Brisbane Trip Day 30: Sydney -> Blue Mountains

This was the most urban place we'd stayed in for a while - I was woken up by people on their morning walk going past the front of the house and talking loudly. It wasn't early though, probably around 7.30. We had a relaxed morning, hanging out in the kitchen/family room, eating breakfast and chatting and playing games. The kids spent some time on iPads and all the boys and Amelie played Minecraft for a while (although Amelie's world wasn't working properly) and we played Love Letters again, with people swapping in and out of the game as other things were happening. Our friend's daughter had dancing so she went off to that, and the boys all went with her mum to pick her up, bringing back a big box of delicious donuts from Grumpy Donuts. I was in the shower when they got back out, and returned to the kitchen to a very yummy treat.

Our hosts were going out around 11.30, so we organised to leave at the same time. I got everything in the car and locked the front door and just as I drove off remembered that I'd left my water bottle in the bed - I figured it wasn't worth the hassle of organising to go back inside to get it, so we gifted it to our friends.

We drove around and over the Harbour Bridge which was quite exciting, then I chose the wrong lane as I exited the bridge but still easily found my way to my brother's house in Greenwich. We parked on Greenwich Rd, finding a lengthy parking space fairly easily, and walked around the block to my brother's. His son was a little unsure about all these people coming in to his house, although he eventually played with Caitlin for a little while. When he wanted his Maman and Caitlin offered to go with him to find her though, he wasn't interested, he wanted Papa to take him. He went down for a nap before lunch.

My brother cooked the most magnificent steaks and sausages on the bbq, as well as some awesome chips and his wife made a salad, and we sat on the balcony to eat lunch. They had a friend over as well and she was fun and interesting to talk to. I had a great time catching up with all their day to day news and the kids joined in at times, and looked at the view or retreated with their iPods for a while. Their cousin woke up after a while and still wasn't keen on playing or talking with the kids, but did give them all a high-5 when we were saying goodbye.

We left a bit before 4 and the drive up to the Blue Mountains was quite easy. We pulled into a free camp at Woodford and discovered that all the vehicle camping is on the road, only tents can go on the grassed area (there are large rocks around the edge of the grass). At first I wasn't sure where we'd be able to set up, and we were thinking of getting out our little tents, then I decided I could probably manage to get the tent up in the one bay that was available (everywhere else I felt like the tent would be in the way of through traffic).

The bay was definitely big enough and I had no trouble backing in. I wanted to set up quickly so we could go to my friend's house (I'd said I'd be there around 6 and it was 5.30 when I unhitched). I had a moment of worry when I unhitched and the trailer rolled backwards - I caught it and managed to unlock the toolbox with one hand and get around to the wheels to chock them before it rolled any further. We did a very quick (38 minutes, including the beds) setup in hot, late afternoon sun. I was covered in sweat and very red in the face. The set up was a bit tricky too because half of the bay was asphalt so we couldn't peg all the corners down, so I used ropes on a couple of the corners. The slope was a bit inconvenient too so the tent looks a bit wonky - but for a short overnight stop it was fine. The zip decided to play up just as we were about to leave - I zipped up the fly door instead and we went to my friends.

We were greeted at my friend's house by her 3 legged dog who wasn't sure about these strangers in her house - she settled down after a while and spent a lot of the night licking Amelie and Liam's legs. We sat out the back and had nibbles and drinks and then a BBQ with sausages and chicken skewers. Great food and fantastic conversation. Both my friend's adult daughters were home and I loved catching up with them (I've known them both since they were born). It was a very relaxing and funny night. The kids spent some time looking at the birds and talking to one of the girls about them, and Amelie watched Beauty and the Beast (the new one). I remember watching the original Disney version with my friend in this same house, about 25 years ago! They had recently renovated their kitchen and changed some other things in the house so I was happy to see all the changes and we reminisced about what the house originally looked like.

We didn't leave until after 11 - Amelie was already asleep and everyone was pretty tired. It had been a very enjoyable evening. We drove back to camp and pretty much went straight to bed, all three kids were asleep within minutes.

Half-lap Day 110: Camperdown -> Home

There was heavy rain overnight and once again we were very grateful to be inside a house. We got up and had breakfast and chatted to our hosts, Millie had a shower and Caitlin made more videos on her iPad. Tony and his uncle had stayed up quite late the night before so Tone had a bit of a sleep in. It didn’t take us long to pack up as we’d brought even less inside this time than the night before – the only time consuming thing was the extremely steep driveway that we needed to walk down and up to get to the car and back (we’d left the car and trailer down on the street, there was no way we could go up the drive with the trailer on).

LiAM in particular was very keen to just get in the car and head home. We were on our way just after 10am, very excited to be on the very last leg of our trip. We drove through the beautiful and familiar countryside around Camperdown, with the stone walls and windmills and cattle and sheep. Driving through the little towns between there and Geelong we saw lots of tractor and harvester equipment. Mainly we noticed how often we came across a town – we’d become used to driving all day to get to the next town, and here they came up every 20 minutes or so.

We stopped near Geelong to get petrol and some hot chips from Red Rooster. The roadhouse was a bit a of a culture shock – the service station, McDonalds, Red Rooster and several other food outlets all shared the same building, and there were SO many people. We got our chips and were happy to be back in the car.

It was raining pretty hard for a lot of the way into and around Melbourne. There was more traffic than we had seen – well, since we’d left. One thing that stood out to us was the low number of caravans – we were used to seeing almost nothing but trucks and caravans, and here it was mainly cars and utes, we only saw 3 caravans between Geelong and the ring road.

Traffic was slow on the ring road, first because of lane merges, and then because of a very nasty looking accident near Sydney Rd. Eventually the traffic cleared and the last 45 minutes flowed easily. On our way we drove nearby several friend’s houses and gave them a wave as we went past.

One by one the kids recognised roads we were driving on and realised how close to home we were. Coming through Christmas Hills it was very exciting to see Yarra Glen spread out on the plain below – really felt like coming home. As we drove through Yarra Glen we noticed lots of houses had been built in the estate they were just starting when we left. It’s cool to live in such a beautiful place too – driving along the road to our house we could appreciate the beauty and not feel so much like we’d left all these fantastic places and now we were just at home – home is fantastic as well.

We arrived home just after 2pm and everyone felt happy and bit of disbelief – we’d made it! We were going to back the trailer in to the carport first so it was in position to unpack – then we saw Buckley and everyone tumbled out of the car to go and pat him. He was excited to see us and we were all so thrilled to see him. We let him come inside with us to check out the house – it looked so neat and familiar and strange and felt much bigger than I’d remembered. We hadn’t been home long when Winky came out to see us. The kids were so excited that she ran straight back in under my bed in fright – but did come out and gave us all a cuddle then hung around with us all afternoon, I think she was pleased to see us too. Later in the afternoon we saw our 3 remaining chickens and the kids reallocated ownership and names (they’ve grown since we left and we weren’t sure which chickens these were – they’ve got new identities now so it doesn’t matter). The mountains that are normally our view were obscured by cloud at first, then the clouds lifted through the afternoon and we could see Mt St Leonards and really felt at home.

We lit the fire, went through our mail, slowly brought things in out of the car and moved things around the house to make it habitable for the 5 of us (I’d put a lot of stuff in the kids’ room so that our house sitter had more space, so I moved some of that back out so that the kids could get to their beds). LiAM and Millie put the PlayStation on and played with their new Skylanders, Caitlin rang her friends to tell them she was home.

It was a lovely, relaxing afternoon and I resisted the urge to rush around trying to get everything unpacked and in place – there’s plenty of time for that and I am going to try very hard to stay relaxed as I have been on the trip. Tony went to get pizza for our Friday night dinner – a great way to celebrate arriving home. While he was out he visited some friends and met their new baby – the kids and I are keen to see her soon too (born while we were away).

Caitlin started working on a photo slideshow of the trip to take to Girl Guides this week, then on tidying up her room – we’ve all got a new perspective on space and belongings I think after living in the tent for so long. Tony watched the football and the others watched some TV, I pottered around and we all felt very happy and comfortable (even though it felt a little weird as well).

Half-lap Day 109: Naracoorte -> Camperdown

The beds were so comfortable and the temperature of the house just right, and we all slept really well. I got up and had a shower then worked on the computer for a while, the others gradually woke up and played on the iPad then went out to have breakfast with our hosts. We had a relaxed morning, watching the Olympics and chatting some more, and I finished the 8^th Harry Potter book. We packed the car quite easily as we’d taken very little out, then spent quite a while saying goodbye to the dogs. We were ready to leave around 10am.

We drove straight to Naracoorte Caves and bought tickets for the Bat Cave tour (how could we resist!?), then we had an hour to wander through the fossil centre and look at all the animals that have been discovered in this cave system, and learn about how old the caves were and how paleontologists figure this stuff out. Seeing the megafauna that used to live in this area was pretty cool and exciting. The fossil centre had a cave in it, with a tunnel to crawl through – we all had a go and it was just slightly claustrophobic for some of us. Caitlin loved it, and is keen to come back here to do some adventure caving one day (in the real caves, not the manmade one in the fossil centre). We had a sandwich and the kids bought commemorative coins of the fossil centre.

We started off on the tour and went into a room set up with TVs that display the footage from infrared cameras in the bat cave. We could see little bats on the wall of the cave, and then found an area where lots of them were flying around. It was cool to be able to see them without disturbing them at all. We also got to look at pictures of bats and at a couple of real bats that have been preserved. Nice to be able to see the actual size of them (these guys are Southern Bent-Wing Bats).

From there we went into Blanche Cave. The guide had offered the kids one of the torches to carry, so there was fierce negotiation about who would hold it when and for how long, which resolved itself fairly well. Blanche cave started as a large open chamber, with entries at both ends. It was quite light and airy inside, it was more like a massive open room. There were lots of columns, and holes up in the ceiling (caused by carbon dioxide bubbles when the cave was full of water in ancient times), and interesting patterns on the walls – there were places where we could still see shells and coral and tubeworms making up part of the limestone. There were also a coulple of preserved animals who had died down here, a possum and a turtle, adding to the depth of knowledge that the animal remains are providing to the scientists around here.

We went further into the cave, through a little garden area and into another chamber that only had the one entrance, so it was quickly much darker. The temperature dropped significantly as we walked in. There was another preserved possum here, probably 150 years since it died, and it still had a full pelt of skin, the cold dry air and darkness helping it decompose very very slowly. There were areas of the ground here littered with tiny little bat bones, which will eventually turn into fossils. I was impressed with the way we were allowed access to safe areas of the cave, and they had cordoned off any areas where people walking would harm the history or heritage of the cave. We went off the main path, with the guide, into the Bat Chamber – no Batman here, and we only saw one little bat, hiding in a crevice. Cool formations on the walls and floors though, and some very old graffiti – burned into the ceiling with candle smoke, or carved into a column in the middle of the chamber – dates as old as 1885!

Leaving that chamber we went further into the cave and found where most of the bats were hanging out (the Bat Cave is their breeding cave, the one we were looking at through the infrared cameras, and no one goes in there. This cave is one of the places they hang out during the winter when they are in torpor and not going out to feed much. We were allowed to shine shuttered light at them unless they started chirping then we needed to leave them alone. We found 4 clumps of bats up on the ceiling, all huddled together. They were cute, just moving around a little bit and checking us out then deciding we were no threat. (I think LiAM and I, and maybe the girls, were the only ones who thought they were cute. We loved them.)

We walked back out, chatting to the guide, then did a quick toilet stop and got on our way. Today we drove through the Coonawarra wine region, very prettyy again and quiite different from home or the Barossa that we saw yesterday. The vineyards still stretched as far as the eye could see, but they seemed to be owned by more wineries, lots of small allotments of vines rather than just a few big ones owned by few companies.

We turnd left at Penola and were soon back in Victoria. After most of our border crossings on the trip – either quarantine stations or at least big signs and rest stops and a bit of fanfare, this one was very tame. Just a blue sign along a winding country road saying ‘Welcome to Victoria’. Everyone felt quite comforted to be back, and home is seeming ever closer.

The drive was beautiful once again. The land was very green, at this end of winter. Areas of massive gum trees throughout the fields (and low lying areas full of water, there’s obviously been a lot of rain here this season) soon gave way to rolling hills, with few trees, covered in green grass. We saw lots of cattle, and sheep, and windmills. The road was much windier than most of the roads we’ve driven on in this trip, as well as hillier, and Caitlin felt a little carsick.

We drove through Casterton and Coleraine which were beautiful little towns. We stopped for petrol in Hamilton and Tony and I remembered it from when we were here before Caitlin was born. The last bit of the drive to Camperdown went fairly quickly – Tony was in familiar territory now and we all felt a bit like we were nearly home when we reached Camperdown.

We went to Tony’s Nanna’s first. She had just popped out to see the nurse so we chatted to Tony’s uncle until she got back, comparing travel stories and catching up on family news from home.  Nanna came back and we had a cup of tea with her and Tony’s aunt, and ate some of Nanna’s sausage rolls. It was great to see her and she was thrilled to see the kids again, it’s been a couple of years. The kids played with her dog and her cat and it felt so cosy and comfortable to be there.

Eventually we said goodbye and went to Tony’s uncle’s house (a different uncle). We met their dogs and had a drink and settled down to chat while dinner finished cooking. We watched some Olympics and caught up on everyone’s news. We had a delicious roast lamb for dinner, then Tony got out the computer and showed his uncle some of the old photos we’d copied over from his cousin in Perth, he really enjoyed seeing them and they reminisced for a good while.

Millie was tired so w the kids and I went to the bedroom and we read the last chapter of Inheritance, so fitting that we finished it on the last night of her trip. I stayed with her until she went to sleep, then went to bed myself. The kids stayed up a while longer, LiAM did some drawing in Paintbrush and made an awesome picture of a horse, Caitlin played on her iPad and showed Tony’s uncle how to make videos. Eventually everyone headed to bed for our very last night away.

Half-lap Day 108: Port Parham -> Naracoorte

There was very little rain overnight, and when we woke up some of the puddles had started to recede, so it was a bit easier to get to the car. I went for a walk over to the beach and the tide had gone out – the water was out further than I could see, and the beach was a long expanse of wet, flat sand and seaweed. In the far distance I could see the darker blue of the deeper water of the gulf.

We had breakfast and the kids played, then Caitlin went out on her bike again and rode with the guy from last night for a while. Tony and Millie played a game where she was like a Hobbit and he had to find her. We packed up, wanting to move things around a bit as we weren’t sure if we’d be setting up the tent tonight or not – we were staying with friends and hadn’t decided whether we’d be staying inside or camping in their yard – so I set things up so that they things we’d need would be accessible either way. There were shells and bits of mud everywhere so there was lots of sweeping and shaking out to do as well. The kids explored the beach a bit and then LiAM and Millie played with their new Skylanders in the car.

We left around 11 and headed back out to the highway the way we’d come in – realising later that there was an easier, sealed road that we could have taken. Looking at the map, there were 2 ways we could go to get to Naracoorte, one through the centre of Adelaide and one through Gawler and Mt Pleasant. We’d never been to Mt Pleasant so decided to go that way even though it was a bit windier. The countryside we drove through was beautiful. Mainly farmland, and hilly, and so so green. We saw great big gum trees, the biggest trees we’ve seen in a long time. Lots of horses, and sheep farms and some cows and even a deer farm. There were vineyards as well. After a while there were less trees and the hills were covered in many rocks. It was a very pleasant drive.

After winding through the hills for quite a while we eventually came to a point where we could see the plains spreading out below us, and drove down a steep hill between the rocky slopes. We got to Murray Bridge and got petrol, then continued along the main highway, the road we drove towards Adelaide on when we started the trip.

We turned off the highway just before Keith and headed towards Naracoorte. More green farmland and big trees, which after a while gave way to vineyards. The bare vines and poles looked so beautiful and symmetrical, which felt exciting when I remembered that that’s what our place will look like! The vineyards each seemed really huge, partly I think because the land was quite flat and I’m used to the full size of the vineyards being obscured by hills. It was another great place to drive through.

We stopped in Naracoorte to get some beer and were impressed with the stone buildings and houses. It looks like a very pretty town. Our friends live a bit out of town so we headed out there – we are staying with the parents of one of Tony’s workmates. The kids were excited to get there – they had met one of our host’s dogs when he was 8 weeks old and really loved him, he’s now 6 months old and they couldn’t wait to see him again. He’s much bigger now, still fluffy and playful like a puppy but big enough to jump up and nearly knock Millie over. We stood outside and met our hosts and played with the dogs, before going inside to have a drink.

They had made up beds for us in their spare rooms so we agreed to stay inside. It was a beautiful house and there was a room for the girls, one for Tony and I and a sofa bed for LiAM in a room with a TV. The kids watched TV for a while and Tony and I chatted with the other adults. LiAM played cards and the girls watched him and talked to us. They cooked us a magnificent dinner, lasagne and then Lemon Meringue Pie – great food and a really easy atmosphere to eat in. After dinner we watched some Olympics (including the horse jumping, Caitlin was thrilled) and chatted some more. It was warm in the house and we’d eaten so much food – I was feeling really sleepy. Caitlin had a shower and then we went in to the girls’ room to read the second last chapter of Inheritance – looks like we’ll finish it before we get home! The girls went to sleep and I went and sat with LiAM for a while until he was comfortable, then we went to bed in an extremely comfortable and warm bed.

Half-lap Day 74: De Grey

It was quite windy overnight (although mainly in the tree tops, so it was noisy but the tent didn’t get battered too much) and still quite cold in the morning. The site was so beautiful and peaceful as the sun rose. We had a very leisurely breakfast and Caitlin had a bit of a sleep in, she had had a very restless night. With Port Hedland only 80km away we didn’t need to rush to pack up, so we took our time and enjoyed our location. After a while (and before we’d started the pack up) Tony suggested we stay another day here and rest, then we decided to stay 2 more nights, and just do a day trip to Port Hedland tomorrow. Everyone was keen on this plan, so we settled in for some more relaxing.

The girls wanted me to trim to their hair, so I did that then braided Caitlin’s in a fairly elaborate style that she’d wanted me to try. We pottered around the campsite, playing games and looking at the bugs and birds and things around us. The kids chatted to anyone they saw who had dogs. The cow came and visited us at one point, she was friendly and liked being patted. The kids named her Milky White. I went up to the picnic tables to use the wifi, I got a bit of signal and found out a couple of things I’d wanted to know about Port Hedland, and tried to make a phone call but didn’t have enough signal.

Around lunchtime Tony went for a bike ride to see if he could find any wood, Caitlin went with him and when she came back to get sunscreen and a top that covered her shoulders (the day was quite warm by now), she said that she’d seen the bull sharks from the bridge. LiAM walked back over with Caitlin so that he could see the sharks too, and then helped Tony with the wood. Tony came back to get the car to carry the wood in, and offered to drive Millie and I up to see the sharks as well. LiAM was walking back on his own, and when we saw him he was very upset. He’d been patting the cow and she rammed his head with hers. His nose was red and swollen and grazed and he was in a lot of pain. I stayed with him to get some cold onto it and gave him some panadol, he was quite shaken and upset. His nose was bruised and swollen but didn’t seem to be broken, which had been our initial worry. He and I played cards and that helped to calm him down.

When the others got back the girls played cards with us as well, and then LiAM helped Tony dig a fire pit. After a while I said I’d walk up to see the sharks, and LiAM and Caitlin came with me. Caitlin went straight to the bridge, LiAM and I walked underneath it first, and saw some big dogs camped nearby. We climbed up the hill to the bridge, then LiAM headed straight out to where Caitlin was and I was a bit slower. A truck came past so the kids yelled to me to hold on to my hat – it was safe but a bit scary as it rocketed over the bridge. LiAM came running towards me, very upset again – the slipstream had blown one of his thongs over the edge and it was floating down in the river with the sharks.

We could see it on the water so went back down to the shore to see if we could catch it as it got to a bit of a headland not far downstream. When we got down there we couldn’t see it at first– then realised it had got stuck on some of the water grass that was growing in the river. It was too far out to reach, and we could see a bull shark circling between us and the thong so we definitely couldn’t swim out to get it. LiAM loves these shoes, he finds it hard to find comfortable shoes so the thought of losing this one, on top of his sore nose and the shock of being knocked over by the cow, was too much for him (I know how he feels, I was so upset when I lost my favourite shoe earlier in the trip). Tony and Millie arrived soon after, and we discussed whether we could get a really long stick to reach that far. I liked the idea of asking a fisherman to help, and Caitlin happily wandered off to find one. She stopped to pat the big dogs we’d seen, and then noticed fishing rods – the guy was happy to come and help us out. He sat on the bank and cast off again and again, his hook skimming over the thong every time. He was incredibly accurate. After a while he realised that something on his line was making it hard to hook the thong, he took that off and very quickly caught it and brought it a bit closer. His next attempt got the thong all the way to the logs in front of us, then he was able to just dangled his hook down until he caught it through the strap, and pulled it up for LiAM who was so incredibly relieved. We stayed and chatted with the couple for a while, and played with their dog, a very pretty Staffordshire terrier. The fisherman tried to catch the bull shark next, he was keen to have it for a very tasty dinner. He didn’t have any luck while we were there, we left him trying to catch a catfish to use as bait.

Under the DeGrey Bridge

Bull Shark

We had a bit of a rest back at camp, then LiAM and I went for a walk to explore further up the river – there was another bridge there and I wanted to see what it was. The river bed was very wide and mainly sandy, and where we came on to it, the water had dried up completely. It’s weird because the water where the sharks are is flowing, but the river has big patches with no water at all – we wondered if some of it was underground or flowing through the sand beneath the surface. We trudged across the sand, and could see a large sand bank in the middle where the water level must have been at some point. Up the other side to the bridge, where we discovered it was a railway bridge which appears to be in use, the track was completely free of weeds and looked in good condition. There were walkways on either side of the bridge so we went out a little way on each side to get a good view of the river.

Railway bridge

We wandered back, LiAM wanted to go back to the water to see if the swans and cygnets he and Caitlin had seen earlier were back there. We found lots of really interesting rocks, and had a good view of the road bridge. Down on the bank earlier we had had great views of the road trains crossing the bridge – from this angle they were in silhouette and still very cool. We didn’t see any swans, just more of the jacana we’d seen earlier. I stepped in mud on our way back around the end of the water, and nearly lost my own shoe! We walked back through the trees on the bank along the edge of the river – obviously the water comes up this high sometimes, as the trees are all on a lean and there are banks of earth downstream of each tree.

Back at camp Tony was about to light the fire. The kids went up the hill and talked to an English brother and sister who had a dog, I read my book. Tony cooked damper and some potatoes on the fire. The kids played in the tent and we had a relaxing evening. LiAM was feeling a bit better although his nose was sore. He felt like it had been a good day overall though.

I was about to go to bed when we realised the fridge was turned off – we couldn’t get it back on at all. Tony thinks it is the cord so hopefully we will be able to replace that in Port Hedland tomorrow. In bed we read a couple of chapters of Inheritance. Tonight wasn’t as cold as last night, but we still had the windows closed and people were pleased to have their blankets.