Ballarat and Sovereign Hill Day Tour with Optional Wildlife Park from Melbourne

The driver's dialogue throughout the trip provided insight. Panning for gold should not be what interests you on this venture, as there really is nothing there at all. Originally I thought this would be great fun, but was sadly disappointed. This is self-guided and you need to be motivated to walk throughout the site. Candy-making was very interesting and tasty! The explanation of turning panned gold into gold bars was enlightening.

The day was fabulous from start to finish. Roger our driver was knowledgeable and entertaining.

hotel transfer went without any hitches, taken down to Flinders Square to pick up our Tour , hats off to the co-ordinators shuffling many tourists with limited English onto the buses, you did your job with a smile and it showed you knew what you were doing. Once on the bus heading for Ballarat the bus driver was knowledgeable and the bus clean, and very comfortable. Ballarat tour around the town site was informative though personally I would have preferred to have ambled around this unique township for an hour or so. I declined the visit to the wildlife park and was delighted at Sovereign Hill and what it offers. Wandering around seeing all the different shops, of course you have to buy some boiled sweets, and taste the scones jam and cream. we watched the gold pouring and came home with our little bottle of gold shavings from panning for gold. would recommend this tour to anyone of all ages. a great day out thankyou

A great day and loved the authentic features from trading, to light industry, to re-enactments, to real tools and brick a brace to the horse and coach ride to the red coats and their loud guns. A well honed real life experience of the past.

We had a lovely day out enjoyed Sovereign Hill even managed to find gold

This unusual tour for Americans was quite good. My husband's great-great grandfather was a miner at Sovereign Hill where a major gold vein was found. He wanted to visit this recreated mining town. The residents wear period costumes from the 19th century and many ply the trades appropriate to the times such as gold smeltering, tinsmithing, bakers, dry goods, etc. There is also a candy making shop which specializes in lollies--a hard and variously flavored type of candy which is beloved by Australians. Since many of the miners were from Cornwall, England delicious pasties can be had for lunch from the bakery. Our driver/guide, Don, was knowledgeable about the area as we drove to and toured the city of Ballarat. Sovereign Hill is part of Ballarat. It is a pleasant town with some interesting Victorian arcitechture. At Sovereign Hill he left us to explore the area on our own until departure time. It was clear that Don enjoyed introducing tourists to this wonderful area. I should also add that Ballarat is a plot point in A. Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes story The Bascombe Valley Mystery in case someone is a Sherlockian--another reason for our visit. We did not visit the wildlife park. Those who did were dropped off at the park and the rest of us went on to Ballarat. The park visitors were later picked up at the park and driven to Sovereign Hill for their visit. There is a theatre which at times has an impromptu performance on Main Street. British red coats also march down the street complete with a small drum corp. Muskets are fired off at the town square and horse drawn cart tours are also available. Demonstrations of gold smeltering are given throughout the day. There is also a gold mining encampment that can be seen. Tours of a real gold mine are also offered. My husband who took the tour thoroughly enjoyed it and said that it was also very informative.

Great tour . Glad I skipped the Wildlife Park as there was more than enough to see and do at Sovereign Hill to occupy the day. Particularly appreciated the driver sharing his knowledge about the Aboriginal history of the country we were travelling in. One small suggestion - would like to have had more information about the history of the site of the Eureka Stockade in Ballarat.