Today we caught up with Mark and Judith Farrand and headed out for a paddle steamer cruise. It was cool they are a lot quieter than I thought and very smooth. The smell of the eucalyptus trees was amazing. It was great seeing the port of Echuca from the river a lot of heritage here. Went for a pub feed at where else but the Echuca hotel had a great day.

Today we tackled Sovereign Hill which is the well preserved gold mine in Ballarat. It was awesome Lily & Indie got hold a freshly poured gold bar which was worth $153,000. We watched as they extracted the mercury vapour and poured it in to mould it was interesting. Then we went to Browns confectionary where they made lollies and sweets as they have them since 1870. Deanne bought some of course.

Today we left rainy cold Apollo Bay to sunny hot Ballarat. We are here in the goldfields till Monday as mum will fly home tomorrow from Melbourne

Today we went driving to the 12 apostles. 1.5hr windie drive. What an epic site to see. We left Apollo bay at 16 degrees and raining and 20 minutes out from the apostles it was a lovely 23 degrees and slightly overcast. Set onto Port Campbell and had lunch and Icecream

Today we travelled from Bellarine to Apollo Bay. We have a addition to our crew - nana was collected from Melbourne airport yesterday afternoon and is with us on our travels till Saturday. The girls where like stunned mullets when they seen her then the excitement kicked in! Had morning tea in Torquay, Bells beach. Great ocean road was spectacular even with the poor weather. Dan did a great job as usual using his exceptional driving skills to maneuver around...