Our first step into the past....

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After Jemana's poor tummy keeping her up all night, we had a slow (and very cold!) start to the day, but oh so very beautiful as where we were staying had a magnificent view of the Grampians.

We headed towards Ballarat but made a spectacular detour to see the rock art we'd learned about at the Brambuk centre the day before. The setting was amazing - gorgous bolders with incredible views of the Grampians in the distance. We were all very impressed by the painting too - it looked exactly like we'd expected and it meant so much more as we already knew the story it depicted from the day before.

Ballarat was our next destination (after a quick stop for a photo outside the Giant Koala!) and we arrived just after lunch. We had thought Halls Gap was cold...but we were wrong! It rained the whole afternoon and there was an icy wind.

We checked into our room for the night at Sovereign Hill then headed into the park to start the exploration. The kids did a tour of all farm animals in the park (they both loved the baby goats the best) and then some panning for gold (where Jemana managed to dump a pan full of icy water into her shoe!). We also walked around to look at all the shops and the kids went on horse drawn cart ride.

After a quick (and warm!) dinner, we loaded up with all the clean clothes we had left until we all felt and looked like snowmen in preparation for Blood on the Southern Cross. It was not at all like I expected but the kids absolutely loved it. It startedin a theatre auditorium, then we had to walk outside near the diggings and stand while it continued (rain and wind the whole time!). We then boarded some trolley/bus vehicles and we were taken to the other end of the 'town' - I think this would be lovely in nice weather, but they had clear plastic covering the sides to keep the rain out but we couldn't see through it very well. The second auditorium was wonderful and the part of the show there was beautifully done with fire etc. Then back on the trolley/buses (I was exhausted by this point!) and we were dropped of in main street (yes, still wind and rain!) for the final scene. It was very well done and as I said, the kids absolutely loved it.

Back to our lodgings for a very medicinal hot chocolate and a mountain of blankets on the beds!

An exhausting and freezing but wonderful day 😊

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Photos

Bunjil's Shelter, Halls Gap
This is a pic of Bunjil and his two helpers.