The Road Home

 Our last day of our "Great Ocean Road Trip" we woke up in Wangaratta where we had stayed in this cabin. We thought it was the nicest place we stayed during our vacation.

 We ate breakfast with our favorite guy.

 Then went to see more of this guy.  In Glenrowan there is more to see about the infamous Ned Kelly.  

 We paid too much to go into a museum about Ned Kelly where you can go in a replica of his homestead.

 They said these cockatoos talked, but I'm not sure what they can say. Maybe they had an accent.

 Closer to home we saw a sign on the highway that said, "Dog on a Tucker Box next Exit."  We were too curious not to pull over and check it out.  

 There is a famous Australian poem that has been made into a song about a guy who was having a terrible day.  He was crossing a river with his wagon and his horses got stuck in the river.  He said at least he had his lunch.  When he got out of the river and found his tucker box, he saw a dog who had peed on his tucker box and was just sitting there.  This monument is close to Gundagai where the events happen in the poem.

 So there you go--all you need to know about the dog on the tucker box.

We had a great trip, but I must admit I was glad to see my bed.  We slept seven nights in a tent.  I was thinking on the ride home that I had never done that in my life before--not as a child, not as an adult.  I guess there is a first for everything.  And in case you are wondering, just because we slept in a tent doesn't mean I didn't shower :)  We really did have a great time seeing more of Australia.

Sovereign Hill

On our way home we stopped in Ballarat, Victoria to go to Sovereign Hill, an old mining town.  The two largest golden nuggets in the world were found in Victoria, and the second largest was found in Ballarat.  Sovereign Hill is like Nauvoo, only it's all about gold.

They melted down gold and  poured it into a gold bar worth $300,000 ( I think).  They have been doing this forever, so the guy said this gold bar had been melted down a million times.

The gold bar.

This old fashioned bowling alley was awesome.  We couldn't get the kids out of here.

 You threw a wooden ball and had to set up your pins again after you knocked them over.

 At the candy shop, we watched this guy make hard candy.

 It tasted like licorice, but you suck on it.  He said that sugar was so expensive the kids in the 1800's could only have one small piece of candy a week.

 At the candle shop, we dipped candles.

 Hope waiting for her milkshake.  It was so hot.  I forget that milkshakes in Australia are pretty much flavored milk.  They are not thick and yummy like in the states.

 They loved panning for gold.

 Hope decided to go swimming.

 We went on a small tour of a mine where they showed us how the man found his golden nugget.

 The gold museum.