Vacation 2013 - Ballarat, Victoria, Australia - There's gold in them there hills.

Our first cruise ship port was Melbourne, Australia.  We decided to go and strike it rich.  We had booked a shore excursion to go to Ballarat Wildlife Park and Sovereign Hill.  We boarded a bus soon after docking, and we were off!

Ballarat is a bit of a drive from Melbourne.  We arrived first at the Wildlife park where we saw, petted, and fed:

Kangaroos

Saw and petted:

Koalas

Emus

and

Wombats - Aren't they cute?

 We saw, but did not pet (due to their bone-crushing jaw strength)

Tasmanian Devils

We also did not pet:

The Crocodiles

My dad also saw snakes.  I chose not to go to the reptile house and see all of the poisonous snakes, however my dad did go.  I am not including those pictures at this time.

Sign Gem - This was also a picture taken at Ballarat Wildlife Park.  

We re-boarded the bus and were off to find gold at Sovereign Hill.

Sovereign Hill near Ballarat, Victoria, Australia

I panned for gold, but apparently it is not one of my talents, as I didn't find any.

Panning for Gold at Sovereign Hill near Ballarat, Victoria, Australia

We also took an opportunity to bowl,

Bowling at Sovereign Hill near Ballarat, Victoria, Australia

watch a gold brick being poured (the same brick has been reheated and poured over and over and over again for the demonstration - so the brick is very pure),

Gold brick pouring at Sovereign Hill

Tour a Gold Mine,

The Crib Room of the Gold Mine (where eating, not sleeping, occurred)

and visit some other old fashioned shops, brass works, etc.

We then headed back to the ship and wished Melbourne "Gidday" as our ship headed onto the high seas towards Tasmania.

Melbourne from the Diamond Princess - February 2013

Robert Burns Take 3, and other things

I went to the Robert Burns annual dinner again this year.  I think it was my favorite year so far.  There were pipe bands from both Miles City and Billings (too be honest, I feel the numbers by the Billings band went a bit long) and dance performances from primarily girls in kilts, but there was one boy who participated in the dancing this year.  Some reasons this year was my favorite:

 

(Image From: PoetryFoundation.org(

The ten-year dances were outstanding.  One of the ten-year girls did the dance with her father and he kept up with her step-for-step - AMAZING.  I didn't think this could be beat, but the other girl's dance was just as good.

The first-year dancers - particularly one of the girls.  She had the biggest smile on her face, but she did not dance the steps very well.  She was pretty much just hopping up and down with a big grin on her face, while all of the girls around her were dancing the dance just a little differently from her. It was wonderful to seeing her have so much fun.

I felt there was more involvement by the pipe bands this year.

The one thing I didn't like:  The amount of time they gave us for dinner - it was too long!  I feel like they usually start the second half of the program once everyone has gotten their food.  This year I think they tried to wait until every single person had finished eating their food.

The Other Things

1.  I am completing some minor renovations on my house.  One of the downstairs bedrooms did not have a door, only a doorway.  The problem with putting in a door was a duct that was in the way.  So, I had two short walls put up at right angles to each other.  It creates a small hallway, and allows for a door to be put in the wall that the duct does not run through.  The walls are up but the door and finishing work is yet to come.  I am also going to put in a kitchen/kitchenette downstairs, but I am undecided about some of the details right now.

2.  I'm going to Australia!  Alas, not to live.  But - I will be able to check it out to see if I would really enjoy living there at some point in my life.  The cities I am visiting are Sydney, Melbourne, and Hobart.  So, from Austria last year - where there are no kangaroos, to Australia this year - where there are kangaroos and platypuses and wallabies and, unfortunately, poisonous snakes and pythons.

3.  I am also going to New Zealand!  I am technically going on a cruise that hits both countries, although there are more stops in New Zealand.  Don't worry, I'll have my dad take pictures, and then have him give me a copy.  I'm not the best at taking my own pictures (as you will see the pictures from my vacation last year were taken by my brother).  And, just to make my brother, Earl, jealous, we'll probably do some LOTR tours.

4.  If anyone has any recommendations of things to do or see, I will take them, but I am leaving in a week so there is not much time.  The biggest disappointment is that it looks like we will not be able to go on the Taieri Gorge Railway in Dunedin as it is all booked up.   Other Disappointments were that the Paua Bay Farm trip was booked, and that we wouldn't be able to go on the Eastern Bays Scenic mail run out of Akaroa as we would be there on a Sunday.  On the other hand, Melbourne had too many good sounding options to choose from, and as a friend from New Zealand told me, no matter what we do or see in New Zealand, we will probably enjoy it.