Day 2: 13/4
Approx 600kms

I think we underestimated today a little. It was a longer haul than we thought, but we adapted and thankfully the kids held it together - except for maybe the last half hour or so - but really - they travelled well again.

We headed out from Gundagai after doing a lap of the Main Street, driving past the old railway station, and having a sticky beak at two very old and impressive (disused) timber bridges over the mighty Murrumbidgee River.

At Albury, we detoured off the main highway in the hope of finding a photo opportunity as we crossed the state border into Victoria and the Murray River. Unfortunately there was no such luck, so we continued south. We ended up doing an unplanned tour of Wodonga in search of replacement headphones for Ms4. Google gave us dud directions, and half an hour later we found a woolies, grabbed some morning tea to go (and some headphones) and found our way back onto the highway.

On the NSW side of the Hume Hwy, we'd been puzzled by these strange looking poles we kept seeing at regular intervals along the highway. They weren't your usual animal rope-bridge type crossings, but we were quite perplexed as to what they were. Eventually we wondered if they were for sugar gliders or other gliding type animals. Thankfully Google came to our rescue, and yes - they are used by squirrel gliders and sugar gliders. Chris found an interesting research paper on them online, and it seems these poles do the trick, and help keep small gliding mammals safe from the perils of the Hume Hwy!

We had a picnic lunch in the park at Glenrowan. We stopped briefly at the big Ned Kelly, but our plans for the return trip will give us more time to explore than today allowed. The kids got to run off some steam on the climbing and play equipment.

Originally we had thought we would skip across country from Seymour, through the Mt Macedon ranges, passed Hanging Rock and into Ballarat that way, but our timing was tight and we had tickets to a show in Ballarat, so we opted for the quickest way there - which meant taking the freeway into the outskirts of Melbourne then west to Ballarat. We caught some glimpses of the Melbourne city skyline on the way.

We made it into Ballarat around 4.30pm, and quickly went looking for all our warm jackets - including scarves and beanies - there was a definite chill in the air. A quick club dinner (which was surprisingly better food than we expected) saw us back in time for the sound and light show "Blood on the Southern Cross", which is a fairly clever representation of the events leading up to, and including the Eureka stockade. A great history lesson for the kids - especially when they get to the part at school where they start learning about the gold rush.

We are staying about as close to Sovereign Hill as you can get - so tomorrow there will be next to no car time - lots of walking instead, as we explore the replica town from gold rush days.

Today seems to have worn the kids out - and they were all asleep within about five mins of their heads hitting the pillows.

My cuppa tea is almost gone, so I am hoping to match the kids achievement very soon.