Brisbane Trip Day 28: Newcastle

Once again I was up first and went for a walk to the beach. The water was clearer today, less seaweed and no muck. It was sunny and beautiful in a different way to yesterday. There was one surfer in the water and I decided to go in - the undertow was strong and the waves were breaking fairly close to shore. I thought about going past the break but didn't feel confident given that I was there on my own. I stood in waist deep water for a while and it was lovely, then hopped out and kept walking. I walked to the end of the beach and all the way out to the end of the break wall. There was a big swell coming into the channel - it was really cool to see the waves from behind as they rolled past me. There were some good splashes on the edge of the break wall but nothing really breaking over onto the path.

I chatted for a while with a couple and their dog (the dog didn't want me to come too close to it's humans, until we started talking and then it came over to me for a pat and was quite happy), then wandered back home. I had a shower and some breakfast and chatted to the kids as they woke up.

At 10 an old friend from BHP came to visit, we sat out the back and talked for a couple of hours, it was fantastic to spend some time with him. After he left I tidied up a bit, talked to a friend from home on the phone, then we had lunch and got ready to go out to see another friend (Caitlin's godfather).

We drove down to his house in Wyee and had a lovely afternoon chatting, looking at his garden and the work he's done in the yard, talking politics and lots of other topics. The kids played with his girls and came in and out of our conversation. They played Uno and hide and seek and read books and played with stuffed toys, then Amelie and his girls watched TV until we left. Just as we were getting ready to go his wife came home from work, I'm so glad we got to see her as well.

Back home and the cousins were out at the beach so we relaxed for a while, when they came home the kids played on the trampoline and chatted. The youngest cousin was here and she and Amelie danced to Moana again. My BIL set up a fire in the backyard and the kids sat around that and ate their dinner, some went inside afterwards to watch tv together, some stayed outside. I chatted to the other adults and it was a lovely quiet evening. After the little one and her mum and brother had left, the kids all stayed inside and my BIL sat outside near the fire until quite late, talking about lots of deep topics. I had thought about packing some of our stuff tonight, then decided the conversation was more important.

Brisbane Trip Day 22: Brisbane

We had another quiet morning, chatting, playing with kittens, playing Roblox, watching YouTube, I did some work with my photos. Caitlin and one of the girls wanted to go shopping again, so I dropped them off at Riverland in Ipswich, then I went to Jaycar to get a new cable for our USB charging box for the car – it stopped working when we were on our big trip and I’ve been using the fan charging cable ever since. The guy there was very helpful – looked at it and said it might be the fuse, so checked it, changed the fuse for me and charge me 40c. I got back in the car and it worked again – very happy! I got petrol and milk and headed back home for a cuppa with my friend.

The girls were ready to come home around midday, and we decided to all go into Ipswich and meet them there and have a play at Queens Park. My friend took the boys and picked the girls up at the library, Amelie and the oldest girl and I went in my car. We were almost there when it started raining, so I popped back home to get my clothes inside – I want them dry when we leave tomorrow. Back to the park where we found the others. It was a very cool playground. The girls borrowed my camera and took some modeling type shots, they had a lot of fun. Caitlin and one of the girls were wearing the same coloured skirt, they looked good together. Caitlin had found some high-heeled boots at the op shop so was very happy to finally get some.

It started raining fairly heavily and we moved under a gazebo to have some sausages and cake for lunch. Liam’s shorts had got caught on the flying fox so I rummaged in the car to find more pants for him – most things were at the house but I managed to find something acceptable. As the rain eased all the big kids went back out to play, and Amelie danced for my friend and I – to Shake it Off and You Belong With Me. It was pretty awesome.

We wandered across the road to the Nature Reserve where there is a free animal zoo. We saw wallabies, wombats, snakes, lizards, turtles, bilbies, spinifex hopping mice, and birds. Very cool. At the end of the walkway is a petting zoo where we patted a steer, a sheep, and looked at some goats. It was a lot of fun.

The boys and Amelie went back to the park and the rest of us went to look for the Japanese gardens. At first we went the wrong way and found an orchid greenhouse which was quite pretty. We located the gardens and had a wander – pretty paths and bridges and trees and ponds and streams and lilies. There were lots of water dragons – at one point we saw 12 on the same area of grass. We even saw some swimming which was a bit exciting. There were turtles in the main pond who swam right near us.

My friend left to take one of the girls to dancing, and I went back to the park to collect the boys and Amelie, the other girls followed soon after. After a bit more of a play I did 2 trips to take everyone home. I had a cup of tea and relaxed for a little while, then started on sorting out the car – getting all the rubbish out of it and reorganizing things so I could put our bags back in. Once that was done I packed all our bags and got everything together inside so we wouldn’t forget anything in the morning. It took a bit longer than I’d hoped but really wasn’t too hard. One of the girls cooked dinner and I did get to sit and relax once I was all packed. The boys played more Roblox (they had 2 ipods connected to the xbox so they could all play the same game), Amelie watched YouTube and the big girls did yoga and gymnastics together. They made up some 2 person yoga positions, then the boys came outside and they started to incorporate them into the yoga as well, and ended up with a 5 person position. It was really cool to watch them work it out, come up with the ideas then play around with who should be where, and adjust as necessary. The mozzies drove us inside after a while.

My friend came home around 11 so we had a bit of a last chat before I headed to bed, everyone else went fairly soon as well as we all have an early start in the morning.

Brisbane Trip Day 19: Brisbane

Amelie and I were up early, I did some stuff on the computer and she watched YouTube videos. The boys had stayed up playing Roblox for most of the night, so they were unlikely to wake until much later. I had a chat with my friend and then left the kids (most still sleeping) with her while I went into Ipswich to meet another friend for coffee - someone I'd met in Seattle, and I hadn't seen her since her now 18yo son was 3 weeks old. We sat and chatted and had a chai and caught up on lots of stuff - mainly current things rather than filling in the last 18 years, but there was a little bit of that too. The morning went really quickly and we were there for about 3 hours!

I came home and found all the kids awake. My friend was watching TV in one of the bedrooms and I joined her in there, we started talking and turned the tv off, and she and I stayed there for the rest of the day. The kids came in and out - especially the big girls, at one point we had all 3 of them lying on the bed with us - and they joined our conversation or talked about other things, showed us some YouTube videos, asked us questions. Amelie came and snuggled for a while then wandered off. We watched The Huntsman:Winter's War, which I hadn't seen before and really loved. My friend had to pop out to help another friend for a little while, when she came back we continued hanging out and chatting on the bed. Her partner cooked dinner and after Amelie had eaten she came in and watched Pokemon while we talked, then she went back out where the boys were playing Roblox. The kittens were in and out as well and we spent time playing with them on the bed. It was a lovely, really nurturing and fun (and funny) afternoon, I felt great and very happy. We eventually wandered out to the kitchen and had some dinner ourselves, did a bit of food organising and chatted some more and headed off to bed when we were ready. Amelie slept with me because she'd seen something scary on TV, the other kids are finding a bed in the lounge room wherever they can and everyone is loving the communal space.

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 70: Broome

I was up a little before sunrise and the pool looked so inviting that I went in for a quiet swim. I didn’t feel like doing laps, I just floated around and enjoyed the water. After I got out I was still the only one up and really felt like seeing the beach, so went for a drive by myself. There was a half-marathon and 10km run happening on Cable Beach when I got there (the half-marathon was under way, and the 10k run started while I was there) so I watched people get organised for that, then went down to the rocks with my camera and took some photos and wandered around. I saw a fairly large crab which scuttled under a rock as I got close and I could only see one pincer, lots of little crabs, and some great clouds out to sea, it looked like it was pouring rain out there and the water was grey, the first time I’ve seen it not being blue.

I went for a swim – early morning ocean swimming is possibly my favourite thing to do. There were a few other people in the water so I stayed close-ish to them because the beach wasn’t patrolled yet. The water felt soft and silky and not cold at all. The sky had been cloudy and the sun burst through while I was in the water, it was amazing, so beautiful.

I headed back to the tent where everyone was up now and having their breakfast. We chatted and played some games, the kids rode their bikes, then we headed to the pool. Again Tony took the kids over first and I joined them after a while. Our friends from home were arriving today and the kids kept asking when they’d be here, I didn’t know how far they’d be driving today so my best estimate was somewhere between 11am and 3pm, probably.

We were swimming at around 11.15, while checking out every new van that came into the caravan park, when we saw our friends drive in!!! Everyone got out of the pool and went to welcome them. Their site was very close to ours, only 2 cabins and a road in between us, and on an angle so that we can see each other’s van/tent. I made them a cup of tea and we helped them set up, while everyone tried to catch up on everyone’s news. The kids (ours and theirs) were so excited to see each other and all the adults felt relieved at having people to talk to that we really know.

The big kids went for a swim, and the 2 youngest girls played with their soft toys in our tent. The adults chatted for a while longer, then we left them to get things organised, washing, getting stuff out of cupboards etc (they’d had an ant infestation the night before). After a while the younger girls wanted to swim too, so I helped them get ready and took them to the pool, my friend joined me there. We sat and watched the kids swim, chatting to each other and to the kids when they cam over. I had a swim while she went and hung her washing, and played with some of the kids. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on the sunlounges in the pool area, watching the kids, talking lots, drinking tea (made by her husband). Once all the kids were out of the pool (they’d been coming and going all afternoon) we went back to her caravan and had another cuppa and some biccies and dip and she showed me her diary book of their trip. The guys were at our tent having a beer, and the kids were between sites and exploring on their bikes.

Tony cooked dinner while he was chatting, and when it was ready we sent all the kids back to their own sites so that everyone could eat. After dinner our friends bought their chairs over and we had another cuppa and talked more about our trips, and about the books we’ve been listening to and reading and would like to read. The kids played minecraft together on their ipads, all very excited to have a large group to play with. We were starting to wrap things up when stuff dropped out of the tree above us – we’ve had little seeds dropping on the tent for days (Caitlin said the birds were picking them and dropping them on her head earlier in the day), this time there were seeds and also liquid. We shone the torch into the tree and found a bat hanging there, very cute and a bit perplexed at having bright light shone at him. We moved the chairs out of his way and then everyone went back to their van. We saw them again as we all went back and forth to the toilet, then we settled into our tent for another chapter of Inheritance.

Half-lap Day 24: Finke River -> Alice Springs

We were camped quite near the highway and we throughout the night we could hear road trains coming for a minute or two before they actually came past. The noise would gradually get louder and then it would be like an aeroplane going past, and then it would recede over the next couple of minutes. It wasn’t too disturbing though, there weren’t a lot of them and in between it would be completely quiet.

I was up in time to see the sunrise, I went down to the river and watched it slowly come to light and enjoyed the reflections in the water and the incredible peacefulness. I saw a few tour buses pass over the bridge on their way to Uluru – would have been an early start from Alice Springs! As the morning went on we saw many army trucks going south, big trucks carrying lots of supplies – and 2 of them were carrying tanks! That was pretty exciting to see.

Early morning on the Finke River

As we were packing up the tent we found a tiny scorpion inside it, running along the floor near the wall. We all watched him for a while, then I scooped him up in a cup (I did squish one of his pincers as I tried to catch him) and threw him outside (away from the tent). We chatted to our friends about the Ernest Giles track (I was thinking we might leave the trailer and just drive back in the 16km to see the meteorite crater) and they said it was the worst road they’d ever driven on, corrugated all the way with no respite. We decided to give it a miss, if they struggled in their huge 4WD. The other couple had broken several things on their van and both of them said everything they had was covered in red dust.

An extra camper in our tent

The kids wandered off to explore while we finished packing, then I went to take them down to the river while Tony put the last things on the top of the trailer. I found them talking to another family, a mum with 2 boys. We chatted for ages, and Tony joined us after a while with everything packed up and trailer attached and ready to go. Eventually I took all 5 kids down to the river, the water was beautiful and they were soon all completely wet (in their clothes, but since it was a hot sunny day, and fresh, flowing water, I wasn’t worried). They played in the water and in the sand, which was a bit like quicksand in parts, it was easy to sink in up to the knee. I waded around a bit then found a shady place to sit and watch them and enjoy the location. Tony joined me after a while and then the other mum and we chatted and the kids played for a couple of hours. It was a pretty magical way to spend the morning.

Swimming and exploring the sand in the Finke River

We got everyone out of the river and headed off around 1pm. We’d planned to stop at Stuarts Well for fuel and lunch, but the kids had had a sandwich before we left and Tony and I were happy eating in the car, and we had enough fuel to get to Alice Springs, so decided not to stop. There was a camel farm though that the kids wanted to see, so we pulled in to check out the camels, and an emu who was being amorous with the fence, a dingo on a chain and some birds. Not the greatest animal place we’ve seen so far.

There were several ranges of hills that we drove past before reaching the McDonnell Ranges and then Alice Springs – a bit different seeing many hills after so much flat land. We drove in to Alice Springs through a gap in the ranges and it was exciting to be here. We checked out a campground which was only $11 a night, but none of us felt comfortable there and the reviews we read were very mixed so we decided against it. We were stopped by the police on the way in, who asked if we were going to the bottle shop or the campground – later when I saw police checking ID outside liquorland at Coles we realised that the police check ID before anyone goes into a bottle shop. I hadn’t seen that anywhere before.

We drove up Anzac Hill – a lookout over the city – to rest for a bit and figure out where we would stay. It was a cool place to get a bit of an idea of the layout of the town, and the kids thought we were going to physically look for caravan parks from up there – we did it the digital way however. There was a place out of town where we wanted to stay, we rang them but they were full, so we found a place in town that seemed all right and not too expensive. It seemed nice when we arrived, nothing special – it’s a fairly basic caravan park with everyone laid out in a neat grid, not much atmosphere but clean and quiet and a good place to rest for a few days.

I crashed when we arrived. Last time I arrived in Alice Springs I was overwhelmed and a bit teary and wasn’t sure what I wanted to do – I thought that was because I’d just been on a 20 hour bus ride from Darwin. But this time I felt exactly the same. It’s an odd place – part city, part country town, part regional centre, part cultural and arts centre, part violent and unsafe, part touristy, part multicultural, it’s hot and dry and sometimes stifling, it’s a remote town but so full of tourists that it doesn’t feel remote – I am reading Tracks by Robyn Davidson (a lady who came to Alice Springs, learned about camels and rode a camel train from here to the Indian Ocean) and she says that having the ranges so close to town drives everyone a bit crazy and I see what she means.

Tony recognized that I was not coping well so he sat me down and made me a cup of tea before we set the tent up. The kids explored the park a bit and eventually I was up to helping set up. We used the free wifi for a bit, I sorted out my washing, and then we went for a swim in the pool. The water was freezing and I just had a quick dip before I got out, Tony stayed to supervise the kids and I went to Coles to stock up on much needed supplies, and got a hot chicken for dinner. I enjoyed driving around the town and discovering where things were, I even went over the river to get some hot chips to have with our chicken (there are Indian food places everywhere here, but only 1 fish and chip shop. Shopping in Coles felt like shopping in Griffith, very multicultural and the food options available reflect that.)

We were in bed pretty early, read for a while then off to sleep, keen for a quiet relaxing day tomorrow.

Half-lap day 6: Hahndorf

Everyone slept solidly all night for the first time on the trip. Millie and I were first up and went on a walk to explore the caravan park a bit more in the daylight. We went and looked at the outdoor chess board (with no pieces) and then at the mini golf course. While we were discussing the animal statues in the mini golf, a guy came down and put the chess pieces out, so we had a game. We were surrounded by ducks and geese which was fun as well.

We had a rest day planned so spent it mainly hanging around the caravan park. Tony and the kids played a game of mini golf while I caught up on some bill paying and organising things that we hadn’t managed to get done before we left. Tony then went in to Mt Barker to organise a new mobile phone plan, and to look into more power options – our solar panels have been working to a point, but we’ve been worried that they won’t be able to maintain the fridge once we get into the hotter part of our trip – especially if we’re driving all day and they haven’t had a chance to charge the battery. So we bought the kit to set up a dual battery system in the car, so we can charge the battery on days we are driving, or days when we are camped. Feels like the best way to do it. 

The kids and I played a bit more in the games room. LiAM and I played air hockey and then fusball, I love playing air hockey SO much, and it’s so great to be able to play with the kids. They’ve all picked it up really quickly. I had a bit of a game with Millie too and she’s a pretty good defender. The kids then went up to the jumping pillow where Millie made some friends, and then decided that it was time for a swim. When Tony got back from town the kids all went in the pool – it was freezing but they really enjoyed being in the water for a while – then raced to have hot showers. Tony and the kids played some more in the games room and I read my book for a while. This was the first low paced day I’ve had in over a month, I’ve been so busy getting ready for this trip, and I kind of crashed a bit, really couldn’t find the energy to do anything much. It was lovely to just be able to sit and relax.

Tony took LiAM and Millie into Hahndorf to get mothers day and birthday presents for me, and Caitlin and I played mini golf. It’s quite a hard course and we had a lot of fun. On the way back to the tent she started chatting to a couple who have 2 dogs. They gave us some tips about a place to stay as we cross the Nullarbor, and talked about the coast of Western Australia. We drove in to town to pick up the others – I love driving through Hahndorf, with all the beautiful buildings and, at this time of year, the autumn colours. I loved looking at all the types of shops, even if I wasn’t going to go in any of them. Might go back and explore tomorrow. When we got back all the kids went up to play with the dogs and Tony went to the kitchen to watch the rest of the Collingwood game.

We had sausages, tomatoes and pasta for dinner, very tasty. The kids played some games on Caitlin’s iPad mini, and then went with Tony to play more air hockey. I read my book and made a phone call, Millie played on the computer, and then I tidied up and brought everything well in under the shelter, put away anything that might blow away as the forecast was for heavy wind and rain overnight.

Once all the kids were back we snuggled in to bed and read Brisingr for a while, then went to sleep quite quickly.