So what is www.bigaussieroadtrip.com all about? Well... hopefully, by the time we are done, it will be a comprehensive journal about a family of 5 who have travelled around Australia to see the sights and also do some volunteer work around the country! In Mid 2010 we started thinking about what it would take to fulfil a life-long dream... We wanted to bundle up our 3 kids, pack-up the house, jump in the car and hit the road - probably for about 12 months. It sounds so simple ... At the start of January 2013, after almost 15 months on the road; we finally completed Our Big Aussie Road Trip. We hope that you enjoyed following our adventures, trials and tribulations as much as we enjoyed having them!

13 November, 2011

Ballarat

In Ballarat we stayed in a Caravan park just outside of town, because it was the cheapest! After setting up the van we headed into town and found the Information centre. On the map we picked up we spotted an adventure playground by the lake so that is where we headed for a play, and a walk by the lake.

The Adventure Playground
Lake Wendouree


The next day we headed to Sovereign Hill, it was meant to be wet but we deceided to go anyway and we are glad we did, becuause it didn't rain - it turned out to be a beautiful sunny day and we all had a great time.
We struck gold when we went gold panning, and the kids were right into it, so we ended up panning two or three times over the day. We all enjoyed the Red Hill mine tour and a Horse and Cart ride around the town.
We watched the Gold pour, which is were they melt some gold and pour it into a mould, and Natalie was chosen from the crowd to hold the $170,000 gold bar once it was cooled, and thankfully she didn't drop it.
Gold panning at Sovereign Hill



Natalie holding a 3Kg Solid Gold Bar

We found these three!




3 comments:

THB said...

Priceless!! Well you and Liz better get busy.... just 97 more to go...

Anonymous said...

Van troubles, huh? We had some unplanned stops on our 'big trip' years ago too, as we checked for mysterious brake leaks (a cracked cordial bottle running out of the fridge...) and then snapped a stand off the back by driving off with it still wound down... Hard to find a welder on the weekend in the back of beyond!! Wilsons sounds like a great place for a forced stop anyway.... call it an added adventure and decide to laugh about it later. Love the blog, keep it up! Hugs to all, Tracey DS

Timothy Hill said...

Hi Mike, Liz,
Haven't commented before (obviously!). Just wanted to say that I'm loving the blog posts and envying you in a thoroughly ungodly way ! Keep up the good work...
Cheers, Tim