King Valley Trip -> Day 2

It was COLD in the tent overnight. Everyone was awake a few times, Millie moved up onto the bed with Tony and I, we redistributed blankets, had a few chilly toilet trips, lots of whispered conversations about how to get back to sleep. LiAM slept worst of all of us, and as soon as there was a tiny bit of light in the morning he and I got out of bed. We rugged up and went for a walk exploring the river - it was so beautiful with the autumn leaves and the early morning light.

LiAM and our favourite yellow tree on our early morning walk

Campsite in early morning

After our walk we got the fire going again and played cards for a while, then the others eventually emerged from the tent. We cooked crumpets and toast on our camp stove, and made a hot chocolate for everyone. The kids started to play on the slide - it was possible to slide down and stop at the bottom before going in to the river. Once the initial cold of the morning started to wear off, Caitlin wanted to go in the river. She and LiAM bravely got into their swimmers and tried the water - it was very very cold, which didn't deter them at all. They turned the water on on the slide, and slid into the river, and then tried the kayaks. It didn't take them long to get the hang of them, and they kayaked up and down the little area in front of our camp. Tony was going to have a go but the water temperature was even colder than he'd expected so he changed his mind. Millie wanted to try - she was in her swimmers and playing at the end of the slide - and she fell in, head first. I raced in to pull her out, but she was already upright and on her way out by herself - I was impressed. Having the fire going meant she could get warm and dry fairly quickly - she wasn't keen to go back in the water after that. Tony and LiAM searched for skimming stones and found quite a few that worked well.

Caitlin and LiAM kayaking in the river

Tony and I put up one of the annexes on the tent - with the chance of rain over the next few days we didn't want the inside of the tent getting wet. We hadn't used the annex before, so it took us a while to figure out how it all went together, although it wasn't difficult to put up once we worked it out. It was great to have a bit of extra covered space.

There was a house (where we stayed last time) not too far from our campsite, with a toilet we were welcome to use if we didn't want to use the portable. Tony and Caitlin had bought their bikes so they rode up there a couple of times, and I walked up once. It was also a handy place to recharge our phones when needed.

We pottered around the fire, in and out of the river, exploring the campsite, reading, doing puzzles and so on. In the afternoon the kids wanted to go out somewhere, and I really wanted a nap, so Tony and the kids went for a drive to Wangaratta (only about 25km away) and had some McDonalds, and I had a bit of a sleep. When they came back Tony saw and had a good chat with one of his old workmates from De Bortoli (he moved up to Tatong and now works at this vineyard sometimes). I woke up a bit groggy, sitting in the fresh air around the fire helped me pick up fairly quickly.

We cooked pasta and a tomato sauce for dinner and ate around the fire. LiAM fell asleep early when he went into the tent to get warm. The girls roasted marshmallows and after a while we all moved into the tent to try to get warm and get to sleep.