We woke very early 5.30am to get packed up and make our way to board the car ferry from Queenscliffe to Sorrento on the Mornington Penninsula then on to Phillip Island. We rugged up for the cold cold night and venture to the coastline to see the famous Little Penguin Parade, it was so so so cute they are Stephanies favourite animal so she was especially excited. The next morning we packed up and before leaving the Island we went to explore the Grand Prix Track. We got the Need for Speed and had a go at the replica Grand Prix [View Full Entry]

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We began the Great Ocean Road drive, the weather was miserable, cold and raining not to mention blowing a gale. But we did all the stops, the Arch the Grotto the London Bridge and of cause the 12 Apostles before landing in Apollo Bay, a really pretty spot. The next day we daytripped to Cape Otway lighthouse and the Otway Fly Tree top walk, again in the rain and wind and cold but hey who cares we are on Holidays. You only live once. [View Full Entry]

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We made our way to Warrnambool , the beginning of the Great Ocean Road. This was another Mastercard Moment because Stephanie Dannielle and I went for a horseride on the beach with some friends we met on the road. Dannielle first ride since falling off last July. She was a little nervous but not as much as her mum. She did great and we all had a great time. [View Full Entry]

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Ballarat meant a short visit to Sovereign Hill a working Gold mining town complete with people dressed in period costume, gold mine, red coat troupers and horse drawn coach. You can pan for gold get dressed up for a old photo, get your name printed on a wanted poster or be entertained by Ballarats equivalent of Willy Wonka in the Victoria Theatre. It was a great day and the kids really enjoyed the fact that it was like being in the 1800’s. [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Renmark, a fantastic town on the Murray River just inside the SA/VIC Border. The caravan park was literally on the river bank and so beautiful the highlight being green green grass. We could have stayed there for months. We followed the Murray along the border into NSW and back to VIC before rolling into Echuca. We found a caravan park to stay in, it was the best of a bad bunch so we stayed long enough to change the floor in the van (it had been badly stained by rubber mats before we left) and also to have [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Adelaide and spent the first day cleaning the Watergate. We took a city tour to get to know the place, the highlight was a visit to Haighs Chocolate Factory YUM YUM Saturday we decided to take a drive to Victor Harbour and ride the Horse drawn tram along the causeway to Granite Island. Bill the Clydesdale did a great job. The tram weights 4.8 tonne and including people averages 7 tonne, he pulls the tram 1.5km across to the island and back 3 times a day before being replaced by one of 6 other Clydesdale’s for the other [View Full Entry]

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We made our way to Woomera, and found a very exciting and interesting town, Steve and Samuel where in their element looking at all the old Missiles and Rockets around the town, which included the remains of stage 1 of the first Australian satellite WRESAT that was sent into orbit in 1967 We visited the information centre and found more than we bargained for. Firstly in the complex there was a Museum that explained the fact that when London was bombed by the Germans during WW2, the British decided to use Australia and specifically Woomera as a testing site to develop [View Full Entry]

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When we first approached Coober Pedy ( white man in hole) you would swear you are arriving in to a third world country, it is dirt and more dirt and totally disorganised. Everyone has junk in their yard and machine parts everywhere. The population has dropped to 2500 since 1996 but everyone who lives here has been her for years and only stay for the hope of finding more opals. A good find can be worth 1 Million but even though there are over 4 Million holes in the ground they say they have only found 10% of the opal. We [View Full Entry]

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We left Ceduna and made our way to Port Augusta with a roadside free camp at Kimba the home of the Big Galah. Then next morning we passed through Port Augusta on our way north again to Coober Pedy, we made it half way a road side stop at Lake Hart. It’s a massive salt lake and was an awesome site in the middle of the desert. We had a great time playing on the lake and Steve and Sam rode there bikes all over the place. [View Full Entry]

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We crossed the border into South Australia therefore crossing off another state/territory of Australia 3 down 5 to go. Ceduna is a strange little town, the best thing about it is that you can catch Blue Swimmer Crabs by the hundreds of the Jetty just near the caravan park. We borrowed a crab pot from the caravan park manager and caught about 20 in an hour. Steve, Samuel and I also went for a fish and caught 3 Austalian Salmon, our first successful fishing expedition so far, so it was a fun time. [View Full Entry]

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