NSW Trip: Home

A quick update for anyone who was worried - we found Millie's iPod Touch. I had unpacked the car and still not seen it, and was really starting to give up. I decided to go and pull out every last bit of rubbish and paper and see if it was buried somewhere - there was a heap of stuff between Caitlin and Millie's seats but I still couldn't see the iPod. I had nearly finished pulling everything out of the boot when I grabbed a postcard that was between the girls' seats and had slid almost into the boot - and underneath it was the iPod!!!!!!!!!!! Feeling very relieved now and Millie is very happy. She hadn't seemed too upset by not having but had started to say she wished she could play it. I guess she always believed that it would turn up!

NSW Trip Day 21: Holbrook -> Home

LiAM and Millie and I were up first and we went outside to sit at the table in front of our room and write in our diaries/blog. The guy from the next room came out with his toddler son to go and look at the birds, LiAM and Millie were interested too and LiAM had a good chat with him. The kids and I popped down the street to get milk and bread for breakfast, then we ate and packed up. We were ready to go by 10 but I couldn’t see Millie’s iPod Touch anywhere – she doesn’t think she took it inside but it wasn’t anywhere obvious in the car. We spent about 45 minutes looking in the car and the room for it, with no luck. I imagine its in the car somewhere, underneath stuff that we weren’t easily able to move without unpacking the whole car…

The motel people said they’d send it if they found it and we left to go and see the submarine (stopping at the Foodworks on the way to see if we’d left it there – no). From a distance the submarine looks simply yellow, up close it looks amazing – every imaginable shade of yellow, in knitted, crocheted or woven pieces of every size, all joined together to form a giant cover for the sub. Some of the pieces had knitted animals attached to them, or woven in as part of the pattern, some had words (including one that said Liam), others had plastic sea creatures attached – it was fun exploring all the detail, even in the rain. The yellow wool is a yarn bombing exercise that has been done in time for some wool festival. It had only been installed the day that we arrived and will only be there for a month, so it felt like good timing to be in Holbrook!

Approaching the Submarine

Close up with sea animals

From there we went to the Holbrook bakery where they sell the best pies in Australia, according to my brother (when I asked at the info centre the girl there confirmed that they were the best). Tony, Caitlin and I had pies (mine was satay chicken, theirs were plain pies) and yes, they were magnificent. LiAM and Millie had sweet pastries which were also delicious.

We left Holbrook in the rain for almost the last leg home. Again we had a pleasant drive, listened to Harry Potter and talked about where we were, what we’d do when we got home, and played iPads/Pods. Just after I drove past the last roadhouse before we turn of the Hume Freeway, I realized we needed petrol, so we went into Benalla to get some. While Tony was putting the petrol in I realised we were opposite a McDonalds, and I’d promised Tony that at some point on our trip we could have soft serve cones from Maccas – so I popped over and got one each for the kids and Tony which was a nice little treat for the way home.

Mum and Dad had suggested we could call into their place in Yea on our way through, as they had a birthday present for Millie, so we did that. Great to see them and also Buckley our dog and all of our chickens (our chicks are now almost fully grown and the ‘baby’ roosters are crowing). Millie loved her presents – a fold up camp chair (pink) and a great hot pink and black dress, with black leggings. Everyone had lots to tell and show everyone else, then we had some cakes and sang Happy Birthday to Millie again, then had a bit of a play, and Caitlin watched some of Dance Academy – very exciting to see all the places we had been on Wednesday!. We were getting ready to head home as it was approaching tea time, so decided it was easier to stay there for tea and come home fed. It was a pleasant evening and then I got very tired before the kids were quite ready to leave, so I had a shower and that refreshed me enough.

Blowing out more candles in her new outfit

We got home about 8.45 and unpacked the necessary things from the car. Caitlin watched some more Dance Academy, LiAM played on his iPod, Tony watched the football, Millie went to bed. I pottered around a bit, settling back into home and feeling good to be here. Weird though to have no animals here – we’ll get the cat tomorrow and the other animals in a few days.

It was a great trip and I am feeling so much more relaxed and re-energised after it. Looking forward to whatever comes next and hoping I can carry my current state of mind into non-holiday activities. To keep up with what we’re doing day-to-day you can check out my other blog at seekingjoyeveryday.blogspot.com.au

NSW Trip Day 20: Sydney -> Holbrook

After our big day yesterday everyone (except Millie and I) had a bit of a sleep in. I packed up and had most of the stuff in the car and we woke LiAM so that I could pack his bedding up and he could eat before we left.

Once we were on our way I felt a little bit excited to be heading home (although glad we still had 2 days to get there). We got through Sydney (which is very easy now with the M7 motorway) and Millie needed a toilet, Tony also wanted to get petrol at Sydney rather than country prices, so we pulled off into Campbelltown and stopped at the first place we found with a toilet, which was a Hungry Jacks. We decided to get a little bit of food here (it was almost midday) so that we could then get a couple more hours down the highway before we needed to do a big stop for food and play. So we had a small lunch and drinks, then the kids played on the playground while Tony tried to find somewhere to get petrol (no luck). Back on the road again and we stopped briefly at Pheasants Nest for petrol, then made it to Suttons Forest before the drinks from lunch meant everyone needed another toilet stop. A quick stop there and we were able to make it all the way to Gundagai before we needed a break. The car trip was fun, we played the ‘guess what job I’m thinking of’ game and talked about the countryside and other vehicles we could see and listened to Harry Potter 7 on audio CD and the kids played on their iPods/Pads.

In Gundagai we stopped about 4pm at a playground down towards the river and had chicken bread rolls for a late second lunch. The kids played on the equipment and Tony and had a bit of a throw with his baseball and mitts. A little dog befriended us (he wanted to eat our chicken) and the kids found it hard not to give him something to eat. While we were there I ran the caravan park in Holbrook (I wanted to make it to Holbrook today because its only 4 hours from there to home and that felt manageable for our last day, and also Holbrook is a fun place to stop because of the submarine). The caravan park was booked out, so we spent a while researching motel options – it can be hard to find a room for 5 people. I managed to book us in before we left Gundagai (I knew it would be after 6 when we arrived so I wanted it sorted before we got there otherwise everyone could be tired and hungry and not tolerant of popping in and out of motels looking for a room).

We got to Holbrook around 6.15 and found our motel – the room was lovely and the guy really friendly and helpful. There was a microwave so we were able to heat up leftovers for tea (we have a great esky (thanks Mum) which, with a couple of big ice bricks, keeps milk and meat and left overs icy cold all day). We watched TV, played cards, the girls jumped from the top bunk bed down onto the queen bed, and had a relaxing evening in our room. Millie fell asleep then after a while I was ready for bed, and LiAM was still bouncing around the room, so Tony took him and Caitlin for a walk and they made it all the way up to the Submarine – which is currently covered in yellow wool. They had a look around there and back to our room and eventually to bed.

NSW Trip Day 19 - Sydney

We spent a quiet morning in the cabin, playing with Barbie and lego and iPods etc. Caitlin rode her scooter for a while – this caravan park has lots of hills so she’s practicing riding at speed and then stopping at the bottom. Our plan for the day was to go to Observatory Hill and then maybe Darling Harbour. I remembered that I also wanted to go to Chinatown to see if I could get a new bottle of herbs that I ran out of last week, so we decided to go straight to Chinatown to have lunch.

We set off and got to the city all right, then became bamboozled and cranky at the no right turns and one way streets around Chinatown, and we couldn’t seem to find a way to get close enough. I gave up and suggested we go straight to Observatory Hill and have a snack there, and come back for lunch later (I was also concerned that the blue sky was turning into thick grey clouds, so I wanted to do the outdoor stuff first). So we made our way (with still a little bit of frustration, I had forgotten how crazy it is to navigate Sydney streets in a car) up to Observatory Hill and climbed up to the park. I’ve always found this a beautiful spot with its large trees and views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the wharfs and the harbour, but it is more especially exciting now as its one of the frequent settings for Caitlin’s favourite show, Dance Academy. We ran around under the trees and on the grass where the characters often hang out, and Caitlin and Millie danced in the rotunda where Tara dances in several scenes. It was exciting even walking around the streets nearby, to think that all the actors had walked around there too. After a snack and a play and lots of photos, we walked down to the foreshore and prowled around the wharf buildings where a lot more of the show is filmed. Sydney Dance Company does operate out of one of the buildings there, although it looks like the next wharf over is the one they use for the show. It was cool just walking out on the wharves, even without the Dance Academy association. On the way back in we saw a guy who had just speared a fish which was interesting given the kids’ recent first experience with fishing.

Observatory Hill

Caitlin dancing in the rotunda where Tara dances

Caitlin in front of the Dance Academy building

We decided to skip Chinatown and just go to Darling Harbour. The first carpark we went into cost $30 for the first hour, so we came straight back out of there. We ended up in the Darling Harbour carpark right next to the Sydney Entertainment Centre, which is right across the road from Chinatown, so figured we actually could go with our original plan and have (a now very late) lunch there. The first place we saw was a food court called Eating World, which we all thought was a definite choice as the place to go. We got 3 dishes between us, all cooked fresh, and all amazingly tasty. It helped everyone calm down and feel much happier, we’d all been a bit past it by the time we got there. Once I’d finished eating I went exploring to find my herbs. I found a chinese beauty shop that sold health products, and asked if they sold herbs (and showed them my empty bottle) – they said no, but directed me to the nearest Chinese Herbal Shop. I found it easily thanks to their directions, and was able to get a new bottle – hopefully having the herbs again will help with my energy and anxiety levels (which have been flagging and peaking a little bit, respectively).

Lunch in Chinatown - Honey Chicken in the shape of the kids' initials (and Caitlin ate that entire plate of pork and noodles herself!)

From Chinatown we walked up to Darling Harbour, playing near or on several of the water features on the way. Halfway there we found a magnificent playground, one of the best I’ve seen, so we stopped for a play. There were amazing climbing features and big wide slides – the biggest one was designed so that the kids kind of rock climbed and/or used a rope to climb up to the top. There was a flying fox and swings – my favourite bit was the water play area which had streams of water running between man made rocks, with gates that you could swing or lift up to divert or trap the water – Caitlin and I had a quick play before we left, I’d love to go back and spend hours there!

Water features at Darling Harbour

We reached the water at Darling Harbour just as it was starting to get dark, so we saw all the lights reflected in the water, it was beautiful. We went up to the shopping area (Caitlin really wanted to check it out) and had a bit of a browse then bought Danish ice cream and sat on the steps overlooking the water. Caitlin and I popped back in briefly to buy a birthday present for a friend.

We headed back to the car, rather tired, and when we got there I realized I’d lost my water bottle somewhere – feeling a bit sad about that as I’ve had it over 5 years and I really loved it. From there we drove to my brother’s place in Balmain (which is the reason we took the car into the city rather than public transport, as we needed to get to Balmain and then home to Dural afterwards). He lives in an apartment overlooking the ferry terminal and where the tugboats dock, with a view of the top half of the Sydney Harbour Bridge – a great location. We had a lovely baked dinner, and great company from P and C.  The lamb we ate was from C’s parent’s farm and was delicious and tender. We played Chinese Whispers with hilarious results and some of us met C’s very shy cat (a beautiful Burmese Blue who hid under the pillows as soon as we arrived). P showed us (LiAM in particular) their video of when they went snorkeling with whale sharks and we shared travel stories and other news.

Back to our cabin quite late and crashed straight away – feeling a little sad that in the morning we’ll pack up and begin our 2 day journey home. 

NSW Trip - Day 18

I was up early this morning to do my monthly shift on the Breastfeeding Helpline – I had thought about swapping but that’s always a bit tricky and being an early morning shift (6-10am) it was easy enough to fit it in to our holiday, especially on a morning when we weren’t leaving to go to the next place. I took 8 calls in between hanging out with the kids and Tony, and they watched tv and used their activity books and played with Millie’s birthday toys.

The rest of the morning was spent in the caravan park, catching up on a bit of housework/laundry, and playing. The kids rode their scooters and played in the playground.

After lunch we got ready and went to Homebush Aquatic Centre. This was intended to be Millie’s birthday activity, but the Centre wasn’t open on the long weekend Monday, so we postponed until Tuesday. I had taken the kids here 2 ½ years ago and everyone was excited about going back and playing at Splashers and on the slide.

We arrived just before the water play area was turned on, so started off in the small pool and then went into the rapids pool for a couple of rounds. Caitlin was the first person down the big slide when it opened, then LiAM then me – it was a bit scary but lots of fun. It was especially exciting for LiAM because he was only just over the height limit of 120cm so it was the first time he’d been able to go on this slide. For the next couple of hours we all moved between the little pool with fountains, the adventure water playground, the big slide, the rapids pool, the spa and the lap pool. The rapids pool was a lot of fun – a channel of water that is running fast enough to propel you around without having to swim – and it was also really exhausting. LiAM really loved (as always) the massive bucket of water that tips onto the roof of the play area and splashes over in a huge wave. Tony thinks it would hold about 500L. Everytime the bell rang to warn it was going to tip, LiAM tried to get there in time to be dumped on. Sometimes he sat there waiting for it in between times so he didn’t miss it. Millie used the warning bell to help make sure she was far away in the other direction before it tipped. I was starting to wonder how long I wanted to stay and what inticements I could offer the kids when it was time to get out, when all of a sudden the water was turned off, and the lifeguards asked everyone to get out of the pool. They said it was a water quality issue (probably translation – a bit of poo leaked out from someone’s nappy into the water) – I saw them cleaning it up and it looked like a very tiny amount – but it meant that we were out of the water so it was time to get dry and dressed. Afterwards we went upstairs for hot chips, and on the way out we stopped briefly to watch the divers training on the big diving boards and high platforms – quite impressive.

On the way home we stopped and picked up some groceries for dinner and Tony cooked a lovely butter chicken type meal. We watched some TV and had another very quiet evening.

NSW Trip Day 17: Sydney

Millie’s 5^th Birthday!!!!!

Millie woke up fairly early and came and jumped into bed with me for some birthday cuddles, then went and snuggled with Tony for a while, then Caitlin joined them. The girls got dressed in their party dresses and Caitlin did Millie’s hair, then they played with Millie’s puzzle gifts from last night until LiAM woke up. We all jumped on the bed for present giving – Caitlin gave her a loom bracelet in a design that she hasn’t made for anyone else, and a Lego Friends penguin set. We gave her a plush magpie toy, a pop cake maker (and Caitlin gave her special sprinkles to use when decorating the cakes), a Barbie doll with chalk she can use to change the colour of her hair, and Tony’s old iPhone for her to use like an iPod Touch. She said it was the best birthday ever and was so excited about ALL of her presents.

 

Dressed for a party day with her new iPod Touch

Playing with Colour Chalk Barbie

On Saturday morning Millie had woken up before sunrise and I had wanted to sleep in, so Tony took her for a drive and they had breakfast at McDonalds and had a play at Blacksmiths beach. When I asked Millie what she wanted for breakfast for her birthday she wanted pancakes at McDonalds, so we decided to go to Maccas for breakfast as a very special treat. I knew there was one at Thornleigh, about 20 minutes away, so we went there without checking to see if there was one at Dural, only a few minutes down the road – found out later that we are very close to one so the morning could have been a bit less hectic – but it was a fun morning anyway (just a bit tiring). The kids all had hotcakes and frozen drinks and Tony and I had McMuffins and hot drinks and it was a fun atmosphere to be in. The playground there was huge so after eating the kids had a long play, including playing hide-and-seek with some other kids. After a while Caitlin and I popped down the road to buy Millie’s birthday cake and some other groceries, then we picked up the others and headed back to our cabin.

Happy at McDonalds

Caitlin went down to the tennis courts to play with some kids she’d met yesterday and LiAM and Millie played with Millie’s presents. It had been a beautiful sunny morning, then while we were getting lunch ready it started pouring – a bit of a concern since our afternoon plans involved going to a playground with friends – the clouds were moving fast though and the rain passed (then there was more, which also passed, and so on through the afternoon…)

We decided to risk the weather and went to Ruddock Park in Westleigh, which has a pirate ship to play on, and a bike track for the kids to ride their scooters. We were met there by my wonderful friend K and her two kids who are now 11 and 13 and SO much bigger than last time I saw them. T had a football so all the boys and some of the girls played football for a while, in the sun and the rain. We had Millie’s birthday cake with K and the kids – a Freddo Frog ice cream cake, which I had promised her as part of the compensation for not being at home for her birthday. It looked beautiful and she was quite excited about it – it tasted pretty good too. We were also joined by our friends A & N and their three kids (A is LiAM’s godfather – and I realized we’ve managed to see all of the kids’ godparents on this trip which is pretty special). Great to catch up with both lots of friends as its been 2 ½ years since we’ve seen any of them. They also had presents for Millie - more craft activities and activity books. Caitlin showed the other kids how to make some of her loom bands and they all played in the playground, and our kids rode their scooters.

Wet and happy at playground

Back to the cabin feeling rather wet and tired and happy, and decided to have a quiet night in rather than going out again. Tony and the girls went and got some pizza, from a restaurant that Tony said was one of the fanciest he had ever seen, and not one that you would expect to sell takeaway pizza. LiAM and I played cards while they were gone, then we ate pizza and watched TV and had a very low key evening.