Lamplough Estate/Sovereign Hill (3-4 December)

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We drove from Lorne along the Great Ocean Road again, stopping at the ex-Diggers memorial, Aireys Inlet lighthouse (where the ABC television children's show 'Around the Twist' was filmed), and Bells Beach. From Torquay we travelled through Geelong into Ballarat, where we stopped for a late lunch and play at the Adventure Playground. The lake there (Lake Wendouree) was dry and we later learnt that because of this, the police had recovered quite a few discarded weapons and were able to solve several old crimes. Obviously the crims hadn't allowed for the drought when throwing the evidence in the lake!

We travelled north to stay with Jeannie and Vin at Lamplough Estate, just south of Avoca. They are parents of a friend of ours and kindly offered for us to stay with them. We had a great time and learnt so much as Vin went out of his way to show us around the winery. Annelies' and Thomas' journal entries, which now include information about the different grape and wine varieties (and their preferences!), make good reading. We also loved Jeannie's cooking (especially Thomas with his 'hollow legs') and were made to feel right at home.

On Thursday we spent the day at Sovereign Hill, which recreates the 1850s gold rush in Ballarat. Amongst other things, we saw or took part in a musket firing demonstration, the Red Coat soldier parade, a gold pour, an underground mine recreation of the 'Welcome Stranger' nugget find, candle making, gold panning (like in Kalgoorlie, Mark found some more specs of gold, but didn't strike it rich), and schools from the era, while we also visited the photographic studio to have an old time family portrait taken.

Back at Lamplough, we met Joy and Tony, good friends of Jeannie and Vin who had come up for the weekend. The next morning, it was off to Melbourne, although we first went and had a look around nearby Avoca. In Melbourne, we are catching up with lots of people before heading off to Tassie on the 16th December for a month.

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Photos

Lamplough Estate Winery
With Vin & Jeannie

Great Ocean Road
ex-Diggers memorial

Sovereign Hill gold panning
Gold!, but only 5 small specs