LAST OF THE HOLIDAY PICS

Here is the last of some of our favourite pics from our holiday ...






These old buildings are at Silverton ... the ghost town about 25klm out of Broken Hill. There are 2 art galleries, a cafe, a museum (in the old jail) and the pub; which all still operate purely on tourism trade.


As you can see these two old "V-Dubs" parked out the front of the art gallery have been turned into art works with these gorgeous abstract type emus painted on them ... and ...


to make it even more interesting ...
apparantly with vegemite!!? Now


that's unique.


Inside the gallery they had these gorgeous life like statues of the abstract emus which I really loved but the price tag soon cured that!
We visited the little cafe which is in one of the old mud brick type buildings and had morning tea ... big home made scones with jam & cream, yummy scrummy!!
Then down to the old jail which had been turned into museum with lots of history about the area ... just the usual, lots of old stuff but pretty interesting.


Probably the most intriguing was the pub! Silverton is where the Mad Max movies were made and the car is parked out the front. We visited the pub, had a look around and had a drink out in the beer garden ... it actually felt like a movie prop! The pub walls are lined with photos taken whilst Mad Max was being filmed, the TV Series "A Town Like Alice" and numerous other commercial which have been made there.
The props such us the large signage on the pub giving it the different names it has been called
during filming now line roof under the beer garden verandah. All these things make it very unique and a great place to visit.

The photos taken of us with 'all that red dirt' are at Mundi Mundi Plains. This is approx another 10-15klms past Silverton (further away from Broken Hill) and is where the tar road ends ... basically it is the start of the desert!

Same thing quite a novelty to experience something so different.

I have to say though, by the time we left I was totally over red dirt & flies ... unbelievable.
I truly loved the experience of visiting such places but basically I have summed it up to my friends like
this ....
Definately great places that everyone should visit once in a lifetime ... then you can say "been there, done that"!

Have a great week,

JULIE x

ALL THE WAY TO BROKEN HILL

Yep ... this is pretty much the scenery all the way from Mildura to Broken Hill. It was a bit of a novelty at first ... the fact that you could drive & drive and see nothing! Well, not totally nothing ... we did see emus in the wild with their chicks running along behind, that was pretty cute & unique. And, we did see lots of long stretches of road where the heat effect distorted things, that was different.
Broken Hill in all is quite an interesting place, the sort of place that everyone should visit at least once in their lifetime! It definately has the feel of an outback place but
i guess it is not as outback as the real
outback outback (?? you know what i mean!?).
On the first day we were there we went out to the statues at sundown. These are situated on the outskirts of town up on a ridge that is sort of the start of the desert. It was truly beautiful watching the sun set across the horizon and the colours changing on these big stone statues and all that red dirt!
We visited the 'Palace Hotel' in the main street which is where 'Priscilla Queen of the Desert' was filmed.
We visited the art gallery which hosts the world's largest painting on canvas - this was really special, it basically
continues around the perimeter of a
full domed room with a boardwalk into the middle of the room and the ground area has been re-created as a desert effect. Very clever!
We went up to the mine area and miner's memorial (which is the brown metal structure behind Mark & Blake in the photo). It is quite bazaar really cause the massive mine is right in the middle of town and basically everything is built around it. When you walk or drive up the main street, the mine is right there towering over everything!
One of the greatest treats at Broken Hill is "Bells Milk Bar". This milk bar is original as per the 50's/60's and still make their own syrups & toppings for old fashioned sundaes, banana splits, sodas, etc. The whole shop, furniture etc is like stepping into a time warp ... and the nut sundaes with pina colada topping YUM!
We actually have photos of our afternoon "pigging out" at the milk bar ... sorry, not sharing these ones, far too embarrassing.
The photo at the bottom with Blake was taken on the 'giant chair' which is also up on top of the mine area where the mine memorial is.
The following day we went out to Silverton which is the ghost town about 25klm out of Broken
Hill. What an awesome place to visit ... sounds rediculous, cause there is really nothing there ... but, the nothing there things (old buildings) have been turned into art galleries, a cafe, the jail museum etc. for tourism ... so there is something there !?*#!! Are you confused again yet?!
Silverton is where the Mad Max Movies were filmed and the pub (which is in operation for tourism trade) still had the Mad Max car parked out the front. The TV series "A Town Like Alice" was also filmed at Silverton and the Pub has been used as a prop in many other shows, commercials etc. The whole history, photos etc. line the walls ... this was pretty cool!
Anyway, I'll post some Silverton pics over the next few days and then this is pretty much 'The End'.
Back to my current life ... just the usual: work, school, housework!

Tommorrow we are off to a funeral for a family friend and old neighbour ... always sad to attend a funeral; however, this also means that you see people you haven't seen for such a long time. It
is a shame that is has to be such occasions that we find the time to come together!
Enjoy the rest of your week.
Cheers,
JULIE x

Mildura was quite an interesting place and

i must say a lot nicer and larger than i had imagined.

We thoroughly enjoyed our cruise along the

Murray River in the old paddle steamer "P.S Melbourne".

I quite like this photo of Blake ...

or should I say Captain Blake!

Paddle steamers are such grand old things.

This one was 'dinky di' with the big

steam engines working over time and

the heat pouring our from the bottom level where

the fire was being stoked to fuel the engines.

Quite unique!

The Murray River is quite beautiful in it's

own right. We also went through a

lock & weir which made for a very interesting

experience considering i didn't even know

these "lock" thingys existed!

Paddle steamers weren't the only fun at Mildura.

We visited a lovely little family park called

'Snakes & Ladders' which is sort of on someone's

property and has been made into a fun picnic park.

Giant slippery dips and other inventions; as well as

a dunny museum (called Stinky Alley) and mini golf which is also

dunny themed.
There is a bit of a story to this giant slippery dip.

Blake harped & harped for me to go on it with him.

Finally I gave in and we climbed what felt like a

million steps to the top.

I came down over the first hump, went airborn over

the second and could barely sit for about a week ...

the sorest tail bone ever!

Really handy when you are on a travelling

holiday which requires hours of sitting in the car!

Here is one of the props in the mini golf area.

One of the putting greens was actually enclosed

by a urinal and you had to putt to the other end ...

sounds grosse but it really did make for a bit

of fun (and obviously these apparatus retired and

therefore hygenic)!

Stinky Alley ... how bazaar!

Sir Donald Bradman's original toilet from his house

is here and a few other famous people.

There was also a dunny that had been removed

from an old bank site and there are bullet

holes in the side apparently from a robbery

that took place whilst an employee was in occupation ...

might be just a wild story ??!!

Anyway ... all a unique experience.

Farewell Mildura ...

Next stop

BROKEN HILL

Talk to you soon,

JULIE x

WHAT A WHOPPER!

The locals must have thought we were 'cracked' ... the boys thought it was a bit of fun posing in front of 'The Giant Cod' at Swan Hill with their fishing rods. This was about as good as it gets regarding their luck (or unluck) catching a Murray Cod on our travels!
Cheers, JULIE x

PEEPING TOM

Finally i can upload some more pics; however, just uploading this lot took about 15mins. I don't know whethter it is my computer of Blogger but it is such a pain!
This is the Bendigo trams I mentiond in my last blog. They are so beautifully restored and the tram museum which we were taken to as part of our trip had all different shapes & sizes and many old trams that were still being restored ... apparantly some of them are quite sought after and expsensive heritage items!

Anyway, i am trying to finish off the last leg of our trip and share some of my pics before i bore
you all to death! I've started scrapp'n some of my pics and will share them with you later on.

A bit of a plug here ... My sister Karen has just started a mobile & online scrapbooking business, Scrapbook'n'Bits and she has asked me to do some layouts with some of the beautiful papers she has in stock so she can use them for displays. This will keep me out of mischief for a few days! Anyhow, the website is just having the finishing touches programmed and will be up and running in December. Be sure to have a look ... lots of beautiful things and some great crop days coming up!!


Now for the PEEPING TOM!
the next part of our journey took us up to Euchuca ... a quaint little town set on the Murray River. We went for a walk along the port where there are lots of lovely little shops etc. and came across The Old Time Penny Arcade! What an incredible old place. As part of your entry fee, we were given some pennies to
operate the old machines which were games, challenges etc. (i guess equivalent to today's modern games arcades) ... and ... they also had the old Peeping Tom Machines. What a crack-up! Of Course, my DH couldn't help himself ...!! They were like an old flick show with pictures of ladies showing their boobies and lacey knickers ... woo hoo! I suppose in their day they were thought to be very sexy! My husband was amazed that even in the olden days there was provocative things such as these ... he must think sex was an invention of the modern day era !?#@!! Anyway, Blake & I played old fashioned soccer games, guess the weight etc. etc. All in all, a lot of fun. When all of our pennies had run out we spent some time in the old theatre and watched a Laurel & Hardy movie ... very cute!
Well, another busy weekend coming up ... the Christmas parties have started already (tommorrow night we are double booked!). I do love Christmas but it can get a bit hectic ... no wonder they call in 'The Silly Season'.
Until next time,
Keep Smiling!
JULIE x

COLD SNAP

This cold windy weather makes me feel like we down south again. Particularly along the Great Ocean Road it was very windy and cold changes just like here today!
Here are some more holiday pics. Once we left the coast we headed inland Victoria. We spent a few days at Ballarat ... what a great old town! Sovereign Hill was a great day out and the "Blood on the Southern Cross" show (which is all about the Eureka Stockade) was fantastic!!
We did a tour down the gold mine, visited the lolly shop and watched candy being made ... yum and of course did some panning for gold. Blake was so into this!

The boys found lots of tiny little flecks which blake has proudly displayed in a little bottle.
We also visited the Eureka Centre which was a very interesting place, and the Gold Museum which obviously had lots of gold and gold stories.

The we moved on to Bendigo. I really liked Bendigo and in particular the magnificent old buildings with their grand architecture. We took a ride/tour on a 'talking tram'. This was lots of fun tramming our way around Bendigo with a running commentry of all the buildings etc. and just the fact of riding a tram was a novelty for Blake cause they are basically non-existant
around here. I have a lovely tram photo of the boys but it won't upload ... grrrr! Will have to post it later.
From here we travelled up along the Murray River ... Euchuca, Swan Hill & Mildura. Will post some more pics soon.
Hope you have all had a good week ... not long now til the weekend.
Be good,
Cheers, JULIE x

ANOTHER HOLIDAY UPDATE

How quickly a week goes by ... I have slackn'd off with my holiday pics etc but are getting to the last leg of our journey now. So ... anyone that is getting bored with my holiday, not long to go now!
These photos were taken at Warnambool which is pretty much the end of the Great Ocean Road. A really beautiful place which is rich with heritage and has that 'village by the sea' atmosphere. One of the highlights of Warnambool is Flagstaff Hill (similar to Sovereign Hill at Ballarat) depicting the olden days of a maratime village. In the night time we attended the "Shipwrecked"
sound & lighting show which is based
on the story of the Loch Ard shipwreck (approx 150 yrs ago); hence, the history of the Loch Ard Gorge on the Great Ocean Road. The show is brilliantly done with images projected off water fountain sprays etc. The next day we had a lovely time wandering around the village which included visiting The Inn of course!
The picture below is of the Loch Ard Peacock which is a famous statue cause it survived the Loch Ard wreck. Apparently it was found still encased in its packaging washed up on the shore following the shipwreck. Anyway, there is other history about it etc. etc. but something interesting
is that it's value today is $2million ... WOW!!

Anyway ... we thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Warnambool. Lots to do & see and a beautiful place to visit.

From here we travelled through to Port Fairy. The image I had in my mind of this place was pretty much as it was. This cute, sleepy little town (not much there but very quaint) is by the seaside with a port in the middle of town where all the fishing boats are moored etc. We had tea at the seafood restaurant at the pier whilst we were visiting ... Yuuummy!


This pretty much finished our coastal travelling, from here we headed inland Victoria.

Will do another post in the next day or so of Ballarat, Bendigo and a few other places.

As for our life as per current ... busy, busy, busy. My holiday is just a distant memory. Back into work flatout, usual school stuff, housework etc. etc. But something on the positive newsfront ... our plans should be completed for our pool this week (Yeah!), now just have to tackle the Council and hope for a smooth ride !*?@#!!
And more exciting news ... in June next year my DH & i celebrate our 10th Wedding Anniversary. Every year we take turns at organising an outing (usually dinner, movie etc. etc) ... but, next year is my turn! We always said we would do something special for the supposed "milestones" ... so, i have organised an exciting holiday!! Unfortunately, i can't tell you what or where cause it is a secret ... but ... I can tell you it is for 1 week and involves passports, travel agent etc. etc. Oooh, i'm very excited.
Anyway, eyes are getting heavy, time for some beauty sleep ...
Have a great week,
Cheers JULIE x

KASEY CHAMBERS & MORE HOLIDAY PICS

It is after midnight and i am on a hight, not ready for bed yet. Have not long got home from the Kasey Chambers concert in Newcastle. I just love Kasey's music and think she is a gorgeous person in that she is sooo 'down to earth'. Had a great time!
Back to the holiday pics .... We left the Mornington Peninsular are and went by ferry (with our car & van) across the water from Sorrento to Queenscliff where we headed to start our journey of The Great Ocean Road. What a beautiful part of Australia! We visited the lighthouse at Split Point which is where the children's TV series "Around the
Twist" was filmed, we did a drive by the famous Bells Beach (just looked like any other beach to me!) and went through to Apollo Bay where we stayed for a few days. Very pretty little town situated on the Coast of the GOR but also a very windy place, or at least it was when we were there ... nearly lost the roof on our caravan on the last night and had to do the emergency bale out thing into a cabin at 11.30 at night ... now that's another story!#?@!!
The Twelve Apostles (or however many of them there are left) are just a magnificent piece of scenery. They postcard picture perfect (does that
make sense??)! We also done a
helicopter flight from here and flew over the apostles and along the coast (Loch Ard Gorge, London Bridge, The Arch etc. etc.) From the air it is quite an amazing sight. The rock formation has such a perfect shape from the erosion that it looks like is has been cut out with a craft saw!
The photo of Blake at the water was taken at Loch Ard Gorge (named after the famous shipwreck & it's history). We climbed down the stairs and walked along the sand ... for me this was a very surreal feeling and just all so very pretty.
Whilst in the area we also visited 'The Otway Fly'. This is a huge metal boardwalk that spans for metres & metres through the tree tops and The Otway National Park. Obviously you are very high up (i think the tallest point at the tower is about 50mtrs) which is quite unique to be up in the tree tops however I got a dose of vertigo cause the tree tops sway around but i felt like i was swaying on this boardwalk thingy and I was all a bit much. Anyway, it was still fun and the lunch we had there was yummy so all was good!
We also visited Cape Otway Lighthouse. This was great. This lighthouse is the oldest lighthouse in Australia. It's surrounding are beautiful and there are even old staff quarters and cottages that you can walk through and check out the different displays and relevant history. We climbed up to the top section, that was great ... very very windy up there but at least it didn't sway, i handled this one well!
The Great Ocean Road and all of the towns situated along the way is just lovely. The scenery is magnificent and it just a great experience. From here we visted Port Campbell and then went on to Warnambool for 3 days. This is a lovely place with lots to do & see. More pics in next blog.
Getting tired now, time for bed.
Talk soon, be good .... Julie x

PICTURE PERFECT

Throughout our month of travelling we seen lots of beautiful scenery and visited some lovely places but one of my favourites was the Mornington Peninsular area. Beautiful beaches, jettys and wharfs, lovely shopping areas to wander around etc. etc ... but above all of that, I was soooo in love with all the gorgeous colourful little bathing huts that line the beaches from Mornington to Sorrento. Taking piccies here was like being in scrapbooker's heaven! We went for walks along the different beach areas and the boys were very patient whilst I went bezerk with the camera.
We got talking to some tradesman that were busy renovating one of the huts and had a quick peek inside. They are basically just like a little studio but apparantly you are not allowed to reside in them. They are privately owned and cost varies $100k - $200k.
I almost think i could live here but real estate is very expensive so I have to just settle with owning a beach hut ... that wouldn't be so bad!

Late in the afternoon we headed down to the pier at Sorrento and put our car & van on the big ferry and shipped across to Queenscliff.
This was the start of the next phase of our journey and heading towards the Great Ocean Road.

Will be back with some more piccies etc. soon.
Hope your not getting too bored with my holiday blah blah blah!

Have a great day everyone ... had better run -

now going to be a little late for work.

Cheers,
JULIE

PHILLIP ISLAND

WARNING: Incredibly loooong post!
One of the highlights of our trip was definately the Fairy Penguin Parade at Phillip Island (before I go any further just need to let you know that this photo wasn't taken at the Penguin Parade - will explain later). We pre-booked for the Penguin Parade and were lucky enough to get premium tickets - this meant we sat in a seperate little area alongside the path where approx 70% of these gorgeous little creatures make their way home every night. We learnt that (just like us) after a hard day at work i.e out fishing, they return to the same burrow every night! There were about 500 penguins that waddled past, making their way home ... absolutely, positively adorable! They were soooo close to us that we could have reached out and touched but of course that is definately not allowed. Actually, when we went out to our car at the end of the night, there was one just under a little bush across from the front of our car ... not sure if he/she was lost or still on the journey to its' burrow? My son was just besotted with them and would dearly
love one as a pet ... not quite that simple son! Anyway, getting back to the photo thing ... cameras are banned! This is because obviously being a night time thing there would be a million flashes going off which is really not good for their well being let alone their sensitive little eyes. The fairy penguin centre is very much about educating people regarding their conservation cause the penguin population has diminished somewhat over the years mainly due to human interference. So the next morning we took a drive out to Nobbies Point, this is just a little further from the main cove where the penguins come in. Whilst it is all very beautiful scenery, I think this is about the windiest place I have ever been to in the world ... "blow a dog of a chain" kind of wind!! At Nobbies Point there is a huge boardwalk around the headland and also viewing areas across to Seal Rock (yes, that's because there are seal colonies out there), as well as a huge amount of sea birds that nest in the area ... which of course included the common seagull. I have never seen so many seagulls in one place, there must of been hundreds of them and then multiply that again with the hundreds & hundreds of seagull chicks all nested in the grass areas ... all tiny little brown spotted chicks. I didn't know seagull chicks were brown ... they say you learn something new everyday!
Well .... (talk about going the long way 'round) whilst we were out at Nobbies Point we also seen some fairy penguins which were huddled under one of the little bridge sections on the boardwalk. We were so excited to see little penguins in the day ... right there ... right near us ... sooo, i was able to take some photos cause i didn't need to use a flash and certainly didn't disturb or harass them in any way. Further along we also seen one huddled at the entrance to it's burrow. We were told that because it is coming into their breeding season, quite often, one will stay behind of a day to start getting the nest ready, whilst the other goes out to work! We learnt lots & lots about them but i won't "waffle on" anymore ... i just want to say ... it you haven't been there, it is a wonderful place to visit and i would certainly recommend it for adults and children.

Well as I'm sure you know, Fairy Penguins aren't the only things on Phillip Island ... there is also a race track. We're not really into car racing and the like but we thought we would do the "touristy" thing and go out to the track and have a look.
Well ... they had a "Hot Laps" thing happening where you could do 3 laps around the track in one of their "fang dangle" cars with a professional driver. Not for me thanks ... 110klms on the freeway is my limit! My husband Mark was keen ... so here he is. Blake and i got to spectate up on the viewing deck above the winners straight. These cars fly! They took off near sideways (you can seen burnt rubber smoke behind
the car), but i must admit the sound was incredible the screeching and roaring around the track ... 230klms p/h down the winners straight! Hubby came back adrenalin pumped and thought for a split second he might like to trade his pride and joy 4wd for a commodore !?@#!! but he got over it pretty quickly when i pointed out that he'd be lucky to have his license a week driving something as fast as this!
Anyway, here is the Mark & the pro driver ... smiles all round!


This was the end of the first week of our holiday ... phew ... what a great time ... 3 weeks to go!

Next we visited the Mornington Peninsular ... I just loved this area ... the lovely shops, beautiful beaches and those gorgeous little beach huts!

Will blog again in the next day or so. Cheers for now, JULIE x