After a fairly bad sleep we woke to a beautiful sunrise.  About 10.00ish we set off to meet the Rippons at Mansfield. The kids were sooooooo excited to see each other and it was a great reunion.  We got some supplies and headed to our camp spot, Tunnel Bend.   As we were staying there for 6 nights we set up all our new gear including our screen tent, solar panel, tent for the kids and solar shower.  Afterwards we had a very simple dinner of burgers and sat up and had a couple of beers.

As this camp site is in "Man from Snowy River country" it was well set up for people to bring out their horses and  ride along the many horse riding tracks,  some with amazing views.  One morning Lachlan, Kai and I went for a walk along one of these tracks and Lachlan found a horse shoe which he thought was a fantastic find.  It is now his good luck charm for the next 12 months.

The kids and adults alike enjoyed games such as street tennis, horse shoes, poison ball and learning how to shoot the bow and arrow.

 

 

We had a four wheel driving day trip where we visited Bluff's Hut and walked up Bluff's track to 1680 meters above sea level. We ended up at the edge of a cliff where we encountered some amazing views.  We headed to Pikes Flat where we found a shady spot to have lunch and then I did a bit of 4 wheel driving to Bindaree hut, where the kids had a splash around in the cool clear rapids.  We then headed to Craig’s hut which was built for the movie  "The man from Snowy river” .  The original hut has been burnt down and rebuilt twice.  After that we went to the Hunt Club which is where the cast and crew of the man Snowy River had beers during the making of the film.   We were all exhausted when we got back to camp and had an early night.

 

 

One morning we found a very sick koala. We looked after it until the rural fire guys took it to the vet in Mansfield. The ranger came in the next day and told us that the Koala was doing well and they had called a carer in to look after it.  That was great news. 

The same night another Koala came down from its tree and walked through our camp site to it's next destination.  We thought that was pretty amazing to see.
 

 

 

We also took a walk to Tunnel bend where there is a very narrow and dark tunnel that you can walk through.  I didn’t walk through but the kids did and they had a great time. Apparently it is a bit of an illusion as the light at the other end seems a lot closer than it actually is. 

As we were eventually heading to South Australia the kids came up with a grand plan to collect cans from other campers and recycle them for 10 cents a can.  What a great way to make some money.

 

We headed out of Tunnel Band on Friday and made our way to Ballarat where we were to stay with our great friends Sam and Igor.