Saturday 14th August; To Geelong via Great Ocean Road.

Today we tried to conquer the Great Ocean Road on our quest to get to Geelong by 5:00pm. The trip was on a continuously winding road and very windy which slowed us down immensely. Not to mention the extra minutes added by stopping to admire some of the wonderful natural features along the cliffs such as; the twelve apostle, the Obelisk and London Bridge. My favourite one was the twelve apostles, even though there’s only nine now – so that’s pretty retarded.

After a lunch break in the car park of the twelve apostles (not very scenic) we left again to continue our trek. It wasn’t until 7:30pm that we arrived at the caravan park. We showered because we stank, ate because we were hungry and slept because we were tired.

Tuesday 17th August; Sovereign Hill

Today was a beautiful, sunny and very promising day. Every member of the clan was revved up and ready to go to Sovereign Hill.

We arrived at S.H at 1100 hours. It was still sunny and with clear sky our mission was still “GO”! As soon as I walked into the 1850′s styled town centre it became so real. I loved each bit from the part when this guy walked across the road with a wheelbarrow to the moment when the horse and carriage would come around the corner. All of it was just so realistic.

Our first stop was to be fascinated by a trooper who showed us how to load a musket and shoot it! Unfortunately we were not allowed to shoot the gun but it was still as awesome.

Next we made our way to watch the stage theatre starring Lola Montez. It was extremely good and made everyone laugh. At the end of it Dad asked another trooper to take a photo with Levi and I. The trooper obliged with no hesitation and decided to grasp Levi and me by the ears but when Miriam came into the photo he simply explained “I don’t have three hands!” So Miriam just stood in front. The trooper was then swarmed by fascinated young boys who wanted to have a look at his sword. One of the rowdy little kids asked, with no sarcasm at all, if he could kill the horse that trotted past with the sword. It was absolutely hilarious watching all the little boys just asking the most retarded questions which little boys find funny.
After the nonsense from the boys, we went and explored the Hotel and bar that stood adjacent to the street theatre. It was quite interesting but I was still bubbling with excitement to go and have our photo taken as an 1850’s family.

Before our photo appointment we managed to squeeze in a trip to the old school where kids can come and have school camps, take lessons and have a taste of what the 1850’s was like. We then had a look at the wheel making warehouse thing to see how to make a hubbed carriage wheel.

At a quarter to two we went to the photo place and had our photo taken. Mum and I had a choice to dress up as a lady, a gypsy, a bar girl or an evening gown. Both Mum and I chose to wear the evening gown, which turned out to be a rather good choice. Jordan and Dad were limited to a gentleman, a trooper, a miner, as for Miriam and Levi they were just dressed in traditional children’s wear.

Our bellies were rumbling after the photo so it was obvious our next stop was to have lunch.
After our lunch we went to the riverside to try our luck at gold panning. I, myself, had no idea what to do and therefore failed dismally. Although Dad was the smart one and watched a villager showing people how to pan and later found a tiny leaf of gold.

We had a quick look around the other attractions then decided to go and have our much desired ride on the horse and carriage around the olden day township. Our last stop for the day was a newspaper printing press shop where I purchased a poster for myself. Our long day was finally over and it was definitely a day to remember.

Friday 20th August; Melbourne, Footy Carlton VS Geelong

Today was another of those short drives to our destination but this time our destination is Melbourne. We plan to stay 4 nights close to the city of Melbourne at Sundowner Caravan Park. The people in the park was nice and friendly but the thing I was looking forward to most was …………… going to watch my team Carlton THRASH Geelong at Etihad Stadium.

At about 5pm that night we drove into town to go to Spencer Street shopping complex. We had a quick scout around to find any useful footy paraphernalia but it was just a bit too much to put money towards. We ended up just having dinner in one of the food courts before heading over to the stadium. Once we were in the stadium there were about 45,000 people around and who do you think was the first person we meet there – Mr Alsop. It was kind of funny, in fact there was a 1 in 45,000 chance we might bump into him. It was nice having a little chat with him but we had to get on our way.

After walking for a while we spotted a footy store called For The Game, or something, which was having 20% off so we decided to fully stock up on Carlton flags, inflatable hands and a scarf for Moi. The seats we had were okay, I guess, but just being able to sit there and watch was awesome. The aroma, atmosphere and everything were indescribable. Can’t wait ‘til the grand final! Unfortunately the game didn’t go the way I hoped and instead of watching my team climb to victory we had to watch them flail at the bottom. Overall though I loved the atmosphere and I even liked having these kind of hotties sitting behind us. [Editors note: the "hotties" behind us were loud-mouth, obnoxious, drunkards who had no idea who was even playing. Shame!]