Ballarat, Sovereign Hill & Torrumbarry

Sorry about the delay in updating the blog,  but we have been outside mobile phone coverage for 5 days now so this is the first opportunity we've had to update the blog since last time.

Our trip from Lara and our stay with Barry and Sandra in Lara near Geelong to Ballarat was easy travelling.  The stupid GPS lead us astray a few times because it did not have updated maps on board.

We travelled from Lara to Ballarat and were talked into town by Dave VK3KY on VHF and found his place without much problem  When we arrived we met Dave and Jan and their Kelpie cross dog Missy for the first time and were welcomed into their lovely warm home. 

After some lunch Tim and I went out to Sovereign Hill which is only a few kilometres from Dave & Jan's place at Mt Clear.

The Sovereign hill experience was great.  The only problem was that we arrived too late to really take the whole experience in.  We paid the entrance fee and were given tickets to Sovereign Hill and the Gold Museum but we never got to the museum,  we just ran out of time.  It is definitely a full day excursion. The following pics are of Sovereign Hill.  Tim went on the underground mine tour and left me on the surface.  I've been a bit claustrophobic lately for some reason and the though of being 100ft underground didn't appeal too much.

A replica Cobb & Co Coach that gives tourists ride around the town.

Tim panning for gold, good luck.  There were a heap of Japanese tourists and school kids there going for it too!

I had to try my luck as well.

This was the result.  You'll have to zoom in on this king size nugget.  A few hundred thousand of these and I could retire.

One of the side shafts off the underground mine.  They used to follow seams of gold as they found them.

One of the tunnels in the mine at 100ft underground.  Not for me..

After we ran out of time at Sovereign Hill, it was back to Dave & Jan's place for a great roast pork meal.  The crackling was fantastic.

The next morning, we all got ourselves sorted and headed for Torrumbarry which in about 30km from Echuca on the Murray River.  The following pics are of the preparation for the trip and the four days at Torrumbarry weir.

The pic below is me standing near my motor home.  Dave has been fitting out the Toyota in the carport about the same time as I've been doing the Mazda.  It was great to see what he's been doing.

When we arrived at the weir campsite it was threatening rain, but on Friday it just poured down.  The pic below is taken just outside the camp where the two buses were parked.  It was WET.  We were really worried about getting out of the campsite if this kept up.  We were lucky enough to find a couple of old concrete pads that were high enough to keep the water away from the doors.

This is the two buses/motor homes where we had them set up.  The Awnings were put out to touch each other which gave a large undercover area for us to sit under.

Saturday and Sunday were great weather.  Tim went fishing in a dinghy in Rex's boat which Steve towed up from Mooroopna for the weekend.  The morning were cold but after the sun came up the days were really nice.  The evenings consisted of communal meals, roasts, fish and chips and salt and pepper squid courtesy of Albert.  The following pics show some of the highlights of the weekend. 

On Saturday we were paid a visit by Dave, VK3VCE and Maree his wife and Robbo VK3FRJB.  It was great to put a face to the call sign.  Thanks for taking the trouble to drive out to see us guys.  Dave is the proud owner of a Nissan U Boat which he tested out through one of the mud holes on the way in.  I don't have a pic to show you all, more's the pity, but I'm told that it will be in the Shepparton Radio Club's next newsletter. (I just got the pic below courtesy of Steve)

Dave, Kay and Rex out the front of Rex's A-Van.  Kay had a really cold Moo Moo all weekend. 

This is Tim stuffing his face.  He can eat that boy.  Just as well there was food coming out of our ears the whole time we were these.  Rex and the cow cooker strike again.

On Saturday night,  the Lambrusco ran out, so Albert had to resort to other beverages...Mmmm.. yummy!! Steve is watching on is amazement!!

This is Dave and Steve cutting much needed firewood.  Without it we would have frozen.

The river just where the camp was located.  Really nice,  but really cold  at this point, on the shore at the camp we were in Victoria,  but if we stepped into the water we would be in New South Wales.

This one is a morning shot of the fog on the river.

Torrumbarry Weir, just down the river from where we were camped.  Very Nice.

We have moved on now, the drive out was a bit hairy,  but we made it thanks to Dave's navigation around the mud holes.  Another update soon.  This one courtesy of McDonalds in Parkes NSW.