Tassie

Last night we sailed on the Spirit of Tasmania. We slept in a cabin. Before that I played the X-Box. There were a lot of people waiting so I didn't play for long. When we left Melbourne, I went up  on the 10th deck to see the ferry leave but it was nearly an hour late. We still got to Devonport on time at 6am.

Now I am Tasmania with Nan and Pop. These are the photos we took.

Nana handed me over to Nan

This was in my cabin

I am on the 10th deck waiting to leave.

This is me with Nan

I am with Pop

Water Park Fun Werribee

We stayed with Alan and Halana for two days. When we left we went to a waterpark at Werribee. There were two slides and I went on both of them. The green one was smaller and I went down on a tube by myself. It was very fast. The blue one was the biggest and best. I went down with other people. We nearly turned upside down up near the top.

These are the two water slides. The blue one is the biggest and best.

Geelong

We were going to go on a train and see a fort at Queenscliff but nothing was open so we went to the waterfront at Geelong. I climbed on the buoys which were on the grass. I went on a trampoline with a harness and I did front flips and back flips. Back flips were easiest. I was jumping about 7 metres. We had fish and chips on a boat that was not floating. There were a lot of colourful bollards.

I climbed up on one of the buoys.

I joined the band.

I am on the trampoline.

This bollard is a ships captain.

This is the boat / cafe where we had lunch.

Another Hot Day in Bendigo

It was 38 degrees again today. We are staying in a caravan park at Bendigo so we can have air conditioning. At the caravan park they had mini golf but you had to go to reception to get a club and ball and every time I went there I have a mentos lolly. They had a jumping pillow, swing, pool, camp kitchen and play area.

This is the tour tram around Bendigo.

This is the tram museum.

I pretended to drive an old tram.

This is the oldest Chinese temple in Australia
It is almost 150 years old.

Nana and I went to the temple.

Bendigo

Today we are in Bendigo and will probably stay for another night.I have been filling in time before the tour by going to the top for a walk around and panning for gold.I found some quartz with some gold and some fools gold. We went in a slow lift underground. we went 60 meters underground. There was a fast lift that went 3 meters a second. It was the lift that miners used 150 years ago.It faster but takes only 4 people. They use it every day.

I climbed to the top of this. 

This is me panning for gold.
I fond quartz with a bit of gold.

Can you see me at the top of the stair case?

This is me wearing my hard hat and beld with battary.

This is me and the tour guide. There were 19 people on the tour.

The rocks are held back by some wire and poles hammered in.

Eureka!

The dictionary says that Eureka is a cry of joy for finding something. In Ballarat they found lots of gold. One of the mines was called the Eureka Mine. There was a battle between the miners and the soldiers at the Eureka Stockade. We went to the Australian Museum of Democracy today. It is on the spot where the fight took place.

The soldiers used muskets with bayonets to kill 30 of the miners. 125 were taken as prisoners. Their leader was Peter Lalor. The previous day there were about 10 000 people who came for a meeting at the stockade. They could have been killed if the police came that night. They didn't come until the next dawn and there were only a couple of hundred people there.

The story of the Eureka flag

I was part of the message

This is me with the red coats

 

This is me fighting under the Eureka flag

Later in the day it got really hot and I went to the Swim Centre for a couple of hours. There was a pool with a slide and I went down about 200 times. The water park was fun too. I liked the large rings with water squirting out.

Gold Rush of 1850

Hi I am The Welcome Nugget with Cooper

This golden nugget is called The Welcome Nugget. This was found 50m under the ground.This is the second biggest Nugget ever found in the whole world. The biggest nugget is the Welcome Stranger which was found only 2cm under the ground. It is now worth more than $3.5 million. This is more than you will ever get in your whole life.

These nuggets (which are probably copies) are at the gold museum at Sovereign Hill. There were gold coins there and small nuggets. The whole place where we went is exactly the same way as the time of the gold rush. There were not as many tents though because there were more than 5000 people digging. You could spend all day there having a lot of fun.

I went in the Red Hill mine. There were lots of voices telling us what to do. When they said to stop some people didn't and went through the water. There was another copy of the Welcome nugget in that mine too. We saw a miner digging for gold. When he found some he called out for his mate to come. His mate was pushing a cart. We came out the same door that we went in.  It was just a big loop. There were 52 steps and 53 steps up and there was a ladder that was three metres high.

  

This is me panning for gold

There were lots of people on the diggings.

The Red Hill Mine

The Redcoats put on a display.
Their muskets were stunningly loud.

At night we camped at a park. I put out the awning to get some shade and I helped set up the solar panels. You only have to give a donation to stay there and they have toilets and hot showers. The council wants to stop camping and maybe make a caravan park to get more money. We wrote good things about the park so it might stay open.

Introducing Cooper

Hello I am Cooper. I am eight years old and I have my passport with me to prove who I am and how old I am.  It is 3rd January 2016 and I am having a holiday. First I will be with Nana in her campervan and we will travel in Victoria and then get the Spirit of Tasmania to go to Tasmania. I will stay with my other Nana and Poppy for a week and then I will fly home again.

This is me, Cooper John Hermann

This is me with my sister Mia

In the Air and On the Road

I started the day really early to go to the airport When I woke up at eight minutes past five, everybody was asleep in bed so what did I do? I woke them up so they could go out. Off they went to get ready. Finally we were all ready to go and then off we went. 20 minutes later we were at the airport, finding a park which was crazy but we eventually found one. Off we went in the airport to drop my luggage. They gave me a little tag to wear. Then we went through security. We had breakfast and for breakfast we had Hungry Jacks. We headed over to gate number 22 to sit down then a couple of minutes later it was time to go so I said goodbye and gave them a cuddle, Then we are on the platform to board. I was the last to board.

On the plane, I was the last one on. I got to see the captain when walking to seat at the back. On the plane there were mini TV's.  There was a kid and his mum beside me that helped me work the TV. There were lots of shows and movies. The people who were looking after me were Amanda and Sally. They gave me one apple and one cup of apple juice because I didn't like anything else.

When we got to Melbourne, Nana was waiting for me, taking photos.When we went to get my luggage we couldn't find it so we went somewhere else and there it was, my luggage all alone on the conveyor belt. when we were going home on a sky bus first to the tram stop so we could wait for a tram. Waiting, waiting and waiting for the tram. finally the tram was there so we could hop on.  We got the right tram but it went the wrong way so we hopped off and looked at the sign to find the tram we needed. When it came, we went on and got off at the right place and had quite a long to Suzy's.

This is me arriving with Amanda and Sally.

Suzy is my Dad's cousin. We had lunch there. I had a vegemite scroll and a drink. One of the cats was scratching the lounge and she wasn't allowed to and she knew that. Nana told her to stop and she got cranky with Nana and climbed up the kitty playhouse tower. When we opened the door to get some breeze, both cats went out and kept shutting the door so we didn't get any breeze. They were meowing at us to get in again and I had to open the door. Suzy and her friend Rowena had been bike riding and got home just as we were leaving.

This is Suzy.

This is Suzy and Rowena.

Luna Park was great! It was very busy because it is the school holidays.

This is like the  big drop. I am strapped in 

 This is another photo of me up high

 This  is the Rocking Tug  as it was going up and down and sideways and turning around.

.

 This is the Spider. When the ride starts it is slow
 then it goes up high and spins around fast in circles.

It was really really fun and not scary for me.

 I am at the mouth gate at Luna Park.

 I went on the Silly Serpent. It was scary when it went down fast.
Everyone was screaming.

We left when it was about 5 o'clock so there was a lot of traffic but by six o'clock we got to the service centre where we spent the night.