Comfort Inn Parkview Ballarat

... directly below the place we were at on the tour, but having limited success. We, however, had great success gold panning in the river and found several small pieces of gold! Don’t get too excited though as you practically need a microscope to see them - We won’t be giving up our day jobs just yet. Some people have found huge nuggets of gold in the Ballarat region over the last decade or so so ...

... Gold zu finden... leider vergeblich! :-( Die meiste Zeit sind wir aber einfach nur durch das Städtchen geschlendert und haben einfach alles aufgenommen. Es war wirklich interessant so einiges über diese Zeit zu erfahren. Schliesslich war dies die Zeit, die diese Stadt und Umgebung geprägt hat und die Stadt zu dem gemacht hat, was es heute ist. Ich persönlich fand es besonders interessant, da wir nie wirklich viel mit dem Goldrausch zu tun hatten oder ...

... view of the Panamint Valley. There were two things I learned on this trip. One is that all Bureau of Land Management lands are not necessarily open to the public and the second was that certain shotgun ammunition should not be used in a dry, windy area. Let me just say this, be very careful in Southern California with fire. It is incredible how quickly things can get out of hand.

... myself. So Like I said I was on my way to get some coffee and a bite to eat. I ended up a cafe I never been to before for the one I enjoy so much was closed for the day. I went to this one snuck away in a corner called "The original pea store" Interesting name for a coffee shop I thought and went in for there sign said something about them being great at making good drinks and food. The coffee shop was more then a shop. It was a cook ware store, and an art ...

My birthday was absolutely fantastic!!!!! So I wake up at 8am and I hop on a train to the city and I treat myself to the Melbourne Aquarium! I saw sharks and lots of unique fish: my favorite is the elephant shark! I also paid extra to go behind the tank and go see them up close on a glass bottom boat... I got some video of it, sharks up close and personal... it was cool.. sharks are harmless creatures and truly mistaken... I hope to post my videos soon on my ...

... anc cows, in various stages in decomposition or being eaten by giant wedge tailed eagles (about 3 feet tall, and a wingspan at least 8 feet (http://www.amonline.net.au/factsheets/ wedge_tailed_eagle.ht m)) Our first night on the trip back was right on the border of Northern Territory and South Australia. It was promising to be another night of about 20, and we were looking forward to cooling of after spening moretime outside and in the sun that we wanted to ...

... all you could drink wine buffet. I'm not much of a wine drinker, although I'm getting a better, but if you see it as a challenge you can clear a couple of bottles quite quickly. Sadly I went in to the Casino afterwards (probably why they do it) and threw away a whole $10 in about an hour. Oh the shame of it! From Cairns we took the Greyhound Bus (just a name, not a cheap option involving cheap canine transport solutions) as we did throughout Queensland, for the ...

Only 2 weeks to go. So many things to think about, plan and remember to do. Money, phones, packing. What will the weather be like, what clothes will we need? What places do we want to see at each point in the journey? What arrangements do we still need for those left behind. It is starting to feel a little manic.

... ici, c'est comme ça tout le temps et avec tout le monde... J'adore! les Australiens sont profondément gentils.... ils sont profondément disciplinés aussi... C'est assez marrant. Pas une voiture à gauche, pas une voiture à droite, et pourtant personne ne traverse, le feu est rouge... et c'est là qu'on reconnait les étrangers qui se lancent tous seuls pour traverser avant que le bonhomme vert ne clignote.... en revanche, pour rentrer dans le tram, c'est chacun pour ...

... us and us staring at it before it bounded past us into the bush! We chuckled to ourselves and wished we'd had the camcorder primed and ready. The art work, which consisted of white stickmen-like figures, was caged in for protection. To be honest, it didn't look much, but we had to remember that this was up to 20,000 years old and was some of the first art to ever be produced. When we thought of that, it was pretty amazing. Back to roads made of tarmac, we were excited to see ...