It must have been a magnetised bed that we fell into last night as we couldn't get up this morning. Ju was the first to stir. I led there a while collecting my thoughts... which country are we in now! Our guests had made us feel really welcome. We had a light breakfast before setting off with Jan to Ballarat. We were heading to Sovereign Hill, an historical gold mining town in the mountains. As we drove through Melbourne we took in the sights. I tried to imagine living here, unfortunately they don't have a pub culture in Australia like back home - so emigrating isn't on the cards (don't worry mum).

We had a spot of lunch before entering Sovereign Hill. I enjoyed eyeing up the Holden cars in the car park. Real Aussie muscle cars, v6 and v8 models. One thing the Aussies have in abundance that we don't get back home is a 'Ute' pick-up trucks in English. I have seen some great looking pick up trucks driving around and they sound great too - that classic v8 gurgle as they power by. I enjoyed walking around SH. It was lovely to see Ju panning for gold. I could imagine her here 25 years ago as a little girl all excited at the prospect of finding gold. I could relate to her childhood memories as I had a similar experience in Arizona as a kid. I sat in the shade watching gangs of school kids with pans at the edge of the river excitedly screaming and splashing around. We took our time strolling around learning about mining in the 1850s and how the Chinese had been exploited. Ju managed to find a bowling alley where we had a ginger beer. I found some wooden 3d puzzles at reception whilst Ju bowled away with Jan. I made it my mission to finish all three which amazed the staff who had spent all afternoon trying to put them together. It only took me 10 minutes for all three puzzles. Perhaps I should try and crack the GCHQ recruitment puzzle that's floating around on the internet at present. Who knows I could be a spy this time next year!

We spent the evening being spoilt by our hosts. We had a lovely dinner cooked by Jan followed by a yummy desert. Washing, blogs and pictures were the order of the evenings entertainment. Luckily the Clears have the internet so I uploaded thousands of photos from our two weeks in New Zealand. The girls amused themselves with wedding talk and photos. I couldn't help but giggle at times listening to the Aussie accent as Jan and Belinda conversed with Ju. All those stretched vowels... I had to laAAAAugh.