Over the weekend we took the kids down to Geelong’s waterfront for a bit of a wander.  It’s only 15 minutes from home and on a mild day, like it was on Sunday, it’s a fantastic place for a stroll.

I always kick myself when we do get down there.  We should take advantage of it much more often than we do.  It’s the old not appreciating what’s on your doorstep thing, I guess.

Anyway, the kids got to run, play, eat icecream and be held over the wall of the breakwater.  Hubby and I got some fresh air, a few minutes to ourselves and the fun of listening to the kids scream for their lives as they were held over the wall of the breakwater.  All good.

If you’re in Geelong with some time to kill, I absolutely recommend a visit to the waterfront.  It’s a beautiful part of our city.

This week sometime, I’ll have a post about it on Australia: Family Style.  Stay tuned.

Earlier this week I launched my new website Autralia: Family Style.  It’s something I’ve been thinking about doing for a long time, so I’m really excited to see it come to fruition.

Australia: Family Style was borne out of my own family’s love of travelling around Australia and my frustration at having to scour dozens (if not more) websites to find information about family friendly destinations, attractions and outings.  I would love a dollar for every time Yosemite or Disneyland has turned up in my search results! Not what I’m after, Google. I also figured that after 8 years of travelling with kids in tow, I probably have a few tips to share.

If you’ve ever racked your brain, wondering what you and the kids could do for the weekend, or where to go on your next family friendly holiday, Australia: Family Style can help:

• travel & outing tips learnt from experience
• news about what’s on where
• reviews of fun destinations & attractions (& some you might want to give a miss)
• gear that makes travelling life easier

As well as the blog, you can catch up with Australia: Family Style is on Twitter (@ausfamilystyle) and Facebook.

I’d love for you to pop over to Australia: Family Style to say “Hi”, and perhaps even share some of your own family travel experiences

With all the hoo ha happening in the world in the midst of Eyjafjallajökull (yes, I copied & pasted the name!) erupting, I thought it timely to remind the world (or my limited readership, anyway) that Australia, too, has seen it’s share of volcanic action.  Unfortunately, at the time there were no news crews and photographers about to capture it.

The consequences of all this past upheaval, in my part of Australia, are little hills dotted throughout Victoria’s great western plains. They might not be spectacular anymore (or ever) like their Icelandic counterpart, but they are pretty in a rural landscape sort of way.

I give you the volcanoes of Victoria (a few of them, anyway)

Mt Elephant

Mt Elephant keeps a watchful eye on the little town of Derrinallum.  It got it’s name because, obviously, someone thought it looks a bit like an elephant.  Now, I’ve driven past Mt Elephant at least a couple of hundred times and all I’ve got to say is whoever named it has quite a good imagination.

In its volcanic days, Mt Elephant helpfully spewed out tonnes of rock into the surrounding area.  Farmers in days gone by found it quite useful for building very sturdy, long lasting fences.

Mt Noorat

Mt Noorat is home to the Alan Marshall (of I can jump puddles fame) Walk, which ends with a great view of the crater.

Mt Shadwell

Mt Shadwell’s claim to fame is olivine, otherwise known as peridot.  It’s town, Mortlake, claims to be the olivine capital of Australia (not to be confused with Inglewood, the olive capital of Australia).  Mt Shadwell is also home to a number of communication towers that diminish the ferocity of its past somewhat.

Tower Hill

Arguably one of the more impressive of Victoria’s extinct volcanoes, you get to look at Tower Hill from the inside.  A highish hill (OK, so big enough to make me puff – a lot) sits surrounded by craters.  They are sometimes, but not for a long while, full of water which makes the hill part a sort of island.

I know there’s no red hot lava, ash clouds and lightning, but it’s what we’ve got.  If you’re after something a little bit more speccy, you might want to check out the current goings on in Iceland here.

This is the beautiful view that greeted us each morning on our recent stay at Eagle Point in East Gippsland (south eastern Victoria).  Lake King is part of the Gippsland Lakes system.  Just around the corner from here the Mitchell River flows peacefully into the lake.

Makes it worth getting up early in the morning.  These guys know how good it is to get up early, too.

These photos link to my Redbubble gallery, where over the next few days I’ll be uploading a few more pictures from our trip to East Gippsland.

It’s taken plenty of effort from those that submitted works and those that put it together, and now we can all celebrate the arrival of the Australian Travel Photography & Writing Group’s emagazine, Discover Australia.

As editor of the emag, I’d like to congratulate all members that were published. It’s not always easy to do something new & different; and that’s what we were asking of some of our members. They were up for the challenge though. We were able to publish some wonderful stories and experiences based on their travels through Australia.

Our very busy journalist, Darren Stones, also contributed a great how-to article and a fantastic rundown on what’s on where for the coming months (amongst others pieces – I told you he was busy!).  Behind the scenes, Susan Adey put in a huge effort in helping get the emag together. Thanks Sue!

Everyone’s great work has helped create a fantastic little emag. You can download your own copy (free of course!) of Discover Australia here.