Holiday Adventures with Aussie Kids

Port Douglas Paradise

2019-06-13T13:38:00.000+10:00

Port Douglas Paradise

We met so many people and made so many friends in the 5 months we were in Port Douglas and you are seeing some of these people everyday, first thing in the morning, last thing at night and all the times in between, you share the same backyard and front yard, eat at the same camp kitchens, cross paths when your going to the loo and unless you are locking yourself in your caravan then you are pretty much living with them.

Its a little like a reality show, I found myself getting rather attached to people like family (I was also missing my own family). We had many nights of BBQ's, takeways, or someone would just be cooking up a storm (like grandmamy), one night we all had tea together and had a night watching 'Beauty and the Geek'! We had a great laugh.

We first met Jamie and Tenille and their daughter Ta-leah, they worked in the park and were from the West as well. Isla and Ta-leah were the same age so they played alot when the other kids were at school. Tenille made soaps, potions and lotions from the van and they smell the greatest.

Then we met Dave and Kirrilly and their kids Xander and Kate, also from the West. Xander was the same age as Slade and they became really good friends, as seven year old boys do they had alot in common and were very energetic always off doing their exploring or just running around pretending to shoot everyone. Maybe they thought they were some kind of cowboys. Kate was a cutie she was aged in between Isla and Shelby so they were all good playing together and Ta-Leah also played together. We had met Dave first and he was a funny guy very neat and clean, washing his car and cleaning the caravan, Kirrilly called him CB (caravan bitch) which was funny when we would ask her where Dave was. He looked like Dave Hughes but with Blonde hair and luckily he didnt have Hughesy annoying whiny voice. Finally Kirrilly came out of the van, took her awhile later I discovered that she had a Thermomix (very cool appliance) she was busy cooking?? It wasnt until they moved to a site closer to us that she got her ass out of the van and felt the sunshine. We got along great we had a special connection sharing the same birthday! I had not met anyone that has the same birthday as me and our birthdays were only days away at the time so we left it to the men to organise a combined special dinner for us. Just a BBq but it was the not having to prepare it and clean up that made it special.

This birthday for me was also my 40th and I was taken to a beautiful restaurant called the Salsa Bar, very upmarket (although you could wear thongs to the venue) with the menus and the cocktails were fancy and yummy. We had a very french waiter with an animated twist to his accent, he attended to our table and read us the menu and the specials and it was a little hard to understand but very very funny, so funny that I could not look at him or Clint in fear I would fall off my seat in fits of laughter. The way he described the Mackeral and pronounced it (muckrel with a lemon zest) kind of reminded me of Beverly Hills Cop and Serge offering the coffee with the lemon twist, very similar. Made the evening entertaining that was for sure. It was nice having the night off from the kids and eating in peace. Mum and Charles arrived in Port Douglas a few days before so they were more than happy to have the kids for the night. Kirrilly offered us a ride into town so we could have a few drinks and it just so turned out that they went into town to have dinner and when it was time to go home I saw them driving and they gave us a lift home!! They put their kids to bed and we stayed up till 12ish and had a few drinks with them.

Port Douglas - Our Magical Paradise

2011-03-19T22:04:00.000+11:00

Port Douglas

Our Magical Paradise

We had mail to collect so we decided that Port Douglas might be a good place to stay so we booked in for 4 nights at the Glengarry Holiday Park. We were then going to plan our journey to the Far North of Queensland.

Our 4 days actually turned into 5 months!!

After checking out the township and it was pretty flashy with all the pubs, cafes, boutiques, little Nick knacky shops. Not a very big town but it was choccas full of tourists all oozing out of the shops and pubs. We could really see ourselves heading out to a few of the pubs and having a nice cold drink and a juicy steak. The main street into Port Douglas is lined with coconut trees and five star resorts and when you see all the tourists you can understand why they come here. Its a very relaxed place, very beautiful to look at, easy access beaches, rainforest's just a short drive away and the weather...just perfect, warm all day and the nights just the same.

Time to get into some home schooling, I'm excited...and then it starts the lack of concentration, I'm hungry, I need the toilet, I want to go and play, Oh Mum, oh mum!! Just about to strangle him when dad calls it, time out lets go for a drive. I had been trying to do the home schooling on the way up from Melbourne whilst travelling but even then its the same head to head drama with all 3 of them in the back seat and miss middle child piping in all the time, you can get a bit done but never feel like you've really done anything. Maybe its me I don't know, but I do know that I am not happy being the teacher, I rather love just being the mum.

Clint sends the kids off for a play and I sit and cry and Clint can see that I am not coping very well at this very moment. I throw my hands up saying 'Later in life he is going to hate me if I don't give him a good education, but he hates me now trying to teach him'. I remember my cousin Peter telling me that it was his mums fault that he's dumb because when he and his brother were little Aunty Rachel and Uncle Bill travelled in a caravan back in the 80's and they didn't have any home schooling but they occasionally went to school but thinks his mum should of given him a better education whilst enjoying themselves. I'm pretty sure he was just fooling with his mum, but that still did not vacate my memory bank.

We both decided to go for a drive and take a look at the locals schools...there is 1. So I said what the hell I will go in and see if they have any vacancies. School was about to commence for term 3 and the teachers were at the school getting things ready for the return of the kids the next day.

I was greeted by the assistant principal Glenys, as the principal was recovering from an eye operation. I told her of our situation that we were travelling and I had been home schooling but would like to see if they could come to Port Douglas State School for a term of two. Much to my delight she said yes and wanted to meet them both. I went to the car and told them everyone the news and we all went in to meet Glenys. She was excited to meet Slade and Shelby and made them feel very welcome, she sized them up for school polo shirts and told them they could start tomorrow. Glenys gave us some information on the school and it all sounded just superb!! I was not really concerned about the school I was just so happy that they could come to school and be taught by a professional....trained and a bit more patient than I.

Clint pays more attention to the finer details but I had a good feel about the place. The one thing that pricked my ears and Clint's was when she told us that the school had a "No shoe Policy" meaning that shoes were optional and thongs or barefeet was allowed. She then started to say 'We are very fortunate...' and I was waiting for her to say something like 'that we will be wearing closed in shoes very soon' instead she said ' We are very fortunate to still be able to do this'. Even the teachers wear thongs! You get used to it but it was funny at the start. We just assumed that due to wet seasons and humidity smelly wet feet don't mix.

I laughed at the kids because when they would get to school because they both would kick off their thongs at the school room door like they were at grandma's, with all the shoes at the front door!!

They were both very excited Slade a little more than Shelby as he was just keen to meet more kids. Both their teachers were lovely and everyone seems to be so relaxed. Slade made friends fast as he does, he only had one kid that annoyed him but he was handling it. Shelby had a problem with a girl named Bo, she would poke and probe her, or flick her with her fingers. During the first week Shelby awoke in the middle of the night screaming about this girl and I was not having this!! So I was going to approach the mother first and whack her in the face but decided that speaking to the teacher might be a better idea first and then assess the situation after. Miss Janelle was Shelby's lovely teacher very calm and friendly and I discussed the matter with her and apparently they have been working very close with Bo and were keeping an eye on her. Miss Janelle said to Shelby that she would make sure this didn't happen again. Later Miss Janelle told me that yes Bo had some issues with showing her affection with others by being Mean. So I just left it at that and Shelby managed to deal with her ok.

Other than that they enjoyed their time at the school, they both got a honour certificates which excited them and us! They got a chance to compete in the school sports carnival and both got blue ribbons for running events. Even Dad got involved in the Parents and Teachers Race which coming from last almost beat one of them. They participated in Surf Life Saving which was part of their curriculum and they thought that was just so much fun. And just before we left they had swimming lessons.

The days were now joyous with two kids gone what were we going to do with ourselves? Enjoy ourselves, do whatever we wanted, well for 6 hours till pick up anyway. I did forget that the mornings were going to be earlier and sandwiches needed to be made but they was manageable.

On the first day of school we decided to drive to Cairns for some retail therapy without the whining and toilet stops, Isla was easy and happy to please with a lollipop and a ride in a pram or a trolley. Everyone said Isla might of felt a bit lonely with her siblings going to school...NO WAY!! She was happy to be left alone and have her mum and dad all to herself, she would even be happy just playing for a few hours by herself playing her barbies and dancing in the tropical gardens of the caravan park like a fluttering butterfly.

Back to the drive to Cairns for the fun day of shopping while the kids were left at their new school not knowing a soul, making friends and learning more in one day than they did in a week! I cant remember if we actually purchased anything but we were enjoying our time, now Cairns was a 60km drive from Port Douglas and we suddenly glanced at the time and it was 2.20pm, school finished at 3pm. No problems we should make it, but we were about another 15kms inside Cairns with traffic lights and at least 20 roundabouts, as we wound around the crazy coastline back we could see where Port Douglas was and...the remaining kms and the time were not coming together at 3pm for the pick up.

We arrived at the school at 10mins past 3, I felt so bad my heart was racing and all I could think was, what a bad mother I was for their first day of school picking them up late. I had visions of them both sitting in their classes alone feeling sad thinking that we had packed up the van and taken off without them and how was I going to get them to go the next day. I felt selfish for leaving them to go off shopping and enjoying myself. When we arrived at the school Slade was standing out the front waving and smiling but no Shelby, so before the car had even stopped my door was open and I bolted to her classroom. There she was alone sitting with the teacher and when she spotted me she just smiled, phew I hadn't caused her any grief. I did however get a quiet whisper in the ear by the teacher saying 'perhaps you could be a little earlier just for the first couple of weeks'. Hmm I felt bad enough lady, but yes we will need to manage our time and distances better for school days. The next week and most weeks we were always sitting in the carpark 10 mins prior to the bell. Lucky for us no harm was done.

We met a few of the parents from school and was greeted by a father who's boy Daniel was in Slade's class, Harry was his name and he was a Captain on the Quicksilver boats that went out onto the Barrier Reef, he was very nice and we had many chats after assembly's on Fridays. We went to every Assembly which was a great experience for Clint because if we were home he would probably not see too many of these. They were great assemblies, first they would sing the national anthem in their own made up tune, then they would state their grievances, give out the awards, and the principal would advise the students 'to focus on their goals for the year and work on making them happen' (this would always make Clint and I giggle, would these primary kids be paying any attention? probably they were)

So for awhile we mainly stayed 'loco' until we did a couple of practise runs to Cairns to test the kms, if we didn't have too much to get we could get back in time for pick up.

When we arrived at Glengarry it was pumping busy with travellers. We were on the south side of the park near the new cabins on a grassed site, it was ok but a slab is definitely needed if we were going to stay for a few school terms I ideally would want to be closer to the amenities for the kids. We did consider renting a unit and storing the van, but I really enjoyed the caravan experience of meeting people and plus we had no furniture. After looking around there wasn't anything that we liked and at the time we were paying $360 a week for the site as it was peak season.

I went to the office and spoke to Margy, Shayne and Tennille at different times asking about available site and about staying for a length of time. Margy was ok with that as they did have permanents in the park anyway. So they gave us some sites to look at and some dates that they were available. We managed to move to site 40 on the 4th of August (Tuesday)which was a good time because Grandma Norma was arriving on the Saturday early in the morning...here's another story...

Grandma was due to leave Friday night on Jetstar at 10.30pm flying directly to Cairns arriving about 3am in the morning. All good we were going to have an early night bundle the kids into the car in their pj's drive to the airport 60kms...all set and organised. Kids could not wait Slade was counting the days to see Grandma. They all went to bed early and had the alarm set for 2am we were still up when the phone rang around 12. Grandma's plane had been delayed on the website and it wasn't departing until a later time, but as grandma hadn't checked in Jetstar thought they had all their checked in passengers and left already. Grandma was not happy and neither were we, she booked another flight for the Monday but that was going to cut her holiday short. So we checked Qantas online and booked her a flight for first thing in the morning that way she hadn't really missed a day. Everyone was pleased to see her at the airport after a disappointing morning when they woke and we weren't going to the airport. Lots of hugs and kisses were had.

So we moved to site 40 and it was a nice sized site with a slab and right across from the amenities and camp kitchen. We also had some nice grass around us and the backdrop was a tropical paradise...yes this was going to be enjoyable. The park was still buzzing with activity lots of comings and goings and lots of spectator enjoyment with backing in vans. Every site was filled on every night.

Going to post this but there is more...stay tuned and I promise it wont be long xx

Melbourne to Qld

2011-01-03T17:29:00.000+11:00

Melbourne to Queensland

The Chase for Warmer Weather

The trip to Queensland was off a speedy one, the kids had colds and we were eager to get to the warmer weather and see some more of QLD.
We only had overnight stops and it only took one day to cross the NSW border. Our first night was in Albury a nice park across the road from Hungry Jacks, very small but ok for one night. The amenities were good they had floormats for when you had a shower and hand towels as well. The other stops were Goulbourn and we did have 3 nights at Sydney Gateway. This was a 5 star caravan park all amenties were sparkly clean and the sites were slab and they even had a slab for your vehicle.

The highlight was watching the guy next to us reverse his van straight into the fence behind us and missing our car by the skin of his teeth!!

Port Macquarie was the next stop we arrived at a reasonable time but because the computers were down they couldnt allocate us a site, so we had to just park anywhere and then wandered around. Along the coast they had a rock wall and each individual rock was painted that was quite neat. The amenties here were disgusting and they should be ashamed of themselves. It didnt give us a very nice experience and I cant say we will be stopping there again.

Coffs harbour was next, we stayed at the showgrounds here and that was nice and we had plenty of room although it was noisy.

Ballina was next, this was ok, but the park we choose charged us an arm and a leg due to their facilities for the kids. A bit unfair as we were only staying a night and we didnt use them, but you live and learn and we wont stay there again.

We stopped at Ballina as Gwen and Henk were staying at a park across the river, we went over to catch up with them which was lovely and then headed off the next morning.

Finally we reached the QLD border things were slightly warmer but still at the max of 25 during the day, not bad considering it was still winter. We stayed at the Broadwaters on the Gold Coast and it was nice and close to everything. We were trying to catch up with Robert and Glenda because this is the park that they stay in with their fifth wheeler, but the park had only 5 nights for us and then we would of had to move sites, not going to happen. So they were arriving the day we were leaving and it wasnt meant to be. Amazingly when we were on the road we did see them pass us on the other side of the freeway and it was amazing because most of the freeway is divided by lots of trees and bushes so for us to see each other at the moment when there was nothing between the freeways was amazing.

While we were on the Gold Coast it gave us a chance to test out the annexe a bit more, check for mail, do the washing and map out our next journey.

Our plan was to head up as far north as we could and stop when we thought the weather was perfect and slow down the journey.

We stopped at a few free camps along the way, Tiaro, Benarby, Claireview which was a magic spot right on the beach, Guthralunga just on the roadside and Townsville right on the beach but with heaps of sandflies, no good for Clint or the kids as they were savagely attacked.

After Townsville we headed straight to Port Douglas to collect more mail we booked in for 4 nights and then thats when the magic began...

Melbourne - Football, friends, fun, family

2011-01-03T15:31:00.000+11:00

Melbourne

Nine weeks!! This is the time we spent in Melbourne, our longest stay anywhere. We were lucky to be able to stay at David and Karens for so long but I would say that the kids probably tested their patience. Three housebound kids under 6 is a task even for the best of us. Luckily they both got to go to work and have a bit of a break!!

We did a couple of sets of school work in Melbourne which was good. We enquired about them going to school but it seemed to be more hassle than what it was worth so we ditched the idea. We did as much as we could and that was enough. It is one of the hardest things to do when you have more than two kids and not enough hours in the day. Its not just the school work but I had to do feedbacks every day that the school work is being done to send back to the teacher. Maybe it was just me trying to do too much. You get so behind when you are travelling and trying to sight see too. Anyway we did our best and thats all you can do. The bright side is that I have wonderfully smart children who can pick things up real easy and I love them to bits! The kids made a Vegie garden as part of their school work and watched it grow and watered it on most days. Most days were very cold and raining so the vegie garden only missed the sun.

The suburb where Dave and Karen lived was Keilor East and it was fairly close to everything, trainstations, shops, food, freeways etc. David's work was only up the road too so he was home fairly early on most nights. The kids would yell and scream when he got home and jump all over him wanting him to play. Of course he would love this and he'd be out the back kicking balls and chasing them around.

Being close to Hungry Jacks was great we would often take the kids for a walk after tea and go sit in the playground at HJ's and buy 50c cones...yummo we did that until it got a bit too cold. Some nights it didnt matter that it was cold because they had outdoor heaters outside so you could have a cold icecream and still stay warm.

We were also close to one of the largest shopping centres in VIC called Highpoint. They had a great food hall where we found the best chicken rice!!! We visited here a couple of times a week or more. The DFO (Direct Factory Outlets) were always a must see in Melbourne and most times you can pick up a bargain or two. I saw a lot of things to buy but living in a caravan keeps you from collecting items you cannot take with you. Shame for me but joy for Clint.

Katrina and Michael lived not far from Dave's and we got to catch up with them a few times. Slade loved going there and playing the Wii and Shelby and Isla would chase Michael around the house while Katrina filled them with food. They have a beautiful home which they both built themselves, mum liked it when she visited as Trina's house has central heating and it was nice and warm for her.

Katrina and Michael took us to their favourite Chinese Restaurant at Highpoint called Plume...we had a nice banquet dinner that got a little out of hand and when we got the bill its was $800!!! There was only 7 adults and 3 kiddies and Karen hardly ate anything,!! It was one night out we were trying to forget (note to self... never order chinese on a very empty stomach) but very hard because the food...the food was so delicious we had dumplings for the first time and we were hooked!! We went back again but we watched how many dishes we ordered this time

Clint got to watch quite a few games of Essendon and I even got to watch a couple. The atmosphere at the games is very exciting even if you dont really get into the football. Its such a sight seeing a whole state that just gets so involved in their teams, every weekend the city is full of people just walking around in their footy team colours.

We were in Melbourne for the ANZAC day match and the dreamtime game against Richmond which is always entertaining with the prematch entertainment. Slade and Clint had their photo taken with the Bomber mascot the mozi.

Windy Hill was only a 10 minute drive from Davids so went down to the oval and watched some training sessions. At one training session James Hirde was there and they had a free sausage sizzle for everyone. We got some signatures on that day too, I visited the bomber shop to get some things for Ada and Bec and saw some Essendon tea towels I thought Bec might like for her birthday and when I got back Clint was on his way to get Slades shirt and footy signed so I threw him the tea towels to get signed for his sister!! I was excited and so was she when she finally got them in August.

Slade was very keen to get into Auskick and it was fortunate that the team closest to David's is in the Essendon Area, so there was a lot of Red and Black. Every Saturday we took Slade down to the oval and he would just run off and get into it with all the kids. No fear of being new Slade just goes up to anyone and says hi and away they go!! Apart from his listening to instructions from the coach he blended in well having a kick and marking the ball. As with most kids they are only thinking of one thing...having fun!

We had a few visitors when we were in Melbourne, Mum came for 3 weeks, Mark came for the weekend, Grandad came for a weekend to watch the Anzac game and Rochelle and Matt also came for an extended weekend of shopping and shopping and to see her waxing client...me.

We took everyone to a beaut little bakery cafe we found in West Meadows called Whitings Bakery which changed its name back to Westmeadows bakery. We were looking for somewhere to have breakfast one morning and stumbled across this place and a little Italian lady we called Mama maria cooked up the meaniest and cheapest brekky's in town. She absolutely adored the kids, she would bring their breakfasts' out to them and them and pinch their cheeks and give them kisses. And speaking of Bakery's we found Beechworth Bakery which probably doesnt mean anything to you but for Clint Brock and I, we had read article on this Bakery and how the ownerTom O'Toole built this franchise of Bakerys into an empire. Very interesting reading. Oh and the food and coffee is a 10 out of 10 yummy!

Grandad was here for a weekend and stayed for Shelby's birthday he had a lot of fun with the kids playing cricket and footy and spending some time with Clint and David. Mum came the week after and Mark (who used to live next to us in Huntingdale) came for a weekend of footy and beers with Clint. Mum babysat one night and David, Karen, Clint and I took him to the crown casino. We had a great night and sat out on one of the balcony's and watched the flames of the giant torches that align the Yarra River. Wow!! you can really feel the heat come off those things...hey Marcus??? We missed the last train home and had to catch a taxi but we eventually got home in one piece.

Mark and I also had fun with a magnetic crocodile that was Karen's on the fridge and somehow Mark and I would be the only ones to walk past the fridge and knock it off. After a few attempts to hide our clumsiness and get Clint on the superglue without karen noticing, I finally had to tell her of our sneeky fixings in which her reply was...'dont worry its only a $2 magnet'. We even went out on shopping searches looking for a replica...I am still looking Karen!!

We took a drive down to Frankston and Shelby needed a pee so we stopped on the side of the road walked down to the beach and saw all the coloured beach shacks!! We had a lovely lunch at one of the beachside restaurants and then played at the playground, heaps of fun.

It was Mother's Day whist Mark and mum was here and we went down to St Kilda and had breakfast, walked around the street markets and we also watched a really good Elvis Impersonator busking in the street. We took the kids to Luna Park and they wanted to have a go on the Bounty ride, they had such a fun time and their faces were priceless.
Back to Shelby's birthday, she had a really nice birthday and got lots of pressies and she especially loved her Barbie Cake that I worked hard on. It turned out well considering it was made in the caravan oven.

We made a trip out to Ballarat to visit our special travelling friends the Andersons at their house. What a beautiful house and property they had up on a hill. They had an excellent back yard for the kids all four of them and with another bub on its way it was definitely built for fun. We had a lovely lunch and tried to squeeze as much chit chat as we could in. They invited us to bring the caravan up and stay and we would of loved too but it just got too damn cold.

Mum shouted us and David and Karen to a couple of nights at the Hyatt, mums loves the 5 star treatment and why not I say. It was great having a long hot shower in a nice warm room, we could stretch our legs and lounge around and order room service!! We had breakfast in the restaurant in the morning and it was a smorgasbord of deliciousness!! We had tickets to the footy for the Dreamtime match and it was great because it was only a 15 minute walk from the Hyatt.

We took a drive to the Black Saturday Fire Regions through Marysville and surrounding areas, it was shocking to see the towns affected and ruined by the fires. To think that they once like all the little towns we past through during our travels, is devasting. All the memories gone. I guess that although they were rebuilding these towns it will and never can be the same, but like everything you must gone on and try to move forward.

We had a slight incident with Isla in which she acquired a broken leg. The girls were running around and being pre-warned by their father to do not run, they fell over and Shelby landed on Isla's leg!! She wasnt screaming but moaning and Clint was concerned that she may have broken her leg (how right he was).

We went to the closest emergency department but they did not see little kids so were sent to Sunshine hospital not too far away. It was fairly busy here when we arrived at 11am and we waited until 5pm to get an xray. After waiting this long the student doctor asked me if I really wanted an xray as they were busy and Isla seemed to be getting around ok. Well she wasnt really she was not putting any pressure on that leg but still getting herself around. She wasnt crying either which made them wonder if anything was wrong. I stated to her that I had waited this long and yes I would like know if there is a break or not! So they took her away and xray her and came back to me to tell me they could see no break but come back tomorrow so we can check her.

During that night Isla awoke rubbing her shin bone and in quite a lot of pain. We went back to the hospital very early and saw another doctor who took her for xrays again, but this time they xray'd her whole leg!!! Yes, apparently they only did an xray on her ankle and knee?????? So this time, helloo!! there was a fracture, a long one on her Tibia. So after saying how brave she was and not how stupid they were they proceeded to plaster her leg. by the time we got her home the plaster started to come away at the knee so it was back to the hospital again where they put on a fibre glass plaster. Six weeks was the length of time the plaster had to stay on and we did have another xray and a consult with a Orthopaedic doctor before we left Melbourne to make sure it was ok if we continued our travels, which we did get the all clear.

Our Annexe had arrived at Davids and we had been waiting for this to come before we left Melbourne to make sure it fit ok. We had booked into the Werribee caravan park for the last week to fit the annexe. All was good and we even had 100kms gust winds to test it out. Only damage was a velcro strap that came undone at the stitching, easily fixed by the annexe people.

We the making of the Film ' the killer Elite' starring Robert De Niro, Turkish and a few others being filmed on the beach across from where our caravan was parked in Werribee. We could hear this chopper flying over us for about an hour before we thought lets go and see what this was. We asked a few crew people who told us they were filming a corporate Advert...liar liar! Another guy had told us what was happening and then Clint googled it on his phone and we saw it on there that it was a blockbuster movie. Unfortunately I didnt see anyone famous.

Well it was time to go and we are going to miss David and Karen as well as the cheap meat and vegie's but it is time to see some more of this big country.

See some pictures by copy and pasting link to:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2069511&id=1178196973&l=c72d47c7ae

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2066931&id=1178196973&l=1da538b72f

JINDABYNE & FREE CAMPING TO MELBOURNE

2010-10-18T11:29:00.000+11:00

Jindabyne NSW

Camping from NSW to VIC Melbourne

We free camped all the way down to Melbourne after we had a few days in Jindabyne which is in the Snowy mountains.

Jindabyne is a town in south-east New South Wales, Australia that overlooks Lake Jindabyne near the Snowy Mountains, in Snowy River Shire. It is a popular holiday destination, especially in winter, due to its proximity to several ski resorts throughout the Kosciuszko National Park, including Thredbo and Perisher Blue. Both resorts are approximately 30 minutes drive into the park, although require the payment of park entry fees ($27 per vehicle per day and the compulsory carrying of snow chains in winter. However, Jindabyne also attracts tourists in summer with Lake Jindabyne popular for activities such as fishing, water skiing and wakeboarding. The town's name is derived from an aboriginal word meaning 'valley'.
Jindabyne is connected to the surrounding area by Kosciuszko Road, the Alpine Way and the Barry Way.

There was no snow for us but we did take a drive up to Thredbo and it was pouring with rain and at some spots higher up it got down to 2 degrees, brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. It was a beautiful drive and very scenic lots of winding roads and beaut lookouts.

I had a really sore knee at Jindabyne and drove around looking for a chemist for some painkillers, this was a lunch time and nothing was open except woollies!! So I went back to the home remedy of an ice pack on for 5 and off for 5mins. Worked, cos the next day I was good to go!!

Our next stop was Pinch Dam a free camp about 5kms off the main road. We all loved it because we could actually get to light a camp fire. We went in search of fire wood and then got the marshmallows out. After the kids went to bed Clint and I sat around the fire enjoying the peace and quiet.

The next working we went for a short bush walk to the dam and on the way saw a tiger snake slithering along the path. We were glad to spot it so there weren't any surprises walking with the kids.

Next stop was Bellbird Motel, here was lonely old motel very small on the main highway. Down the back of it was a free camping area with swings and a large grassed area. It was a great spot surrounded by rainforrest bushes. It was starting to get a bit coolish in the nights but was ok inside the van. We didn't have a fire that night because there was a few mosquito's about.

We went up to the Motel and had a few bourbons and a met the owner and she had a lot of stories to tell us which kept us entertained for a few hours.

The next morning we left the van and unhitched to go for a rainforest walk not far up the road through the Bemm River. It had a swinging bridge which is always very cool.

The next stop was interesting...Clint had the next spot picked on the coast that looked really nice but there was no water for the tanks so we found an Apex Playground Park in Stratford which had public toilets very clean and safe.

Next to the toilets was a tap where we could pull the van up alongside and fill the tanks with water to last us 3 days. While Clint was filling the tanks Slade and Shelby were asleep so I took Isla out for a play at the park which was a Medieval themed park with a big green dragon and mirrors and a castle. I thought it was great and so did Isla, just as

Clint was finished the other two kids awoke and they ran straight for the park as well. We had a couple of hours here and it was getting a bit late in the day and the next stop was a few hours away. I suddenly had a thought...why dont we stay here for the night. Mind you there was a caravan park across the road but the kids were having so much at the park we couldn't be bothered setting up over the road. It was a great spot at the park as it was down from the road where the major traffic on the Princess highway passed. But unless you were really looking you wouldn't see our 26ft van and black cruiser...much.

So we decided why not lets just camp here and if anyone asks we tell them we were just too tired to drive any further. We even got a few hours of power as there was a power outlet in the BBQ covered area. Clint was a little restless waiting for the knock on the door to tell us to move on but we woke up in the morning with no incident. The kids had another play before we headed to our next spot...

We had trouble finding this one and it wasn't planned, Clint had picked one out the book which had a tick on it but it was nothing but a dump so we put the co-ordinates of Kurth Kiln which is in a national park. Our wonderful GPS took us on a couple of dirt road which were dodgy and we were having flashbacks of Wisemans Ferry. We eventually found the road to Kurth Kiln but it was also a dirt road and Clint was unsure if it was going to facilitate our large van so he decided to head down there on foot to check it out. We thought it wouldn't be far down the road but it ended out being 4km run for him. Just previously we headed down a road and missed the turn around and had to a 300 point turn with abusive hand signals by myself, so we didn't want anymore hostility so Clint thought checking it out would be a good idea.

After all the dramas we found a nice camp spot and it was rather cold during the night and the flannels and thermal wear were put on.

The next day we arrived in Melbourne City and we had no idea where we were staying when we got there. We rang around to some parks and they were very expensive and we were planning to stay awhile so we needed to budget for this. A lot of the parks were asking for $60 - $70 per night. We finally rang a park in Werribee who gave us a quote on half the price and we ventured down there. It was about 40mins from David & Karen and from the City but the freeways make it alot faster getting to places.

We set up in Werribee and then headed to David and Karen's to see if we could get the van into their place. Stayed a couple of night at Werribee before we managed to chop a tree and dissemble the small brick wall out the front of the yard and very carefully and skillfully back the van into their front yard. We even used David's car the Hyundai to assist in the manoeuvring of the van so we could get the van door open. Overall a very impressive job done by all parties.

For more pictures copy and paste the links below to your web browser

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2068693&id=1178196973&l=080ad5c3cf

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2061289&id=1178196973&l=335cb5e776

Enjoy!!

CANBERRA

2010-07-17T23:07:00.001+10:00

Canberra...the capital city of Australia. Did you know? that the site of Canberra was selected for the location of the nation's capital in 1908 as a compromise between rivals Sydney and Melbourne. Not surprising!!

In Clints word Canberra is full of pollies, old farts and chairs because both need somewhere to sit.

No...seriously there was a lot to see in Canberra, mainly the War memorial for us we were very interested in our world war histories. Its a huge place the war memorial and we didnt get to see it all even though we were there for the whole day. We will revisit for sure.

We took the kids to Questacon, Australia's National Science and Technology Centre, its a hands-on interactive science museum. They had an absolute ball here, they had floors and floors of different science and technology displays. Well worth the entry fee. They had giant animatronic dinosaurs that looked very life like to Isla. She was funny because the dinosaurs were behind a bar and when they roared she snared at them 'na na na na na' as if to say you cant get me. They had a threatening Tyrannosaurus, spiky spined Stegosaurus, and a motherly Maiasaura complete with her nest, they all sway and roar with pre-historic passion in Terrorsaurus. They had a room that made to look like a house and it imitated a earthquake, the kids were amazed!! It rocked and shook it only went for 3 mins and really gave you an idea of how much damage one could do in such a short time. Good for big kids too.

We went for a drive past 'The Lodge' but didnt see Ruddy. We took the kids to the Dinosuar Museum and they had an educational lesson on the different types.

We only stayed for 4 nights it was starting to get cold at night and Clint had tickets to Footy.

See Pics
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2068688&id=1178196973&l=1a662af646

Pretty Beach -South coast NSW

2010-07-17T22:15:00.000+10:00

Well we are on our way to wintery Melbourne but not before a few coastal stops. There were so many nice little towns and the coast was something we had never seen before. Flat grassy landscapes and then huge cliff drops to the ocean blue.

We arrived at Murramarang National Park - Pretty Beach, it has the best of both worlds here. The campground is nestled amongst landscapes of rainforests and rugged bush to marine wonderlands . Our campsite setting was quiet with wilderness clearings, and walking tracks to suit every level of experience.

There were many varieties of coastal walks from this campground, which is well known for its kangaroos. There was plenty to do for us from this spot, including fishing, bush walking, swimming, rock platform walks, and kayaking in Slades yellow boat. Even better was that the beach was only 50 metres away.

The beach was crawling with hermit crabs at different times of the day and Slade, Shelby and Isla found that many that they made a hermit crab farm. The water was only ankle deep for about 10 metres so it was a good spot for the kids. The rocky platforms would pool water and when the tides changed little fishes would get stuck in the pools of rocks and that made very interesting fishing for Slade and Shelby. When the tide is out you can see the abalone under the rocks, a man we met on the beach showed us one and asked if we knew when the season was. We were unsure so he decided he best put it back.

We only booked for 4 nights but the weather was just perfect and it was very peaceful and relaxing. We decided that we would stay for the Easter Break so we weren't on the road with all the crazy school holidays makers. We did need to change our spot because the campsite was booked out. We found that hard to believe as there was only ever 3 other campers whilst we were there, so we were eager to see the how it was going to fill up.

There was no phone service so that meant no work could be done but we somehow managed to amuse ourselves. We had powered sites but no water, they had water tanks that you could use so that meant Clint had to do carts of water everyday just to keep it topped up. There were toilets and showers that were ok, the showers cost you a dollar for a minute for hot water but we just used our own showers. The days were nice and the nights were sometimes a bit cooler so we were able to light fires which is always nice to sit around at night. There were heaps of kangaroos, possums and rabbits moving around in the night which the kids thought was great.

Slade befriended some people with Kayaks on the beach and they let him use theirs, he was was very good out on it so we made a trip to Kmart to buy a Kayak for him to use.

We moved our van towards the back of the campground and waited and watched the Easter Mayhem. We met a lovely couple Heather and Chris from Sydney and they were two doors down in their camper. Chris and Clint spent a bit time chit chatting and enjoyed having a laugh at the antics of the holidaymakers-parking, erecting, shouting, banging in pegs in the middle of the night. What was better was after we had all the beautiful weather the week before when it was the easter break it poured with rain for a week. Makes funny moments watching tenters try and keep dry, light fires in the rain and keep kids out of mud!!! A bit selfish of us seeing us we were nice and dry in our caravan.

The School holidays meant that the kids were able to meet lots of new friends. They met some Canadians who live in the Phillipines who were on a five day break in Australia, the spoke French, his name was James. They were a lovely family and James taught Slade a few moves in fencing. Slade also met another nice boy Kyle he was an interesting character who would rarely take a breath when speaking. He also met two shitheads called Rory and Cory they had two mums...say no more.

Clint got friendly with the Ranger Dennis and they had a few beers together and they even barracked for the same footy team . During the Easter break Dennis's wife and two kids Liam and Emma camped at the campground so that could spend some time over easter as Dennis was working here everyday. They were excellent people and we were lucky to have met them.

Not far North of us was a nice town called Ulladulla, its a coastal town in New South Wales, in the City of Shoalhaven area. The name Ulladulla is an aboriginal word meaning "safe harbour".
Ulladulla is surrounded by the adjoining towns of Milton and Burrill Lake as well as Mollymook and Narrawallee. The extended area from Burrill Lake to Milton is referred to as the Milton–Ulladulla area.
Close landmarks include Pigeon House Mountain and "The Castle", both named due to the unique shapes of the mountain. Pigeon House was sighted by Captain James Cook upon his journey along the eastern shores of Australia. Pigeon House has recently been renamed "Didhol" out of respect to the elders of the Huin nation, the aboriginal elders past and present who originated from the area Ulladulla was built upon. The traditional name of the peak, Didhol, means Woman's Breast, owing to the mountain's clear resemblance of, um, a woman's breast

The Blessing of the Fleet festival is held annually at Easter since 1956. This is centuries old tradition which originated in Sicily, Italy, and now continued by the area's descendants of the original Italian fishing community. The most significant element of the festival is the actual Blessing of the Fleet ceremony held at Ulladulla harbour on Easter Sunday. The festivities conclude with fireworks display, over Ulladulla harbour on Easter Sunday and the Harbour Markets on Easter Monday. We were going to go but were warned that is would be chaos. We did have great pizza there and we did alot of our topping up of supplies here.

We had a day trip to Canberra to decide if there was much to do and there was so after here we were off to Canberra.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2056069&id=1178196973&l=2af901dbe9

See some pics.

Lane Cove National Park - Sydney

2010-06-26T21:12:00.000+10:00

We booked into lane cove national park caravan park right in the centre of town. It said it was an Eco park so we weren’t sure what to expect in regards to power and water but it was fairly cheap and our travelling friends the James were staying there and they told us it was good to go. We arrived and the place was right in the middle of the city but surrounded by bush and trees. We got a site right next to the James’ and we had a nice dry slab which was great because there had been a bit of rain and it was a little muddy. The kids were all wrapt to see each other again and they were off playing while we set up the van.

The amenties were right across from us which was handy for the kids and they were nice and clean. They had a pool, a tv room, night tours of the national park, a guy that cooked pizza’s at the park Wednesday to Sunday and an aboriginal cultural dance every Wednesday night. The aboriginal dance was very entertaining they had the kids up dancing like emus and even Clint got up with the Jayson and danced the emu dance as well. There is a You Tube link.

But the highlight was that very afternoon that we arrived, Jayson knocked on the van door to tell us that Home and Away was being filmed a couple of doors down!! Well...me being a fan couldn’t get out the door fast enough to have a look. We saw Colleen doing a scene at her caravan and this was the caravan park that they shoot the scenes for the summer bay caravan park. I couldn’t believe it we drove all the way to palm beach to try and see some home and away action and low and behold her they were in the very park we were staying at!! A few of the park visitors all gathered around with camera’s and we all watched Colleen short scene that they filmed quite a few times. The park ranger was telling me that yes this is where they do the home and away shots but that they aren’t allowed to advertise or tell anyone as it would get too crazy with people. Slade got his photo taken with Colleen which was exciting and she was a really nice lady. Slade was also very excited with all the commotion and on another day when they came to film we got to meet Charlie (Esther Anderson), Slade spent a few hours with her in her trailer playing games on her phone. The crew even asked Slade to hang around and help them. They were giving him cookies and drinks throughout the day. I went to grab him to go food shopping and they asked Slade to come back after the shopping. Well that was it for Slade he was so excited, he would tell us “Dont be long at the shops because I have to go to work on home and away” so when we got back he was off. He was hanging out with the home and away extras and Nathan the fellow that was in charge of the extras, he met the most of the crew the film editors, he met Luke Mitchell who plays Romeo and they took pictures of Slade with the crew. Later in the night when I went to pick up slade I saw Alf Stewart. I was happy I got to see them but stoked that Slade got to meet a few people.

At this stage I am still feeling great about Sydney, wow!! We were only a 15 minute walk to the train station so we would catch the train to the city and we took the kids to the Opera House, we went on a ferry ride on the Sydney harbour and went under the harbour bridge. One day we went to the Powerhouse Museum, this is a must see place of past and present technology and fun things for kids. There was an 80’s section with all the music hits and memorabilia, clothing, albums, newspaper clippings, toys and tickets of all things from the80’s. They had lots of fun things for the kids, they had a playzone construction site where they could build a house with foam bricks. The kdis loved it and they loved putting on the hard hats and safety jackets. It was very cheap too $20 for the whole family for the whole day, we thought it was very good value.

After a really long walk to the train station we finally got home. On one day when we went to the city we just couldn’t get the right train home, we got on one then realised it wasn’t going our way, so we got off and waited for the next one got on that one and this one didn’t stop at our stop, then got off on another one and anyhoo it was about 8 trains till we got the right one but we got back and we had another adventure on the trains.

We were frequent visitors of the Macquarie Park Shopping centre, this is where we did our food shopping, heaps of Asians in the area maybe due to the Macquarie University, but it was upper class shops everyone seemed to dress up here. The kids saw the teletubbies on show which they enjoyed dancing and jumping around. There was an inside ice rink below the foodcourt.

We went to Sydney Olympic Park and visited the aquatic centre where they had the Olympics. It was obviously a buzz with action when the olympics was on but it was kind of ghostly when we were there. The aquatic centre was always busy with kids and people but the rest of the place was dead. They had the Easter Show there was which would of been huge and the AC/DC concert was also held there so when there is an event is most probably works well. The aquatic centre was so cool the kids loved it had a water playground, a gigantic bucket that fills with water and then an alarm rings to let you know that it is about to tip over and all the kids gather around and lay down on the ground and wait for it to tip on them. It makes a huge splash too. You will see the pictures. They also had a huge 'plughole' as they called it, its a circular pool of water that the water pushes anticlockwise and you just swim into it and it takes you round and round. It was great for all the kids and even us big kids!! There was a giant water tube that Slade wasnt quite tall enough but conned his way down past the guard. Shelby was shattered she was way too short to go down, she tiptoed and jumped but the guard just wouldn't let her go down.

What we couldnt believe was we had just travelled 30,000kms around Australia and didnt see any snakes or reptiles and we arrive at Lane Cove Caravan Park in the middle of busy Sydney and a huge monitor lizard was walking around our caravan. It was a really big one too and a big chunky probably from eating left overs from the park visitors. I had tipped out of a small bowl of 2 minute noodles that Isla not finished and within 5 minutes the Lizard was licking them up like a baby with a 50cent icecream cone. We also saw a frilly necked lizard wandering around camp too.

One weekend we made a last minute decision to drive down to Melbourne for the Caravan and Camping Show, it was Friday afternoon about 2pm when we thought lets pack up and head down. We had been wanting an annexe for the van and thought we might be able to check out a few at the show and maybe get a good deal on one. We called David and Karen to see if they wanted some visitors for the weekend and they were excited to see us. We headed off at about 4.30 but that was before I jammed my thumb in the door of the Landcruiser!! Ouch was all I could say as the kids were watching in the car. I did have a moment of cursing when I went back into the van and closed the door. We stopped overnight at Gundagai in a Motel and got up early in the morning to get to Melbourne. We stopped at Seymour for breakfast and then arrived at Davids at 11am headed straight to the Caravan Show. We only found 1 annexe crew but it was the one we had checked out on the net so that was good. We paid our deposit and all that was needed was to measure up. We had a lovely weekend with David and Karen and headed home on the Monday morning. We decided to take the coast road and turned off at Moss Vale as we were looking for Grand Pacific Way, long story short we couldnt find it and when we did we had just had enough of the driving being that is was now 5pm and we left Melbourne and 8 in the morning!! And...we were still an hour away from home, so we decided we would see another day. Just another St Albans adventure!!

On the last week I got a chance to visit Paddy's markets made you feel like you were in Singapore there were so many Asian people there. This is where a chinese man and his wife helped Slade to use chopsticks, he couldnt quite get it at first and told them he should just go home and keep practicing, but being Slade he persisted and was eating away like an old chinaman. Shelby had a go too and she managed to master it, although when it comes to food she doesnt fall far from the apple tree, eat it eat eat it. We finally got our fix of chicken rice and it was lovely!!! Thanks Paddy.

See all the pictures

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2059279&id=1178196973&l=563801eae9
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2055203&id=1178196973&l=13be9a18bf

UMINA BEACH - CENTRAL COAST NSW

2010-06-25T21:41:00.000+10:00

Well...we liked this place so much we stayed for 4 weeks (28 days to be exact). This is the place we decided was going to be the place where we just chilled out, catch up on schoolwork and let the kids run wild!! I picked Umina Beach from the list of Big 4's Caravan Parks looking for place along the coast somewhere. When I rang and got the price is was very cheap about $170 for a week.

When we arrived it looked really flash like a resort, the pools were all huge with a hot spa, a slide into the pool, a kiddies pool which was also very large with giant mushrooms spurting water from the top, they had 2 bouncy pillows for different aged kiddies, a playground, the caravan park was right on the beach, there was a cafe, a gamesroom and the van sites were a good size too, enough parking for your car which is always a good thing when you need to plug in our car fridge.

Initially there was a slight hiccup with the directions the front desk gave us to the site because the way she told us to go we would not have been able to back the van in and considering it was a drive through site we should not have had to back in. Not a worry, after Clint pulled over and checked out the options and with help from our neighbour Gwen we got into the site without incident. Gwen was the lady I had originally called to make the booking and she was also staying and working at the caravan park. She booked us the site right next to hers because I had told her our van was 31ft and she knew the site next to hers had occupied other large vans like ours.She lived with her partner Hank and I did warn her there was going to be children but she didnt move us and we all got along great. Gwen also warned us about the crazy lady 2 doors up saying do not make eye contact as we would not get rid of her and she was trouble. Gwen and Henk were not wrong she was 2 snags short of a bbq for sure!!! She was eventually asked to leave the park due to their 28 day stay policy.

Our site was right across from the toilets which was great during the week but on the weekends the park filled up with camping folk and they would trash the toilets for the weekend they stayed. It was a very popular park and it filled every weekend. We could see the bouncy pillows from our van and the playgrounds so that was handy for the kids when they wandered over there. They also had security so that also made it safer knowing that someone was always around and watching.

And Birds...heaps of birds and ducks and with these come poo's. Every morning Clint was out sweeping of the poo from the slab. Lots of beautiful Lorikeets which the kids would feed with Henk. We went through a loads of loaves of bread feeding them. They were very tame and always very hungry they would sit on the kids heads, arms and chairs and eat the bread from your fingers.

The weather was really great in the 4 weeks we were there just perfect. We had one day where it was really windy and we witnessed a fellow caravanner lose his awning in the wind. Nasty bit of damage for them.

We met some really nice people and the kids made alot of new friends. We became regulars at the Gosford RSL and even joined for discounts on the food and drinks. The RSLS have great playareas for the kids which give us peace and quiet to speak to each other and enjoy a drink!

The scenery around the central coast is truly beautiful. You drive through rainforrests, windy roads, up hill down hills and then your on the beach. When you are down the beach you see the ocean and when you look behind you see the hinterland. Really great landscapes, better than I ever thought NSW was going to be. You will see the pictures for yourself.

Around Umina there are other small towns like Woy Woy, here we did our food shopping, the kids found a pet shop that they would spend an hour or so playing with the dogs, cats, looking at the fish tanks and asking the shop assistants 50 questions. I even found a beautician who groomed me so I wasnt so 'Carnivaly'. They also had markets here but I didnt get a chance to see them.

We had lunch one day at a pub in a town called Patonga Beach right on one of the coasts points. Gwen had given us the tip on the good food here and she didnt let us down. We had surf and turf's overlooking the beach watching the world go by.

One day we went to Palm Beach where they film Home and Away. We didnt see any filming but we did walk around the surf club which has Alf Stewart's name up on a board. We were a bit upset we didnt spot any stars but at least we saw where is was filmed. It was a beautiful spot but I did expect the beach to look more like Cable Beach, in fact it was quite slopey on the sand banks. On the other side of the surf club is the boat shed where they film the shots for the fishing boats Alf has and the jetty you quite often see in the show.

We went out for an hours drive to the central Mangrove area to get some fresh veges and fruit and visited a place called Kulnara here we stopped for a bit of a snack and behind the cafe was a workshop where a man called Dave Thurston turned old Gas Bottles into Ned kelly Letterboxes. He used a lot of steel and aluminium and turned it into art, mostly australian animals. He also did wooden furniture which was really different but nice. Out the front of the shop was 'The Big Chair' which you will see a picture of. On the way home my beautiful man stopped on the side of the road to buy me a bunch of roses for Valentine's day xx love you.

We were able to do a bit of school work which was good as we hadnt done too much of it recently. Clint would take the girls for a walk on some days when Slade needed a bit of quiet time to do his schoolwork. We did have a couple of days where there was a wild storm with lots of rain, lightening and thunder, its all good when everyone is safe and sound and even exciting! It does get loud in our tin home but its a good experience and all part of the adventure!

At the caravan park which was owned by NRMA they had weekly activities for the kids and this was not just on school holidays it was all the time. They had arts and crafts, sporting activities, beach cricket & tractor rides. It wasnt like a kids club as they encouraged parent involvement so that families do things together.

One day we took a day trip to Bondi Beach. Now that was very scenic lots of tanned, muscley, fit looking people heaps of tourists. On the day we went it 32 degrees so there were plenty of people. We also saw the filming of Bondi Rescue. One of the life guards came up to Clint when he was sitting under the sun shade, I was in the water with Isla and I thought we were going to be asked to put the sun shade down. When we got to the beach it was pretty busy and I told Clint to go right down to the water and set up the sun shade. I came out of the water to ask Clint what was said thinking the worst and all he asked was where did we get the sun shade from as he liked the one we had. Clint has so many people come up and talk to him about the truck, the weather, the van or the kids. Its quite funny sometimes when we are just minding our own business and someone comes out of the blue and starts having a chat.

The parking at Bondi was a joke it cost us $15 to park for a couple of hours!! Its so expensive the ticket machine has slots for your credit cards.

At Umina we met the James's, Annette, Jason, Chloe, Curtis and Tiffany, from QLD they were just starting their aussie adventure and the kids all enjoyed each others company. Slade met another boy who's dad lived in the park and on weekends he went to his mums or grandma's his name was Maddox and Slade enjoyed going over to his place to play xbox and riding off on their bikes. On the weekends there was always alot of kids staying at the park and that was good for the kids to get off and find new friends. There was another lovely family we met the mum and dad were Erin and Danny and the kids were Sam,Cooper,Abby, Fletcher,

Lone Star
One of the good things about Sydney and NSW...they have Lone Star Restaurant!!! Oh how I miss this place and it was still as good as it was when it was in the west.

ACDC

Rob and Lou had a spare ticket to the AC/DC concert so we drove to Sydney to the apartment Rob,Lou and Dawsey were staying in and Clint went along with them. The kids and I just camped out in their pad until the concert finished and then we drove back to Umina. The concert was well worth it of course, it was a shame I couldnt go but at least one of us got to go. It was great to catch up with them again.

See some of the pics here
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2059261&id=1178196973&l=1723ca862e

WISEMAN FERRY ADVENTURE - CENTRAL COAST NSW

2010-05-01T22:57:00.000+10:00

We were leaving Blackheath and the Blue Mountains to head to a free camp around Wisemans Ferry (That is the name of the town). It was only just over a 100kms to our next booked destination Umina Beach, but we had a day to get there so we decided on finding a nice spot in the area. Wisemans Ferry has the oldest cable ferry crossing in Australia and it crosses the Hawkesbury River and we thought it would be pretty cool to take the van across. We had googled the Ferry and it looked big enough for us to get on, we even googled the map to see the directions to get to Umina Beach. It was another 15kms longer but we really wanted to go on this Ferry.

We stopped just before Wisemans for lunch and a bit of a run around and Clint suggested we just stop here for a night. I was not to keen as the sign said no camping and there was an old bloke living across the road and he kept checking on us, so I said lets just head to Wisemans Ferry and find something over that way.

It was a little bit rainy but the scenery was very nice in this region. We arrived at the Ferry but we were a little unsure if we were going to get on there but the operator waved us on and on we got. We had a lot of people checking us out and the young people parked next to us wanted to swap cars with us. The caravan looked really huge on this Ferry!! So, we had a lovely ride across the river taking pictures of the river and we slowly embarked of the ferry trying not to scrap anything along the way only a bracket came off on the plastic tubes but we stopped off and cable tied it back up. We continued on still looking for a free camp along the way the camps book said that there were a few along the river but we werent seeing any and the roads were getting a little narrower and really windy. I noticed a sign that said St Albans but didnt think too much of it until...we arrived at a one way bridge that we had to turn sharp right on with the van on the back!! A bit of a manouevre and we got across, but I was still a little puzzled as to how we arrived at St Albans when that on the map looked to be a long way left of where we should of been...

NOTE TO SELF!! When one purchases a GPS one should use it instead of watching kids movies!!

I had been using the map book instead!! I know that GPS sometimes take you the long way around but had WE flicked the woman on she might of taken us to the OTHER FERRY that was before the one we took. We did not read enough about Wisemans Ferry where it stated there was 2 Ferry's across the river!! Because they were so close to each other it was hard to see that there were two of them.

So we were across this one way bridge with no where really to turn the big beast around and at this stage we were still unaware of the two ferrys and we didnt fancy driving all the back and crossing the ferry again. So we continued on and switched the GPS on to see what our alternatives were going forward. There were no other roads available except for the one we were on which was dirt. As we crossed the bridge there was an old limestone brick pub and being Sunday there were quite a few people outside enjoying a sunday session. We could feel the attention we were getting as the people (most probably local) looked at us with the van and wondered where we were heading, we smiled and continued on.

Sure the road was a dirt one fairly narrow but flat and it was only 35kms to the road we needed to get too to head back down to the Umina Beach. It was around 4.30pm and we were running out of daylight for finding a camp site. Well let me tell you that was the least of our worries!! As we headed along this dirt road and it was thinning out and getting a bit bumpy our ride started to get steeper and windier. We were travelling at no more than 20kms sometimes even slower. When you are towing 3 tonne behind you it is wiser to drive at a speed where you arent shaking the bejesus out of the van.

There were many steep hairpin corners and the road was made up of holes, cows and bumps. We couldnt believe how much traffic there was on this dirt road and each time a car passed we had to pull over to the side. So at driving at this speed it was a slow old ride with plenty of time to look at the scenery. As beautiful as it was, that thought was far from my mind as I asked for the angels to get us out of here safely. At times when I looked out of the side mirrors behind me I could see the lean too of the caravan when we turned on a hairpin...quite frightful.

At one point a ranger had passed us and the look on his face was disbelief!! What the and where the hell were we going? He didnt stop and we focused on getting the hell out of here. The kids were unaware of our concerns as they were happily watching DVD's. As I looked out over the sides I gushed at the sight of a car that had left the road and crashed and was resting on branches, this had not just happended but was still not helping the situation I was feeling. On another bend I saw what I thought was caravan debris down a hill all smashed into pieces that didnt help. Clint and I werent saying too much, we usually chatter quite a bit but the silence was my nervousness and it was better for me to say very little, I was just eager to be able to sigh we had sight of bitumen.

It was nearing 6.30 and it has been over 2 hours we have been on this dirt road the bitumen couldnt be far off now, Clint and I were eager to get out of here when it started to rain a bit heavier and then the kids wanted to go to the toilet. We couldnt say too much they had been so good the whole way so we pulled over in the rain and got them out for the toilet. We got going and we could see the road and what a relief that was when we finally got out of it. It was really raining now and dark but we were out of the danger and happier.

All we needed now was to find a spot to camp for the night. We checked the camp five book and trusted in the GPS lady to get us there. We put the GPS co-ordinates in for the rest area and we saw the sign before the GPS told us we had reached the destination so we pulled in and the rest area was already full of overnighters. So we decided to let the GPS just take us to the co-ordinates we had entered in the book. We ended up on a private property on the other side of the river to the rest area we had just stopped at and at a dead end. So out in the dark and wet I got out and helped the 300 hundred point turn we had to make to get out of there (a slight exaggeration but I was not happy). We were tired and hungry and noticed a bus turning area and decided that this was going to do for the night. I was a bit nervous of the spot and made Clint close the door and windows as I thought someone might get us and yes he did take the piss out of me for that.

One thing Clint kept saying while we were on the scary road was " Its all part of the Adventure".
My comment was just 'OK then'

I only took a few videos as I was too distracted to take pictures.

BLACKHEATH AND THE BLUE MOUNTAINS

2010-05-01T21:14:00.000+10:00

It was a beautiful day when we arrived at Blackheath in the Blue Mountains, it was misty and damp with low lying clouds. It was a great atmosphere we felt we were up in the clouds. The caravan park was very nice, not very big compared to some parks we had been too, but big sites with grass and slab so you can keep a little bit dry in the wet times.

The kids loved it because it was raining so they could put on their gumboots and splash in the water. We gave them some popsticks and they made boats and raced them in the puddle streams on the kerb. They have had no trouble finding ways to amuse themselves outdoors.

We found some beautiful drives through the mountains and valleys. It was like hidden secret rainforests in the middle of nowhere. So very peaceful. They were having unusual amounts of rain when we were there and apparently is was much needed. We found some clifftop lookouts that took your breath away, some flooded bridges we drove over and some nice yellow muddy dirt tracks. Another car wash needed.

My favourite place in the mountain is Leura, a small town but some neat little shops. There was a couple of toy shops, cafe's, bookshops and a christmas shop. Its just nice to walk up and down the street and watch the people going about their businesses.

We found a place called Selwood Games,Science and Puzzle shop. This was an old house with all the rooms filled with games, puzzles, illusions and science paraphernalia. When you walked through the door and old piano starts playing on its own. Creepy but different. Its a great place to take the kids because they have everything out for you to try and one room has a very large table with lots of chairs so the kids can sit and play for hours.

We went on the Zig Zag Railway which goes down the side of the blue mountains to Lithgow, we had a guided tour with a few stop offs at various points where the conductor would have to get off the train and change the lines so we could head down. The kids loved it and we went through a pitch black tunnel which was different. The train driver asked Shelby and Slade to come sit up the front with him and they were so excited, you couldnt wipe the grins off their faces. The poor train driver though probably wasnt expecting them to give him 50 questions as they had many questions on how everything worked. They were both a little concerned that there was only one windscreen wiper until the driver explained that he only needed to look through one particular section of the screen. It was only raining a little but they obviously wondered how that one little wiper was going to perform the duty.

We also visited Trains, Planes and Automobiles, possibly the oldest toy shop in Australia where they stocked antique toys. The owner was very nice and he started some of the moving toys for the kids to see. The had old lego pieces and they were expensive and some of the old tin type toys that I used to see when I was a kid. Heaps of trains and planes so the boys were rightly intrigued.

We went to the local pub in Blackheath for dinner which was nice and Slade managed to find himself a friend to talk too. They had got on so well his parents thought their son knew Slade from school. He is just a bit friendly the lad.

We went to Katoomba and took a picture of the three sisters, visibility was not very good but the clouds were moving so fast that for a minute as they passed I managed to sneak a really clear picture of them. There were alot of tourists mostly Asian but the low lying clouds didnt seem to bother anyone.

We went to scenic world in Katoomba and bought a day pass for all the rides so the kids loved going up and down on them. The day we went was beautiful no rain but still the ground was damp and still gave that rainforresty look and feel about it.

On the skyway the kids managed to impress the guide here too and she let the kids control the skyway which was funny because Shelby opened the door on the wrong side and all the people started to walk off, she then had to tell them to get back in and use the other door. It was funny for us. They had the old conveyor style seated train that went backwards through a tunnel and up the side of the mountain, not very far but far enough to enjoy.You sat in it and then you had a bar that came across the middle of you. I had to hold on the Isla because she could easily slip through. The kids loved this too and I think we went up and down 4 or 5 times!!

We spent the whole day here just walking through the walks and reading all the pathway plaques that were along the way. Funny thing when we left just outside there were some aboriginal naked statues made of steel and Shelby on her way out goes up and has a feel of the boobies whilst the Japanese were taking their pictures. It was like nothing to her she just went up had a feel and then had a giggle!!

On another day when we went out sightseeing and it started to really pelt down with rain, so much you couldnt see in front of you. We detoured off the main highway because those truckies still go flat out even in the pouring rain so we ducked a couple of side streets and it was amazing to see how quickly the streets flooded. There was water gushing out of storm drains on the road and lots of puddles for us to drive through. We decided it would probably be best to just head back to the van as the rain was not going to stop. It was a good decision because as we were heading back through the roadworks the rain had had really flooded the highway and some of the roadworks barracades had started to float across the highway onto the oncoming traffic, we had just got through but the puddles were reaching as high as the middle of the drivers doors!! We put the two-way on just to listen to the truckies talk to each other about the road conditions and some of them were laughing at the drivers getting caught up in the chaos. We were ok we were in the black cruiser. When we got home and watched the news it seemed we just got out of the way before a train had derailed right where we turned around and came home, caused a lot of traffic congestion and we were glad to be home safe and sound.

See Pictures here http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2053068&id=1178196973&l=014fb8abdf.

BATHURST

2010-03-18T22:52:00.005+11:00

We stayed at the Big 4 Bathurst Caravan park, there is only one park here. The park was good although our site was a bit shotty, just rock and dirt but it had its good points which was, it was close to the amenties, playground and pool. The pool was very nice with slippery slides that the kids loved!! We had a drive up Mt Panorama in the V8 cruiser, it was pretty hairy coming around the corners. Now when I watch it I will be able to get a better feel for the danger. I was trying to take a video which is probably worse viewing than the Blair Witch Project. We stopped at the Museum at the track and it had a lot of history and pictures of the Legend Peter Brock. We also visited the park in town where the Sargent family's got together for family reunions. We took the kids to the Bathurst Dinosaur Museum where they got up close to a skeleton. They enjoyed themselves. They also had alot of displays of natural minerals found in Australia which was interesting to read about. WE also took a drive down to Oberon and past a little town where my Pappy was born and grew up, O'Connell. His name (William Wallace Sargent) is engraved on the war memorial plaque inside the church. It was closed on the day we went but in the small cemetary was some gravestones of my ancestors!! Check out the pictures http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2053067&id=1178196973&l=3ea098c13e.

FORBES & DUBBO NSW

2010-02-05T22:43:00.011+11:00

Forbes...this town is always going to be my most special place because it is where I have the best memories of our family holidays with dad. Every second christmas we would pack up our trailer and drive across the nullabor. I was still very young but the memories I have are of happiness and fun. It is also the place that my dad grew up in and where all dad's family live. My Grandma, my Pappy (who I miss so much) Uncle Lindsay, Aunty Arlene, Rob, Kerri, Aunty Rachael, Uncle Bill, Uncle Porky, Rick & Pete were always so excited to see us and we would have family get togethers at every chance we could. Most often we would have family reunions with Grandma's family the Ellis's in Dubbo at the zoo and then Pappy's family the Sargent's in Bathurst at the park (I have new pictures of this beautiful park)

So each time I arrive in Forbes my heart beats with excitement as I become that excited little girl that cant wait to see her much loved family. This time was even more special because I got to share it with Clint, Slade, Shelby & Isla. And, when I left there as hard as it was to say goodbye I knew that I was taking away another memory of happiness and fun!!

We stayed at the Forbes Big 4 for most of the time which was on the road out to Pappy's place, a small park but it had a pool, bouncy pillow and playground for the kids. It was also safe enough for the kids to ride happily around on their bikes. There was the whipper snipper incident where the owner wanted to do around our van and Clint told him in few words to rack off and come back tomorrow. After the last snipper man snipped out hoses in Darwin we werent to fond of this one repeating the hassle.

We stayed at the park for 3 weeks we werent sure about staying out at Aunty Arlene's and Uncle Lindsay's as Arlene was diagnosed with bowel cancer late last year and was just recovering from having it all cut out successfully, so we didnt want to burden her. As it turned out they both invited us to bring the van up to their house to spend the last week which was really great.

Slade loved being the farmer with Uncle Lindsay going out in the ute and feeding the sheep. We had many nights up at the farm talking to after midnight which was really special although I think Uncle Lindsay was feeling it the next morning ha ha. Uncle Lindsay had about 7 black working dogs and Shelby had a special relationship with Bunny and she loved seeing her everyday. Isla loved swinging the days away on Aunty Arlene's old hills swing set, it was a little squeeky when we got there but Clint found some oil and it was quiet as a mouse.

Back at the park on the first week Aunty Rachael and Uncle Bill also stopped with us for a week in their van and they parked next to us. They were on their way back to Renmark but wanted to spend a bit more time with us. At night we were back to watching satellite's and even got Kerri, Holly, Wally and Laura hooked on it too. And speaking of Wally, Slade and him instantly formed a special friendship (as Slade usually does with people) and about an hour into meeting each other were inseparable saying they were 'best cousins' instead of best friends!! Laura and Shelby hit it off as girls do and Holly took a shine to Isla. Peta which is Rob and Lou's little girl with her cute little curls loved all the kids and they loved her back just the same.

We went up to Redhill which is Rob and Lou place one night for Pizza and see their extensions. They should be very proud of their work, their house was fantastic huge rooms and a large usuable living area. The outside was just as nice with a covered verandah all the way around. They had a cubby on stilts out the back which the kids loved and played into the night. I really loved their place at the top of hill it was so peacefull looking out at the paddocks. Peace didnt last long though that night as the bourbons kept coming out and I must say that Rob was the pissiest of us all. As the night went on and he got drunker he spilled the beans on his AC/DC tickets telling us he had a spare and would we like to come. We said Yeah of course but he started to get a little protective of his precious tickets and started to think we were conspiring to steal them, so we went along with that for awhile just for a laugh. The funniest was when we caught up with Dawsey the next night and told him that we bought all of 4 tickets from Rob and that he wasnt going!!! That was priceless because for a minute he did believe us. But you couldnt fool Rob he could of been in a coma and you wouldn't of got his tickets!!

We caught up with Kerri and Matt quite a few times but Matt works out at the mines and does shift work so he needed to sleep, but we caught up when we could. He took us for a drive to where he works at the gold mine and it was very interesting to see. Kerri was my best cousine when we were growing up she would never leave my side when we came to Forbes and I remember one time when I had to leave and was parking my bag when she dived onto it and protested that I could not go!! Now she is the mother of 3 beaut kids and she should be proud of how special they are. There was a little friction with Uncle Lindsay and Kerri when we first arrived but a little whisper to the gentle giant and he became the grandad of all grandads. I was asked for help and I hope I made a difference to them both. My only speech to them is that Life is too short, so if the world gets on your shoulders get it off as quick as possible because the happiness makes life last a lot longer. I love them both!!

We went out to Uncle Porky's house at Gareema this was on my to do list. his place was an old Post Office in a 4 house town it was old and run down but with its own character. Uncle Porky is not a fussy man just one who gets on with his day to day business. He let us wander through the house and I loved it, not for its look but just for knowing he had a place he called home. It was great to see him and he was equally excited to see all of us he came out to the caravan park and had dinner and drinks with us too. As I write this though now he is not very well and we are awaiting tests on how he is doing.

We went to Dubbo for a night to catch up with Don and Kerrie and also saw Daphne and Norm. Daphne is Dad's cousin and she was wrapped to see us all. The next day Kerrie and Don took us around Dubbo to all the kids playground and the kids absolutely loved it!!

We went out for a couple of days with everyone to the surroundings towns of Forbes. A lot of little tiny towns with pubs, I guess you know whats important...Beer and counter lunches. We went to this really neat place called Albert to a pub called 'The Rabbit Trap', excellent lunch and a kids section...priceless.

Rob and Lou showed us 'The Utes in the Paddock' which is a whole lot of artists doing their art on old holden utes (good choice of make too). See my pics on this link
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2052692&id=1178196973&l=dff551d553

Soemthing special to me was to visit a childhood memory of mine which was 'The Cottage' this is where Pappy and Grandma lived and where I spent most of my christmas holidays. When I was really little I remembered a place called 'Oak Park' another family home which was built by my great great great grandfather(Ellis). A whole lot of history here which I managed to get from another of my Dads cousins Dawn and her husband Ron Welsh. She was so happy to meet the kids and she told Slade;

I am so happy to have met you because, I loved your grandfather he was my cousin and he was very special to me and I miss him very much. To have met his grandkids means so very much, thank you.

I can tell you that I was holding back the tears because it meant so much to me for her to meet the kids too. She said they were a pleasure to have had over and so very polite and kind.

Thank you Aunty Arlene for making the call to Dawn and by giving me that family history. We both had a lot of fun looking at old pictures.

We went out to Dawes place which is Rob's best mate and a "Farmer needing a Wife". I hope he meets someone eventually he's not a bad sort. WE had a drive around his farm and out on one of his property's was another house of the Sargent's where all the kids grew up. It was old and run down as are all the others but still have that something special...memories. On the way out of his place we managed to get a flat tyre from a sharp piece of stick in the paddock. We werent far out of town and had to pull over and fix it. Luckily Uncle Lindsay had stopped in town and he saw us on his way home and helped Clint change the tyre.

Anyway I had the best time here and I could rabbit on for ages but I still have more blogging to catch up on.

So check out the pics Oh and we visited the Dish in Parkes so theres pics of that too...Enjoy

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2052697&id=1178196973&l=
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2051649&id=1178196973&l=3aabd88c35

MARSDEN REST AREA

2010-02-05T22:42:00.002+11:00

We had an overnight stay in MARSDEN REST Stop which is just off the main highway about 70kms from Forbes. Here we met up with Uncle Bill and Aunty Rachael as they were heading to Coffs Harbour for a few days to see Aunty Rachael's cousin.

It's always great staying at a free camp always very peaceful although here the temperature was 40 degrees at 6pm and didnt change much through the night! (Well it felt like it) and the flies so many of them!

We were having a nice night of drinks under the stars and the kids were playing in their coloured buckets full of cold water. All was good until it was time to go to bed when Isla seemed very hot so I checked her temperature and yes she was scorching at 38 degrees, I dosed her with panadol and she went off to sleep until about 2am when she was still quite warm so I sat up with her for quite a few hours hoping not to have to go to hospital. I wet a few flannels and bathed her and it bought her temp down to an acceptable level before I fell asleep with her around 4ish. It had been a long days driving the day before and we were all very tired.

The next morning although very tired all seemed well so it was goodbye to Bill and Rachael and off to Forbes we went.

BARHAM NSW & ECHUCA VIC

2010-02-05T22:41:00.004+11:00

BARHAM

We spent New Years here and it was very nice, right on the border of VIC and NSW with just a river separating the states.

At the caravan park there was only river water to use, so we couldnt drink it. It was ok to brush your teeth. So we showered in river water (not in the river for those of you thinking, just the water running through the pipes) and washed our clothes in the river water too. It was ok didnt change the colour of our clothes even the whites stayed white.

It rained New Years Eve it was a summer stormy night with thunder and lightning very exciting to watch. We put our coloured plastic buckets out to catch the rain water, we used the rainwater for the washing machine to wash the clothes.

The kids had a ball as the Andersons from Broome met up with us here and the kids just amused themselves playing with each other, riding their bikes and gave us a break.

Highlight besides the company was visiting the RSL in Barham, 3 nights in a row we went because the food was the very good AND they had a kids playground in a locked in area!!! You beauty. Gave us a chance to eat our dinner without interuptions.

We were also on a mission to find Sue P's aunty Bev who lives in Barham and we did. We had her address but wasnt sure about knocking on the door and giving her a fright but when we walked past her house and back again she was down the side of her house waiting for her grandaughter to pick her up for Bingo!! Slade went right up to her and asked her if she was Aunty Bev and although she looked a bit puzzled she answered with a yes.

After Barham we went to Echuca which is on the VIC side of the border and after Side Swippin a Ford Laser (of Old John Foote resident of the Barham Caravan park)before we left. You dont want to know...ok I'll tell you..

The caravan park was a bit of a tight squeeze for our 31footer and as we were leaving it seemed like we had escaped unscathed until...Clint heard a noise and said 'What was that?' Now, I saw the little ford parked where it shouldn't have been but it looked like there was no problem getting around which it wasnt until we made the sharp turn left. Thats when Clint heard the noise, and the first thing that came out of my mouth was its ok just keep driving, in my mind I was hoping something just fell on the floor in the caravan and made a load thump. I could not accept that we just hit this old mans car. With Clints guilt he stopped right out the front of john's van where he happended to be sitting right out the front!! Clint got out and checked the damage and we had just clipped his laser with our back bullbar. Clint was very apologetic but I on the other hand was not!! He did state that he saw that we were leaving and thought about moving his car but thought it would be ok!!!! Hence the reason for me not admitting fault (this may be due to me working in the car insurance industry or just being a B&^*!. So we swapped details and so on and so on.

We convoyed to Echuca with a lunch stop at Erin and Baz's mums place in Kerang.

WE arrived in busy Echuca the place was a buzz with teenagers. We only stayed a couple of nights. We visited the Historic Port, Holden Museum and the beer shed.

The Historic Port was really good, the port was all filled with paddle steam boats, an old blacksmith and other oldie day shops. There was a guy who had a trained cocky and Slade had him on his shoulder which he thought was pretty cool as the guy pretended to shoot the bird and the bird fell over and pretended to be dead, brilliant!!

See pics of Barham
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2047838&id=1178196973&l=b717bc263f

See pics of Echuca
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2051646&id=1178196973&l=82136fc0d1

RENMARK - SOUTH AUSTRALIA

2010-02-05T22:37:00.005+11:00

RENMARK

I was really looking forward to seeing Aunty Rachael and Uncle Bill and showing them all the kids. I hadnt seen them in 5 years and they hadnt seen Isla as yet. I had been to Renmark a couple of times when I was younger but I was keen to show Clint and the kids. It is house boat central it gets very busy at holiday times. We were lucky to be able to fit the van out the back of Uncle Bills house it was a huge backyard and we had plenty of room. A little tight getting in the gate but once it was in, it was in.

WE only had five days in Renmark as we were meeting up with Kellie and Gareth for New Years in Barham but we had a really good time and I miss them heaps. The kids thought they were the best and they spoiled them with love and hugs and keeping them entertained. Uncle Bill even let Shelby paint his toenails with blue and yellow paint. He forgot that she had done it and went out and wondered why these guys were looking at him funny. Shelby had a great time pampering him and he sat there quietly like a good customer. Slade got to ride his bike and the backard was big enough for him to ride around although he was happier just riding it on the concrete and doing burnouts. Isla got her prams out and gave all her dollies a long overdue walk. It was quite warm in the 40's but aunty rachael soon fixed that and filled up buckets of water with bubbles to keep the kids cool.

One thing that bugged us while we stayed there was one early morning we heard short sharp bangs like a gun going off every couple of seconds!! Turns out these bangs keep the birds away from the fruit trees!! Cant you use a SCARECROW!! Apparently not as the birds have caught on that they are fake!! These bangs are slow leaks of gas that drip down to something like gunpowder and go off like a gun going off. Really nice to wake up too...NOT.

In the evenings after the kids went to bed, we would sit outside for drinks and chats. This is when Uncle Bill introduced us too Satellitle watching. At their place it is so dark at night that you can see some many more stars than ever before and this makes satellite spotting really cool. Some are really bright and some go really fast, we would count how many we saw at night and it was really fun to see who spotted them first. On our travels we continued to do this on the really dark nights.

We went for a day trip to Mildura to see Peter Stella and Amy and it was Amy's 3rd birthday so we got to go to the party which was really fun for the kids and great for me to meet Stella and see Pete. They had a beautiful old house with the high ceilings and all the rooms were really big. Peter had done some renovations and added a room out the back which looked great. Amy was a real cutie pops and she got along with the kids just lovely. Stella was pregnant and expecting number 2 in April and we wished them well for their arrival.

We caught up with Rick a few times, although he was quite busy with his NEW girlfriend!! We hope this works out for him. The day before we left Rick came over to show us the damage to his commodore after a tree fell on it. No storms or wind it just fell on it. He was not impressed and was thinking of taking it up with the council until we pointed out the other dents in his car - might not get a look in Rick.

Uncle Bill and Aunty Rachael have a hobbie were they go out Kayaking, they have their own Kayaks with peddles and Aunty Rachael has a lily pad shelter over hers to keep the sun off. It was so cute. Uncle Bill was keen to take us out for a go and he was rather interested in seeing how Slade went in them. No worries there, Slade had his life jacket on and was ready to go. We went out into the back waters of the Murray river which was muddy but good for the kayaks. Slade needed little or no instructions and he was off pedalling. Uncle Bill was rather impressed to see him out there steering and pedalling like he had been doing it for years. I had a go and yes it was good for the old calf muscles, Clint took the girls on the back of uncle Bills kayak and they loved it!! Couldnt get them off it until Aunty Rachael took them for a swim in the river and they enjoyed that too. We took the coloured rubber buckets and filled them with river water to keep the girls cool as it was another 41 degree day.

We had a River walk on the banks of the Murray River in Renmark and we had fish and chips. We took the kids bikes down and they got to have a nice long ride. We then headed home as we were getting bitten by mozi's.

We wished we could of stayed longer but it was time to hit the road.

See all the pics at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2050576&id=1178196973&l=867367439c

MORE OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA

2010-02-05T22:16:00.005+11:00

ANGASTON

We went to this neat place called Angaston (beautiful little towns not far from the city) as there was an old man who had a LEGO collection. He was probably 90 something and he had evey lego piece every made. He even has a lego piece made of gold. He used to own the toyshop in Angaston so he had a headstart with the lego and then the collection just grew. People all over the world have come to see his collection and even the queen of England has been there TWICE even!! All the displays are made by him and the set up it truly worth seeing. He personally takes you on the tour and you cannot jump ahead and you must not touch anything.

Now what do you think about that? That is what he said to you everytime he showed you a piece that was funny.

There were so many other nice places around here.

GAWLER

This was another small cute town. Lots of really old buildings and really old churches and a really nice Bakery.

Some of the drives we took through the Adelaide hills were really nice too. Some realy windy roads good if your in a sports car zipping around. Those Adelaide drivers are a bit scary they drive in the middle of the road when they come around the corners.

ADELAIDE - SOUTH AUSTRALIA

2010-01-31T22:18:00.005+11:00

WYNNVALE

I was trying to get to Adelaide before Wendy went to work at 2.00pm and it isn't that far from Port Augusta but because we were still in search of the mattress we were running late. And we had a few toilet stops!! and a lunch stop. Wendy rang me a couple of times to see where we were at but the runway was not long enough. She left us the key so when we arrived we could get inside. So trusting she is!! Wendy had said that we could park wherever we wanted too, even in the driveway. Well, When we arrived (and mind you wendy lives in the hills) and saw how steep the driveway was...not going to work, only place is the road. How safe was that going to be? as we pictured being asleep in the van and some idiot running into the back of it. I was happy to park out the front, Clint needed more time to thing of scenarios of danger, which is fair as he is looking after his family.

Wendy and Scott got home around 6pm and it was all excitement plus. The kids were right on to her and I think she loved it. We stayed up until 2am drinking and laughing even Slade had a late night, he was already loving this place. He had foxtel iq and a spa. I was so happy to catch up with Wendy!! We had such a good night. I have to mention how drunk scottie was he made me laugh so much I ached. We were talking about how old we were and scott said he was born in 1970 and I said so was I and we are the same age then he yells out 'Oh yeah what year was that?' What the???? We laughed and laughed. We had many nights like these it was great.

The kids loved it at Wendy's they had a backyard to play in and a house to jump around in. We loved even more because we had them locked in and we didnt need to go searching for them.

GLENELG BEACH
WE went to Glenelg a couple of times, its a little like Freo but without all the wogs and its right on the beach. They have a funhouse for kids which is like our timezone and you pay for the entry and then you can play the games and have as many rides as you like. It was a huge place 2 storey, with bumper cars, bumper boats, water slides and boat slides, huge circus merry go round, train ride, kids soft fall gym, video games, mini golf and ticket games where you win tickets and claim your prize at the kiosk. There was one particular game where you shoots rubber baseballs out of a narrow barrel into 5 baseball size holes while a propeller goes round blocking the holes. Well the propellor wasnt working on one of the machines and we (mostly Wendy) cleaned up on the tickets we collected over 1,000 tickets which gave the kids a decent toy. The girls got a barbie doll each and slade got a water pistol. Slade and Shelby had their faces painted, Slade asked to be Mario from his DS game and Shelby was a butterfly. They had such a good day and they used the christmas money that Aunty Shona, Uncle Andy and Ewan gave them. Thanks guys xx

On another day at Glenelg we visited the discovery centre which had a display of the olden day circus, carnivale style setups. If you ever remember the movie Tom Hanks was in Big and he made a wish to a gypsy in a glass machine to be big and it came true. If you do you know what I mean if not then, in the old days they used to have carnivale's down on the jettys and they were more like a freak show like 2 headed fish etc. They had miniature display boxes of the things you would of seen there. It was a shame not to be able to get pictures as not everyone can get to Glenelg. They also had a display of how the Glenelg beach used to look like back to the days where they wore the full body bathing suits up to today. Very interesting.

HAHNDORF
We did a day trip with Scott and Wendy to the hills and went to a beautiful place called Hahndorf. A place that was originally settled by German people and still has German people live there. We parked on the street and we got there rather early and thought it would be nice to have a look at all the nice little shops on this tree lined town. Little did we know that the teddy bear motorbike xmas run was on and after Clint spoke to some people who were setting up their chairs on the main road they told him what was happening. Over 10,000 motorbikes came through this town most carrying christmas presents for the kids who cant afford it. There was a lot of the riders dressed in xmas outfits with reindeer antlers and tinsel and most of them threw lollies to the crowd. Slade got himself a prime spot on the side of the road and high fived the riders as they drove past and he waved madly at them and he ended up with a bucket load of lollies.

As we were walking up the street looking at little knicky knacky shops the kids spotted a bookstand and all 3 picked a book of their choice and plonked themselves on the footpath and read their books. We have seen this before but Wendy had not and she thought that was just beautiful. (You will see a picture in the links below) We found a little toyshop that the kids dived straight into and behind the counter was a door that lead to a tunnel at the back of the shop and inside was done up like a cave and there were xmas displays of animals, fairies, santa's workshop and peter rabbit displays. You werent allowed to take photo's but Wendy broke the rules and took some. Now I just need to get these pictures from her which might be a little difficult because...Wendy was very fond of Slade Shelby and Isla and she took pictures of them like they were her first baby or like a japanese tourist. Clint gave her a bit of flack for taking so many pictures so she told him that he wasnt going to get these pictures until the kids were alot older so he would realise how important it is to take all of these pictures now. I was not involved in this flacking but somehow I dipped out as well. She'll come around.

Wendy spoilt us all rotten, she cooked almost every night and it was something gourmet each time, pickled squid yum, laksa yum, prawns yum, she also made sure we all had beverages for the nightly relax, chat and drink nights. She would come home with Cartons! of Jack Daniels cans for Clint and Scott and bottles of Baileys for me. And SMOKED SALMON!! I havent had that much smoked salmon since Wendy was in Perth, we had it everyday and on christmas eve we sent Scott down to Woolies to buy us a kilo!! Thanks Scottie And speaking of Scott (or Lazy cock as Wendy liked to call him) he was getting out of some of his home duty tasks so Wendy told us and we had many hysterical times when Scott got out of doing the dishes and was labelled LC. That was funny just hearing Wendy scream it at him. These 2 are very much in love and beautiful to watch even when they are playfully blueing. Remember WEndy when you walked into the bedroom door!!!

Wendy had a pet magpie that she feed morning and night, it flew down from its tree and Wendy would feed it mince and cheese by hand. The kids loved it and maggie occassional took the food from their hand. Isla would call out all day MAGG-I-A waiting for her to come eat the food.

Got all the christmas shopping done for the kids. Wendy minded them for a couple of hours while we got all trollied up with presents. We decorated the van and even got a mini chrissy tree to put in the van. WE left the key out for Santa, some milk and cookied and carrots for the reindeers. We had a picture with Santa and Isla was not impressed at all she cried when it was time to sit up on his lap, she said he looked like Hook from the movie. I think the bearded face scared her a bit. Oh well she might be ok next year.

Anyhoo great shops in Adelaide, the markets were good too except for when I lost Shelby and was almost hysterical, I was fairly calm till they found her and then I broke down. She wandered off looking for me only I hadnt gone anywhere and she troddled off with the shopping trolley, found a security guard and told him she couldnt find her mummy. A nice man came and found me and bought me to her.

There is still so much to see in South Australia so we will be back. We had such a good time with Wendy and it was especially good as I saw her everyday. I miss her too.

We got to catch up with Mick Sarah and Lily from Broome, in Adelaide, Mick has got himself a job so they will stay awhile.

Christmas in the van was just as good as home the kids still woke up screaming SANTA CAME!!!!! and madly unwrapped pressies from Santa. We then went into Wendy's to play with them and then ate and drank for the rest of the day.

See the pics here (paste the link to web browser and away you go)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2050352&id=1178196973&l=2c30f60053

KAKADU - PORT AUGUSTA

2010-01-11T22:51:00.001+11:00

KAKADU
I was expecting this place to be one of the best national parks and maybe it is for others but it wasn’t anything special from the road which is a shame when you have kiddies and a caravan and most of the roads are dirt and not the best to travel on, or they are just not easily accessed. The Lakeview caravan park was really good we had a nice grassy site with a concrete slab and we even had an ensuite which was real handy as we had a lot of stuff in our shower and it meant we didnt need to get everything out. It was really warm so we had a water fight and played babmington. We just drove through Kakadu over the croc infested looking creeks (never spotted one though). Maybe later when the weather is nicer and the kids are bigger we can do the treks and tracks of Kakadu.

MATARANKA
I loved this place when I visited 20 years ago I loved the thermal pool. I had a lot of fun here it was great but now they have made the walk track to the pool a bit better to walk to and they have put walls in the pool around the edges which has made it more of a pool look. They did this because the side of the natural thermal pool had started to erode so they just built it up a little. Clint did not like the campsite much (actually he hated it) there wasn’t a designated caravan site. So when he asked the caretakers they said just park it anywhere where there is a power point? Ok, there’s only one moron.

I took the kids for a walk while Clint set the van up just to let him cool down a bit. He was keen to leave the next day so we woke early and went down to the pool for a swim about 7am, it was more of an early morning bath and oh so lovely. He was well impressed at the pool and the kids had a ball swimming. There was quite a few backpackers staying at the park and Shelby and Slade managed to wake them all up before we left. After the swim it was back on the road heading to Alice Springs.

We stopped at Hi way Inn Roadhouse for lunch, there was an old crashed plane, a retired tractor and some painted water tanks. While we ate our sandwiches we had the company of a few pesky birds waiting for you to drop a crumb. We refueled at Elliott which was a sleepy town with lots of darkies sitting around doing nothing…drinking. Clint had a lengthy conversation with the fuel station owner about the cruiser, he also had one that he was in love with and would drive up to Darwin shopping going flat out due to the speed limit being 130kms per hour!! He says he dragged an SS Commodore and clocked it at 240kms and the cruiser was still wanting to go faster. You meet some interesting folks.

Tennant Creek
WE arrived in Tennant Creek around 4.30pm the cops were setting up a RBT as you enter the little town, getting ready for the festive season so we heard. We stayed at the outback caravan park which was not busy just an overnight stay. We got up early the next morning to head to Alice Springs.
A really nice drive to Alice Springs the scenery was different with a lot of wide open spaces and then some plateaus.

Devils Marbles
We stopped at a place called Devils Marbles which were some really big boulders. We just drove past and took a couple of pics. Yeah they were big rocks but let’s just get to the really big rock. I couldn’t wait for Clint to see it, I had been 20 years ago so I knew how enormous it was.

Wycliffe Wells
Next stop for lunch was Wycliffe Wells, well what a place this is. They say that Wycliffe has been visited by aliens and they have all sorts of paraphernalia of aliens, newspaper clippings of sightings and weird happenings. Whatever happened it was really cool and the kids loved it. Out the back of the fuel station there was a caravan park and they had large lifelike superhero statues like Elvis, Incredible Hulk and the phantom. All the old vans were painted colourful. Here is where we met the Camel man and he had been travelling around Australia with his 2 camels.

Aileron
Next stop or drive through was Aileron which is a 3 house town and there are 2 statues of aboriginal’s one male and one female with a little girl they looked to be made out of iron or something about 50 feet high…good to see. Shelby had a giggle as the statues were NUDE!!!

Alice Springs
Finally arrived in Alice Springs at 5ish and booked straight into the big4 which was shady grassy with a concrete slab. Very neat parks the Big 4s, you pay a bit extra but they have all the facilities required. We had 2 nights here, we stocked up the food but didn’t do any sightseeing due to the kids being on house arrest for misbehaving…oh well next time.

Ayers Rock
It was a long drive to Ayers rock but a good one the scenery was pretty special. We saw a Japanese guy riding a bike to ayer’s rock about 130kms out. He didn’t get to the rock until late in the afternoon the next day. We arrived at the caravan park in the afternoon set up and then set off to see the rock at sunset we also had a look at the swimming pool. There was rather a large charge to go into the park to see the rock, $25 per person fortunately we did not have to pay for the kids. 20 years ago you used to be able to just drive on through. We met a nice couple who camped beside us Neil and Kate, Kate was Scottish and Neil was English they were travelling for 6 months and then heading to NZ. We met them out at the sunset and they took a beautiful picture of us all together which we don’t often have.

The next day we went out to the rock early and Clint climbed it, I waited with the kids down at the base. I knew he wouldn’t take long and he wasn’t. The climbed up and down it in an hour and 10 mins the fit bugger. He kindly said that I would have trouble climbing it. I didn’t doubt him. I was mesmerized by the size of it, I had seen it before but it still is amazing to see. We sat at the bottom and met some tourists and I took some photos of them on the rock. Then we went to see the cultural centre near the rock and had a look at some aboriginal displays and then headed back to the resort for some lunch and a shopping spree on souvenirs. We took a drive to the Olga's and there were pretty special looking giants rocks as well. The kids were asleep and it was much too hot to drag them out, so Clint ventured out for a walk while I stopped and looked at the wildlife. Not the kids this time just birds.

Then back to the caravan to pack up to go to Kings Canyon.

Kings Canyon
We spent one night at Kings Canyon the sunset was beautiful to see. I was keen to spot a dingo for Gareth as he didn’t get a picture of one, so I was trying to get a picture for him. Didn’t think I would see one and just as I was going to head inside for the night after telling Clint we probably wouldn’t see one, a dingo ran behind the toilets. I jumped up and ran inside to get the camera while our neighbours, a young couple from Melbourne dived in their van to hide!! Funny funny…I went over to them and had a laugh with them. We went for a walk to Kings Canyon definitely no water there, dry as a bone.

Coober Pedy
The next day we had a long drive ahead of us all the way to Coober Pedy. We got up at 5.30am and set of on the long journey. We met Neil and Kate at the Erlunda Roadhouse had a coffee and a tasty and on the road we went. We stopped for lunch at a roadhouse just after the SA border and chopped up all our cucumber, celery, carrots which the kids ate in the car, all of it.

We knew we were getting close to Coober Pedy because you could see all the dug out mines. We arrived at the big 4 Oasis Caravan Park…no jumpy pillow or green grass, you needed a key for water to be connected to the van and it cost you $5 but it was peacefully enjoyable. They had 2 large cement water tanks that the park had converted into a video room and the other was dug out and turned into a below ground circle shaped swimming pool, icy cold too.

Clint took Slade and Shelby on a tour of the town while I stayed with Isla who needed to catch up on some naptime. They went to see an underground house, an old mine and the big winch and a crackpot with made up rubbish, selling moon rocks.

Port Augusta
WE left Coober Pedy to go to Port Augusta. This was a nice drive and we passed many salt lakes which were huge. We arrived in Port Augusta about 3pm set the van up and then headed to Tara and terry’s house for a bbq. Shona’s mum Tina met us at the caravan park and we followed her to their house. We had a nice dinner and met terry’s family and grandfather and met taras dad terry. Slade played with the wii and as usual played it like a champ. They had a beautiful old house which I really loved with the high ceilings. All was going good until Shelby’s ears started hurting, I think it was the start of an ear infection. So after comforting her on the outdoor swing chair Isla decided she would fall of the swing and land straight on her head. It was a quick visit but a good one.

The next day we made an appointment for Shelby and Isla to check their ears.

The flying mattress.
This story begins like…lazy boy slade wet the bed again!! So clint put his mattress out to dry and be aired on the table we found at Ayers Rock. The girls then wanted to play playdough and they wanted t o use the table so Clint put the mattress on the roof rack. We rushed off to the doctors and after the doctors we went to get lunch and we came home to eat it. The doctor gave us a script for antibiotics and advised us to take them so Shelby wouldn’t get any worse. Isla was ok. The xmas pageant was on in port Augusta but it was a bit too windy and we didn’t want to make Shelby’s ear any worse. At about 5ish I asked Clint to bring the mattress in so I could make the bed. Clint thought that I had already made the bed and I just wondered where he dried it. After a bit of a look around Clint realized that he didn’t take it off the roof racks and that it probably flew off when we went to the doctors. We went up and down the main road driving walking asking people looking into backyards, but came to the conclusion that some homeless person had scored a really nice bed for the night. Later in the night Tara and terry popped in for a drink and they stayed until 1am. Before we left in the morning we had one more scout around for the mattress just to ease our minds but no mattress in sight.

So its off to Adelaide to see Wendy and Scott and do some christmas shopping...Yippee.

See all the pictures here (copy the link and paste to a new browser window)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2050362&id=1178196973&l=de1ba00ef3

Darwin

2010-01-11T17:53:00.000+11:00

Phew we arrived in Darwin and it was hot hot, real humid as we expected. Here we met Robert and Glenda who we parked next too. They had a huge brand new 5th Wheeler, awesome! plenty of room and slideout sides that gave you even more room.

The first week we pretty much stayed home and caught up on uploading photos blogging and just relaxing. Mum was arriving on Sunday so we were going to wait and do all the touristing when mum and Charles arrived.

We caught up with Sarah Mick and Lily, they were staying here at the Free Spirit Darwin and they were also in Broome when we were there just across from our site.

The Free Spirit was nice and cheap $30 a night kids were free. It’s the off peak too and Free Spirit had the best deals. The park was a Big 4 so we got our 10% discount as well. A very nice park with 3 swimming pools, they were a bit too warm not very refreshing, the kids loved it and guess as long as they are happy everyones happy.

They also had a restaurant and bar on site which was good for those hot lazy nights when you cant be bothered cooking and well used by us. The staff at the restaurant were Indian or Pakistan, everytime Isla saw them she would shyly giggle she thought they were great. I wondered whether she thought they resembled Michael Jackson as she is obsessed with him since he died. Anyway the staff thought that was great and gave them a lots of attention. Slade and Shelby called them their friends and had them wrapped around their fingers changing the Tv to the Simpsons or cartoons whenever we were there for dinner. On Sundays they had roast dinners, and Wednesdays was snitzel night, excellent meals and good prices.

We had the toilets all to ourselves for most of our stay but towards the end the park closed some of the other back sites and their toilet blocks for the wet season. They made people move to the higher ground which was where we were, supposedly. I say this because we had a rainy day when mum was with us. Mum and I went to the food shop and it started raining heavy and it didn’t stop, it was nice as it sort of cooled the place down a bit. I waited for awhile for the rain to stop but after an hour I thought its only water and I got drenched getting the car and loading the groceries. When I got out onto the roads the water had flooded in the median strip and I went through one puddle in the car that the water waved over the car and I couldn’t see where I was going. When I got back to the park Clint was out in the rain digging trenches around our pad for the water to run around it not over it. He was using his little shovel going flat out it was funny and he managed to have a laugh at himself. So higher ground my ass, it is now that Clint has dug away all the dirt.

I was really looking forward to seeing mum cant remember the last time I had been this long away from her. Mum and Charles arrived Saturday afternoon we picked them up from the airport. Surprisingly there were no tears just relief at seeing her for me. I think mum was going to cry but when she saw the kids she just smiled and smiled. Isla was asleep when they arrived sleeping on her daddy’s shoulder, when he put her in the caqr she woke up to Poppy knocking on her car window and she couldn’t believe her eyes she was so surprised and then she turned beside her to see grandma sitting next to her and that was priceless her whole body smiled and she grabbed hold of grandma’s arm and didn’t let go just in case she was dreaming. She smiled all the way home holding grandma the whole time. Slade and Shelby just talked and talked to grandma and poppy the while way home.

We got poppy and grandma a palm cabin and after a mix up with the cabin booking they finally got one right across from our van. That worked well as we could watch the kids come and go. The cabin was new just one bedroom but it had pull out sofa so the kids had turns at stay over. Mum did most of the cooking while she was with us here. She sure did spoil us We had curry and shanks all the things we had missed.

In the northern territory the speed limit is 130kms per hour, the newspapers in NT are always telling news on how bad the deaths on the road are. Didnt quite get why they had such a limit but when you start to drive around the NT, it does take a rather long time to get to places. Everything is pretty much on its own. We had a go at the speed limit when we went out to Litchfield park without the van, ooh yes that’s real fast.

We took mum and Charles out to Litchfield park and the best place was called Wangi falls. A beautiful swimming pool all natural of course, with a couple of waterfalls in the backdrop. There were croc sign near the swimming hole and while we were all in and swimming around the kids were asking me if there were any crocodiles in here and I was saying NO, not in here but I was scoping the place like an army sniper just in case. The bottom of the swimming hole was all rock but half way in is a sand bar where the water is shallow and up to you belly button. That was excellent because you could get all the way close to the waterfalls. We had a nice lunch, there was a burger van parked at the park because it was nearly wet season so they close the cafes and restaurant but they allow the burger van just to do the small amount of visitors they have at these times of the year. The best burgers we have had, it was so huge I could hardly get my mouth around it (dont worry I managed).

At Litchfield national park it doesn’t cost you a fee to enter which was different as most WA national parks charge a fee of 10 or so dollars but this one was for FREE. We went to the Lost City which is a place in the park just off the main road down a 10km dirt road, takes you about 40mins as the road is 4 wheel drive only and a bit bumpy. Well worth it when you arrive at the lost city, its all these gigantic rock formations all together like a lost city. You get the feeling that people once lived here.

Mum is loving this Mango Tree country and she has been having some of her tropical fruit delicacies like rumbutan and starfruit. Poppy is a frequent flyer at Tommo’s Pies which is next to the park, he loves the ned Kelly pie (steak, bacon, egg and cheese).

BATS! Clint hates the bats. Wherever we park the car, tree or no tree we wake to find bat poo's all over the car. You have to wash it straight of as it eats away the paint on your car. Maybe because the car is black they are attracted to using it as a toilet!!

The mozi’s are also a menace, we tend to get inside after 5 as they a get a bit vicious, you don’t really feel them bite you just see the welts in the morning.

FRENCHY- One night we wandered over to see Sarah and Mick and they were siting with some people camped behind them in a shamrock painted campervan. The couple Stefan who was French and his wife Joy who was irish. They were so funny, as usual when frenchy (Stefan) saw me he kissed me asking where I’d come from. He was sure I was a New Zealander and when I told him I wasn’t he was like ‘Nooo’ . When he found out Clint was born in NZ well then he started getting the kisses, kisses on the cheeks and head. Turns out that Stefan was a rugby fan bigtime and he loved NZ. They had another mate that was with them his name was Scott he was character too. We were listening to the radio and I introduced him to the song guess game which he loved. WE had a great night telling stories listening to jokes drinks games watching clint get kissed. Scott got his machete out and Mick who was full of beer took it and cracked open a coconut much to his wife’s disapproval.

There were heaps of these green ants in Darwin and Mick was told that you could eat them. Mick was then told by Scott that if you collect some green ants and squash the green bits you eat them or you can sniff it and get high?? Rightio fellas.

The kids have made many friends here as we have. We met Glenda and Robert in their 5th wheeler and had many happy hour talks in the afternoon. They had their grandson come and spend some nights as well and Slade and Angus and Shelby got up to a bit of mischief but harmless. Whilst we were having our happy hour sessions we discovered that Glenda was from Forbes and it seems that she knows some of my family in Forbes. Its a small world for sure.

The kids zoom around on their bikes all day and we usually find them over at the bouncy pillow which they love. Isla is just finding her feet on the pillow sometimes the kids jump near her and she goes flying.

OUTINGS

Fish feeding down at doctors gully great set up and you walk down a boat ramp with pieces of bread and the fish come right up to and eat the bread straight out of your hands. Isla was funny she was trying to catch the fish, grabbing them and giggling because they were slippery suckers. They were big fish too, big mullets, catfish some snapper.

Museum
A awesome Museum with some history of cyclone Tracy and war history as well as wildlife exhibits. They have a croc called sweetheart which is over 5 metres long, real but dead, caught in Darwin in the 70’s. The kids loved the museum. Every friday they have a free session in the morning for kids where they do painting, gluing and they have a play conrner with dress ups and books, they have microscopes where the kids can look closely at bugs. We happened to be there on a Friday so the kids had a ball.

Causarina
No not the prison but Darwins largest shopping centre, actually the biggest shop in Northern territory. A special shopping centre as they had the engagement ring that I am wearing. We were here every other day, its where the food shop is and its nice and cool when its hot outside. This is also the place where Poppy got his first ever brain freeze at 60+ years of age. He was thirsty so we bought him a red frozen sluggy and skulled it down like one of the kids…ouch! Grandma told him he was drinking it wrong and that he needed to drink it from the top of his mouth, everyone laughed at grandma until we went home and on Good medicine that had a segment on brain freezes and she was correct, you drink the cold drink and the nerve endings in your mouth freeze, you need to put your tongue on the roof of your mouth to warm the drink. Hey it works too.

WWII tunnel
This was pretty cool except for Slade who used the water channels inside the tunnels as a toilet, how embarrassing. These tunnels were built during the war to store oil fuel and food but they only just got it finished and then the war finished.

WWII memorial
It was a sticky day with mozi’s galore but very interesting history. They had loads of war artillery, tanks, big gigantic cannons and a fake one that the aussie's built to trick the japs. Everything has been well restored and they had an indoor museum with all the old newspaper clippings, bulletins boards and just really old interesting antique items, matchboxes, bandaids, wallets, coins, maps etc.

Qantas hangar
Clint went with Poppy and Slade and they said it was really interesting with lots of displays of really old machinery and cars.Slade took a few photos.

Casino Lunch buffett
This was great and very cheap. The typical smorgasbord of food food and to Slade's delight all you can drink softies. I even played a game of Keno.

Stiky Beaks was a nursery and knick knack shop with gigantic dinosaur displayed out in the gardens. The kids really enjoyed this place, Isla was a little afraid she liked to look but happy to touch the dinosaurs.

Air Museum
Clint took Slade to the air museum on a boys adventure and they enjoyed themselves taking some time to look around at all the old planes.

Darwin was ok but definitely would of been better in the dry season. We hope to go again then.

See all the Darwin pics
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2042731&id=1178196973&l=1ab6f868a8
and more
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045837&id=1178196973&l=abd5899814

Broome Proposal

2009-11-01T18:03:00.000+11:00

Finally, after nearly 15 years the man proposed to the woman and she lovingly accepted. It was a saturday morning with the kids eating their breakfast in the perfect location of Broome. The wedding date to be confirmed when dream location is found.

Broome... it really is a hard place to leave, everything about it is great. But all good things must come to an end and our journey must continue and now I have a mission to find my dream wedding location.

Our friends the Andersons left on Friday but not without a drama. As they were driving off and Gareth was doing final checks he noticed that Baxter's window was smashed so after a quickie repair they said goodbye and hit the road. We hope to catch up with them in SA for christmas and if not we will just land on their doorstep in Ballarat.

We had a final dinner at the Roey again!! Just to celebrate the engagement. The picture below is of a Gargoyle that sits in the Roey garden and Isla was terrified of it until Grandad convinced her it was a nice gargoyle and after 3 times going here for dinner she was starting to look away for a minute.

We left on Tuesday pretty late because we had to check the mail and it took awhile to pack all our gear away and to remember how to tuck everything away for the travel. Then it was the goodbyes and because we had been in Broome for so long and almost became locals everyone was bailing us up to say goodbye, which was lovely as we had met so many very nice people all doing the same thing as us. WE said goodbye to Grandad and Fran they are heading the opposite direction. It was great to catch up but unfortunately the adventure must continue.

We will now journey onto Darwin hoping to get there before the very wet season.

Our first stop was Fitzroy Crossing we got there about 5pm in the afternoon and it was still 39 degrees. Me and the kids headed straight to the pool at the caravan park which was about 1km away!! By the time we walked back to the caravan we were dry again. They had really good sites for the larger vans it was a drive through, no backing in skills required.

We had an ant invasion while we were here too. We were told about stepping out of the van at night and having cows on your doorstop and when we woke in the morning there were some lovely large cowpats outside the vans as well as a herd of cattle wandering around the park. I took the kids for a walk around the park and they were mooing the cars and the caretaker was chasing them away in a landcruiser. The kids went over to the lady caretaker and asked her why they were scaring the cows away and she explained the mess that they make and how all the mummies and daddies dont like their kids having cow poos on their thongs. They were happy with that reasoning and after a little chat with here we all got ourselves ready to go. We left very early as we were heading to Kununarra and it was a long long drive with over 700kms.

We considered staying in Halls Creek but the caravan park looked like a 50 year old mine site, red and dirty so we continued on. We saw the turnoff sign to 'Wolf Creek' but I was still spooked from the movie. A big crater in the middle of nowhere...nice yes amazing seen it on the tube, not on my 'to do list'. Continue on driver. The scenery along the way was beautiful, lots of hills and aussie bushland. After 10 hours in the car we finally arrived in Kununarra's Big 4 Caravan Park.

I liked Kununarra 20 years ago and I still like it now. Its a small place with a few things to see besides the locals. We saw a beautiful sunset and went out to Lake Argyle which is a huge lake of water that seems to be wasted in the town of Kununarra. The caravan park caretakers encourage you to let the water run all day, wash your car, your van, your clothes yourself. Its no wonder they have the best fruit which includes my favourite the mango!! Heaps and heaps of mango farms but not quite ready for picking. They have a few boab trees here too which the kids thought would make a good cubby.

The Big4 park had a nice swimming pool which was covered, and the kids had a ball turning the spa on and off. Slade met the usual couple of girls in the pool. Funny, he was talking to this one girl and she was talking back and after a couple of conversations Slade asked her why she talked funny. Her mother told him that they did not speak english and that they were Flemish??? I had never heard of that but it was something to do with the dutch. Anyway Slade just shrugged and kept on talking to her. It was rather funny to listen to them. She didnt stay long after that and then another young girl about the same age took his fancy. They played in the pool for about an hour then her parents wanted to go sightseeing and after a huge hissy she had because she had just made a friend and you always do to this to me she went off kicking yelling out 'I'll be back Slade'.

Its only 30kms to the border of NT/WA and then the time changes to an hour and a half. This will be interesting with the kids. But I suppose it wont be the first time change we will have to deal with.

Next stop is Katherine and we only stayed overnight as we were keen to get up to Darwin and feel the humidity...not. Katherine gave us a taste of it and along with humidity comes ANTS my favourite little bug better off squashed! It must of been dole day when we arrived in Katherine as it was spot the whitey. We gave the thermal pools a miss after the Andersons story about the locals doing their business in there and that is not worth swimming with.

Here is a link to some of the photos
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2050357&id=1178196973&l=9c99a43644

Broometime

2009-11-01T16:18:00.000+11:00

Went to Willie Creek Pearl farm very interesting and also went on a chopper ride with Shelby, Slade and Clint. Grandma watched Isla while we went up for 15 mins.
Did a bit of touristy shopping with grandma in Chinatown then went to pearl luggers. this was interesting as it was all about the history of Broome and the pearling industry.

We went for a nice walk through the Cable Beach Resort Gardens, we followed a family in undetected and snooped our way through and then had dinner at the bar watching the sunset over cable beach.

We then went down to the Mudflats and watched the moonrise. At certain times of the year when the full moon rises off the mangrove mudflats, the moon reflects giving of what looks like a stairway to the moon. Very very cool but you do need a steady hand or camera on a tripod to get the best picture. Isla got eaten alive by mozi's but no-one else did, they like her fresh baby blood.

We went for a early morning Camel Ride down on Cable Beach, the kids were a little excited and nervous all at once but once they got going we couldnt get them off. Got some nice photos. Went for a swim and then said goodbye to grandma that was sad saying goodbye again.

We have been doing some school work but I was a little concerned with slade as some of the work has been a bit too basic for him and he was losing interest. I spoke with the teacher and she suggested moving Slade and Shelby up a level. She also said that the program has not been changed since the school ages changed and that most kids were 6 months behind, so moving them up would bring them into line with the WA education. This will be good as I wont have to rush it either. Still I would prefer to have them in school but you cant have everything.So we finished of our set 10 which didnt take long and when we get to Darwin we will start on the year 1 for Slade and Preprimary for Shelby. They enjoy the activities and any cooking lessons. They received certificate each for their work on set 9 so that was a great motivator.

The kids have been swimming like fish, they have pretty much taught themselves to swim and shelby dives to the bottom of the pool very easily. Isla doesnt wear floaties she jumps in the pool with her noodle and floats around like a baby fish. Slade of course is in and swimming like a champion, he gets his snorkelling gear out that Aunty Shona bought him for his birthday and practices using it.

Well alot has happened between day 61 and day 62, we have hooked ourselves up with a family, Kellie and Gareth Anderson and they have 4 beautiful boys who are similar ages to ours and we have been hanging out and having laughs. The kids names are Jack (7) Finn (4) Wiley(3) Baxter(13mths). The kids get along really good which is a handy thing when you are travelling. We spend every night after the kids go to bed reflecting on the days dramas drinking and telling stories. As a matter of fact and dont tell Granma my, we have been drinking everynight um er.

We have done a lot fishing out at Barred Creek about 30kms from Broome. Beaut spot on the beach. WE drive right on the beach which is really cool, you dont have to cart everything over sandunes you just need to pull up, get out and fish (that doesnt include chasing kids, feeding them and toilet breaks, if I said that it wouldnt sound so attractive). We do a bit of hardcore 4 wheel driving through the sandunes, the kids love it and so do I. We see alot of marine life on the beach too, on one day we saw turtles, sharks and a stingray came right up to the shore where we were standing and also an octopus. I was catching live bait for the others catching real fish but the kids loved it as I was catching them quite quickly so the kid were making fish farms and then the live bait became dead bait.

Another time we took Grandad and Fran out to Barred Creek for some 4 Wheel driving they also enjoyed themselves except for some of the bumpy boggy tracks. Grandad was the only one to catch a real fish home is was a Long tom, tasty too. OUr Black Magic beast has some severe scratching down the sides from our 4x4 driving. The first time Clint went out with only Slade and Gareth and his boys,when they came back and Clint showed us the damage, shelby put her hands on her hips and scolded Gareth "Look what you have done to our car!" She was not impressed until she got a chance to go out there and then it was fun!!

There was a major bushfire in Broome about 12 mile from where we were. It was really smokey. Fesa even had to close the highway into Broome and this is when Grandad was meeting us in Broome and they had to stay the night out at the roadhouse with about another 20 or so vanners. They opened the road briefly early in the morning and then closed it again in the afternoon, luckily Grandad got a chance to get through to the park.

Rochelle and her boyfriend Matt arrived in Broome on the 17th, they stayed for 5 days I picked them up from the airport and dropped them off. They did alot of touristy tours while they were here and I also got a chance to be waxed!! I was starting to look a bit carny.

On a nice windy night we ventured down to Cable Beach to watch the sunset with the Andersons and Grandad and Fran. Whilst we were sitting there Rochelle went by on her evening sunset camel ride, the kids got all excited and were running and waving.

Ok we starting to become a bit local now at this park, we have made and meet so many people all fantastic. Slade has found himself a girlfriend her name is Evie cute little thing, lives in the park in a gigantic 5th Wheeler, Shelby has a found herself a HUSBAND which is Jack, Kellie and Gareths' eldest son. We have been to the Roey which is the hotel in chinatown, we have had dinner there 3 times now, best surf and turf I have ever had!!! Yummo. We have great neighbours on the other side, benny, graeme, Shaley and Zoe they were lovely people from Qld they were sad when we told them we had to go.

We tried out another fishing spot Crab Creek, Clint caught himself a shark and a couple of cobbler (catfish), Slade caught a brim, Gareth caught a shark, Fran caught a Salmon.

Slade got himself a nasty rash on his butt whilst Gma was here, started off as what looked like a mozi bite but then spread. I had to take him to the doctors and they feared he may have got herpes!! but it turned out to be only school sores, cured with some antibiodics and heavy duty cream.

See Pictures of Broome

2009-11-01T16:05:00.000+11:00

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2040912&id=1178196973&l=d6058c50bc

Barnhill to Broome

2009-10-03T15:50:00.000+10:00

Left Port Hedland and headed to BarnHill Station arrived at 3pm. We turned off North Coast Highway to Barnhill Station on a red dirt corrugated road opening 3 gates as it is a working station. About 39 degrees fairly hot and sweaty.

Hot and sweaty night and because we were on restricted electricity the aircon went off at some time in the morning and it was damn hot. Went for a walk to the beach which was 50 metres away from the park, down a couple of steps past the red dirt sand dunes to white sandy beach and beautiful blue waters.

Kids had a swim and played on the beach and then back to van for dinner. Storyteller Shelby was telling other travellers that she was a twin and then they approached me asking where the other girl was. We then informed them of missy's imagination and story telling.

Packed up at Barnhill to head to Broome got to broome about lunch time and the kids and I headed straight to the pool as it was a bit warm. We had a great site right next to the pool and toilets and it only cost us $231 for the week. Still $33 per night but it has been the cheapest stay we have had and because it is now off peak.

So to me regardless of what everyone else is saying I think we are going to be alright heading up as it will be cheaper...hotter but cheaper and not as busy.

Most of the people we have met are all heading south towards Perth we havent met any families going North. It seems that quite a few people have got to Broome and are staying here. Cant blame them really it is a great park.

Headed into Broome to do a bit of food shopping and check out the town. We found a woolies and a target. We booked Slade in for a haircut at the hairdressers on Thursday morning. Clint set up the tent as he will be sleeping in there with one of the kids when grandma Norma gets here tomorrow.

Just hanging around till grandma gets here at 6pm.

Grandma arrived at 6.30 and we watched the plane land, it was just like the old days when years ago you could watch the planes come in at perth airport . We watched grandma get off the plane and then the kids were yelling out grandma!! grandma!! It was so good to see her and to see the looks on the kids faces. WE dropped her bags at the hotel she booked in for one night and then she came back to the park. The place she stayed at was only around the corner so not far to drop her home.

Went to Malcom Douglas Wilderness Park - Crocodile Park, that was great. There were so many crocs there and some wild thrashing one too. They also had dingoes, red kangaroos, wallaby's, emu's and heaps of ducks.

Slade and Clint are out on the kayaks. Aunty Bec and Uncle Grants sister bindi and dick own a kayak business in broome and they took the boys out for a paddle. Grandma, the girls and I went for swim had a lunch and now Grandma, Isla and Shelby are all snoozing. It is fairly early mornings for us so it gets a bit tiring after lunch.

Road Trip - Port Hedland

2009-09-30T23:33:00.000+10:00

Day 26 - Day 32

Off to Port Hedland a few hundred kms to travel the kids travelled well and had some nice long sleeps. The drive along the Newman road was impressive through the national park ranges and then the country opens up to flat plains and in the distance you can see more rocky ranges.

Clint saw some funny sights...dead cow on one side of the road and busted up car on the other, he said it looked like a madmax scene as there were clothes and bits and pieces splattered all around the car, he wanted to stop and take pictures but he thought I was looking at him funny like WHAT THE? Yeah I kinda was. Further up the road was another bigger dead cow and the other side of the road was a smashed up holden commodore. Looked like the cow was hit, flew up in the air and then landed on the windscreen. We didnt get a picture of that either maybe next time I said.

As we approached Port Hedland we hit the roadworks!!! More red dust and lazy ass contractors, we headed straight to the fuel station as we were on empty, we had filled $20 at the auski roadhouse half way from Karijini to port hedland but the price of fuel at Auski was 169 per litre so we waited(we are getting good on this fuel thing).

We stayed at Cooke Point Caravan Park...my god $60 per night!!! They said things were expensive here but hold up...we did bring our own house!! So thats it Clint says, run the aircon, run the shower, let the kids run freely and we'll get our moneys worth.

We are getting the car serviced on Friday so Clint booked us in for seven days so he could also watch the grandfinal. After we checked in we had a look at Port Hedland and then went in search of fast food. I thought I saw a kids drinking a HJ's drink but later found out that it was Macca's (we dont eat maccas). They had Chicken Treat which we scoffed down like no tomorrow. (we ran out of bread in Karijini so we couldnt make any sandwiches for the drive) Then I noticed that the shops were open!!! We headed over for some retail therapy just walking around and looking at camping things as we plan to go tenting in the Northern Territory. We headed back to the park and Titch popped in for a visit as he works here. It was good to see someone from home.

Yippee today we bought a fiser & Paykel washing machine and an Engel fridge, I must of done 6 loads of washing such a relief. $4 a load and the machines are full of other peoples detergents is just crappy. Now our clothes and towels are a lot softer. Clint loves the Engel fridge and it fit in the car. He ended up getting the bigger Engel than he originally wanted which was the 80 litre fridge and freezer, it even gets colder than the fridge inside the van.

Today was catch up day we went to mum uncle & aunty mac's place and all the cousins and their kids were there. I hadnt seen them for years and it was excellent to see them again, they were all so happy that we dropped in. We also had lunch made for us which was a banquet of rice, curry, noodles, soya chicken wings and chicken drummies, so yummy.

After lunch we headed to Rob & Sjaan Morrisons for a BBQ (they are friends of Brock and Rodneys) I have known Rob since under 8's footy when Brock used to play. Rob is a train driver for FMG and his wife Sjaan is due for her baby on Brocks birthday, so any day now. Titch was there and they had a neighbour over Lene and she was a really nice person. The kids went for a swim in their pool and Isla jumped in the dogs pool(it was clean and fresh water) with her clothes on!! They have a really nice house and the baby's room was just gorgeous!!! Rob had just bought Sjaan a 200 Series Landcruiser the same as ours BLACK and they both were dying to check out ours when we got there. They loved it and were looking forward to their deliveries!! We had a lovely dinner and chatted for quite a few hours before heading back to camp, Oh and the pavlova I love pavlova, thanks guys.

Today Clint washed the car first up and then Rob & Sjaan came over to take us on a tour of Port Hedland. They took us to the wharf were there was a crocodile made of steel and there was some ships coming into the wharf. We went past the Wandin Valley hospital (thats what Sjaan called it) where she is having the baby. The baby hadnt dropped when we first saw her, but after the night we were there with the kids the baby had dropped and locked in according to the doctor when they had the scan the next day!! The baby must of wanted to know what all the noise was about and was on its way out. We went out to Pretty Pool where Rob and Sjaan had just got married very beautiful spot, its where the ocean meets a pool of water and separates with a sand bar. Then we went to Finucane Island and we passed Rob's Train that he works on, that was so cool such a long train. When we got home we had a swim with the kids, its 35 during the day but the pool is freezing cold, doesnt bother the kids though, purple lips and shivering they still swim.

Funny story when we arrived in port hedland Shelby was screaming at me about a washing line. I didnt know what she was going on about and because I saw the giant salt hills and she asked me whether that was the washing powder I just assumed she was spinning another one of her yarns. Later in the day when we passed the same spot we noticed a washing line in the middle of nowhere in an empty salt bath, with a few clothes hanging off them. We realised this is what she saw and we all were in hysterics laughing even Shelby, so it was a bit of a laughing point whenever we passed it.

Grand final day stayed in and watched the footy. Made a nappy cake for Sjaan.