Day 3 - Ballarat all day

This morning the kids slept til almost 7am which was very welcome. Once the youngest two became restless I took them off for a drive, with the main aim to find some sandwich fillers for lunchtime, bakery items for breakfast and coffee!!

By the time we got back, the rest of the crew were up and at it, so we had breakfast then got organised for a day at Sovereign Hill - a replica 1850s town highlighting living in gold rush days.

We did an underground mine tour, saw a demonstration of old fashioned confectionery / boiled sweets making (and enjoyed some samples), went panning for gold, saw candle making, gold ingot pouring, timber wheel making and visited an ol' time bowling alley. There was a lot to see and do, and we walked and walked! The kids have voted the gold panning as the highlight for them.

Staying so close to Sovereign Hill allowed us to walk back to our room to make our lunch, before heading back in again for the afternoon. After we'd seen enough, we headed to the gold museum across the road. It was interesting, but not sure we learned any more than we already had during the day. Entry was included in our sovereign hill entry ticket, so we had nothing to lose going for a look-see.

We then went for a drive up the main street of Ballarat, and looked and all the wonderful old buildings. The historic old post office seems to have been turned into a university building (a note to Newcastle Council / NSW State government there).

We decided tonight that dinner should be Chinese - it seemed kind of apt given the influence / presence of the Chinese in Ballarat in the gold rush days.

Tips for travellers - staying at Sovereign Hill was pretty good for being able to go in and out of the "park" during the day. Our rooms are comfortable - but having a small table and a couple of chairs would have been welcome. This however is made up for by the presence of a "dining room" in our building - where we can help ourselves to basic breakfast cereals and toast in the morning. We didn't choose to stay here for all those features - we chose it because it was an economic option for our family. The benefit of having our own special entrance to the "park" and the ability to come and go during the day was an unexpected bonus. If we were coming back to visit Sovereign Hill, then I'd recommend staying here.