The Grampians

Here is a photo that I took on the way down to Coleraine. It was such a beautiful day and the mountain just looked amazing.

Portland

We ticked off another town in Victoria this weekend. Portland is a small town with a fairly busy port. The kids enjoyed having a paddle in the sea, they got rather soaked and it wasn't a warm day. Fun though! Wayne and I enjoyed watching a tug boat head out,hook up with a large ship and help it to dock in the Port.

Future Police recruits or prisoners?

Royal Melbourne Show 2008

We had a great day at The Royal Melbourne Show today. The kids have patted piglets, lambs, calves and rats. They have had many different train rides and came home with assorted showbags. I would have liked to go on the ferris wheel, it was huge and had airconditioned capsules to sit in. Unfortunately Em wasn't keen and it had to be all of us or none of us. Our trip home was slightly difficult with the Connex train only stopping for a short time at Southern Cross Station. Twice we didn't make it off the train. The third time we were luckier. Home now with very tired kids.

Emily the Purple People Eater

This is the costume that Em wore in the school concert.

Stayin Alive

Natasha practicing for the school concert next Friday. They are dancing to Stayin Alive from Saturday Night Fever and Emily is being a Purple People Eater. As David put it: "Disco and Cannabilism, they are growing up"

Arrival of Chirpy

Here is our new canary called Chirpy. We got him mostly for Emily who named him. He is heading for a gender identity crisis in his purple and pink cage. We think he is just too cute. He's a great singer as well. He's so fast that it's really hard to get good photos of him.

Hamilton sightseeing and the trip home

Here is our Toyota Corolla rental car and The Bandicoot Motor Inn where we stayed. The lake is Hamilton Lake and I think the bird is a Little Pied Cormorant, but I am happy to be corrected if that isn't correct. Right next to this lake was the Ansett Transport Museum which we enjoyed having a look around in. They have a replica Fokker Universal (1936)plane and various mannequins modelling all the different air hostess uniforms that have been used over the years. It was really interesting.
The Mountain range (I think) is The Grampians. It was beside us as we drove home in the afternoon. If you want to see our weekend away in order then scroll down to the Waterfalls post and work your way to the top. I'm sure that you'll agree that we fitted a lot into two days. We also enjoyed the Hamilton Botanical Gardens but we didn't take any photos there. I am very grateful to the kind policeman that gave me a warning re my speed on the way down rather than a ticket. The meal at The National Hotel in Coleraine was delicious as well, if you are ever in Coleraine, I would highly recomend that you have dinner there.

The Blue Lake - Mt Gambier

This lake was just beautiful. It is a crater lake and Mt Gambier uses the high quality water for their town supply. The colour changes at different times of the year. It can be a deep blue or a turquoise colour.

Large heavy machinery with very small drivers

This bulldozer and logging truck were by the sinkhole. Rhys and Em were very keen to have a drive.

Mt Gambier Sinkhole

Having a spare three hours up our sleeve before dinner we decided to cross the state line into South Australia and check out Mount Gambier. It was fun to watch the time change on the Navman as we crossed the line. The sinkhole (pictured) is made from umpherstone and is home to many bees and oppossums. Hopefully seeing how small we look at the bottom will give you an indication of the sheer size of the hole. The oppossum we met on the way down was very friendly and didn't mind Wayne taking it's picture.

Wayne's Office

This is the view from Wayne's office in Coleraine. They have just finished laying pipe up this steep hill. The haze in the picture is the remainder of the thick fog that I had to drive through on my way to Hamilton.

Southern Grampian Waterfalls

After a pleasant drive to catch up with Wayne in Hamilton, we began our sightseeing with some waterfalls. The first one that we visited was called Nigretta Falls and the second one was Wannon Falls. Wannon Falls was impressive with a spectacular 30m drop over hardened basalt lava culminating in a deep plunge pool below. We saw some Kangaroos at Wannon Falls just by the carpark. They were kind enough to freeze while I took some photos.