Lake Colac 5 to 13th Feb

This was the week we were to catch up with our friends the Ellis'. They have been travelling for over a year now and we were keen to steal as many of their ideas as possible to make our trip more comfortable-we had already began by getting the same caravan!!

View Ocean Grove to Colac in a larger map

In the afternoon we arrived in Colac and made camp next to the Lake at Meredith Park to wait for them.

It was very, very windy but there was a lake and that meant the possiblity of fish so Ben pulled out his rod and spent some time trying his luck. 

View where we were in a larger map


After a couple of hours we got news that the Ellis' new car had given up and they were waiting for the RACV to come and rescue them. They couldn't camp next to us anymore but they were pulled to a caravan park on the other side of the lake so all was good.

The next day we woke to more wind but also the lovely picture of pelicans and black swans on their morning swim. 

After a quick brekkie we whizzed over to our friends and had our long overdue reunion. The kids were over the moon.

Family on Red Rock

Red Rock

There wasn't heaps to see in this area but we managed a tour of the volcanic landscape littered with masses of small, really light volcanic rock which was interesting. Did you know the volcanoes are not considered extinct but merely dormant!!! Yikes!!!

During our week stay we also popped into a winery to taste some of their wares, just to be polite of course, ate fish 'n' chips in the park and did a little shopping.

Wine Tasting, Red Rock

Memorial Gardens - Colac

Molly and Kasper can now ride
without training wheels

At some stage the Ellis' went to a weigh bridge to check the weight of their caravan and car and found they were over a tad (or more!) They had to spend some time repacking their van which made us nervous about how much we weighed so on our way out of the town we stopped by the weigh bridge too.

Although we were not as over weight as our friends we found we also had some kilos to drop- and you know how I hate dieting!!

Ocean Grove 2nd - 5th Feb

Ocean Grove

Rasmus had been itching for some sand so we landed in Ocean Grove in a lovely caravan park near the beach.

Mob

View Stage 2 - Ballarat to Ocean Grove in a larger map

After we had unpacked and had our dinner we went for a walk to have a 'look' at the ocean. The kids took one look at the waves and ripped their clothes off. Despite how cold it was they had the best time. It was so good to see them giggling. We went home with them soggy and sandy ready for bed.

School introduction

Molly and Balance bike

The other huge change that began at Ocean Grove was the boys starting their new school year. They were so excited to begin it all- even Molly.

It was only an introduction section to be completed but there was much enthusiasm that day- I wondered if that would continue. Fingers crossed.

Thorups and HC visit

We even had a fab visit from the Thorups!! It was great to share lunch and then spend the afternoon at the beach together. Molly was on the boogie board for hours with Erik and came in from the ocean grinning from ear to ear. We hardly saw Ben and their son Joakim as they spent the day digging their way to China. I was sad to see them leave :o(

All of our time was spent at the beach over the next 3 days.

View Time in Ocean Grove in a larger map

The departure from the caravan park drew many helpers as Rasmus attempted to pull out from the camp site. A 30 foot appendage is difficult to manoeuvre!! It was finally achieved and we were on our way again.

Sunset Ocean Grove

Thanks to Thorups and H.C.

Ballarat 23rd January to 2nd Feb

We have finally made the move into the big, wide land of Australia.....

 to Ballarat!!

View Stage 1 - Ferntree Gully to Ballarat in a larger map

We decided to make a trip here to catch up with my cousin and his family and loved it so much we had to practically drag ourselves away after 10 days.

They have a beautiful 10 acre property which they have often made available to us over the years and this time even allowed our big whopper of a van to take up residence.

With the school holidays nearly over, we made the most of the quiet tourist areas and visited Sovereign Hill, where the boys couldn't get enough of panning for gold and Molly took her shoes off and went wading!

Ballarat Wildlife Sanctuary was our next outing. It was terrific there. The kids got to pat wombats, snakes and turtles. Kasper even saw his favourite echidnas up close. We also got to see the feeding of Tassie Devils and Alligators. One of the highlights was a boxing match we caught between two kangaroos!!!

We then drove past Kryle Castle but that is closed!

At my cousin's dam the kids put their yabbie nets in and managed to catch about 10-we put them back though as we think that was all they had :o)

Lot's of fishing was done and Ben had a ball. He is really catching the fishing bug hard. He can't pass a camping store without checking out their fishing section nowadays!!

Near where our caravan was parked there was an old enamel bath sitting under an apple tree which had been used for a cows drink trough. I decided one of my aims for our stay was to clean out the bath and enjoy an outdoor bath complete with bubbles- made a lovely picture in my head. On one of the last days I finally managed to complete the cleaning part and in popped Molly and Kasper to sort of fulfil the last part of my dream. It was so cute to see them.

The next day we hitched up, parted ways with the Brown's of Ballarat and headed off.

Celebration of Invasion Day,
 and our 12th Anniversary: January 26th 2012

Map of some of the places we visited

View Ballarat where we went in a larger map

Thanks to C, N, N, A and M Brown