We had originally planned to stay at The Grampians the entire week, right up until the Friday and then drive straight back to Melbourne to deliver the boys to the airport on the Saturday. Just like a lot of Eastern Australia, we were severely rained out. We didn't quite realise the extent of it until I stumbled across this footage of the main strip of the local town in The Grampians called Halls Gap - absolutely remarkable and it was only taken just 24 hours after we had left it. We were wet and smelly and over the rain. Everything was soaking and disgusting, after a two hour drive in the Troopie, the stench trapped inside the car would have even made a homeless person dry retch. We needed a washing machine, stat. We needed somewhere dry, stat. We needed a roof over our heads, STAT!!! More rain was due and I certainly wasn't going to crawl back into a stinky & disgusting wet tent only to sleep on top of a stinky & disgusting wet mattress.
We were heading to Ballarat, home of Sovereign Hill and we were heading straight for cover. It's funny how to Tom & I nowadays, staying at a YHA backpackers is like staying at the Sheraton... OMG clean sheets!!! Running water!!! A Roof!!! ELECTRICITY!!!
For $26 per person per night, we had a dorm to ourselves and somewhere to spread out the mess. I hijacked the washing machine for what felt like eternity and we were able to cleanse ourselves.
The YHA at Ballarat is right on Sovereign Hill, an entertainment village re-enacting an old gold mining town in the 1850's. It was quite entertaining.
For $26 per person per night, we had a dorm to ourselves and somewhere to spread out the mess. I hijacked the washing machine for what felt like eternity and we were able to cleanse ourselves.
The YHA at Ballarat is right on Sovereign Hill, an entertainment village re-enacting an old gold mining town in the 1850's. It was quite entertaining.
The three geologists were absolutely in their element when we went on the underground adventure. It didn't help that it was pelting down with rain outside so left the tunnel with a lovely smell and loads of puddles everywhere. The boys were even challenging the tour leader during question time which was quite a laugh.
I hated the 60 seconds downwards in pitch black. I wouldn't be surprised if Tom has some serious bruises on his forearm!
The Tour Leader tried to convince us that this was real gold. The boys, in their professional wisdom did not concur.
All in all, Sovereign Hill was quite entertaining. Tom even said that it was a lot better than what he was expecting. They had some great demonstrations including my favourite the confectionery making AND the gold pouring of a bar of gold worth $140,000. Tom spoke to the guy after the demonstration and he proceeded to tell Tom that that same bar of gold is melted & poured 7 times a day and has been done so far the last 14 years. The boys were busy plotting the best ways to pocket the bar themselves as we were all surprised at how few security measures were taken to protect it.
Panning for gold was the highlight for Tommy, he was certainly the most patient out of all of us. I would say that it paid off as he found 4 specs of gold but when we later found out that they were worth approximately 5 cents each, we quickly realised that we probably shouldn't have paid $1 for a jar of water to store them in.
Panning for gold was the highlight for Tommy, he was certainly the most patient out of all of us. I would say that it paid off as he found 4 specs of gold but when we later found out that they were worth approximately 5 cents each, we quickly realised that we probably shouldn't have paid $1 for a jar of water to store them in.
Matt was the naughty boy in the back row distracting all of the other students... while the star student Christian scored himself an A++
Sovereign Hill was quite an adventure, even for the adults. They had loads of demonstrations & actors to give it a true 1800's feeling. At $42 entry per adult, you're guaranteed a full days entertainment, it's definitely worth visiting if you're travelling through Ballarat.
1 comment:
Great blog.Thanks for sharing.
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