Ballarat

11 January 2013
Since we decided to stay longer at the caravan park we had to move to another spot. Lucky for us it is a better site and have heaps of room. After a late morning tea we headed off to look at a regional park near Elaine. Would be a nice spot if you just had a camper trailer and not a massive van.

Went into Ballarat and checked out Lake Wendouree where the boys played and we had a tram ride up and down the street.

Nanny and Poppy took the boys Christmas shopping and bought Harry a new bike and William a remote control car. Once we got home and put the bike together that's all Harry wants to do now. He looks all grown up riding around on his big bike.

12 January 2013
Drove up to Daylesford for a look. The town seems to be a food mecca with so many cafes etc and heaps of people to go along with them. We spent our time at the lake having lunch and a paddle on the lake in a paddle boat.

13 January 2013
Today we went for a drive along the Great Ocean Road via Colac and back via Geelong. Big day in the car but the scenery was worth it and the fish and chips.

14 January 2013
Happy Birthday Carl!

For Carl's birthday we spent the day at Sovereign Hill, Ballarat. It is an old gold mine tourist attraction with a recreated township. It was a fantastic day and we will have to return to finish seeing everything.

Harrison and William enjoyed panning for gold the best. Lucky for us we had spare clothes in the car for the trip home.

For tea we went down to the local pub and had a fabulous meal. The tablecloth was butcher's paper and the kids (even the older ones) enjoyed scribbling on it.

15 January 2013
Maree and Kevin headed off to Geelong for the day and we just had a lay day and didn't do much at all.

16 January 2013
After catching up on some much needed washing, we headed off to a garden maze. We had clues to find the answers to and off we went. Took about an hour until we found them. It was a lot of fun and we were rewarded with a lolly snake.

17 January 2013
Sad day today. Time to say goodbye to Nanny and Poppy. It has been great holidaying together and look forward to seeing them soon.

After both our catch ups with the grandparents it is now back to just us...a little lonely...but look out Tassie here we come!

Mannum - Ballarat

06 January 2013
Thanks so much Lorraine for having us, it was great to get to know you and meet more family.

After morning tea we headed off to Robe, on the South Australian coast. The camp ground was on private land and cost $6 a night, right on the beach. There were other kids camped there as well so our boys just loved it. Instant friends, especially now with the new red bike.

07 January 2013
Off to Robe township to renew Carl's licence and play on the beach. The kids decided it was better where we were camped so we didn't stick around town for too long. In the afternoon we did some 4WDing on the beach. Carl tried a little fishing but it was the boys who enjoyed the beach the most with their buckets and spades.

08 January 2013
Made our way to Mt Gambier to see the Blue Lakes, decided to stay the night as the weather was cold and windy. Lucky for us the trots were on at the showgrounds where we stayed so the boys had entertainment. Can't believe the weather, thought it was summer.

The Blue Lake is actually really blue. There is also a massive playground for the kids and they didn't want to leave it.

09 January 2013
Lake Bolac.

10 January 2013
Off to Ballarat to meet Kevin and Maree. Tried to find a free camp in the neighbouring forests but to no avail. We ended up staying at Creswick, just north of Ballarat in a caravan park. We figured it was the best option to stay for the entire visit so we didn't have to worry about moving around. Nice park, more like one of the old school caravan parks. Lots of kids so once again our boys are happy.

Mannum

22 December 2012
Arrived at Mannum in the afternoon and set up camp in Dad's cousins backyard.

23 December 2012
Went for a drive around the area. The Murray River is a few minutes down the road and there is great parks and people skiing and  enjoying the river.

24 December 2012
Mum and Dad arrived after lunch, the kids were really excited to see them. Spent the rest of the afternoon catching up. In the evening we let them open one present, and of all the presents they chose the noisiest one, a voice changer...thanks Uncle Tom!!!

25 December 2012
Merry Christmas everyone. The kids got to open some of their presents in the morning and the rest when everyone else arrived at lunch time. It was really nice to spend Christmas with family. Lunch was fabulous and the drinks even better. We were also blessed with beautiful weather.

26 December 2012
Not much on today, still recovering from Christmas.

27 December 2012
Off to the Barrossa Valley for some wine tasting. Joe was our tour guide, thankfully, there is way too many wineries to choose from. We went to a few and than that was enough because I had already spent too much. It's terrible to have good taste!!!

28 December 2012
Watch out...Carl and I went to Adelaide (by ourselves)...can't remember when the last time we spent a night away from the kids. Was quite strange really...but we did enjoy it. Carl bought some parts for the car and a new compressor. Seems like everything is breaking at the same time. We caught a movie, Skyfall, and we wasted some money at the Casino. OK, it was me that wasted it, would definitely never make a professional gambler. Had a seafood buffet for tea, quite nice.

29 December 2012
Had a look around Adelaide, nice city. Bought William a bike. When we got home Carl put it together and took the kids for a test drive, pity they can't touch the pedals yet, but pulls along a rope pretty good. Has a trailer so both of them can have a go at the same time.

30 December 2012
Went to Monarto open plains zoo. Was a great day. You got to sit on a bus and get driven through the animals. You could get off at certain places and walk to the viewing platforms. They even had a sausage sizzle. We spent half the day

31 December 2012
New Year's Eve. Carl and I went to lunch on the Captain Proud. A cruise on the Murray River for a few hours on a side paddle boat. Very calming and relaxing. Met some nice people who we shared a table with. Got home in time to take Mum down the street for some shopping...we both did well at that. I can finally get rid of some of the tops I've had since before getting married. We were all disappointed for the new year's eve celebrations, we had gotten the kids really excited about the fireworks and they ended up getting cancelled. Let's just say we didn't see the new year in.

01 January 2013
Happy New Year!!!

02 January 2013
Carl went with Joe and Dad to find somewhere to replace the bearing in our rear axle. Ended up getting it done in Mannum.

03 January 2013
Off to Hahndoff for the day. Mum, Dad, Joe and Lorraine left before us because Carl was still putting the car together. We managed to get going not long after. On the highway the car started having the wobbles so we pulled off and Carl had a look, couldn't see anything, headed off again and it was worse. We pulled right off then and Carl got under the car and found that our rear tyre had started to peel off. After Carl changed the tyre we got going again. We than got held up 20km out of Hahndoff due to a house fire beside the highway. We managed to get to Hahndoff for lunch. Since it's a German town we had to have a German lunch. We were not disappointed. Absolutely great service and fantastic meal. The beers could have been a bit cheaper though. We stopped off at the strawberry farm on our way and bought the best strawberries we've ever had. So sweet.

04 January 2013
We had new tyres fitted and Carl did the other rear axle bearing. Hopefully now we won't have anything else to fix on the car for a while. Mum, Dad and Joe went on the Captain Proud lunch cruise like we did last week. They enjoyed themselves. Was the hottest day ever but by 8.30pm had cooled off, very strange weather here, not sure I could get used to it.

05 January 2013
Farewell to Mum and Dad. Carl had the joyful job of getting up at 4am and taking them to the airport in Adelaide. We all had a great time together and hope to do it again in the not too distant future.

Port Augusta

16 December 2012
We bid farewell to Coober Pedy and sped on to Woomera. The location of several test missile launches back in the day. The display of planes and missiles was interesting, a little disappointing for the kids because they weren't allowed to climb over everything.

Woomera

It was 2.30pm when we finished having a look and considering it doesn't get dark until after 8.30pm we decided to go forth to Port Augusta. Turns out it is a pretty little city at the intersection of the Eyre and Yorke Peninsulas.

17 December 2012
Today was a day to relax and kick back. We did a little shopping but that was about it.

18 December 2012
The Flinders Ranges National Park is only just over a 100km away so off we went to have a day out driving around and having a look. The country side is a site to see. All the mountain ranges were different in their rock formations, the wheat crops were in stark contrast to the baron landscape. There seem to be a lot of sheep for not much feed. And there is also a lot of ruins. Oh...and emu, ferrel goats and kangaroos.

Really was worth the day trip and you could certainly spend more time here since we only covered the southern half of the park.

Coober Pedy

15 December 2012
Had a tour of the Old Timers Mine. Looked through an underground mine and house. Found an opal ring that I'd like, so if you need any ideas for a Christmas present.

boys liked it, they got to wear a hard hat

In the evening we went for a drive to see the breakaways, dingo fence and moon plains. There really wasn't too much to see, the breakaways are just some hills that they say broke off the Stuart Ranges and the moon plains are named because of what the moon looks like.

the fence didn't keep out these two ferrels

Ayers Rock - Coober Pedy

13 December 2012
Caught the sunrise at Ayers Rock and Carl attemped the climb. He said it was really hard and he got nearly all of the way before heading back down.

half way up

bird's eye view

Left Ayers Rock and headed as far as we could south. We ended up staying on the border of NT and SA. It was so hot...we ran the generator to run the air-con until 9.30pm and thought we had better turn it off because there were others camped, but I really would have kept it going all night if it wasn't for Carl.

made it to SA

14 December 2012
Got an early start and made it to Coober Pedy. Interesting place. As you come into the area all you see is mounds of white dirt everywhere. Had the best pizza ever for tea at John's pizza shop.

view of Coober Pedy

Alice Springs - Ayers Rock

9 December 2012
We went and checked at the local market held at the Todd Mall. Was ok, got to see local art at the galleries too. Saw a few things I liked but was out of my price range (like always).

After the markets we went for a drive around town for look, the kids fell asleep so we couldn't go into any museums or the like.

Went out to tea at the local club and had a fantastic roast, could choose from four types of meat. Outside was a massive playground and jumping pillow for the kids. When it was time to go home Harry and Will were quite disappointed.

10 December 2012
West MacDonnell Ranges are definitely something to look at. The photos we took don't do it justice. We stopped off at Ellery Creek Big Hole for morning tea and the boys enjoyed a nudie dip in the cool waters of the swimming hole.

Ellery Creek Big Hole - water was cold

We decided not to drive the whole distance as it was just too far considering we are leaving for Ayers Rock tomorrow.

11 December 2012
Big drive today, Alice Springs to Ayers Rock. The journey was worth it though, the sight of The Rock is awesome.

Uluru - Ayers Rock

We tried to go for a walk, you can walk right around it if you like (10.6km) but the kids have pointed out that they don't like walking, which means they make us not enjoy it very much either. We did however cover a short distance and saw the location of where you can climb the rock if it is open.

dragging the kids along on a walk

The sunset at the lookout was nice and relaxing. We had a little picnic and the kids had fun playing in the dirt. Have found some furniture we like, haven't worked out how to fit it in the van though...

just kickin' back

12 December 2012
Visited the cultural centre they have at Ayers Rock. While we were there, a few presenters from NIT and SBS, along with Ernie Dingo and other aboriginals were also there for the first broadcast of the NIT onto SBS.

We left the cultural centre and travelled to Kata Tjuta.  Had lunch and did a little walking.

Kata Tjuta

Tonight we will go out to the rock again and watch the sunset.



sunset Ayers Rock