I finally did fall asleep at some point and right before that, I thought I heard rain rattling on the car roof. Sleep wasn't too bad actually, just that whenever somebody turns, the whole campervan shakes. Hohoho. I was comfortable bcos there was a lot more space. The night before in Arrow, I shared a single bed with Zaky, after deciding that I didn't want to be wedged between Daddy Lim and him. That was a lot more uncomfortable.
The sun was up very early. When I woke up at 6ish, the sun was already working hard and shinning through the windows. On the upper deck, that means directly on our face.
When I hopped down from the upper deck, I also realised that the upper deck was a lot warmer than the lower deck. Hot air rises?
It did rain!
Or was it the dew? Hmmm..
Anyway, I had decided to go for a little run. While washing up in the toilet, I realised that the ensuite toilet was so much warmer than the campervan with the heater lights. We had left the washed undies to dry in the toilet and joked that they had a better night in the warm toilet than we did. Lol.
I had my jacket on and took it off when my body warmed up. The jog wasn't too bad actually.
I went round and round the campervan park, ran out a little then uturn bcos I was worried about getting lost. The sights were wonderful.
I realised that roses were blooming everywhere.
So pretty!
I also realised that there are many such frilly design houses in Ballarat.
On top of that, there is no gate and anybody can walk to their door.
I got my 5km jog. It was literally no sweat.
Only my heart (heart rate) knows how hard I had ran.
I woke the rest up to prep bfast. Sleep wasn't really bad. Nana complained that a bird was calling for a long time in the early morning "ketchup, come here" repeatedly. Lol.
Bfast was a simple affair of bread, ham and eggs. Eggs, we have hot eggs!
Our only destination for the day was Sovereign Hill. Everybody kept asking if we were going hiking. No, no. Ballarat used to be where people came to mine gold. Now that the gold is gone, they have turned it to a living museum.
Before we go gold hunting, we went Target hunting 1st. I got a nice picture of the kids while the drivers figured out the parking system. The parking system was so much easier than their transport system. Lol.
The Sovereign Hill is actually of walking distant from our campervan site but nobody was willing to entertain me.
There are various activities throughout the day.
Interestingly, Sovereign Hill is built to mirror how Ballarat was back in the 1850s, during the gold rush. The staff are all dressed in costume and very much into their character, like this blacksmith in his demo.
The characters spent time talking to visitors. We Singaporeans are very shy. The only ones that we spoke to were the ones manning the food cashier. Hoho.
While it wasn't surprising to find the actors in costume, I cannot figure out the kids. How did they find so many kid actors?
I think these are school kids on some kind of experiential tour. We see them running errands too.
Just like the kidzania, just a different kind.
One of the things that the kids had been bugging to do was this gold panning. They of course hope to find real gold and go home rich. We also hope.
The staff showed us how to pan for gold and he found gold! A gold speck, so small that it was impossible to lift it out of the water. Lol.
We got busy with the panning and it was hard work. Daddy Lim found gold too!
Can you see? Then it became a mind game. Anything that seems to sparkle = possible gold speck. Hoho. There is no way to collect these specks. They are so small and light and floaty.
The desire to get rich is real. Look at the number of people panning for gold. Lol.
The "town" isn't too big. We explored and tried out some of the paid activities, like this candle dipping.
We also paid for a guided tour - Trapped. It was a true story of 21 miners who were trapped. While they were rescued eventually, some survived and some didn't. So sad.
We did some free activities too, like this old time bowling.
Also, old fashioned games.
Of course, taking silly pictures.
Group picture.
We asked a tourist to help. He probably didn't know how to use the camera zoom function. Haha.
One of the rare pictures of the aunties only.
We decided to leave the park at about 4pm. The kids had a go at the playground before we left.
That called an end to our Sovereign Hill visit.
