Craig's Royal Hotel Ballarat

... is definitely plenty of gold around.

After a lovely Devonshire cream tea we headed off to the gold museum to look at the nuggets.

Sovereign Hill is a must do – really good day out, reasonably priced food and very interesting and informative for all.

We have also found our new favourite fast food place – the Noodle Box! Delicious freshly produced noodles and rice cooked to order. Fab.

... dieser Zeit und somit war es spannend ein wenig darüber zu erfahren. Sicherlich ist es vor allem eine Attraktion für Kinder, aber sowohl für Kinder als auch Erwachsene sehr lehrreich. Vor allem fand ich es aber erstaunlich wie sie es wirklich geschafft haben, diese Atmosphäre zu schaffen und man sich wirklich fast ein wenig wie zu dieser Zeit fühlt. Wären dort nicht all die Touristen eingekleidet in heutigen Anziehsachen, könnte man wirklich fast meinen ...

... The art took me back to my feeling of an artist. For the images were something I would myself paint. The first thing I said to the owner. "I love the art work." He said "Thank you they are my sons, he has sold a few but he still has to work to get a steady flow of income." I in return replayed. "I'm an artist myself and I know what that feels like." So I ordered a latte, a ricotta and pumpkin rotti wrap and sat down outside on the patio. There were allot of ...

Good flight home on Thai (good airline to fly with- leaves Qantas for dead) and both of us had 4 and 5 hours sleep so all good for getting home. Lia and Lenis there to meet us and then reality was back in a flash as the freeway was jammed with the tunnel blocked with an oversized truck jammed in there....sigh...... trekking....hills.... relaxation.... sigh...hee hee... So we arrived home in just under two hours with all the kids there waiting for us (and the ...

... the tower to view Melbourne from aloft. Next day we played golf with Mark while Renee caddied. Played the Yarrabend course which, despite the drought, did have somewhat green greens. Of course they were only using recycled water to keep the grass alive. Lack of rain is a common theme here as the water reservoir is down to about 20% capacity and they are desperate for a long steady few weeks of rain ...

... lunch with his brother and sister with darron as well at the Warrandyte pub. Christmas day saw Chris join his brother and had lunch with their Mum, and Darron and myself join my family at Rosebud for a wonderful christmas lunch Mum & dad came down from Coffs Harbour, chris came down that afternoon and we spent a week down at Rosebud but unfortunatly the weather wasn't that good we had a few good days for the beach. Had a afternoon in the boat ...

... it was largely to do with the alcohol, but I know my mums reading this sooo(Note to Mum , I didn't drink too much , im not a boozehag) Okay so of course I was late to work again (im making a habit of it even though it is 10mins walk around the corner.) Work was busy and they are trialling the most annoying girl who claims to be a Kiwi although she has the most stereotypical oz accent ever! Okay work was **** , but it was only to be made worse when he asked me to leave half an hr ...

The colonial town reminded me of Winthrop, Washington. It really gave a good idea about life during the colonial times in Australia. The activities were great, they had candle making and dippin, sweet making, and gold panning. I didn't do any of the activities because I was saving my money for Cairns (and a lot of activities cost a lot). What I found interesting was the gold mining part and the fact that everyone working there were in costume.

Em and I spent the weekend at a place called Ballarat, about 2 hours outside of town to the north. It's an old gold mining town, and unlike a lot of them it has survived and is a decent sized town. We took the weekend trip with our American friends Josh and Mel who live down the hall, and of course their baby Ella. The main attractions are an animal park and Sovereign Hill, a gold mine replica town, so of course we did both. We ...

... more wildlife, some of which a little too closely. We saw plenty more Kangaroos, narrowly missed a startled deer that ran out in front of us, and more Emu's. As we followed the same highway as yesterday we were primed with camcorder in hand to capture the Giant Koala. The Giant Koala is a restaurant which, funnily enough, has a Giant Koala built beside it. The day before we flew to Sydney we picked up a copy of Bill Bryson's "Down Under" at a book swap in the YMCA in ...