23/02/2009. Up early this morning and leftfor Ballarat. I am very anxious to to get there as I am keen to see the Lalor side of the family, and in particular the Eureka Stockade.
We are camped in the Eureka caravan park just behind the spectacular information centre (photo to left, not a bad park with the added bonus of an Olympic size pool next door and we can use it for free only problem there is school swimming carnivals in progress for the next week, it won't bother us as the weather is very cold,
24/02. We are going to Sovereign Hill today to see the recreation of the old Ballarat Goldfield
town of the 1850 era.
Sandra & I bought a 2 day pass as this place is huge and we will need at least 2 days to see it all. Day 1, was spent looking at the old buildings, with dirt roads, Cobb & Co coaches, school kids doing a days schooling in the class room and wearing cloths of that time gone by.
Off to School.
Day 2. At Night it was back to Sovereign Hill to see a reenactment of the Battle of the Eureka Stockade, it was such a shame that we were not allowed to take any photos, it was a fantastic sight to see with guns, cannons, smoke, horses and screams, the noise from hundreds of loud speakers around the battle scene all adding to the effect and not an Actor anywhere to be seen, a most memorable not that I will not forget.
26/2/. All over now at Ballarat as we have moved onto Geelong and staying at the Rivergum
C/V park, what a joke the sites are so small that you cannot put your awning out, poor old Les and Stan had no electricity to there vans and had to wait 2 hours for an Electrician to come out to put the power on.
We had booked for 2 days and asked the managers for a refund for the second day as we had had enough.
27/02. After leaving Geelong we drove a short distance to Torquay and The Great Ocean Road, at last.
1st stop is Bells Beach one of the worlds great surfing beaches, it was an overcast and rainy day with only a small swell coming in and about a dozen surfers catching waves, in my younger days I would have loved to surf here.
We are now well and truly on the ocean rd with the very blue water only meters away, the road is narrow, it was built by Returned Soldiers from the 1st World War, it is a credit to there skill and hard work mostly done with pick & shovel
28/02. We had an early start this morning and drove down to Apollo Bay, it is a bustling small town and very yuppie, had a look at the local markets they are small and not much variety.
Went to the fish & chip shop and bought some Flake (Gummy Shark) it is still one of the best eating fish in Victoria and at &29.99 a kilo it would have to be good and it was.
We then drove onto Lavers Hill the highest part of the Gt Ocean Rd at 496 meters above sea level. We stayed here at a very small C/V park come pub, bottle shop, hot food takeaway, and info centre and at $20.00 first night and $17.00 second night, it was very good value.
Stan, Joan & I went out to the Otway Tree Top Walk not far from Lavers Hill, this was an experience we were glad that we had done it is truly amazing to be up there in the canopy of the trees and looking down, the highest point being 47 meters from ground level, the walk down was about 1 and 1/2 kay and easy going with giant trees, ferns and all sorts of Rainforest plants and a bonus of "Dinosaurs
" to amaze us, the walk back up the mountain not so easy. 
02/03. Left Lavers Hill for Warnambool for a highight of this trip The 12 apostles.
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