Today was a catchup and rest day, with just a mundane trip for groceries etc. Otherwise, just spent time at the park, which trhe kids enjoyed as there was many other kids to play with. 

OK, Boxing day, what does one do in Melbourne but go shopping (well so I am told!).

Josie and Charlotte, where keen to do the shopping thing in the Boxing Day sales, so I took Harry and Charlotte to see the Space exibition at the ACMI - Australia Centre for Moving Image. The Exibition was good, and then there were some other areas there with interactive displays etc that the kids loved (big and small).

After this we met up with J and C to carry all the bargins for them.

All in all, a good day of shopping was had, but I had certainly seen enough people for one day. Josie was telling me they had to queue for 10 minutes at one stage just to get on the escalator!

Today is Christmas, but of course even after a late night the kids were not too long out of bed. Santa managed to find the caravan, he is a very smart fellow, and leave numerous large gifts for the kids (I am sure I told Santa to only bring small gifts but guess he could not resist ).

Our Christmas day was to revolve around food (and a bit of drink). Started off with Champange for breakfast (for those who think this might be a silly idea, I recommend you try it!), with strawberries (healthy). Then croissants, with jam for breakfast.

Moving on to  Lunch, which consisted of everyones favourite food. Josie and I had BBQ Prawns, followed by Crayfish, fresh from our travels, and roast duck (yum), Kids had Garlic bread and Lasagane. Moving right along to desert, Jelly, Pavlova, cream and Fruit. I also got a special treat of Xmas pudding we had purchased at the Barossa.

As always a bit full after all that food!

Afternoon we spent watching the weather as we got a bad storm with damaging hail and flooding. The van next to us, had about 20 cm , 8inches of water through its anex, wetting much of what they had left in there. We just got some water around the van, nothing too much. But then the hail started with large marble sized hail stones. We did not suffer any damage from this though where a bit concerned about the roof vents as they took a pounding. Found out the next day a Carvan two away from us got hail damage on the roof and front panels, and there car, they had been out of the park when the storm hit, had significant damage. Our car seems ok, but hard to tell as it is so dirty as we are not allowed to clean it in a caravan park!

Up this morning and pack up the van to head off to Melbourne. Quick trip down with no issues, a bit more concentration required with all the traffic around. Got to the van park about 12, and set up the van and then headed off to the city centre, on the tram of course.

Tonight we are going to go to the Melbourne Carols in the Park, at the Myer Music Bowl. Arrived about 4:30 which we thought was early as the show started for real at 8pm. Found even at this time the place was looking a bit full, but we found a place to sit and wait. There were some kids shows on, and Humphrey B Bear was also on, noteably before the TV coverage started. The pre entertainment was OK, bit nothing special.

One thing I did notice, it was nice to see we were not inundated with requests for more money once we got there. The Carols are to support Vision Australia, and yes we paid for tickets, and candles (optional), there was not endless selling of stuff inside the area.

Once the show started for real, all was good and enjoyable, we even managed to sing a few songs. The kids loved Hi 5, and Santas visit. Again Humphrey B Bear was on stage in the ads. We always wondered what happened when the ads were on TV, well, there is another host that comes in and entertains the crowd during this time.

After the show we walked with thousands of others to the trams, and caught our tram home, arriving back after being wished a Merry Xmas (as it was now past midnight), by the tram driver. All very late to bed, but a great night was had by all.

Today we are off to Sovereign Hill, which is a recreated town in the style of the late 1880, gold rush time. Very cool. Started of the morning with a visit to the local bakery where they still cook the food using tradditonal ways and in a wood/ coal fired oven. Yum (and no this is not a tour of Australia by stomach!). Then we wandered up the main street checking out the Lolly shop, the pub (does sell beer but too early at the moment), Jewellery store (Charlotte had to purchase),  blacksmith (damn hot work here), horse stables, and clothes shop. All contained older style good and clothes etc. And all staffed by people dressed in period costumes.

We attended the Musket firing, the marching of the Red Coats, the demonstration of the wonderful and new battery (For lighting dynamite of course). Also did some 10 pin bowling in the bowling alley made entirely from wood.

After Lunch we did an underground mine tour, involving a cable car, a walk in the mine, and a mine train. Kids loved all this. Then a quick look around the Chinese village (to see how hard the locals made life for them), and it was 5pm and time to leave.

As we left a quick tour around the Gold Museum where there was some good examples of gold coins, nuggets, and other historical information on Ballarat.

Today off to Mount Gambier in the South of South Australia, just inside the border with Victoria.

Travelled south down to the Coorong today, stopping at Coorong for some lunch and a run around on the water front park. It was interesting to see the lake here (or Lagoon), as the Lonely Planet had said how low the water level was and how far out from the shore the water was at Coorong. Swell we found neither to be true, as it seems the water level has been refilled with all the rain over the last couple of wetter years.

Also interesting that the Murray river had weirs installed upstream from here to keep the water level for the Paddle Steamers, this in turn, in the dry years, kept the water upstream, and the water at Coorong become salty as the ocean washed in. So, Man in his wisdom, added more weirs downstream to stop the salt water coming further upstream. This seems to be working slowly and the Coorong wetlands are starting to return to normal. Of course if Man had left well alone in the first place all most likely would have been ok...

Next on the way was Salt Creek, where there was a replica Oil well (and nothing else). Why you may ask? Apparently early explorers found a black tar like substance that they thought was oil, so they drilled quite a few mines. They never found any oil in this area, and it appears the oil like substance was some kind of Algae.

Further along was Kingston SE where there is the Big Lobster (or Crayfish for the Kiwis). Had to stop for a photo of yet another big thing! Funny story was with this one, when the artist built the lobster, he mixed up feet and metres so the Lobster actually was 3 times larger than it was supposed to be! Also we wondered why the SE at the end of the name, the reason is there was another Kingston in the state, the SE standing for South East. As an aside the other town is now called Kingston-on-Murray. Finally we managed a visit to the local fish shop to purchase a Lobster for Xmas Lunch, Yum!

Bit more driving until we reached our final destination for today of Mount Gambier.

Setup the Van and drove back to have a look at the Blue lake, which was to be the highlight of the visit here. And it was spectacular, a very vivid blue colour apparently caused by Algae in the summer. Also in the middle of town there are a number of Sink holes where the ground just has a bit hole in it. The local council has made features of these, with parks surrounding them etc, and in some cases adding a building and charging admission.

Today we drove across to Victor Harbour to ride on the old Horse Tram. Road over was a bit of a challenge as very windy and not so good with the van on the back, but we made it with no issues.

The horse drawn tram was brilliant. It took passengers over to a small island about 1.5 km from town over a bridge/ causeway. Ride was slow but steady, actually I am fairly sure you could have walked faster, but that was not the point! The tram was beautifully restored and in all its finery.

Had lunch at the local fish shop (was the best in the state the sign says (but have seen that a few times now!)), as of course what else do we have for lunch when near the water.

Then on to the drive down to the Coorong, which is a very famous area, but seemed to me to be a bit of a swamp.Must admit it would have been a great place to relax and chill and see the birds, and take all day fishing (but not catch anything). All this sounds great for adults but not so great for kids!

Then on to Murray Bridge to see if we could sail aboard a real paddle steamer. Unfortunately for us, the paddle boat only sailed the day we arrived and left 1 hour before we got to town, bad luck and bad timing!

Anyway had a quick look around town and back to the view park. Got a nice view of the sun setting over the Murray river though ...

Today we had a big decision to make, go for another drive or go wine tasting. mmmm, tough decision, of course wine tasting wins!

Off today to the Mclaren Vale Wine region. First stop is Pennys Lane who actually markets Mr Riggs wines as well as a couple of other brand names.

Fantastic wines, made better by the fact they provided toys for the kids, so no when are we leaving questions every 2 minutes!

Next on to Wirra Wirra Wines, where we were not that impressed with the tasting, may be too well provided for a the earlier vineyard!

Then off to lunch, to a winery that Josie picked out from one of the tourist papers. Fantastic food and lovely views, and whilst not totally kids friendly in the menu department, they made us welcome. The owner of the vineyard even managed to take the kids for a private tour of the celler and wine store, which they loved.

after lunch we went to d'Arenberg winery for some more tasting. Enjoyed their exit sign, see todays photo, more than their wine!

Finally back to the van at Normanville.

Today we are leaving Kangaroo Island but plan to have a look at the Eastern end. We drove down to Penshaw, the town where the ferry comes from the mainland. As it was cool and drissly we decided to have a bit of a drive around the town and then had some lunch the the local (only pub). Food was very good for pub food, but a shame for the lovely view as the weather was not so good.

After lunch we drove out to the Cape Willowby Lighthouse. This turned out to be a bit of a longer drive than we thought but had great views back to the mainland. Once there we spent our money in the shop and had a quick look at the lighthouse, before returning to Penshaw to catch the 4pm Ferry.

Once back on the mainland, a quick drive put us back at the Van, in Normanville.