Ballarat

A 'by request' post, as my dear friend Mrs Choko has requested a photo of the van set up. She has strange tastes, but we shall not question her!

We have had a great couple of days in Ballarat. Yesterday was Sovereign Hill which was really good - it's the sort of place that if you didn't have kids you'd possibly not think of going, but it was so worthwhile. An exhausting day as its a huge site, and panning for gold is actually quite tiring! Didn't find any, but parted with lots of virtual gold ie money, buying souvenirs of course! By the end of the day all I could do was lie in bed muttering 'my knees, my knees' like an old woman. And no gin left in the van to comfort me!

Today was a bit quieter - went to the Eureka Centre and learnt about the famous stockade. I know more now about the gold rush period than I have since Grade 4! Actually I now appreciate it all too - I think it's all a bit lost on you when you are a kid, but now I can actually imagine what it must have been like, and how hard conditions were for the diggers etc. Not too crash hot for all the original inhabitants of course either who of course were forced out of all the areas that got a population boom thanks to gold being found.

Meanwhile it's still hard being me - Isabella and I had a swim as it's warmed up, I had a lovely G&T and Craig is now cooking dinner (BBQ most nights - such bliss to not have to cook!) and we have one more day here then off to the Grampians.

PS Update - my kind kind husband looked after Isabella today (Thursday) so that I could go to Hepburn Springs and 'take the waters'. It was lovely of course - floating about at the ultra modern Hepburn Bathhouse which is an addition to the historic baths. Sadly there aren't really any 'springs' as such in the gardens area as it seems the drought has dried them up!