Strike Gold!

As an early birthday treat for me, Darren and I went to Ballarat for the weekend and visited Sovereign Hill, Australia’s foremost outdoor museum, that re-creates Ballarat’s first ten years after the discovery of gold in 1851 when thousands of international adventurers rushed to the Australian goldfields in search of fortune.

Sovereign Hill is a living museum with working exhibits brought to life by costumed characters and over 40 horses. Set on 25 acres of an original mining site, Sovereign Hill is a goldfields town with shops, hotels, a theatre, schools, factories, a gold diggings and underground mines to explore.

Panning for gold

We also visited the Gold Museum and saw Henry Bolte on the way!

In the evening we had dinner in Ballarat and then went back to Sovereign hill for the sound and light show - "Blood on the Southern Cross".  Unfortunately we weren't able to take photographs but it was amazing.  

The story is of the Eureka Rebellion, a dramatic battle between gold miners and Government forces at Ballarat on 3 December, 1854.  The show is set under the night skies at Sovereign Hill and involves no actors – just voices, sound-and-light effects and a stunning open-air set.  We were able to experience the miners’ disgust at unfair gold taxes and witness the dramatic burning of the Eureka Hotel. We also heard Governor Hotham’s reasoning for a dawn attack on a band of men who were the first to swear an oath of loyalty on Australian soil to a flag that was not British – the flag of the Southern Cross.

In the morning we were spoilt with breakfast in the room.......

.....and then headed back to Sovereign Hill for a last look around and to see the police musket firing!

It was a really fun way to celebrate my birthday weekend!

Rebels Family Day

Just a couple of weeks before the season starts, and the Melbourne Rebels hold a family day.  It was a beautiful afternoon, and the kids had a great time with face paints, a huge slide and doing skills and drills with the players.

And I have to admit that I had a great time too getting autographs - for Mabel and Kieran - honest ;o)

The season has now started, and despite the ominous skies, the Rebels had a win against the Western Force - let's hope it continues.......

Tennis and Heineken Hats!

January to us means the Australian Open and ground passes on Heineken Saturday!  It's the fourth year we've gone on Heineken Saturday, and I've always wanted one of the Heineken hats that they hand out in the Heineken beer garden, but it's always too busy, with queues winding round Melbourne Park.  But this year we were on a mission and we were in the beer garden by 10.30am!  It's a great atmosphere with the tennis on big screens, and a stage for live music - great day!  And we got our hats!!!!!











We also went to the Rod Laver arena to see the world No 1, Novak Djokovic move into the Australian Open final in the most impressive fashion by destroying David Ferrer 6-2 6-2 6-1.  It was all over in an hour and a half, which was actually a blessing because it was 37 degrees!































We also saw the start of the all-star doubles match - Henry Leconte and Guy Forget against Pat Cash and Goran Ivanisevic - they had a great time winding each other up and acting the fool!