This morning we had another trip to Melbourne planned, and headed off to the catch the train from Marshall after breakfast. Our first stop was going to be the Queen Victoria Market for some more souvenir shopping and lunch in the food court…but we didn't realise until we arrived that it's closed on Wednesdays (why?). Plan A scrapped, we moved straight onto lunch at a café next to the market. I tried the 'full breakfast' which was missing a hash brown and fried...

Our day trip today was to Sovereign Hill at Ballarat, which is like Beamish back home - an open-air museum of an old Goldrush town, which was on this site in the 1850s. But first, we had to make a stop at the Post Office in Torquay to send our Australia-themed Christmas cards! The drive to Ballarat took about an hour, and we were all pleased that the sun was shining. When we arrived, we paid our quite steep entry fee (well, Mam paid - thanks!) to get in and were...

Today we had a very early start (6:30am alarm!) so that we could catch the 8am train from Marshall. We arrived at Southern Cross station in the city just after 9 and headed towards our first stop of the day, the Immigration Museum…which we found didn't open until 10am! To kill time, we headed for a much-needed coffee nearby. 10 am…back to the museum! It was well worth the $10 entry fee; it contained interesting exhibits on the millions of people who've emigr...

Today we planned to do the Great Ocean Road in one day with Mam and Dad! We were so impressed with it last time and thought Mam and Dad had to see it too after coming all this way! We set off early-ish and drove through Lorne, where a triathlon was taking place (we decided not to stop there!) and parked up in Apollo Bay for a late-morning coffee and cake. After that, we drove through to the Twelve Apostles, which was quite a long drive but worth it I hope! We h...

Our first full day in Torquay and it was time to explore the local area. We drove into Torquay and had a look around an art and craft market on the beachfront before stopping for coffee on the main street. We also called in at the local farmers' market, which turned out to be about eight stalls in a car park - not what we expected after visiting some brilliant markets out here! We had a drive out to try to find Marshall Station, where we'll catch the train into ...