her, or us somehow.

While wandering Melbourne’s little niche and custom shops, I was in the old, and slightly dank Art Deco section of Flinders street subway, below Degraves street where there is a ratty collection of tiny, artisan shops, ensconced in wood and sensually curved glass… or.. well.. graffiti covered old skool galv B&D roller doors, when something really, really special sparkled alluringly in the depths of one of the shops.

What really caught my eye was a silver set engagement ring with quite a twist on it, that really made me look twice.

A handy book available on amazon on the exciting variations of Herkimer available on the market.

The stone was cut in a wonky, shonky looking way that suggested it was the apprentice jewel cutter’s first attempt at cutting a diamond, and he had royally ballsed it up.

But. it sure was different. I just could not look away. Looking more closely, it had a wild kind of ordered beauty that I couldn’t quite put my finger on, but the clarity of the stone was exceptional, and it was impressive, but not obnoxious in size. It was as if the unusual cut had been actually made on purpose, and was not a product of incompetence, or an unfortunate accident… it… worked…

Next to it was a write up about the Diamond that was in the solitaire ring, which described it as a “Herkimer Diamond”.

The narrow and exclusive region in new york state, USA, that Herkimer diamonds are mined from

Pffttt. I thought. so, it’s a fake diamond, just a lousy cubic zirconia, or CZ.  I kept reading though, and discovered that it was anything but fake, it was the genuine article, alright, and genuine and unique in many more ways than the average carbon based diamond ever could be.

Herkimer diamonds come from upstate New York. They display unusually high brightness, clarity and hardness, and are formed over 400 million years in bubble pockets, or “vugs” in dolostone. The most authentic feature of them is that their shape, which looks like man made “cut” facets, but, amazingly, they are actually formed naturally, by the miracle of the mechanics of the earth and nature.

Every Herkimer has 18 individual and unique facets, and are actually are a naturally occurring, highly rare double terminated crystal. No two are exactly alike, or, for that matter, vaguely the same. That’s the way I feel about the lass, and our relationship- nothing compares, and I don’t doubt for a moment that I’ll ever in my lifetime meet another girl quite like her.

In the cabinet next to the display of the ring, was an excised cross section of a piece of dolomite stone, exposing a little cavity or bubble in the rock mass. Inside, was a the crystalline shining diamond of a Herkimer, nestled in the little pocket, as perfect and untouched as could be.

Video of a herkimer ring on facebook

 

In the Subway, which can be entered off Flinders and Degraves street, many of the little establishments

Subway Entrance off Degraves Street

eking out an existence seem to sell something just a little bit different, hand crafted, or rare second hand items of style, and at pretty reasonable prices.

Technically, the 1950’s pink tiled subway is called the “Campbell Arcade”, though few Melbourne residents might refer to it as such, and 2/3 of residents surveyed at one point had no idea the place even exists, despite being a very distinctive, and major part of the Flinders street station complex. The shopping strip has an interesting history, which is brought to life by a post by the blogger “danno”, which is worth a read if you are intrigued by history like me.

One of these quirky little shops is the esteemed Jeweler named “Corky Saint Clair“, whose unlikely insignia is denoted by a funny little power monster thingy. Apparently, it’s called the “Carrymonster”, though I have no darn idea why.

Corky’s after one of the regular subway floods

The owner and head jeweler is the aforementioned Chris Bril, who is a pleasant guy who quietly beavers away in the workshop part of the shop, while customers explore the surreal layout of his wares.

Broadsheet did an interview with Chris a while ago, which gives one some insight into the smiling man behind the soldering iron, pliers and files.

If you want your own ring,  for that special person in your ife you want to commit to, take a look at Herkimer solitaire rings at corky st clair melbourne

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