Brisbane Trip Day 35 - 38: Bimbi Park -> Home

The wind was strong on the first night - I was surprised that it didn't scare me, I usually am uncomfortable with wind. It was loud though and at times I was awake listening to it and hoping that everyone's tents were safe. (All the homeschoolers were fine - one hire vehicle that some backpackers were staying in ended up with a large branch on it, but no one was injured).

The heavy wind continued for all of the next day, then eased overnight which was a relief to everyone - it had most of the adults feeling a bit jittery and exhausted, although it didn't slow the kids down.

I was pretty tired after our 5 weeks away and was happy to sit at our tent up the back of the camping area and chat to whoever wanted to come to see me. I spent much of the first couple of days talking with our friend who was camped with us, and with others who came up to see us. It was great to sit and relax and not have to think too much.

The kids were very happy off with their friends. Caitlin and the rest of the teens wandered around the camp, played games, went for walks, sat in the lounge area of the camp kitchen, took lots of photos of themselves and each other, played on the swing, and forged stronger friendships. Liam and his friends chatted a lot about fantasy games and stories, played tag games, explored the camp grounds, and occasionally played on their DSs. Amelie played mainly with a couple of girls camped near us, they played with pokemon, did roadworks on the path in front of the other girls' tent, played mini golf and ran around a lot.

Various people had fires at night which were great to sit around and chat (for the adults) and the kids came back and forth with marshmallows. The boys played games with torches of an evening. Amelie was quite tired each night and ready to go to bed reasonably early.

On the 3rd day our campsite friend packed up and headed home - his son (Liam's friend) stayed in his tent next to us for the rest of the camp. One of Caitlin's friend's dads also went home, and the friend moved into our tent. Another of Caitlin's friends had his swag next to our tent (his dad had stayed the first night), so we had quite a tribe of extras with us.

Each of the kids and their friends spent time hanging out at our campsite, as well as at other campsites and in the kitchen. At one point all the teens and most of Liam's friends were at our tent, and someone started massaging someone's shoulders, which quickly turned into a massage chain - I had a great massage from Caitlin's friend.

On the 3rd evening I walked up to the top of the nearby hill, it was great to see the view from there and watch the sun head towards the horizon. There were glimpses of the ocean, and views of the forest in all directions. I was also able to get enough mobile reception to catch up on messages that had been sent while I'd been at camp - although this brought me back to the real world a bit and reminded me that our trip was nearly over which felt a little less relaxing than camp.

The next day I went for a longer walk by myself to the lighthouse. The walk itself was along a wide path, mainly through open fields, and occasionally through the forest. It was a sunny afternoon and quite a pleasant walk, although longer than I'd expected. I stopped to look at a tiny graveyard my friend had told me about, with the graves of adults and children from lighthouse families who had died while stationed there. The view of the ocean from near the lighthouse was quite beautiful. On the way back I ran into Caitlin and her friends doing the same walk as me. When they came back they spent time up on the top of the hill watching the sunset and taking gorgeous photos.

I spent several hours each afternoon sitting at my tent chatting to friends and drinking cups of tea. The weather was sunny and warm and it was a very pleasant way to spend the time.

On the last night the wind picked up a bit again and it started raining. I got up and sorted out the potential for leaks. Packing up in the morning was tricky with the wind and rain coming on and off. The kids hung out with their friends and I chipped away and the packing up, and we were ready to go around the middle of the day. I was taking home two of the other kids so we had to pack the car and the trailer differently, it was pretty crowded but we got everything and everyone in. Throughout the morning we said goodbye to people as they headed off and we said bye to the last few families before we went as well.

We drove home via the Great Ocean Road which was beautiful, although very slow because of the frequent roadworks. Coming through the countryside before Geelong someone indicated to me that there was something wrong with my trailer - I stopped and checked and one of the straps across the back had come loose and was dragging on the ground. I tied it back together with cable ties and secured the carpet and trailer again.

We had a fairly easy trip around Melbourne, and we stopped at Bundoora to drop Caitlin's friend off with family. The rest of us kept going and arrived home in the evening. Very exciting to see Tony again after so long, and to see the dogs and cat.

Brisbane Trip Day 34: Melbourne -> Bimbi Park

We all slept pretty well and were up in the morning to play with the kids and chat to my sister before getting ready to move on. I thought about unhitching and going to Aldi, then decided we'd just shop on the way. We left around 10.30 and headed through Melbourne, aiming for Colac. I noticed petrol was quite cheap but the service stations I saw were small and were going to be tricky to navigate with the trailer, so I decided to get top up after getting out of Melbourne.

We listened to Percy Jackson again and had a good run through Melbourne and out past Geelong. On the road to Colac we encountered roadworks and it became a very long trip along what is usually an easy, straight road. Eventually we arrived in Colac and stocked up on the groceries we would need for homeschool camp. While I was in the carpark I received a few phone calls and messages about Luna - she had been wandering overnight and had ended up with our neighbour, and another friend was looking for her to take her back to her place for a couple of days. I sorted that out as best I could, then went to get petrol, which was not cheap at all.

Heading out of Colac I was feeling a bit flustered as it was much later than I had hoped at this stage, and I followed a sign to The Great Ocean Road rather than following my GPS. I had planned to drive through Lavers Hill as this was the least windy road. We had been driving for a while, along a road that was pretty good, when I realised I had cut back across to the Skeynes Creek Road, which is the one I most wanted to avoid because of several hairpin bends and a steep descent to the ocean. By this stage it was too late to go back the other way so I decided to keep going and just take it easy. The wind was also quite strong and there were lots of small branches on the roads, which made driving a little more taxing.

The descent took a while (I took it slow) but it was manageable, and the tight turns were ok. I felt pretty good once I'd got to the bottom. There were great ocean views from time to time as we came down, and then we drove alongside the ocean for a while as we approached and left Apollo Bay. I was pretty tired by now and found the last little bit of the drive up to Cape Otway quite difficult. I drove fairly slow which was occasionally stressful when there were people behind me. As we drove down the Cape Otway road we came to more roadworks. While we were stopped, the lady with the Stop sign came along and pointed out some koalas to everybody, so most people got out of their cars to have a look. Back in the car we finally made it to Bimbi Park around 4pm.

I went to check in, and helped a friend negotiate the correct rate for her site (it defaulted to the base rate being for 2 adults, then added both children on to that price, rather than including the first child in the base rate). Caitlin wandered straight down to find her friends, and as I drove past the camp kitchen, Liam and Amelie jumped out to see friends as well. I drove down the back and found where I was camping with another friend, and he helped me get set up. Other friends were around as well and it was great to finally be there and get ready to relax for several days.

Once set up we wandered back to the kitchen for a quick meeting about the camp (mainly just asking us to be respectful of a visiting school group when they were praying), and saw a few more friends, then back to camp to finish getting organised - cook some dinner, have a cup of tea, chat with people as they wandered by. The kids were back and forth, playing with their friends and coming back to check in or eat every now and then. It was still very very windy which made things slightly less peaceful. I decided not to put my annex up until the wind died down, I did not want to spend all night worrying about it flying away. I chatted to my campsite friend until Amelie was ready for bed and then we went inside the tent, I read for a little while and then we tried to sleep and not get blown away.

Lorne Homeschool Camp 2016 - Day 1

I didn't sleep well the night before we left - I went to bed later than I'd like, and then as often happens I dreamt all night about getting ready and driving there and wondered how it was all going to work out. Once I was up in the morning though everything went smoothly. We didn't rush, all stayed calm and packed our clothes and the food and put it all in the trailer and car. The kids tried out their new camp beds in the lounge room before we packed them, everyone was quite excited about that!

We left around 12.40, a bit later than I'd hoped, still with plenty of time to get there and have a good afternoon. The trip down was quite uneventful, we counted horses and other animals and listened to music and chatted. The drive along the Great Ocean Road to Lorne was spectacular as always - and the kids had only seen it once before (4 1/2 years ago) on a cold, grey, rainy winters afternoon. This day the sea was a brilliant aqua, an incredible colour, and so so beautiful.

We arrived at the caravan park at 3.30 and went to set up our camper trailer. As we arrived we saw LiAM's friend K and were shown where his tent was, and as we drove to our site we saw some friends who we hadn't been sure were coming, so Caitlin was very excited. We could see other homeschoolers we vaguely knew, and other families who we assumed were also homeschoolers. As we were setting up, Caitlin's friend M arrived at our site. The girls helped for a little while and then I said they could go for a walk and see the beach etc. LiAM went with K to see his tent again. I finished setting up and M helped us with the camp beds (one of them takes a bit of strength to click into place) and then we all got into our swimmers and headed for the beach - just across the field from us.

The water was beautiful, not cold at all. Amelie mainly stayed on the sand and ran around for a while and started building a sand castle. Caitlin went in the water with M, and LiAM went in with K. They took their boogie boards in for a while, and then just swam without them.

The waves were only small (although slightly bigger than the previous 2 beaches we'd been to) and LiAM was quite comfortable with them. I had a bit of a swim then helped Amelie with her sand castle. Another little girl who we'd met once before came and helped us as well.

Amelie working on her sandcastle

I chatted to some of the other mums while the kids swam and eventually I left Caitlin with M and the rest of us went back up to the tent. When Caitlin had finished all the girls went and had a shower (LiAM was already changed). We played near the tent for a while and once everyone was ready we walked over to the shops - there was a Foodworks across the road from the caravan park. On the way we discovered an ice dispenser which turned out to be much handier than having to buy bags of ice from the supermarket. We got milk and a few other supplies and more snacks, then back to the tent where I cooked pasta and cabana and a tomato/silverbeet sauce. LiAM grated some cheese for me, and then everyone was able to eat whichever bits they liked, and everyone ate a lot. M came and joined us after tea, and helped us eat the Chocolate Bavarian we'd bought - I hadn't had one since I was a kid, and had been meaning to introduce it to mine for a while - I was quite happy when LiAM spotted it in the freezer. After dessert Caitlin went for a walk with M (who is 16 so I was happy for Caitlin to be with her even when I wasn't around) and we got ready for bed. It took us a little while to get settled, lots of excitement with sleeping in new beds, then finally all into bed and crashed pretty quickly.

Our campsite faced the Erskine River - this is the view from our site