Flag Inn Central City Ballarat

... headed to the gold museum - lots of interesting stuff but 2 museums in a row may have been a little much for the boys. The kids were keen to go back to Sovereign Hill so off we went. Yesterday Ethan became a bit upset when his rainbow candle ended up a little brown (rainbows aren't brown!) so we were off to do another one. THis time we got it right so all was good - until it got a little broken later in the day... not good! Then saw an ingot ...

... side their vegetable and herb gardens and a wok in every tent. Dave and Jacob then went through the Red Hill Gold Mine down about five stories through narrow and dark corridors for a 15 minute tour. Jacob did not let go of my hand all the way as you will see in the before and after photos,he isn't all that fearless after all. We then attacked the creek bed to pan for gold, where they say they dump little bits of gold and he who finds gets to keep. It's true ...

we couldnt get away soon enough! halls gap is a super place but we are so pleased to heading off towards ballarat today. theres not far to go so todays blog will be very short!ballarat looks nice- the clouds dont! we take a chalet just in case. the welcome stranger big four site is small but perfectly formed with a fantastic endless swimming pool spa - with big power jets that you try to swim into- apparently you swim and swim but dont go ...

... in my beliefs things come in 3.. once strike 3 hits its a sign not to force anything. So I took it as this donation cannot be made and is not needed at this time... so I go off ... back to my bungalow. I walk in the living area and over here over the intercom a message that I only get half of. Genna was making a public announcement about a request for prayer. I only caught the end so I don't know what it is she was asking. This made me feel angry... for I felt ...

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 ...

We're staying with niece Renee and husband Mark in Melbourne. She has just married an Aussie and doesnt know much more than us about Melbourne and surrounds. The transit system is easy though and met up with friend Sara who had stayed with us in Ottawa almost ten years ago. Almost didnt recognise her as she has lost lots of weight and is looking great. Had lunch and caught up on all the news and then ...

... mins! We then headed off on our long journey towards Perth! 2600kms roughly and we had to do it in 6 days! but it did only cost us $5 a day and fuel plus they gave us $250 towards the fuel so a cheap way of getting to Perth! We made it to Port Augusta the first night and stayed at a powered site there for $23 as we'd not drove too far that day. On the way we saw road trains steaming ahead and also a train with over 150 containers on which was obviously going to another state!

... our rooms complete with air conditioning (well Lillis , my cupboard room only has the big ugly tubes visble that send the air cond to the rooms in the house.) We also had discovered the fans in the xmas parcel from Lils Mum (thanks Trudy).So the adventure of the night ...to see a drag queen show , was postponed....it goes back on our list of things to do Now today.After waking up rather hungover, a mixture of skipping dinner last night combined with the heat and alcohol ...

... for Dracula's for Cathy's 50th Birthday, it turned out to be more of a treat for Steve and Kris as it was more sleazy than Scary! In Melbourne Kris rented a Mobility Scooter, first stop was a tour of the Melbourne Cricket Ground! We walked miles and Miles around Melbourne trying to keep up with Kris who seemed to speed up gradually through-out the day. Steve had to catch the scooter as Kris nearly topped it on a steep incline. After all the ...

... you heard that right, we felt happy to be striding out again. The trek took us through some fairly open forest to begin with which was easy going. The path then began to climb and as it did, became rockier and less formed. We reached a certain height in the canopy and we became aware of more birds than before, especially parrots and wattle birds, named for the small flap of skin either side of their beak. We stomped across small streams and then the path disappeared ...