Half-lap trip Day 2: Creswick -> The Grampians

We were up a few times in the night with people needing to go to the toilet, rearrange blankets and so on. It was cold, but bearable in the tent. There was a strong wind blowing all night, it sounded like heavy rain as it blew through the tops of all the gum trees – but being down in the creek gully the tent was not shaken at all, it was very protected.

In the morning the kids got up and explored the gully some more. There were lots of dry rivulets which would have been great places to find gold many years ago. Near our camp was a log which had fallen across the creek bed, so the kids spent a lot of time walking back and forth across that and made up a game about people surviving in the woods and needing to escape crocodiles and other hazards.

Tony got the fire going again and throughout the morning we had cups of tea and toast and cereal as we felt like it. Millie and I went for a walk through another part of the surrounding creek bed, and found some cool holes in the ground, lots of new trees growing up through cracks in the rocks, and old trees that had fallen as the creek beds have been eroded. Back at camp our neighbour had come over to say hi – a prospector called Barry, who told us a lot about the gold he’d found in this and other areas, a bit of the history of the area, and about how he uses the black cockatoos so help predict the weather based on how they are flying and calling. He showed us photos of some of the gold he’s found (biggest find was about 10oz) and brought over his divining rods – all the kids had a go and Caitlin in particular was able to use them really well, when she walked over some bottle lids on the ground the rods swung together, it was amazing. The kids also collected and then cleaned lots of quartz – we left most of it behind when we left though.

Our campsite down among the trees

Caitlin with the divining rods

We slowly packed up throughout the morning, it was lovely to take our time after the rush of the previous week or so. The only hurry was to make sure we got the tent down before it rained, and we managed that. I spent a fair bit of time  rearranging how things were packed – it still needs a bit of work but we’ll get better at it each time I imagine.

We finally headed off (after packing for a while in the rain) at 2pm. First stop was Ararat – Tony took us to see the house where his mum grew up, and showed us other sights and houses that he remembered from visiting Ararat as a kid. We stopped to get some steamed dim sims which Tony remembered were the best he’d ever had, but the shop was closed which was quite disappointing. We called in to see Tony’s uncle and his wife – it had been a few years since we saw them and we had a lovely visit, so glad that they were home at the time we passed through (they’d been out all morning so we only just caught them). Noel was very pleased to meet all of our kids again and have a good chat to Tony.

We headed west in the rain then realised that Caitlin’s hand bag was still at Noel’s, so we went back in to town and Tone dropped me at Woolworths to get milk and something for tea, while he went and retrieved the bag. I grabbed a hot chicken as I figured it would be cold and dark by the time we arrived at the Grampians, so we ate hot chicken in the car on the way and felt warm and nourished by the time we arrived.

It rained a lot of the way to the Grampians but had stopped as we got close. There were a lot of kangaroos along the edges of the road and in the paddocks we drove past. As we drove the last 8km out to our campsite (Plantation Campground, a free campground just north of the Grampians National Park), we had to slow down several times for rock wallabies  who were drinking out of puddles in the middle of the road, and were reluctant to move until we got quite close.

We arrived at the campground a bit before 6. I’d rung to check availability and the lady said there’d be plenty of room, however there were several school groups and a number of other sites in use – we found somewhere easily though. The site we selected had a wallaby nearby when we arrived, which felt like a good sign. The kids went and explored the bush while Tony and I set up – only took half an hour to get the tent up tonight.

We made hot drinks and had the rest of the chicken, then set up the annexe so that we had more shelter. It’s only the 2^nd time we’ve ever done it so didn’t know how hard it would be – it wasn’t too difficult and we figured out things that we’d do differently next time so it will get easier. We got it up just in time as there was more rain – bizarrely though we could see all the stars above us when it was raining!

Millie fell asleep early and the rest of us tidied up our campsite then got in to bed around 9pm, talked for a while and gradually went to sleep.

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.