Sunday 5 April 2015

Ballarat Trip -> Day 4

We all slept much better this time with our extra blankets and the windows closed properly. I got up and had a cup of tea and read my book, and the kids woke up not long after. Millie played with her toys in the tent, LiAM played with his new friend, riding their scooters around the park, Caitlin rode her Ripstik and played on the jumping pillow, and I started to pack everything up.

Our tent all set up
Once I was ready to fold the tent up Caitlin came and gave me hand - we got most of it done then left the bottom of the tent exposed to the sunlight while we went and had crumpets and english muffins and ice cream for breakfast. We finished packing away the tent with no problems, the kids went and had a last play with any of the stuff they wanted to revisit, and then they helped me get the trailer on to the car - it was tricky but I managed it by myself for the first time!

We left the caravan park just before midday, and drove through Ballarat to see where my Dad lived when he was at the monastery in Ballarat in the late 1960s. The building has been converted to apartments but it's still possible to see where he lived. We went to Lake Wendouree then and had a play on the big wooden playground. After a bit of a play we went for a walk to see if there were any cygnets amongst the many many swans. Caitlin was chased and hissed at by a cranky swan, and while we ate our lunch we had a few swans and many other water birds come to see if we were sharing. It was an enjoyable walk along the water front and over some little bridges, amongst gardens and so on. Back to the car then to head home - the girls had Guides at 4 so we had a bit of a time limit.

LiAM checking out the swans
We left Ballarat just after 1.30 and had a smooth trip home. We went through McDonalds drive-through at one of the service centres so that I could get a Chai Latte and the kids got a chocolate sundae/soft serve cone/frozen raspberry drink. We listened to Magnificat and chatted about our trip and were back in Yarra Glen by about 3.45. Tony met us at Guides because I'd forgotten to bring Caitlin's badges and it was a full uniform day. It was great to see him very briefly before he went to work for the evening. Millie decided not to go to Guides, and V wanted to play with LiAM, so he and Millie, LiAM and I went home. I backed the trailer into our carport without anyone guiding me - it took a couple more attempts than when I'd had Tony to help, but I got it in exactly where I wanted it.

Back home
The kids played and R brought Caitlin and S home after Guides had finished, along with fish and chips for dinner. The kids had a good play together and R and I had a great chat, then once they went home we settled down for our first night back in real beds. Read Eldest for a while then everyone went to sleep

Friday 3 April 2015

Ballarat Trip -> Day 3

Everyone woke up in the middle of the night, freezing cold. The girls came up onto the mattress with me, and I reorganised blankets so LiAM had more, and we eventually became warm enough to get back to sleep. I later discovered that one side of one of the tent windows was unzipped, so that would have made things much chillier inside than they needed to be!

We all slept in until nearly 9 then got up and had a relaxing morning - I read my book (re-reading the Twilight series, up to Eclipse today), the kids jumped on the jumping pillow and rode scooter and RipStik and played in the playground and the TV room. Once we'd had breakfast I got ready to go out and we headed into town, so that I could get some more tea bags, and to buy more blankets! Caitlin suggested op shopping for the blankets and I found a couple near Woolworths so we could get everything in one trip. At the first op shop we found a (vomit green) woollen blanket and a quilted fabric sleeping bag - perfect. The kids also picked up some toys and games and books and knitting needles and warmer clothes. We popped into Woolworths and got tea bags, socks for the girls, and a few other supplies, then over to the other op shop where we got a polar fleece sleeping bag, a few polar fleece blankets, scarves for everyone, more warm clothes and a couple of kitchen supplies that had been missing from our camping equipment.

It was a very cold morning, with an icy wind, so Caitlin in particular was very thankful we'd found warmer clothes, and she changed into them straight away. We drove straight to Sovereign Hill and headed back in, with a bit of spare time before the Red Coat parade. We went down to the Chinese part of the settlement and spent a bit of time at the Chinese temple. We lit incense and wrote wishes on wish cards and hung them up in front of the temple. We looked through the tents and Chinese shops and watched a bit of a video about the Chinese miners standing up to the government when they were taxed more than non-Chinese miners. I hadn't heard much about that side of the goldmine history and it was quite interesting.

Back up the hill we watched two (actor) guys chatting in the main street while we waiting - they were hilarious and drew a huge crowd, then the Red Coats marched through and one guy made a speech and then the soldiers fired their guns, which were very loud. After the kids had their photo taken with one of the Red Coat soldiers, we joined the crowds of school kids in the Confectionary Factory to watch Raspberry Drops being made. It was a very cool process to watch and his commentary was informative. The best bit of course was the free sample we all got afterwards - it was still warm and even more delicious than the regular ones.

We stopped and ate lunch and watched the crowds go by for a while, then went and bought tickets for a coach ride. There was a bit of a queue and we wanted to watch the musket firing, so we decided to do the coach ride after that. One of the troopers talked us through the history of the police force in the gold fields and about the weapons they used. He handcuffed Caitlin and LiAM together - but LiAM's hand was small enough to just slip straight out which was pretty funny. He filled the barrel of his musket with gun powder then showed it to everyone, letting us look down into the barrel - as Caitlin was looking he yelled 'Boo!' which scared her a lot and startled everyone else - she thought it was pretty funny afterwards. He fired the musket which was again pretty loud, then we headed back up to the horses. Millie showed the other kids the rock collection she'd discovered the day before. The horse and coach returned and we all climbed in and went for a ride around the settlement - it was pretty cool, especially after watching the coach go past so many times in the last 2 days. We patted the horses for a while afterwards, then the kids ran after the coach as it headed to it's storage place - we were the last ride of the day (running after the stage coach is something the kids do when we play Toy Story 3 on the Playstation, so it felt like we were reenacting that scene, it was fun).

Caitlin being arrested by the trooper
Patting the horses after our coach ride
We wandered up to the top end of town where we hadn't explored yet - and saw some very big turkeys in a yard. I wanted to check out the iron foundry where the guy was making brass and iron items. There were so many beautifully crafted objects there, and I ended up buying a big iron frypan and an iron omelet pan - exactly what I've been looking for, and great to talk to the guy who actually made them, about how to care for them, and to see how much he loves what he's doing. From there we walked back along the residential street of the settlement, and were able to explore some of the houses and talk about how different they are compared to ours - why the toilet is outside, why there was no stove and how they cooked, why the baby might be sleeping in a drawer etc. In one of the houses a lady was doing some quilting and we stayed and talked to her for a while, discussing how it worked, and admiring her sticky paper fly catcher above the table. She let the kids sort and take a handful of hexagons home so that they could start their own quilt - Caitlin loved talking to her and the other kids enjoyed it as well. From there we checked out the cart and wheel makers, then wandered through a couple of gardens, and back down the main street and home to our tent.

Pumping water into the horse trough
The kids played with the kids from the caravan next door and LiAM met another boy on a scooter, so they scooted around the park, and played giant chess, and jumped on the jumping pillow. I cooked dinner and it was quiet enough to eat it in the camp kitchen this time. After we'd eaten the kids played a bit more then I packed all our jackets and new scarves and we headed back to Sovereign Hill for the Sound and Light Show. The Show was spectacular. No actors, just voices, sound effects, and lights in various places to tell the story of the Eureka Stockade. Some was inside but most of it was outside - at the main gold diggings (where we'd panned for gold the day before), or after a long bus ride to the other side of the property, sitting in an auditorium with the front wall open to a reproduction of the Eureka Diggings. It was cold outside (it had been cold all day) but it was a fascinating show and I'm so glad we went. Millie spent the whole time cuddled in to me and didn't watch at all - but later talked to me about the story and she'd taken it all in and understood it all. I remember this was one of my favourite stories when I studied Australian History at school, and I enjoyed seeing it explained in so much clever detail, and glad the kids have heard the story now too.

We were back at the caravan park around 10.30pm and set up our beds with our new blankets - the girls on the mattress with me again, and LiAM snuggly bundled up on his camp mattresses. We read Eldest for a while then snuggled in to go to sleep.


Wednesday 1 April 2015

Ballarat Trip -> Day 2

Everyone slept quite well and stayed in their sleeping bags all night. I woke up and went to the kitchen for a cup of tea and realised that I hadn't bought my tea bags with me. I read my book for a while, and everyone else was up by about 8am. We had breakfast and the kids scooted around the park, played in the playground, jumped on the jumping pillow, watched some tv, while I got ready for our day. The park had a 4 seat pedal car for hire, so we had a go on that before we went out. Caitlin and LiAM were able to pedal when the ground was flat, it was much harder when going uphill though, so I walked behind them and pushed when necessary, and I did have a bit of a turn at pedalling as well. It was raining while we were pedalling and everyone we saw made a negative comment about the rain, but it didn't bother us.

Around 11am we walked over to Sovereign Hill. It had stopped raining by now though was still overcast. We bought our tickets (valid for 2 consecutive days) and got the last 4 tickets to the next night's Sound and Light show. Luckily. It would have been incredibly disappointing to miss out on the show entirely. We wandered around to the main street, looking into mining shafts on the way, then checked out the Blacksmiths, the horses in the stables, and the lolly shop - deciding to buy our lollies on our way out rather than carrying them around all day. For now, we bought horse head lolly pops and chocolate frogs with crushed raspberry drops in them (one each). We explored the hotel, then while Caitlin and LiAM went to see the horses pulling the carriage, Millie and I popped in to the Mechanics Institute where she found a display of precious gems and stones which was fascinating. We joined the others and met and patted the horses, then wandered down to the Red Hill Mine, where we did a self-guided tour - the lights and voices are automated and led us through the mine, with holograms in places showing men digging for gold. It was well done and showed a pretty vivid picture of what it was like in the mines. Once above ground again we headed for the gold diggings. We sat on a log and ate our lunch, in between panning for gold in the creek. I'd done it before and had a vague recollection of how to do it but wasn't having much luck. The kids chatted to a European couple next to us who had found a bit. A guy came over after a while and helped me with my method (although he wasn't too critical for my liking) and after that I found several small pieces of gold. Very exciting. Once I'd figured out how to do it, LiAM lined up pans for me to work through and I usually found a couple of pieces in each pan. Another guy came over and asked if he could check the pans I'd finished, and he found a couple more pieces which he let me have.

Caitlin at the stables
Millie panning for gold
LiAM with a gold ingot worth $149,000
We wandered back up the hill, stopped in at the confectionary factory and sampled the raspberry drops and discovered that they sold really big jars of them, then went up to the gold mine and paid for  a guided tour. A quick toilet dash and then down into the mine with a group and a guide. We went underground through pitch darkness on an inclined tram - a bit scary and also quite exciting. This tour talked more about how they went about finding gold and how the mine was structured, and the differences between company and independent mining. The guide asked lots of questions which the kids usually answered, although many of his questions were more aimed at tricking the audience, which I didn't like. There was a seam of real gold that had been placed in the mine, that was quite cool to see. We went on a small train through tunnels to get to the exit tram - a little like riding in mine carts which had a nice minecraft flavour! Back up on the tram, then we climbed the tower above the mine shaft - but it was quite high and the wind was strong and everyone freaked out a little so we went back down. There was a line of mine carts at the base so the kids played in them for a while - Millie in particular had been excited all day at seeing mine carts and realising that they really do exist, they are not just a minecraft creation.
Mine carts!

From there we went and saw a demonstration of real gold being melted down and poured to make an ingot. It was quite interesting and exciting to see the process, then everyone got to hold it. The ingot weighed 3kg and was worth about $149,000 - it felt SO heavy because it was small and dense. The guy who poured it was chatting to us and discovered we lived on a vineyard and that the kids' dad makes wine, so he declared himself Caitlin's best friend and wanted her to come back with wine... We went into the shop and looked at lots of items made of gold, and bought a personalised gold coin for the kids' friend who loves rocks and minerals and gold and was having a birthday this week (we got his name and birthday engraved on it, and a wooden stand to keep it in).

Up to the candle making shop from there, where we purchased plain white candles and the kids were able to dip them into dye and colour them. It was an amazingly simple but effective process, using 3 vats of dye, to create a candle with 5 different bands of colour on it. LiAM played with the colours a bit more than that, the lady warned him that he'd get brown, but he was happy to add a 6th brown band and was pleased with his result. We went to the bowling alley next and all had a go at old fashioned 9 pin bowling - it was fun although the ball was a bit heavy for Millie to bowl very far. We wandered back down the main street and stopped to buy our massive jar of raspberry drops (and a couple more chocolate frogs). From there we meandered down the rest of the street and then headed back to the caravan park.
Candle Dipping

The kids played with the kids in the caravan next to us, on the jumping pillow and in front of our tent and caravan. One of the boys had just turned 5, and he and Millie played with all their soft toys together. I had a hot chocolate and read my book, then went to get dinner ready. The group we'd met the night before were having a party in the camp kitchen - at least 25 people - and they were too loud for LiAM and Millie so I heated up our leftovers and cooked some noodles and we ate back at our tent. It was getting a bit chilly so the kids ate wrapped up in blankets. We had a shower after tea, Caitlin went to the ladies and the rest of us used the family bathroom. We watched TV until the TV room closed then went back to the tent and read Eldest for a while.