This morning started very early. We were up before the sun and walked the short distance from our place to the centre of Dunkeld to share in the Dawn Service with the locals for Anzac Day. It was quite special to be able to join in with another town’s service. It was a short, but really respectful and reflective service. After heading back home and having a bit of breakfast, we packed some snacks and lunch and headed for the…

Today was originally planned out as a day to visit Horsham and try and see quite a few silo art sites. But I’d been uneasy with that idea for a few days – it was a lot of driving just to see some silo art, and it was also following a similar path to what we might take tomorrow for a Gariwerd (Grampians) drive. So last night we did a bit of replanning… Today we spent time exploring the western…

We headed into Ballarat today, the lands of the Wadawarrung people, to visit Sovereign Hill! It was quite a drive there – 1hr 45min – but handy that it didn’t open until 10am, so we didn’t have to leave too early. All round, it was a brilliant day experiencing what life would’ve been like for people in the mid 1800s in Ballarat. We had plenty of fun, saw so many things, and learnt so much as well. As expected, we…

Our first night of four here in Dunkeld. This area, generally the eastern side of Gariwerd (The Grampians), is the lands of the Djab Wurrung people. We acknowledge the traditional owners, and their elders past, present and emerging. We started off the day be heading back down the Great Ocean Road to Port Fairy. Last night while sampling a bit of local gin in Portland, the distiller mentioned the Port Fairy markets, and said they were well worth the trip…

Importantly, first up today was getting a new tyre on the car. A few days ago, I noticed a slight bulge on the side of one of the rear tyres. It wasn’t losing air thankfully – but I didn’t want to drive on it much longer than we had to. So I rang a few tyre places ahead to try find someone with who had the right tyre in stock – and thankfully a place in Portland came through with…

Today was a day with not a lot planned initially, but a wonderful day of adventuring and exploring Portland! We headed down to the Visitor Information Centre first thing this morning to see if there were some interesting things we could do today. The guide there was really helpful with a few ideas, and we ended up setting off on Walk Portland’s Pride – a decent walk around the town, seeing a really wide variety of things. The walk started…

Tonight, we’re in Portland – roughly the end of the Great Ocean Road. We want to acknowledge that this area is the lands of the Gunditjmara people. We want to pay our respects to the elders of the Gunditjmara people – past, present and emerging. It was cool to find out that Archie Roach, Lidia Thorpe and Lionel Rose are all Gunditjmara people! What an incredible day exploring the western side of the Great Ocean Road today – mostly around…

The weather today was perfect for a bit more exploring along the Great Ocean Road – 24º and sunny! Yesterday, I neglected to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we’re currently on – this is the land of the Gadubanud people, and we would like to acknowledge their elders past, present and emerging. Today started with a quick visit to the Visitor Information Centre, conveniently just across the road from us. And also with a quick visit to the…

We said farewell to Phillip Island at about 8am this morning after a really wonderful few days. The first part of today’s drive was around to Sorrento, at the southern end of the Mornington Peninsula. We were headed for the Searoad Ferry – a vehicle ferry that travels across Port Phillip Bay from Sorrento to Queenscliff. In reality, it probably was quicker to drive along all the motorways around Melbourne and through Geelong to get down to the Surf Coast……

Today started with a lot of rain. We all enjoyed a slower start to the day, with the kids catching up on their travel diaries from yesterday’s adventures. We had a few ideas of things to do today, but only the Antarctic Journey out at the Nobbies Centre was locked in for later this afternoon. In the end, we decided to head across to the Phillip Island Chocolate Factory for the morning – the kids had spotted it on our…