Ocean Grove Trip

I hadn't done much preparation for our camping trip (we've been quite busy lately, and I'd just spent the weekend in Sydney for my sister-in-laws 40th), so we packed our clothes the night before, I put the awning canvases and the tarps back on the trailer the night before, then we did the rest on the Tuesday morning before we left and were away by 11. We got petrol and came back for a few things we'd forgotten, then were properly on the way by 11.30.

I stopped just out of Geelong because I was feeling pretty tired. I had a snack and walked around a bit, then the kids got frozen slushies from Hungry Jacks and we bought some fruit and veg from a little shop at the roadhouse. We continued on and reached Ocean Grove a bit after 2.

3 of the other homeschooling families we were camping with were already there, and another family joined us each day then went home of a night (they only live half an hour away). I set up the tent while the kids played with their friends, then the kids all did the watermelon challenge - putting rubber bands around a watermelon until it explodes. The top of the melon cracked and popped open and it felt like a bit of a let down, so the kids kept putting rubber bands on even though we thought it probably wouldn't explode now that the pressure had been let out. They put a few more on and it suddenly exploded upwards, covering one of the girls completely in watermelon and hitting everyone else, and spreading many metres out from the blast zone. It was hilarious and a lot of fun.

The kids rode their bikes and played in the playground and after a while LiAM and another boy went over to the beach (his mum and I went too). They built a big wall with a hole behind it that they tried to keep filled with water, as the tide was coming in the waves were filling the hole and knocking down the wall and things became more challenging. It was cold and windy on the beach, quite grey. The boys had a lot of fun and came home a little bit wet and very happy. The boy's family went home after we got back, they were only staying the one night as they had things on for the rest of the week, so LiAM was a little disappointed that his friend had left, although we will see them again soon.

I went to the shops to get food for dinner, we had hotdogs for tea in the camp kitchen. The others were around too, getting their own dinner and we chatted and played. After tea Caitlin went for a walk to the beach with the older girls, and the rest of us went to bed and read for a while, Caitlin came in not long afterwards.

It was sprinkling in the morning and I hadn't put the annex up because I thought it wasn't going to rain. I moved things that I didn't want to get wet and went to the camp kitchen for my cup of tea. Gradually everyone else woke up and wandered to the kitchen and we had breakfast, the kids played games and we had a nice easy morning as the weather cleared up. There was more playing in the playground and lots of bike riding, then in the late morning we all headed over to the beach. It was sunny by now, but the wind was still pretty cold. 2 of the older kids went out surfing, and I went in the water with my 3 kids and Amelie's friend. It was very cold, and the 2 younger girls soon went back to play in the shallow waves at the edge. Caitlin, LiAM and I went out a lot further - it was shallow for a very long way and the waves weren't big, it was fairly easy surf to swim in, just really really cold. The kids had wetsuits on so they coped with it a bit better than me. Eventually I felt like my reflexes were getting a bit slower because I was so cold so I went back and sat on the sand in the sun to warm up. The kids played in the sand and after a while Caitlin went back in with the older kids and was able to go out further to where the water was a bit deeper (and it wasn't as rough there as I'd feared). They had a go at boogie boarding but the waves weren't quite right.

Amelie had had enough of the sand after a while so she went back to camp with some of the others. Her friend's mum had brought kites along, and LiAM and the other younger kids flew them on the beach for a while, the wind was strong and the kites flew really well. We wandered back to camp and had some lunch, the kids played in the playground and rode their bikes and the mums sat and chatted. In the afternoon we went strawberry picking at a local farm, the strawberries were fresh and delicious and it was a lot of fun. Afterwards LiAM sat with me and the other mums and dipped all his strawberries in cream - very enjoyable.

We all had dinner together that night, a few of us went to get roast chickens and hot chips, and we had a bit of salad and stuff too and we all ate in the camp kitchen together (it was really well equipped, and had lots of little tables and a great big table which fit most of us around it (there were 13 people altogether). After dinner Millie's friends went to bed, and once it got dark the rest of us walked over to the beach to see if we could see the Aurora Australis - it was supposed to be a good night for it but it was cloudy and so not possible to see anything. The kids had a play on the sand in the dark and it was cool to be there watching the surf and the night sky. When we got back Amelie and I wandered off soon afterwards, everyone else went back to the kitchen for a games night and played cards and other games until about midnight.

It was raining again in the morning, a bit more heavily this time, so again I had my cup of tea in the kitchen and the others wandered in one by one. We had breakfast then played Racing Demons, which the kids had learnt the night before. After a while we switched to playing Burn, and some of the others joined us. Amelie went to play with her friends in the playground, and everyone else played Burn for a few rounds (9 of us) which was a lot of fun.

By now it was midday and quite sunny again. We all went over to Barwon Heads to get ice-cream - it was delicious! We wandered around the shops for a while, while Millie and her friends went to the playground, then the rest of us met them there. The playground was right on the river, overlooking the bridge between Barwon Heads and Ocean Grove, a beautiful spot to play. Caitlin and LiAM explored the sandbanks in the river then LiAM and I walked back into town so he could buy something from the bakery.

The older kids wanted to go to the lolly shop in Ocean Grove, and Amelie chose to stay with her friends on the condition we could go to the lolly shop again tomorrow. Caitlin and LiAM selected their lollies and I grabbed a few too, then we headed back to camp (with one of the other boys in our car, he'd been with us all day). The mums sat and chatted again at our campsite while the kids rode their bikes and climbed trees, and when Amelie and the others came back they played in the playground.  The others (except Amelie's friends) were leaving this afternoon so they finished packing up then we talked at the car while the big kids rode their ripsticks.

LiAM wasn't feeling well and had a nap and Caitlin crashed on the couch in the kitchen once everyone else had left. I cooked some dinner and the kids played, LiAM had a shower and then joined us as well. We had a relatively early night and read Harry Potter for a while.

It was sunny on our last morning so I went for a quick walk near the edge of the river then had my cup of tea at the tent. As the kids woke up they had breakfast then they went down to the kitchen to play cards while I packed up. Amelie's friend's Mum packed up as well, then she took all the kids down to the other playground while I finished off. We all met in the kitchen for lunch and then headed off. We drove over to Portarlington to the lolly shop there and met up with the family who'd been coming over each day. We bought our lollies then sat outside at a cafe with them in the warm sun and had the most magnificent milkshakes we've ever tasted. I reversed the trailer out of the tricky spot that I had parked in (feeling much more confident about my reversing now) and we headed to Geelong where we called in to see Amelie's friends again. The kids all had a wonderful afternoon playing with all their games and activities and I had more time to chat to their mum. We left around 6.30 which meant we missed the traffic on the Ring Road and had an easy trip home, arriving just after 8.30.

Half-lap Day 94: Kalbarri

I woke before sunrise and sat outside with the computer, gradually watching it get lighter. I’ve been having trouble with the keyboard again, since the first day at Shark Bay, so typing anything can take a while sometimes – I know how to temporarily fix it now, but it can start playing up again at irregular intervals and it is a little frustrating. Having the beautiful bush and river around me though helped me feel quite calm and peaceful even when the computer wasn’t working easily.

Millie came out and went to pat the goats. I mentioned that we were allowed to go in the goat pen, as long as an adult was with any kids – she was keen to go straight away, I suggested she have breakfast first, and wait for the other kids. She decided she wanted French Toast, cooked up in the camp kitchen – the idea of sitting on a couch, or around a large table, with real (non-folding up) chairs, really appealed to her. Tony took the food he’d need up to the kitchen – it is really well equipped (like staying at a backpacker hostel) so he didn’t need to take any cooking utensils. He made French Toast with bacon, and the other kids wandered up there too as they woke up. I sorted out our washing and had a good chat to the guy in the tent across the road from us – again getting a few tips about places to see, and sharing our love of these remoter, less populated campsites.

Breakfast was delicious, and the kids enjoyed playing in the communal area. They got out a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle from the cupboard and started working on that. We considered just hanging around at the station all day – we haven’t had a rest day for nearly 2 weeks and it is more tiring when we are really active every day. There was one thing at least that I wanted to see in the National Park so we decided to still do that, but not stay long in the Park, so we could come back and have a quiet afternoon. The kids had agreed to meet up with the kids from the station this afternoon as well, so they were keen to be back before 4pm.

I took the kids in to see the goats – there was a small goat kid lying in the sleeping area, and when we looked closer we realised that it had died. The kids were very sad, and we went to look at the rest of the goats a bit more somberly than when we’d first entered. The other goat kids were sleeping, some of the mother goats came over to us for a pat. After a while some of the kids woke up as well and everyone had a great time playing together.

We got ready to go out and headed for the National Park. We stopped at the entry station to get a new tag for our National Parks pass – ours appears to have blown out the door at Cape Range. (We had the receipt with the details on it from when we paid for the pass, so we didn’t have to pay again, just get a new tag.) This is our fourth National Park since buying the pass, so now we’ve saved money by buying it rather than paying day entry each time). Driving in was quiet pretty, there were wildflowers everywhere, purple, red, yellow and white. The road was sealed for about half the way, then dirt – it was a little corrugated in parts, and sandy occasionally, but the car handled it fine. We did unplug our fridge cord in case it was the bouncing around of the corrugations that blew the fuse last time (at Karajini).

Our first stop was Nature’s Window, which was the one thing I really really wanted to see in this area. As we approached the carpark we were amazed at the view – wide, deep gorges with sloping cliffsides leading down to the bottom. The rock layers were horizontal and obvious and the gorge sides looked like large cakes. The scale of the gorges was quite overwhelming. The walk down to the window was quite easy – and very pretty. We were up close to the wildflowers now, with the gorges and river in the background. At this point the Murchison River does a massive loop, as well as doing a hairpin turn on either end of the loop – so walking out to the lookout, we had a U-bend in the river on either side of us, and we were walking on a narrow isthmus (high up on top of the cliff, which dropped down to the river on either side. Except around the area of Nature’s Window the cliff top wasn’t so narrow that it was scary. Beyond the window the high land widened out again and filled the whole circle of land within the loop.

View of the gorge as we approached it

We reached Nature’s Window and clambered around to get a good view – it is a natural hole in the rocks, large enough to stand in, and it frames the view of the river quite nicely. I was excited to see it and to take photos through it – I always love framing my shots with something like a tree branch or a rock, so having a ready-made frame on all 4 sides of the shot was quite cool. The kids loved it there too, looking at the river and the cliff faces and the birds and the flowers. We saw 6 emus down on the grass next to the river, and several bushes that also looked like emus – again, the natural features of an area often imitate the shape of the local animals (or perhaps the other way around). There was a walk that went right around the loop, 9km and at least 5 hours – we’d decided not to do it but once I was there I really wished we had the time and the energy to attempt it, it would have been amazing.

At Nature's Window

The layers in the rocks were quite obvious up close as well as from a distance – like some of the other places we’ve walked (Karajini, Kings Canyon) the vertical layers wear away so the layers themselves make natural steps. The layers here were very thin, only a couple of centimetres high, so the steps were quite shallow. We hung around at the lookout for ages, then wandered back along the path. The kids and Tony raced back, and I took my time, enjoying the wildflowers and the view from different perspectives.

We had lunch at the picnic area back at the carpark, then everyone was happy to go back to camp. Driving into the station we could see the river winding through the land towards the coast (we were only 13km from the ocean here), large sloping cliffs that were whiter as they got closer to the sea. There was also a large green grassy area that looked like a natural ampitheatre in among the high river banks – it was a long way away and we weren’t sure if it was grass or crops or what, but we loved looking at it.

Back at camp Tony took the kids in to see the goats again, while I got a few things organised. One of  the kids kept ‘hugging’ Caitlin, and then tried to eat her hair. The little ones are so cute, its great watching them play. Tony went in to town to get some food for dinner and to organise our accommodation in Perth. The kids and I had a bit of a play with the totem tennis and Caitlin practiced walking on the rolling barrel, as well as showing Millie how to do it – she was pretty good!  Caitlin told one of the station managers about the little dead goat, and the lady took Caitlin and LiAM in with her so they could show here where it was, then she organised for someone to remove it. The station children arrived home and I left the 5 kids all playing together with the totem tennis and the barrel, everyone looked very happy. I had a bit of time at the tent by myself which was nice and relaxing.

Tony decided to take advantage of having an oven in the camp kitchen, and made sausage rolls. LiAM and I went to the kitchen with him,  I played cards and he worked some more on the 1000 piece puzzle. A couple of horses walked past the window – they walked all the way down past our tent and LiAM and I ran around trying to find Caitlin so she could see them. She was playing with the girl from the station, who started to call the horses so they’d come back up – Caitlin did get to see them when they wandered back past. She and Millie played with the girl for a while longer on the ipad and with the tennis pole. Once she went inside they joined us in the kitchen and helped LiAM with the puzzle and Tony with cooking tea.

The sausage rolls were delicious – Tony hasn’t made them for ages and he’s so good at it. While we were eating, the lady from the family who had just set up next to us came into the kitchen. We’d seen them out at Nature’s Window today, they looked like a relaxed and fun family, with 2 little boys. We chatted to her for a while and discovered they lived not far from us (Park Orchards) and she knew some people in Healesville – she listed them and we know some of them as well.  Tony offered to bring down any leftover sausage rolls to them, and she said we were welcome to join them at their campfire. Tony had cooked apple pie for dessert – we ate it with ice cream and it was magnificent. We did a bit more of the jigsaw puzzle, then cleaned up in the kitchen and Millie and I went to have a shower. Caitlin joined us after a while and we also ran into our neighbour again. We walked back down to the campsite with her and she invited us to their campfire again, we offered to bring marshmallows.

We had a very pleasant evening chatting to our new friends. We have a fair bit in common (similar interests and lifestyles and beliefs) so had lots to talk about apart from comparing trip details. As we talked we discovered even more people who we know in common – the guy used to play cricket with some of the guys from Tony’s baseball club. Their littlest boy was asleep, and their 5 year old stayed up chatted and played with our kids. The kids all roasted marshmallows, then LiAM talked to him a lot about Star Wars and they played with his toy light saber. Caitlin played with them and talked to the adults, Millie played with them then snuggled up on Tony’s lap once she got tired. Our friends shared a bottle of scotch with us, it was really lovely sitting and drinking and chatting and laughing around the fire, even when it sprinkled rain occasionally. It was a much warmer evening than the night before and sitting outside felt really comfortable. We could see the goats in their pen and they were often awake and walking around, even the kids – we weren’t sure if that was usual nighttime behaviour for goats or if they were up because we were up. Eventually everyone was very tired and we decided to call it a night – back at our tent we discovered it was 12.30! Definitely our latest night on the trip so far! No reading tonight, Millie was already asleep and everyone else bundled into bed pretty quickly and went straight to sleep.

Half-lap Day 63 - Fitzroy Crossing

All back in our own beds we slept a lot better, although Caitlin still didn’t feel great in the morning. She was improved on the day before though, and her thumb was feeling slightly better too. Our plan had been to stay the one night and then keep moving towards Broome, possibly checking out Geikie Gorge on the way – but the kids really liked this caravan park, and they were all quite tired (travel days wear us all out more than very active exploring days) so we decided to stay a second night. Another factor was that the Fitzroy Rodeo was on this weekend ‘the most exciting weekend in Fitzroy’ and some of us were quite keen to check it out.

We’d managed to put the tent in the perfect spot so that our table and chairs were in morning shade until after 11. We had a very relaxing and fun morning at the tent, we had breakfast then the kids played with the boy from the tent near us – they played cricket and with some circus equipment he had. Tony and I chatted a bit to his Mum. After they left for to go and explore, Tony, Caitlin, LiAM and I played Euchre, which the kids loved and I didn’t find stressful for the first time ever I think. Millie had just bought a new game on the iPad so she played that or played with her stuffed toys around us.

Once the sun was on us we were ready for a swim. I took the kids over and Tony started organising things for us to go out. The water was cool but refreshing – when Caitlin got in she started shivering again and needed to sit in the sun for a while. She was able to ease back in and swim for a short while, then headed off for a shower. LiAM and Millie and I played tag for a while then got out ourselves. Back at the tent we finished getting ready and set off for Geikie Gorge.

We’d read that this was the most accessible gorge of the Kimberleys. The road out was unsealed for part of the way but easy to drive on. Along to our left we started to see amazing dark grey rocks, like they were in vertical layers but seemingly one piece. They were different to anything we’d seen so far. We had a picnic lunch in the information gazebo at the gorge, and the kids chatted to the ranger about crocodiles and other animals. He gave them a book on identifying Western Australian birds, which helped us identify the nest we’d seen at Big Horse Creek (a bower bird) and some other birds we’d seen around. There was lots of information in the gazebo – a big board listing all the types of fish in the area (interesting to see how some of them differ a bit from their Northern Territory versions), boards showing the history and geography of the area, and markers showing the flood levels of the Fitzroy river in various years. On 2 occasions the flood water had been 2m above the roof of the gazebo! (It was nearly 3m high itself).

We briefly considered doing the boat tour then decided to save our money. We set off on our walk along the gorge. There were more of the dark grey rocks next to us, and we discovered that they used to be part of a coral reef, when this area was a sea. So they were limestone and weathered differently from other rocks. Many of the formations we saw reminded me of things I’d seen in caves, which makes sense because they are usually limestone as well. The other striking feature about this gorge is that the bottom half of the rocks, and of the red cliff on the other side of the river, is white, because the sand carried along in the water during the wet grinds away at the limestone and makes it white.

The white shows the level that the water usually gets too during the wet.

The river flows along the base of that cliff. We were walking on the other side of the river, where there was a large sandy area between the cliffs on our side and the current water level

The first part of the walk was quite difficult as it was all on sand. Millie was tired and I piggy-backed her for a while. Caitlin wasn’t looking well and we considered turning back, but she wanted to keep going so we took it easy. I went ahead with the big kids and Tony and Millie came at a slower pace. There were lots of cool trees to look at and we got occasional glimpses of the river. LiAM was checking out the rocks and plants and got a large number of burrs on his clothes. They were sticking in to him quite painfully. I started to pull them out and had several pierce my skin quite deeply – these were the nastiest prickles I’ve come across, even worse than the ones we used to get in Griffith. These were smaller and softer, but like small porcupines, there was almost no way to grab them without getting spiked, and there was one very long needle like thorn on each one. Eventually we were both free of burrs, by which time Tony and Millie had caught up. We reached the end of the track and had a beautiful view of the river, it was lush and green at this point (although it’s possible that most of the green stuff was weed…).

We had a quick look around at different views of the water and the cliffs, then headed back. LiAM was so keen to check everything out that he got burrs a few more times, not so badly though. Caitlin was getting tired so we were a bit slower on the way back. It was cool to see the rocks and cliffs from a different angle and notice different formations. We also saw a very old boab tree, with lots of leaves still on it, some yellow and some green.

Back at the start of the walk we saw a kangaroo, bigger than any we’ve seen for a while, foraging in the long grass. The kids had an icy pole each from the ranger station, then we set off back into town, having to slow for cows a few times as they wandered across the road in front of us.

We went straight for the rodeo, worried that we’d left it too late and would miss everything. The lady at the gate said that they were nearly finished, just doing the bull riding finals, so we could go in and watch and didn’t need to pay. We wandered over towards the arena and could see kids running around in it so figured we’d missed everything. We went closer so that Caitlin could see the horses in the pens nearby, and heard the announcer still talking – the rodeo itself was still taking place in the next arena, this one was more like a warming up/warming down area, so we excitedly went over there.

The riders for the finals were drawing the names of the horses and bulls that they would ride. We found seats in the stands and soon one of the marshalls came over riding along the fence so that kids could pat his horse. Caitlin was straight over there, and the others followed. He had a tassel off one of the bull riders outfits and asked if anyone wanted it – Caitlin was very thrilled to have a souvenir of the rodeo!

We were there in time to see the saddle bronc finals and the bull riding finals -  2 of the most exciting events. One of the horses in the bronc finals was very hard to catch after he’d thrown his ride and almost ran into the fence right in front of us – very exciting. There were some good rides and some near misses, and the hard-to-catch horse had fallen and rolled over his rider – no serious injuries though (he stood up and ran out of the ring). One guy got stuck on his bull and injured his arm, which was a bit scary to watch. There was a great atmosphere and it was so great to be there for part of something that is so important in this part of Australia. Caitlin looked out for her trail-ride guides as they do rodeo, she thinks she might have spotted one of them from a distance.

Our neighbours from the campground were there so we chatted to them and walked back to our cars together. We looked at the pens of bulls and steers and horses, and had to give way to a 3 trailer road train full of cattle as it left. The kids and I wandered around a bit more to see some of the horses being settled down for the night, including a Shetland. We got very muddy feet getting back to the car.

Back to the campground, where Caitlin and I went to the laundry to wash everyone’s shoes, LiAM and Millie went to our neighbours to play with the boy, and Tony cooked dinner. The man on our other side gave us some cup-a-noodles and soup that he didn’t want anymore. The kids came back and we ate together, then sat outside for ages, LiAM and Millie on my lap while we watched Music.ly videos on Caitlin’s phone, and Tony browsed accommodation options for when we get to Broome. After a while we headed in to bed, feeling very happy that we’d stayed the second day, and read a couple of chapters of Inheritance.

Half-lap Day 30: Elliott -> Daly Waters

It was warm all night so hard to get a good night’s sleep, but we all felt better in the morning anyway. Everyone was awake by around 7.30, and we had breakfast and started to pack up. The kids played with the kids from the caravan next door, Millie took her animal friends over there again, and LiAM and the little boy wandered around after the peacocks. We chatted to a retired nutritionist who is travelling around Australia for a few months by herself, and said goodbye to our friends next door. I saw the little frog again sitting on top of the soap shelf in the shower.

When I took the key back to have my deposit returned, Caitlin came with me to buy herself a slushie, and Millie saw a very cute unicorn that she wanted to buy. I tried to convince her to wait until we could find it somewhere cheaper, and she reluctantly agreed. The shopkeeper overheard our conversation and asked if she had to pay for it out of her own money, (yes), then said he’d put in $3 if she could pay the other $10, so she very happily bought it (after spending a bit of time deliberating over whether she really wanted that one or an equally cute seal). Caitlin saw a lady that she’s met a few times on our travels and we chatted to her briefly.

We were on our way just after 9.30, and with the windows down it wasn’t too hot in the car for a while. Before we left Tony and Caitlin had seen 3 kestrals swooping around together near our tent, and as we drove we saw many many more, sometimes in groups, sometimes alone. At one point we saw 2 birds up ahead eating some roadkill, right in the middle of our lane. The looked like crows from a distance. As we approached they didn’t move, even with Tony beeping the horn – and they didn’t seem to get any smaller. We realised they were wedge-tailed eagles – one of them flew off as we pulled into the other lane to go around them, the other one stood it’s ground. It’s so amazing to see them up close, they are SO big. We also saw a flock of red-tailed black cockatoos fly up from a tree as we passed. Today we saw our first 4-trailer road train too - they are long!!!

We only drove about 160km, and it was heating up as it got later in the day. We stopped at the Daly Waters HiWay Inn for petrol (and saw a 4WD with a spare tyre that had been torn to shreds) then drove in to the Daly Waters Pub. We were given a shady unpowered site and set up while the kids explored the caravan park. I went with LiAM to see if we could find the pool, none of us could see it. We chatted to the guy next to us, who had a Labrador and said the kids were welcome to pat him anytime.

Once we were all set up we all went to check out the pub – it’s full of items that have been donated by visitors – shirts, thongs, ID cards, hats, bras. There are funny outback signs everywhere and it has a great atmosphere. We found the pool out past the bar, and came back to get our swimmers. It was so great in the pool, the water was cool but not too cold, and there were shade cloths so it was possible to get out of the sun. There were several older couples hanging out in the pool, so we mainly stayed down the shallow end. Millie’s water confidence has grown so much in the last month. She jumped in and turned and swam back to the edge, then swam increasing distances to me or Caitlin or Tony or the edge. After a while she realised she could swim from the steps to the other side if I was there to catch her, and she swam back and forwards for ages.

Memorabilia at Daly Waters Pub

I got out after a while and read my book, then LiAM and I came back to the tent and played cards. The others returned after a while and we hung out here, playing cards and chatting. Our neighbours from Alice Springs arrived and we caught up on our journeys of the last few days. A bit after 5 we went back to the pub for happy hour, and met up with our neighbours from Devils Marbles. Their dog was there too, he’s an assistance dog so is allowed in the bar. We chatted to them, Tony and I had a beer (my first full beer in a very long time and it was great place to have it) and the kids had slushies. Once they’d finished they went back to the pool, where they met up with their friends from Kings Canyon. The kids all swam together for a while then Millie’s friend got out. I had a quick swim and Millie did more laps across the pool to me and back to the steps. Tony stayed chatting to our friends with the dog – they were sitting at the closest seat to the pool so it was easy for us to be in different places. I read my book once I’d had enough, and we bought some hot chips to share for tea – we got a double serving but it still wasn’t very much. They were delicious with the gravy though. The atmosphere in the pub was great, there was live music and lots of people there for the beef and barra bbq, and the water in the pool was a perfect temperature. We were the only ones in there for ages.

Eventually LiAM and I came back to the tent again, played cards and got ready for bed. The stars were incredible, a deep black sky with bright stars peeking through the gaps in the trees. Tony and the girls came later, everyone was exhausted and happy, so we got into bed as quick as we could and read for a short while.

Queenscliff 2015 - Day 1

Once again this year we went to Queenscliff for the weekend before Christmas, with Mum and Dad, and my sister and her family. We stayed in the same house and it was wonderful - LiAM said it felt like we lived there, and I felt like we'd come home. So great to be somewhere familiar that we all loved.

On Friday night (before we left) Caitlin was going to a sleepover and we were all going to see the new Star Wars movie (C at her party, and the rest of us together), so I had planned to be packed for the trip before we left for that at 3pm, so that we could leave early on Saturday morning. Friday was so hot however that I wasn't able to concentrate much on getting ready, and I couldn't get the food ready or clean up the kitchen because it was just too uncomfortable in the kitchen. So I got up early on Saturday to clean up and finish packing, and we didn't end up leaving until about 11. Extreme fire danger also meant that there was a bit of preparation to do around the house and yard before we left, and I dropped off our boxes of precious things to a friend's on the way.

We took 2 cars so that Tony would be able to come back for work on Monday morning. He took the kids and picked Caitlin up from her party on the way, then drove down to Sorrento, where he met his Dad who was driving down to Victoria for Christmas, and had decided to come that way so that he could see us on the way through. Tone and the kids left the car in Sorrento and caught the ferry across  to Queenscliff with his Dad - Millie saw her first dolphin in the wild, and Caitlin saw seals as well. The kids all enjoyed the ferry trip.

I drove around the long way, stopping to buy fresh berries and cherries on the way, and then stopped regularly to check out the fire situation, as there were a few fires around that I wanted to make sure I avoided. I stopped in Point Cook to do some groceries for the trip, and Mum and Dad (who had also left later than planned due to bushfire preparations) were not far behind me so they stopped and joined me for lunch. With all my stopping and starting I didn't get to Queenscliff until about 5, by which time it had started to rain and the temperature dropped around 17 degrees (it had been 40-44 degrees all the way down, it was around 27 when I arrived).

When I got there the kids were playing with their cousin, T, who is nearly 2. He was excited to see me and took me into the kitchen to show me the toaster - toast is his favourite food at the moment. It was so much fun all weekend to listen to him talking and share his excitement about EVERYTHING. Such a fun age.

We had fish and chips for tea while Dad, Tony and Caitlin played a cricket board game we'd bought down. I played Uno Spin with the other kids and we had a relaxing evening. I hurt my knee again while putting the fruit in the fridge, so spent a fair bit of time on the couch with an ice pack. Mum took the kids for a walk and Tony and I sat out on the verandah for a while. We could see the ice cream shop from where we were, with lots of people going in and out and eventually decided we would join the crowd. It was packed, and the ice cream was delicious. The kids were home when we got back, they'd had a paddle in the edge of the ocean, and were happy to just share our ice cream, with the promise that we'd get them some more tomorrow.

F, Caitlin, Tony and I played another board game - a wine game that I'd given Tony for christmas last year. It was fun, and the conversations we had were hilarious (mainly due to my tired brain mixing up words). Caitlin and F won, using some clever strategies. Millie fell asleep on my lap and LiAM took himself to bed. Caitlin decided to sleep in the front room by herself so took herself off and read her book until she was tired enough, and Tony and I crashed after a long, hot day.

Sydney Trip-> Day 1

Having packed the car the night before, we were out of the house by 9.20am which is impressive for us. We stopped off at Ringwood Library to return some DVDs and borrow a pile of audio books to listen to in the car. We made it to the city in plenty of time and after some minor hassles sorting out payment for parking, we were at Caitlin’s audition just before 11.

The audition (for a short film being made by a 2^nd year Uni student) went well and all 3 kids seemed to make an impression. On our way out of the building the alarm went off and the building was evacuated. When we reached the street there were 2 fire engines and lots of firemen so it appeared that it was not a drill. Caitlin overheard someone saying that a hot water pipe had burst. We waited outside for a little while to see if anything exciting happened, and started chatting to the girl who was auditioning after Caitlin. Another lady came over and said she’d overhead me say that we were homeschooling, and that she had homeschooled hers and loved it. The mother of the other auditioner said that she was also thinking about homeschooling, so we chatted about that for a while and exchanged details.

The kids were keen by now to get going on our trip, so we left the excitement of the emergency and started to head north. We stopped in Thomastown for Hungry Jacks (for the girls) and Red Rooster (for LiAM and I) – they were conveniently located next to each other, and sat in the car near a bike track to eat.

Then finally onto the Hume Freeway where we really felt like we were on our way to Sydney. I was quite tired and the kids were happy to have a break from the car, so we stopped after about an hour at Grass Tree rest area. There was a walking trail which we walked around, and saw lots of grass trees that looked more or less like Grug – which was pretty cool. Lots of wattle trees as well, so they collected some wattle blossoms and compared all the grass trees to Grug, and everyone felt refreshed when we got back to the car. After another hour we stopped for a toilet break at Mokoan rest area, and did another short walk – this time just along between some trees and a field, so not as interesting but a good break. The girls needed another toilet break a while later, so we stopped again, and talked to some girls whose car had broken down. It looked pretty serious, nothing simple that I could help with, so we wished them luck and moved on to Wodonga.

We reached Wodonga around 4.30 and everyone was happy to stop for the night. We got a budget cabin at the Big 4 and the kids went exploring (jumping on the jumping pillow and patting the dogs in the dog off-lead area) while I had a cup of tea. It was cold outside (had been all day, a very icy wind blowing) so everyone came back fairly quickly and we played cards for a while, then went out to find a supermarket to get supplies for tea.

I’d promised the kids hotdogs for tea, so I cooked those and fried myself some onion and kabana, and we ate them and then Magnums for dessert. The kids played a superhero/supervillian game for a while, then everyone got into bed and I read Eldest for a while. Caitlin was missing Tony who normally rubs her back before she goes to sleep – Millie moved her sleeping bag into Caitlin’s bed and rubbed her back for her which was very sweet.