Clare- Echuca



Martindale Hall



10-13/10/11

Today we left Flinders Ranges and went to Clare, We stayed for 3 nights.  We went to Martindale Hall, it was an old mansion built in 1879 for a 21-year-old sheep farmer called Edmund Bowman Junior.  It was in a movie called 'Picnic at Hanging Rock'.    We went to Burra, and looked at an old copper mine and there was lots of old buildings, it was really cool. 

13-16/10/11

We left Clare and went to the Barossa Valley for 3 nights.  We walked around town and stopped at german restaurant, I tried sauerkraut but I didn't really like it.  We went to a winery and learnt how barrels were made, it was cool.  We also went to a little German town called Hahndorf,  it was really cool.  For lunch we had a German platter with different kinds of sausages and pork chops and roast lamb and big pretzels, yum! 

We went to a motor museum full of old cars and motorbikes, it was interesting. 

16/10/11

We left the Barossa Valley and went to Waikerie to see dads aunty and uncle.

17-24/10/11
After Waikerie, we went to Mildura.  We stayed for a week, the caravan park was really nice, right on the Murray River.  We went finishing a few times, I caught 7 carps, but one of my little sisters caught 11!!  We went to hot rod show, it was really cool.

24-25/10/11

We left Mildura and went to Swan Hill and went to an old place called Pioneer Settlement.  We walked around the old town and went on a horse and carriage, and an old car, it was cool.  My sisters and I got a photo of us in old clothes. 

25-27/10/11

After Swan Hill we went to Echuca.  we went on an old Paddle steamer called Pevensy, it was used in a movie and an old tv series.  We walked around the town and to the lolly shop!  Then we went to a place called The Aussie Beer Shed, it was really cool!  When we got there the guy was really friendly and gave a free drinks each!!  He then took us on a tour around the place, There over 30,000 empty beer cans!!

My sisters and I in old clothes.

There was heaps of different cans, there was the first ever beer can and one of the most rarest beer cans and beer cans from years ago, etc. etc. 

Barrel Making



Old service station in the motor museum.



Flinders Ranges

 
The Flinders Ranges were spectacular!!  The view was amazing and it was really cool.  We went on a 2 hour walk down to an old homestead and a few lookouts.  There was a couple of lizards and lots of emus.  We saw some old ruins and we walked through a few dry creek beds to look for fossils, but we didn't find any.

Streaky Bay - Port Lincoln

 
After we drove across the Nullarbor, we stayed at Streaky Bay for the night and when we got up the next day it was very very very very windy and everybodys stuff was blowing away.  So we left and went to Port lincoln.  We went to the National park at Coffin Bay for the day and saw lots of emus.  it was really cool and it was surrounded by the beach, but it was freezing!  When we got up the next morning there was a seal swimming around, it was cool.  Then we went to Whyalla for the night before heading to the Flinders Ranges.

The Nullabor

It took us about 3 days to cross the Nullarbor.  The Nullarbor is the longest, straightest road in Australia.  There was a really big storm that followed us the whole way across the Nullarbor and it was very windy and there was lots of thunder and lighting, it was cool.   We cooked our dinner on the fire, we cooked a roast and a stew and damper, it was delicious!  We didnt see one whale on the trip, but we did see a seal.  We went to the old telegraph station, it was really cool.  We went there 6 years ago when we travelled Australia so we took pictures to compare. 

We then went to Streaky Bay, it was a really nice place right on the beach.  But when we got up the next day it was SUPER windy and peoples stuff was flying away. 

So we went to Port Lincoln. 

Kalgoorlie/ Boulder

Kalgoorlie/ Boulder is a town that started after gold was discovered in the area.  We first went to the museum, it was really interesting.  We saw the first bar of gold that was found in the area, cool.  

This is a mine truck, it cost roughly 4.5 million dollars.



We went on a tour of the KCGM super pit mine, it was very interesting and cool.  We got to see the GIANT trucks they use for mining, they were HUGE! The super pit was really cool and the cars and trucks were tiny. 



This is the super mine.





This ute was run over by a mine truck.



Bunbury- Margaret River.

Looking at the anemone under a microscope.

We stayed at Bunbury for 2 days, the best thing we did was the dolphin discovery centre, it was really interesting.  We got to see anemone getting feed a prawn under a microscope, it was really cool! 

Margret River is known as the wine and food region.  There were heaps of winerys and lolly shops, it was awesome.  We didn't go to all the wineries, but we did go to the chocolate factory, the 2 lolly shops and the fudge factory, yum yum!
We also went to Mammoth Cave, it was really cool.  We got a headset each to listen to information about the caves and the bones they found in there.  It was very interesting. 
We went to a German restaurant it was really cool and the meals were really good.

Exmouth- Canarvon

After Broome, we headed to Exmouth.  On the way we stopped at Roebourne and checked out the old jail, it was really cool.  Exmouth was a really nice place, we got to go snorkelling in the beautiful crystal clear water,we bought a underwater camera to take picture when we were snorkelling,  it was so much fun!   I walked out until i was about hip deep in the water, put my snorkel and goggles on and jumped in and I ran straight into these big fishes!  I freaked out and ran out of the water, it was so funny!  While we were snorkelling I tried to clean my goggles because they were foggy and I kicked some coral with my shin and I freaked out again and I swam as far away as I could, funny!  After Exmouth we went to Coral Bay, it was nice there as well and we went snorkelling again, good fun!  When we left Coral Bay, we headed to Canarvon.  It was also nice, we bought heaps of fresh fruit and veg, YUM!  We also tried some pizza from The Old Post Office where they make one of the top 5 pizza's in the world!  We went on a train ride along the 1 mile jetty, it was fun! Max was allowed on the train too, so he thought he was pretty cool.




Some fish and coral.

 

A big fish we saw.