Mildura - home sweet home

Well we have been home a few wks now but i thought i should finish off the blog about our trip. What a great holiday we had even with the few minor hickups.

After bendigo we headed for mildura. Didnt expect such a beautiful town there but it really is like an oasis. There are palm trees all up the main street. We went on the Melbourne paddle steamer down the Murray river. Kids loved this.

We then went to Wentworth to see the Perry sandhills. They say its like the sahara desert which it is. Such red deserty sand. while in wentworth we also went to the junction point where the Murray meets the darling river.

The next day we went to an opal place which also had a 1 acre maze. Ethan once again loved this and its one of the biggest mazes in Australia.

went to Orange World and went on a tour. Was fun going around the orchid on a train pulled by a tractor. The guide Mario was such a funny man i think thats why ethan enjoyed it the most. He also got 9/10 of the questions correct.

Off to Renmark and went through quartine. Our electric brakes played up again sending smoke of the back tyres so when we arrived in renmark we got two new tyres on the camper and took it in to the caravan repairer. So we stayed the night in a cabin. The big 4 in renmark is spectacular right on the murray river with resort style pool and top qualtiy playground. We took the kids to Monash to play on an all ages playground which was really good and went to the almond factory to taste almonds.

From renmark we did a long days drive to Port augusta for 2 nights. Not much of a town some nice views though. went to the Mathew Flinders red cliff look out. Museum and the water tower lookout.

Onto ceduna for two nights as the weather was too hot to cross the Nullabor. The flies were awful so escaped to the beach there which we love. Our aircon started to make a funny nosie so took it to the mechanic. he didnt have time to fix it but said sounds like a leaf caught up in it but safe to use.

Finally cooler weather and we hit the rd for ecula no probs and all the bikies were camping in eucla aswell. A big storm hit that night. So glad we werent one of the bikies sleeping in a swag out there.

The next day we were planning on going to Norseman but by now we were just dying to get home so we travelled 12 hrs to esperance. Pulled in when it was getting dark and set up camp ready to leave again first thing for home.

Home sweet home yay its good to be back home again. Back into normal routine now and kids went back to school for 2 wks before easter school holidays. Graeme took the car in to get the aircon looked at as it was still noisy but also smelly. The removed a dead rat. lol

Ballarat and Bendigo

Yesterday in Ballarat we went to the Botanicle gardens. There is a row of head statues of every Australian prime minster to see which was quite interesting. i took photos of all of the statues. We then let the kids burn off some energy at lake wendouree again followed by a scrumptious lunch at one of the cafes by the lake.

Today we drove the short trip to Bendigo. In another lovely caravan park "top tourist - gold nugget" we have an en suite site which is great considering the down pour to hit here. we got here at 11.30 and it was sprinkling so got the camper up but it started to pour down by the time we got to putting up the annexe. Lucky we got here when we did though as it poured down all day. Too wet to go to any of the main attractions i had on my list for today so went to Bendigo Pottery where they have a gallery of their works and the boys got a clay kit each and got to do some clay play. They loved it and it was an ideal activity to get away from the wet weather.

Hopefully tomorrow is better weather as lots to see here and it looks like a gorgeous place to be.

Into the past of the eureka days

Have had a great time here in Ballarat. Yesterday we took the kids over to Soverign hill which is virtually just across the rd from our caravan park. Kids really loved it there. Ethan and Sheldon went underground on a mine story tour with Graeme. Ash and I checked out the old shops while they did that. They got to see the red coats firing, do candle dipping, went on a coach horse ride and panned for gold. no one found any gold though lol. Was very interesting and the replica buildings are so good to look around. Will add some pics of soverign hill.

Afterwards we checked out the gold museum, got to see a giant gold nugget.

Today we went to the Eureka Centre and Ethan was glued to the documentary about the Eureka stockade - very interesting how a 1 hour battle (really a walk over) changed Australian democracy. We bought a few things from the gift shop including the blue and white Eureka flag that the miners fought under.

We took the kids to the Adventure Playland which they enjoyed. The playland was next to Lake Wendouree which has a yacht club and a rowing club and jetties but no water. Shows that the drought has been ongoing for years.

Relaxed by the resort style pool in the afternoon which was an ideal cool off after a hot day in the sun.

Wodonga / NED KELLY country

Well on Saturday we left Canberra after a day at the Royal Show. Kids had fun going on the rides and got a show bag each.
So saturday we arrived in Wondonga. The caravan park in wodonga was absoulte crap did not have a nice feel about it or anything, hard to explain but we didnt feel relaxed there. We had 3 nights booked but we left today for Ballarat as didnt want another night there. This was borderland big 4 that we had stayed at, i dont know how they managed to get a 4 star rating.

Anyway the first night there we went into albury and had dinner at a nice little italian cafe style restaurant, was lovely food. Yesterday we went for a drive out of wodonga to taste some wines at Schmitz strawberry farm. mmmm the wine and liquer was nice there. Got a couple of bottles. Them drove to my favourite wines destination "brown brothers" tasted the wine there and bought a bottle of wine. They have a larger selection in the cellar than you see in the liquor store. Stopped into Beechworth for lunch and thats a beautiful old heritage town. We ate at the best bakery ever. They are on the corner of there main street and have the largest selection of pasteries, rolls and cakes i have seen.

On the way back to wodonga we drove through Glenrowan which is Ned Kelly land. we went to a ned kelly mueseum which had a replica of his house and was very interesting.

Today after a long trip we arrived at Ballarat. We are in goldfields big 4 and this is by far the best caravan park yet. Its 5 star. Our site is right opposite the playground and right next to the camp kitchen, pool and bathrooms so perfect for us all. Its like a resort. I dont think the kids will want to leave but they are booked up over the wkend so only get 4 nights here. We are off to Soverign Hill tomorrow and the gold muesum which i think we will all love and Hogs breath cafe tonight.

some pics to update you all.

Canberra

Well we have been extremely busy. Arrived here on saturday. Techicnallcly we are in nsw still as we are staying at a very average caravan park but wasnt much choice, In Sutton.

Sunday we went to the old bus stop markets which are really good. All top qualtiy hand made stuff there and lots of wine for sale. You can even taste the wines there. We bought a bottle or red and white "NED" port. very nice. We then went to "Cockington green Gardens", this is a park of minutre famous buildings. Was very good.

these are all the places we have been to.
Questcon - this was brilliant like scitech but 10 times better. There is a side show section where you can go on roads. all incl in entry price. We went on the virtual rollercoaster was really cool, felt like the real thing. Ethan loved it he also went on this 6m straight drop slide. Grae went on it too but know way you'd get me going down it. Was based on perception deception from memory. So much really cool things. Could spend a whole day there easy.

War Memorial - Free to get in and the kids loved the discovery zone there. they got to dress up in war clothes and climb in helicopters and sub marines.

Australian museum was pretty good again free and the kids got to play with some technology making virtual rockets. The rest was a bit boring for them though.

Parliment house only got a quick squiz inside as boys were restless.

Canberra central is fantastic for shopping i spent up big there and lots of designer shops there. Got a handbag from guess as they had 50% off. Went shopping in belconnen yesterday and stocked up on crossroads clothes.

Kids went to space observetory place while i went shopping and they though it was average, long drive out there aswell.

Went to the botanicle gardens today and that was nice. The kids loved the childrens walk and learnt about eco systems. We then went to CSIRO discovery lab and kids got to do some science stuff looking through microscopes and magnifying glasses.

Oh and the other night we went up to black mountain to the lookout tower which boys loved. Off to the Royal Show tomorrow which the kids are very excited about.

The kids are playing at glebe park here while i update blog so better get these pics up so we can go soon.

Off to albury wodonga saturday and should be home somewhere around 22nd - 25th march.

palm beach

Yesterday we had a better look around palm beach so here are some pics of the well known summer bay. The houses there are gorgeous most def the place for the rich n famous to live.

Today we caught the ferry from Manly to Sydney and took the kids for a good look of the opera house. Had a look around the city then headed back and walked around Manley and checked out the beach.

Sydney

Yesterday we went to Taronga Zoo. The boys loved it there and the view of the city is impressive.

Palm beach is beautiful didnt get to go this morning to see if any home and away actors were out there as we had to drop the car off so thats why we went for a brief look at the beach yesterday. Will go back for another longer look tomorrow morning or friday. saw the summer bay life saving club.

Today the car was getting fixed to sort out the horrible squeal problem with my car. All fixed now anyway we had to fill the day in just walking around the shops which the kids did not enjoy which was displayed through their behaviour. Filled in a couple of hrs though at the movies watching "Percey Jackson and the Lightning Thief" This was a really good movie and the kids enjoyed it though some parts were a bit scary for them.

Once the car was fixed Grae took the kids to the playground for an hr to give me a break and to do some clothes shopping, that was a nice change and my first real bit of shopping done on this trip.

Had a bbq for dinner

Late yesterday afternoon we got back to the camper from Palm beach to find the weather had become very windy. Grae battled the wind to get the annexe up to make the camper more secure. There were tents falling down, annexes collapsing and tents with holes in them during the windy weather around us here.

Hayley here are a couple of pics from palm beach.

Luna Park

Today we went to luna park. Kids had fun but its a serious waste of money. Cost a fortune to get in and parking is expensive but kids got to spend all day on rides. Was virtually empty there. The ferris wheel was great with an impressive view of sydney harbour. (sorry no pics battery went flat)
They had the enormous slide that you go down on, a hesion bag. slide was like rubber anyway i came down sideways and have a large rubber friction burn on my elbow now. hurt like mad, The big slide scared ash and I lol. we really arent thrill seekers. Ethan on the other hand is becoming an impressive thrill seeker loving waterslides in jamberoo and the huge slide at luna park. He wanted to go on other big rides but i wasnt going to risk him on them lol.

Probably go to hogs breath cafe tonight

Pics and sydney

Today we caught the ferry from manley to curricular key where we walked to the sky tower. views are great. Took lots of pics but will put those up tomorrow sometime. Part of your ticket consists of a 3d oztrek movie which was really great. Takes you white water rafting, flying over sydney, into the rainforrests and up uluru and more. kids loved it felt so real.

We then caught the monorail to paddys markets, walked in and out of there real quick it was like a sauna house just way too packed and hot in there for us so we just looked at the outer row of markets quickly.

Kids got to see the opera house and sydney harbour bridge, will take them for a walk over it sometime this wk.

Here are the pics i tried to put up last night they are of meribula, kiama, jamberoo. ENJOY !!

Kiama and Sydney

Well we i finally can get online again. This holiday is begininning to feel alot like boot camp lol. We have been in kiama for 3 nights and today we arrived in Narrabeen (sydney) for the next 7 nights. Finding the mountanious terrain here in nsw tough on the old car but she'd holding up ok. L gear on the car works wonders though for the car. Decided we wont continue up to qld as we dont want to push the car on the mountains so we will head to canberra after our 7 nights here but we will stay longer in other spots now, so no getting excited NO we are not heading back early lol.

Anyway what have we been up to well we loved kiama, reminded us of albany and its so green it actually looks like scotland or ireland if we had ever been there. So we went up to saddleback mountain which had amazing views, we went to the big blow hole, wollongong. Did Jamberoo yesterday where the boys had a ball on the waterslides and we did the tree top walk near jamberoo. my legs and knees ache today after that.

Today we arrived in Sydney and looks like a beautiful spot we have at sydney lakeside big 4. right near the beach and lake narrabeen.
Now im sure you have been all dying to see some more pics so here is a few before my battery runs out on the laptop.

Lakes entrance, Eden, Merimbula and Bega

Well we had two nights in lakes entrance and stayed in a villa at the big 4 for a break. Not alot to actually do in lakes entrance but pretty. We drove to Buchan to go to the fairy cave there which was gorgeous. You had to bend down low in sections of the cave. The boys loved it. We continued the day with a drive through the snowy river region on the scenic drive to the foot hills of the snowy mountains.

Have 4 nights here in Merimbula which is an averaged size town in between Eden and Bega. we leave here wed morning. Yesterday we went to Eden and went to the killer whale museum. Not much to see there really and its nothing compared to our whale museum in albany. Was cheap though and boys liked seeing the whale bones.

Headed to bega this morning where we purchased our etag for the toll rds, have to return it to a rta in nsw before heading home though. Took the kids to bega cheese factory where they got to look at the museum which was interesting to see and the kids tasted different variety's of cheese and got some delicious fudge from there.

Have mostly been relaxing by the pool at tween waters where we are stayings as it has a resort style pools with water slides for the kids. Been meeting lots of other friendly families here aswell who are doing similar travels so have been swapping tips and accomodation suggestions. Has been good.

here are some pics from lakes entrance and buchan caves.

Photos to enjoy

Car is in for a service atm, needs new break pads anyway thought since we are just relaxing here at the caravan park that id update my photos from yesterday of Fort Nepean and Cheviot hill. These are in the Point Nepean National Park.