Ballarat 1

We started the day having the rest of yesterday's fish for breakfast, (which was very well cooked by Hugh and Jane under Bec's oversight). Then we drove to Sovereign Hill in Ballarat. We did lots of activities there including: going down a mine, gold panning (photo), candle making, watching lolly making, a magic show, and a tour on the general history of the gold rush. Henry's fish hat (also pictured), drew many comments from people during the day. At one point the guide asked a question: "What do you think the men did with all the dirt from their mine shafts?". The correct, and rather obvious, answer was that they just dumped it in piles. However, Henry's cheeky reply was louder than all the others: "They ate it!". Our accommodation for the next two nights is at "Kryal Castle". In contrast to our beautiful house at Daylesford, this place, despite technically being a castle, has us all in one room with one bathroom. The kids love it. It's all medieval themed and tomorrow they will have jousting and sword fighting etc. We also stopped and inspected the sight of the Eureka Stockade. For all the hype, I hadn't realised how quickly it all finished. It sounds like it made the siege at Glenrowan seem like the 30 years war. It was good to see though, as it is a significant historical site.