Brisbane Trip Day 2: Yerrinbool -> Newcastle

It rained a bit overnight so everything was a bit damp when I woke up. It was a beautiful morning and I enjoyed a bit of time to myself outside. I started packing up then as the kids woke up we had fresh eggs for breakfast (and discovered most of the bread I’d bought with us was old so I’ll need to go shopping earlier than I’d expected). We packed up and played in the back yard a bit, then popped inside to have a cuppa and hot cross buns with our hosts.

We left just after 11 and drove through to Thornleigh to see a very good friend of mine. The traffic was a bit heavy, being Saturday morning in Sydney, but it wasn’t too stressful. We had a wonderful half an hour with my friend – always so wonderful to see her, even if it’s brief.

The next part of the drive was very enjoyable – driving from Sydney to Newcastle is so familiar and I love seeing all the things I know and remembering other trips. The kids were excited to see the Hawkesbury River and the bridges and remember our houseboat trip. We listened to the rest of ‘Alcatraz and the Evil Librarians’ which was a lot of fun.

We arrived at Tony’s brother’s house just after 3. I had a cup of tea and the kids played with their cousins – we had 6 pretty excited children in the house. Although being the only boy, Liam soon wandered out and sat and chatted with the adults. Tone’s brother helped me back the trailer in – down the driveway and through the garage, it was a bit tricky but with a bit of forward and back and trying again I got it into the backyard – I’d been nervous about it ever since we decided to stay here and felt great once I’d achieved it.

I took the kids down to the beach while P cooked dinner, then he met us down there. The surf was much bigger than what we’d been swimming in so far this summer – more like the ocean that I am used to, while the kids have mainly swum at Victorian beaches. Caitlin and Liam coped fine though, they were happy out in the deep, big waves with their cousins. I stayed close to the shore with Amelie and the little cousin, we jumped waves and ran away from them. P came down and he and the girls built a pool for the girls to sit in, I went out for a proper swim in the waves, it was great. Liam came in after a while and he and I competed to see who could stand still in the knee deep water for longest – it was fun and he was much better than I was.

We came home and the kids played some more while I set up the tent, then we ate a delicious chicken curry. Liam watched some Dr Who, the big girls did each other’s hair and then jumped on the trampoline, the younger girls played with their stuffed animals. I was extremely tired and headed to bed to read about 9pm – it was great to lie down and rest and not have to think about anything much at all.