Today was all about getting to Melbourne for the Aussie Open, in particular tonight's quarter final between Andy Murray and Nick Kyrgious. On the way to Melbourne, we broke the journey at a couple of lookouts. First up, just outside Foster was the Corner Inlet Lookout. This is a massive Inlet from the sea, framed by the Wilsons Promontory. The lookout gives a fantastic view of its size and beauty. Later on we stopped at Koo Wee Rup Swamp Lookout. This swam...

This morning I woke to clear blue skies, and the wind had died down. It was set to be another lovely day, albeit cooler than late with temperatures in the low 20s. Today consisted of a tour around various local beauty spots. After a spectacular drive through a forest of huge mountain ash trees and numerous fern trees, we arrived at Turtons Creek. A short path led to a lovely waterfull, surrounded by many more fern trees. A very tranquil and beautiful location. ...

This morning I woke to the sound of rain. However, by the time we were ready to leave, the worst had passed to be replaced by a few little showers. We commenced our exploration of the locality with a trip into the town of Foster. As has been a common theme, the town was founded with the discovery of gold. It turned out to be a very rich but compact gold field which lasted about 20 years. It is now known as the gateway to the Wilsons Promontory and gets a lot of...

Late last night, I was joined in Ballarat by a friend on his way back from watching the Tour Down Under cycling event in Adelaide. Today, we hit the road as he takes me to his house in Foster for a few days. Before leaving Ballarat, we had breakfast by Lake Wendouree, a massive man made lake on the edge of town, approx 16km circumference, though quite shallow. It is a very popular leisure resource, but while we were there we witnessed strange looking machines ...

Today I found gold! Predictably, I could not resist and went back to the Pancake Kitchen for breakfast, which consisted of pancake, eggs and bacon, topped with golden maple syrup. Suitably sated, I then made my way to Ballarat's main attraction, Sovereign Hill. This is an open air museum that recreates what Ballarat was like during the height of the gold rush. The museum consists of a mini town with many stores, workshops, theatre, hotels etc of the era r...