Bendigo - November 2024

 

 Big 4 Bendigo Park Lane Holiday Park

761 McIvor Highway, Bendigo 

4th - 5th November 2024

Superior Family Cabin (sleeps 8)

$348.00, 1 night

2 adults & 3 Children 

We cancelled our original Melbourne Cup weekend trip to Cobram with the intent of saving money and getting some things done around the house but as the time got closer we couldn't help ourselves. I worked most of the weekend so we headed off for just 1 night (Monday) and splashed out on a very nice cabin instead of taking the caravan.

We stayed in a superior Family Cabin, these cabin are fairly new and very nice. It had 3 bedrooms the master had a king size bed and an ensuite, the 2nd bedroom had a queen size bed and the 3rd bedroom had 2 sets of bunks  

As well as its own deck area

The park had a huge indoor play centre, outdoor swimming pool and spa, basketball ring, out door playground and a jumping pillow 

We squeezed a lot into 2 days and had a really good time. On the drive there we went through Daylesford and passed Sailors Falls which we went to about a year ago and the loop walk track was closed. It is still closed but we walked it anyway..

There are alot of stairs to the bottom of the viewing area where the walk starts 

The walk its self is about 1.4km and takes about 40 mins. As it is a closed track (due to very minor bridge damage from floods) parts of it were overgrown but the track was still visible 

After our little unplanned stop we continued on to Bendigo and arrived just before 1pm for some lunch at the Beechworth Bakery

We decided to check out Lake Weeroona before heading to the Caravan Park. There is a walking track around the lake and a large playground, coffee van and plenty of BBQ and picnic sports 

The kids had a play at the playground

Then we went to visit the BENDIGO sign and got our tourist snaps

We arrived at the caravan park and had a look around, the kids quickly decided they wanted to play on the indoor play centre 

and afterward a swim in the pool, Nash was straight in, followed by Kayleigh and finally Mason braved the cold water as well

We had dinner in our cabin, Nash had a play on the outdoor play ground while the older kids were relaxing in the cabin and then went to after a huge day.

We had a late check out of 12 noon so we were able to play around the park some more, the kids wanted to go back to the indoor play centre, they made some friends and didn't want to leave, eventually they did and had a ride of the pedal carts and then we left to check out the $10 lunch specials at the All seasons Hotel Bendigo.

After Lunch we headed to the Central Deborah Gold Mine. Central Deborah Gold Mine was one of over 5,500 registered gold mines on the famous Bendigo goldfields. It operated from 1939-1954 and successfully extracted 929kg of gold. Today, you can explore the underground workings and discover what life as a miner was really like.

We did the Mine Experience Tour but unfortunately Nash was a little disruptive and I had to take him out of the tour and back up to the surface 

After The mine tour we went on the Vintage Talking Tram Tour which took us all around Bendigo learning about the History and the key monuments. We caught the tram from the Mine and did a full loop but it is a hop on hop off service and your ticket is valid all day.

When we returned to the Mine we explored the mine surface which was included in out ticket, it was almost closing time so we only got to have a quick look. It has some original buildings and equipment that was used when the mine was active, The engine room, a gold museum 

and a panning shed where you can can have a go at panning for gold.

We didn't leave Bendigo until around 5:00, we were planning to grab McDonalds in Ballarat on the way home but ended up showing the kids the last standing "All you can eat" Pizza Hut

It was a really fun 48 hours and I am really Glad we bit the bullet and just did it.