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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Brisbane Trip Day 29: Newcastle -> Sydney

I wanted to make sure that I saw the girls and their Dad before they left for school and work so that I could say goodbye, so when I woke quite early I didn’t try to go back to sleep. I had enough time to go for a walk and this time went straight to the granny pool for a swim. The sky was grey and there was a light breeze blowing in from the ocean – the feel and smell of the air reminded me so much of swimming at Merewether Baths on a cloudy morning. The water was cool and refreshing and got to about chest deep near the gap in the wall, where the water flows in from the channel. I swam around for about 10 minutes then went back to the house to say goodbye and thanks for letting us stay.

After I’d had some breakfast I chatted to Tony for a while, then Caitlin said that the oldest cousin had missed her bus. I drove her to school (which also gave the girls a bit more time together) and then stopped at Woolworths on the way back to get some more bread and milk. The bridge was up again as we left Swansea. At home I was just about to start packing when Tony rang again, it was great to have a chat of more than a few minutes with him.

I didn’t start packing until 9.40, then had everything done, ready to go by 11.40 which I was very happy with.  I was hot and sweaty so had a cold shower and got changed, we checked that we had all our stuff and were on our way by just after 12.

We stopped for petrol at Doyalson – last year I’d bought a Pokemon DVD at this petrol station so Amelie wanted to see if they had more. There weren’t any DVDs that interested her, she and Liam bought some chocolate. The drive down to Sydney was fairly easy, there was a lot of traffic but it mainly kept moving. Getting through to Leichhardt had a few moments of tricky traffic with the trailer on, but we made it fine. As I approached our friends’ house I saw a parking spot about 2 ½ cars long, in front of a boat. It was long enough for me to drive into it, then reverse back at bit and wiggle back and forth to get the trailer fairly straight (and mainly off the cycle lane). It was only a few houses away from where we were staying so I was very pleased with the spot.

Our friends weren’t home until after work, so we had some lunch at the car, then walked down to the Light Rail station at Lilyfield. We stopped on the way to buy Opal cards, and I bought a scratchie as well which we did at the station – we didn’t win anything but the kids enjoyed scratching it. The train was very crowded and took a long time to get to Central. Once there we caught a regular train to Circular Quay – we sat upstairs which was exciting for kids used to Melbourne, single level, trains (and I always love catching Sydney trains). Getting off the train at Circular Quay we had a great view over the Quay, the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. We stood at the edge of the platform and looked at the view, and noticed a street artist down on the path below – he was completely dressed and painted in gold, and appeared to be hovering in mid air – he had one hand resting on top of a pole, and was sitting cross legged about a metre off the ground. We headed downstairs to see if we could see how he was doing it, but he was packing up by the time we got there. From what we could see, the pole was firmly anchored in a base plate, but there was no other support – so we think he was balancing just on the strength of his arm on the pole.

We wandered around to the Opera House, looking at the markers showing the 1788 waterline. We admired a street artist’s painting of the harbour and gave him some money. At the Opera House we sat on the ledge around the edge of the point and looked at the Bridge, the boats and ferries going past, and the sails of the Opera House. We walked across the base of the steps and went down to the pontoon at Man-of-war steps, Amelie didn’t like being on the moving pontoon, so she played with some soft, sparkly sand on the path back on dry land. Caitlin and Liam had a look around, then we walked back up the Opera Houses steps and sat on one of the sloping parts in front of a window. It was tempting to run up to the top of the slope but there was a sign saying not to, so we sat at the bottom and looked at all the different aspects of the sails that we could see from there. We went over and touched some of the tiles and looked at the different patterns and how different they looked from a distance compared to up close.

Amelie wanted to see the Botanic Gardens so we wandered over there and the kids played around a sculpture of mother earth, Caitlin climbed a fig tree, and we went to look at gazebo that was installed recently, which had lots of symbolism about the colonial impact of Governor Macquarie and his wife. It was a gorgeous sunny afternoon so the backdrop was incredible, with the harbour and boats and bridge always in sight.

We wandered back towards the station, stopping briefly to share a cup of delicious lemon sorbet. We got to the platform just in time to jump on a train – one of the newer ones that I don’t think I’ve been on before. We admired the old fashioned style of Museum station as we went through, then got off the train at Central. The light rail train was just pulling in as we arrived at the platform, we were able to get on and get seats this time. The trip back seemed much quicker, and we wandered up the hill in much cooler temperatures, just before sunset.

Our friends were sitting on the front steps waiting for us when we arrived. We had a drink of water then sat out the back for a while and the kids played tennis with small plastic rackets, until the mozzies got too bad. We had delicious pizza for dinner and all the kids got on well. (Our friends’ 2 kids and another friend of theirs who was sleeping over). The younger kids played with loom bands for a while and did some puzzles, Caitlin sat with the adults and we played a game called Love Letters. The boys played Uno then started to watch our game, and we switched out players so that everyone had a turn. My host and I had a cocktail and it was a fun night, full of laughter and catching up.

Brisbane Trip Day 20: Brisbane

None of us had any plans for today, nowhere to be at any particular time, and it was quite pleasant to know we could take our time over getting up or doing whatever we wanted to do. I spent a while on the computer and chatting to my friend and the kids. As the big girls got up they decided they wanted to go shopping, so in the late morning my friend dropped them at the shopping centre in Ipswich. She came back and we kept chatting, she was dehydrating a heap of food so we sat in the kitchen while she did that. The other kids played Roblox and Minecraft and Amelie played Pokemon a bit on her DS. As usual there was also playing with kittens when they were in sight. The girls rang and asked if they could catch the train to Redbank, which we said was fine. I did a little bit of organising of our stuff so that it won't be too hard to pack up when we leave, and started to think about how much longer we'll stay. My friend and I spent some more time laying on the bed and watching TV, and we both ended up having a nap in the late afternoon. Another friend of hers called around for a little while. I'd just woken from my nap when the girls surprised us by walking in the door - they'd caught the train and bus home themselves - we were pretty impressed that they navigated the public transport system on their own, the other girls had never done it before and Caitlin doesn't know Brisbane at all. They were pretty proud of themselves, although very very tired.

The boys and Amelie spent some time outside playing on the trampoline and with water balloons. The big girls decided to put up the roof top tent on the bus, but it had lots of ants in it so they decided not to sleep there. The boys played in it and on the bus for a while. My friend and I moved out to the lounge room to watch the big TV while the kids were all busy. We ate dinner and the boys played xbox in the bedroom for a while, and the big girls watched netflix in another room - by the end of the evening all the kids were on the lounge with us. Another very relaxing and very fun day - we're all feeling good and really loving spending time with this wonderful family.

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.

Brisbane Trip Day 18: Brisbane

We all had a quiet morning, with the kids gradually waking up one by one. I popped down to Aldi to get milk, and got petrol, and called in to the Lifeline Op Shop where I found a couple of interesting looking books. Back home I sat outside for a while and read my book, some people watched tv, some played iPads and some chatted. We tidied up a little bit, then the kids did the watermelon challenge - putting rubber bands around a watermelon until it explodes - it took a long time because it was a long, oval watermelon, and the explosion was pretty exciting. The kids and my friend had watermelon in their hair and clothes, it was quite funny. The kids then used the pieces of watermelon to rub on each other's hair and skin, and I was watermeloned as well. They turned the hose on then, and filled balloons with water, so soon everyone was wet and watermelony. It was a lot of fun, with a lot of laughing.

I had a shower to de-fruit myself and the kids gradually got cleaned up. My friend cooked some lunch and we sat and chatted, then I went back down the street to the chemist to get something for Amelie's mouth ulcer, and to fill Liam's asthma medication prescription.

One of the girls had dancing, so Caitlin and her sister went with her and my friend, while I stayed home with the boys and Amelie. The kids played Roblox on xBox and iPads, and had some really involved games. After my friend's husband came home, we took the 4 kids to a new Splash n Play park nearby. Most of them were reluctant to go out - I was so hot and sticky though that I really felt like some water play would be helpful, and it would be good to see somewhere new. The water wasn't flowing when we arrived, however there was a very cool adventure playground, with lots of high rope bridges and some fun looking slides. At the splash park we found buttons to press to start the water. I walked through some of the sprays and felt so much better. Only one of the boys put his swimmers on, the other 3 kids didn't want to get wet. They did run through the water a little and found a way to navigate through the splash park without getting very wet. They played on the playground for a while then we all played cops and robbers. I was the prison guard because my ankle has been hurting a lot lately and I didn't want to run. Another girl Amelie's age came along and she joined in the game. It was tricky - the robbers would climb put to the top of the playground, but could then get stuck there as the cops could get to any exit point quicker than they could.

After a while the kids moved over to explore the splash park and cool off a bit. They ran through the water for a while then decided to dam a little stream - at first they used their bodies and could get a bit of a water build up, then they used towels to block off the drain and they created quite a pool at the end of the stream. They all had a lot of fun and kept saying what a great place this was. There was  a storm coming so we headed off just before 6. A guy had come over and told us he'd seen a snake in the garden, so the boys were keen to get a glimpse of it but it remained hidden.

On the way home I bought Go Buckets for the kids from KFC, then back home to more Roblox. I did some work on the computer and we all hung out quietly until the girls came home around 10.30. The girls then did face masks on me and my friend, and on themselves, which was pretty relaxing. We talked and had a late supper. Amelie fell asleep but the rest of us were up until after midnight.

Brisbane Trip Day 12: Gold Coast

We woke after a good sleep and started to get ready to go to SeaWorld. I was looking at the information we got when we checked in and discovered we were eligible for a Guest Only dolphin presentation, for which we needed to be at the Gift Shop by 8.45. We quickly finished breakfast and got ready and headed down to the foyer. The group was walked through into SeaWorld to the Affinity Dolphin Pool and we got to see a training session with the dolphins which was really interesting. We then walked back to the resort and lined up go into the theme park when it opened. I raced back to the car to get close-toed shoes for Liam and Amelie because there was one attraction that required shoes. I got back to the line in time for us to go in. We'd planned to catch the monorail from the resort but it wasn't running at the moment so we walked in.

We went first to the stingray pools, where we discovered that we could pat the rays if they swam near the edge of the pool. Amelie found it hard to reach them sometimes, and we promised her we could come back later to pat them after we'd done a few more things. The priority for everyone was seeing Mishka the polar bear cub, so we went there next. We saw 2 adult polar bears, then moved to the pen where Mishka was with her mum. She was incredibly cute and lots of fun to watch, playing with a large plastic container that was floating in the water. Her mum had ripped a little hole in the plastic so that Mishka could grab it with her mouth and she was trying to pull it out of the water. Both the cub and the mum also spent time eating fish frozen into blocks of ice.

As we walked to the Nikelodeon kids area, we saw the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles come out for a photo opportunity which was pretty cool. Caitlin and Amelie went on a TMNT ride, then the 4 of us went on it (I sat with Liam). If we peddled our little planes they went higher, so it was fun and not at all scary. We then went on a bus ride which was like a mini pirate ship that rocked back and forwards, and also span on a fairly large, slow axis. We went from the kids rides through to the jet ski ride which Caitlin and Liam went on and said was fun. I wanted to try it so Caitlin took Amelie back to the kids rides and Liam and I went on - it was SO incredibly fast and I was quite scared. I screamed a lot. It didn't go high, just very fast around a turning track that also twisted a bit so at times we were sideways. It was fun but very intense (and I was happy with one ride, the speed was a bit much for me).

The ray pool was on the way to the dolphin show so we stopped in there again and patted some more rays. Amelie again had limited success - they had to come quite close to the surface for her to reach them and it didn't happen often. She was disappointed but then cheered by the idea of seeing the dolphin show.

We got a seat a fair way up in the stands. I was wondering if we'd find it a bit boring seeing as we'd seen 2 shows in Coffs and the training session this morning - but the show was great. The music helped to make it exciting, and the behaviours the dolphins displayed were impressive. Having a big crowd also made it more exciting. It was well presented (although a little sappy at times) and very very enjoyable. We all like the trainers being propelled forwards by the dolphins, we hadn't seen that before.

After the show we went to the battle boats - the kids lined up to go on a boat and I stayed on shore and shot the boats with water cannons. The kids were a little disappointed that they were on the far side of their boat so they couldn't shoot me or anyone else, although there were some targets to aim at that made cool water effects happen - but they were very hard to hit. I had fun squirting people and getting squirted by the boats. The kids still got wet, which Amelie wasn't thrilled about. There was quite a crowd there because so many people had just come out of the dolphin show, so we figured we'd try again later when there was less of a queue and the kids could be on the side where they could shoot the crowd.

The kids all had a big climb on the Sky Fortress - a large climbing play gym structure with lots of ladders, slides, bridges, net bridges etc. I joined them in there and had a go at walked across the high net bridges - it was very very very scary and I was very slow (the kids just ran across) - it was a great feeling to achieve it though. There was a harnessed climbing area too, but the kids needed to be completely dry to do that and we were still wet from the battle boats. We had some lunch to see if we would dry off enough in that time but were still damp so decided to come back later. While we were eating a pair of Asian kids asked me something which I couldn't understand. They were pointing to their backpack and I didn't know what they wanted. The older girl used the translator on her phone and the English version was 'Can you take a look at our backpack?' I still couldn't figure out what they wanted me to do, then they pointed at the Sky Fortress and I realised they wanted me to watch their stuff while they had a climb, which I was happy to do.

The big kids went for another ride on the JetSkis to try to dry off and met Amelie and I at Shark Bay. We had a pat of the sea cucumbers and sea stars and looked at some rays in the big pool. The Stunt Jetboat Show was about to start so we went up to the front of the park to watch that. I really love watching stunt driving and this was a good show. On the way there and back we saw more dolphins in different pools.

Caitlin and Liam had been keen all day to go on the Storm Coaster - the big roller coaster we'd seen on our way in. We headed there now and Amelie and I watched while they went on it. I had also been keen to go, but watching from the observation windows in a tunnel going over the ride scared me quite a bit - the initial drop looked fun but this later drop looked a bit steep for me. They went on it twice and loved it, and Amelie wanted to move on so I decided not to try it for now.

We went back to the Sky Climb via the ray pool, this time Amelie was able to pat some rays and she felt much happier. We were all splashed a bit so hoped we'd dry off enough to be able to climb. Amelie wanted to climb as well so I needed to do it too - she was in the height range that needed an adult to accompany them. The kids put their shoes on and I borrowed shoes from the desk , and we went and harnessed up. I was feeling pretty good about it and keen to give it a go. We walked up to the first level and Caitlin and Liam went off on their own way. Amelie walked across a ladder bridge and I followed her fairly easily. Then she walked across a plank and it took me quite some time to be brave enough to try that myself (I let 3 people go in front of me). There were ropes I could hang on to which helped - Amelie did it without the support ropes (because she couldn't reach them). Then we did some stepping stones which I also found a bit tricky. Amelie started to go up to the next level then reached a height where she was too scared so she came back down. She did one more crossing then it was time to come down. I made myself take a step or two out onto another ladder that I was really scared to do, then I came back and headed down myself. Caitlin and Liam climbed around on the 2nd level and had a great time. I gave the borrowed shoes back - and was allowed to keep the borrowed socks.

The queue on the Battle Boats was now non-existent so Caitlin and Liam had another go, while Amelie and I ran from cannon to cannon on the shore line and shot them as much as possible. We all got quite wet and it was a lot of fun.

The kids wanted to see a 3D movie, so we went to watch the Sponge Bob movie in the theatre - it was a lot of fun.

We headed back to Shark Bay, patted the rock pool creatures again, and went down to the underwater viewing area. The first window showed us lots of sharks and a turtle, a few rays and fish, and was pretty cool. The second window had many more fish, lots and lots of rays, including the Spotted Eagle Ray which is Amelie's favourite. There was a huge Queensland Grouper hiding under a rock (in plain sight) and lots of beautiful tropical fish, some sharks, so many rays. It was fascinating and we spent quite a bit of time watching.

I wanted to give the Storm Coaster a go so we went back over there. Amelie was in two minds and decided to just watch us. I was exceptionally scared and the closer I got to getting on the more sick and upset I felt. I sat with Caitlin and Liam sat with another boy. I had tears in my eyes and seriously considered asking them to stop even once I had the restraint down on my legs. Then the ride started and I felt quite a bit better straight away (things were out of my hands - I'm usually less anxious when there's nothing I can do!) Luckily the pull up to the top (the bit that often scares me the most because of the anticipation) was quite fast, and then there was a little dip and curve which I loved, then a long dip and curve which was fantastic, then the steep bit which was really scary because for a second we felt like we were free falling - I had my eyes shut tight for that bit - then a few more very fast ups and downs through water spray, and then it was over. I really loved it. I had screamed a lot and I was quite shaky when we got off, but really happy. When we got back to Amelie she said she wanted to have a go - she was within the height range as long as she sat with an adult. She sat with me and they put the restraints down - hers didn't quite touch her legs and her back wasn't against the seat back. We were both a bit concerned and it took me a while to catch the attendants attention to ask if she'd be OK. They said she was within safety standards and it would be fine. I asked if she'd move around too much and they assured us it would be fine. She decided she was OK so off we went. She seemed to like the first bit but got a bit scared and teary at the steep bit. I actually kept my eyes open this time. Amelie didn't really like the fast ups and downs towards the end, but was happy when she got off and said she enjoyed it. I was so impressed with her first big roller coaster effort!

Amelie had wanted to buy a SeaWorld towel that she'd been seeing all day, so we did that and then wandered back to see Mishka again - still cute and this time swimming around a bit. Her fur was so smooth when she came out of the water. She had completely deflated the plastic container she'd been playing with this morning.

We hadn't seen the Creatures of the Deep exhibit so walked up there - it was just large statues of deep sea creatures, not particularly exciting but cool to see. The big kids wanted to go on the Storm Coaster again, and Amelie was happy to not go back - they went ahead and she and I went to the ring toss game. She bought a large hat full of small rings - I reckon there were a couple of hundred in there and she and I tried to toss them over the neck of large glass bottles (which had small necks). It was really really hard, we had very many near misses but didn't get any rings on. She did get to keep the hat though, and it was a lot of fun, so money well spent. The big kids enjoyed their last ride (and the last run of the day) on the Storm Coaster, and got to see a one of the staff operate her last ever ride at SeaWorld and be part of the goodbyes for her.

We walked out via the rays again, and then up to the monorail station to catch it back to the resort - Amelie in particular was very keen to finally get on it. When it came in the driver got out and was on her radio, then came along and said that she wasn't allowed to take any more passengers because she'd already done extra trips that afternoon (it was a bit after 5 by now). Amelie was devastated - tired and hungry and so disappointed, so it was a long slow walk back to the Resort. In our room we collapsed on the beds and the kids put the TV on - more disappointment as Pokemon wasn't on as Amelie had expected. We ate some snacks and the kids played on iPods and had a good rest. I had a cold bath which was amazingly relaxing. For dinner we had cup-a-soup and cup-a-noodles. Easy and filling and tasty. We watched Friends and The Middle and ended off the day feeling tired but relaxed. Liam set up his camping mattress using the arm chair and two stools to make a little bed, which he thought might be more comfortable than the floor.

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 97: Perth

We had a very warm night’s sleep in the house, and the kids were all comfortable in their cousin’s room. When we got up the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics was on, so we sat and started to watch some of that. I did a bit of work on the computer, and came back out to watch the athletes enter the stadium. By this stage all the kids were awake, and we discussed why some of the countries seemed to be coming out in the wrong order – they were using the Portuguese names so for example Germany came out with the ‘A’ countries.

We had breakfast, which went fairly smoothly considering there were 8 people in the house. The rest of the morning was spent watching and talking about the Opening Ceremony, playing outside with a basketball or badminton or the dog, and just hanging around enjoying having nothing much to do.  I had a lovely hot shower and then we all had hot chips and dimsims for lunch – their regular Saturday lunch and they were happy to include us. (It’s worked out quite nicely that we are here over a weekend, so we can all hang out together. It wasn’t planned, just the way our timing worked).

In the afternoon I tried to catch up a bit more on my blogging and my photos, a fairly big job. We haven’t really had a rest day over the past couple of weeks and it means I haven’t had much time to spend on anything other than getting us to places, making sure everyone is fed and happy, and enjoying the amazing things we’ve been seeing.

It rained for most of the early afternoon. The kids played Cluedo and Monopoly and other games, and the adults chatted and watched the football and drank cups of tea and coffee. I caught up on my washing. Tony’s cousin’s wife made cupcakes, and we had them for afternoon tea – very tasty. The rain had eased a bit so everyone except for me went down to the park with the dog. They took a football and had a play and enjoyed their afternoon. I enjoyed some time by myself. 

In the evening we watched Olympics and the kids played more games. We had curried sausages for dinner which were very tasty. The kids made some Music.ly videos after dinner, some of them were hilarious. It was raining again, quite heavily now, and we were very grateful to be inside a warm, dry house rather than somewhere in our tent.

The kids went to bed when their cousin did, and I read a few chapters of Inheritance to them. LiAM wasn’t very sleepy so got back up and watched the cycling road race with us for a while, then we all eventually headed to bed. I think all the tea and coffee I had drunk throughout the day, and possibly having a quiet day where I wasn’t rushing around, meant that I wasn’t sleepy either, so it was late before I went to bed, although I felt quite relaxed and rested. 

Half-lap Day 93: Shark Bay -> Kalbarri

We’re feeling more confident and efficient with our packups now, so there isn’t such a feeling of rushing and urgency on the mornings when we are leaving, even when we are supposed to be out by 10. Tony and I started packing up and then got breakfast for the kids, and started packing in earnest around 8.30. The kids talked to our neighbour and played with the dog.

The caravan park had been interesting, fairly basic although quite comfortable. The ground was covered in tiny shells, no sand or dirt which was a nice change. The view from the top of the stairs near our tent was pretty cool – our tent at the bottom and then the units on the other side of the fence, and then the beach. We couldn’t quite see the water from our campsite, but could see the water and our tent at the same time from the top of the stairs. One thing that we hadn’t realised was that there is no fresh water source out on the peninsula – the artesian bore water is very saline so not suitable for drinking. There is desalinated water available and is probably one reason why the caravan parks are so expensive. It was a surprise that the place we’ve been that was most water conservative was on the coast, not in the dry centre as we’d expected.

We were ready to go by 10.30 and headed back down the peninsula. We stopped at Hamelin Pool to see the stromatolites – they look like little columns of rock in the water, but are actually piles of microbial mats – groups of bacteria that join together and then attract more bacteria and microbes, eventually growing into these stromatolites. It’s a life form that has been around for over 3 billion years and has survived almost everything, so is very interesting from an evolutionary viewpoint, as well being really cool to look at.

The bay from there looked amazing too, flat and calm and clear, such a beautiful place. We walked around a little bit and read all the information signs. I could smell an ammonia type smell and kept checking everyone’s clothes – eventually I figured out it was one of the bushes there that was letting off quite a strong aroma. The girls and I wanted to go to the toilet and the sign at the carpark said there were toilets at the telegraph station, where the caravan park was. We walked over there while Tony got lunch and cuppas ready. We saw some cool birds, and heard the same type of bird that we’d heard at Edagee Rest Area, repeating the same do-do-do-doo-do over and over again. At the caravan park there were (better) explanatory signs about the stromatolites, but we couldn’t find a toilet. We asked in the shop and the girl said there were some out the back, but really only for guests. I said the sign had directed us here, and she asked us to make a donation to the Royal Flying Doctor Service in order to use them. I hadn’t brought my wallet and it all got a bit awkward – then I found Millie’s wallet in my camera bag and scrounged 30c so that helped the situation a little. It took us a while to find the (single) toilet even then, and longer for all of us to use it – we were all hot and tired and hungry by the time we got back to the car.

The stromatolites

Sandwiches for everyone and a hot drink for Tony and I and we were back on the road. We coasted in to the Overlander roadhouse with our petrol gauge way below Empty. We’d thought we might catch up with our Kings Canyon friends today as they were heading in to Shark Bay – I got a text as we approached the roadhouse and then looked up to see them driving past us the other way. We all waved excitedly then felt a bit sad that we’d just missed them. While we were filling up with petrol there was a knock on our window – Millie’s friend was jumping up and down outside – they’d turned and come back to see us.

We stood in the carpark at the roadhouse and chatted for half an hour or so – great to catch up one more time before we head home. The girls played in the car and the rest of us caught up on news. The sun was hot by now and I felt like I was getting sunburnt – we were so careful with sunscreen when it was hot and sunny all the time, I feel like we’re getting a bit more relaxed about it now which increases our chance of getting burnt on a day when we’re not paying attention.

Eventually we said goodbye again and headed our separate ways. We drove south, through more sparse looking vegetation, which slowly turned into taller trees, the tallest we’ve seen for a while. Not thick bush, but lower bushes interspersed with taller trees. We finished listening to the 6^th Harry Potter book (always emotionally draining) and moved on to the 7^th book. Its wildflower season in WA at the moment, we didn’t deliberately plan to be here at this time, and it’s great to see all the flowers that I’ve heard so much about. Areas full of yellow, white or purple flowers are dotted about everywhere, very cool. As we drove we came over a hill and suddenly saw green fields and hills everywhere – it was such a shock after so many months of dirt and dust and grey or yellow fields. Lots of crops – something green in some, and yellow canola in others. I can’t remember the last time we saw crops growing, probably not since Port Augusta. The scenery was so different to what we’re used to, it just blew us away. I have found driving down the West Australian Coast (since we left Fitzroy Crossing) quite uninteresting, I’ve been getting bored in the car, which hadn’t happened up until then. Once the scenery started getting greener and more changeable today I stopped being bored, I feel like I’ve got something interesting to look at again, it was an interesting change.

Tonight we are staying at Murchison House station, just out of Kalbarri – it was recommended to me by someone we talked to at some stage, I saw an ad for it in one of the tourist magazines I was looking at, and Tony picked it as the best option when he was browsing WikiCamps. I’d rung and booked, and checked that the road in would be ok for our car. It was only 4km of dirt from the highway, and quite easy to drive. We arrived at the station and saw old military equipment around the place, and old shearing sheds and quarters. We checked in at the homestead then came down to the campground, and found a clear, flat and not too sandy site across the road from the river. Some of the sites are on the riverside, we can see sand banks and a bit of water from our site and it is a beautiful spot. As we set up we realised we were camped right in front of the goat enclosure, and there were kids (goat kids) in there – very excited. The kids had a quick look around the farm yard and found alpacas (including a baby one), ducks and chickens. The station musters and sells free range goats, and has a small herd of cattle. Their main income comes from the goats and the tourist industry. As well as the campground they offer quadbike tours and kayaking tours, and people with 4WDs can pay extra and go bush camping in the wilder area on the other side of the river. They also offer a self-guided tour of the station, with morning tea included – it would be interesting but I think we’ll skip it this time.

After the tent was set up I went for a walk along the river, which was beautiful in the setting sun. I chatted to some ladies from Victoria on the way, they left home less than 3 weeks ago, so it feels like we’ll still have plenty of time to get home (we’ve got about 2 ½ weeks). They also gave me some tips about things to see and places to stay along the way. The kids walked around and patted the goats through the fence, then Caitlin and LiAM went up to the communal area near the homestead and found a totem tennis pole. Two kids (human kids) came out of the homestead to play with them – they live at the station and the 4 kids played for ages and had a great time. They played totem tennis and Caitlin and the boy walked on top of a rolling barrel – Caitlin loves doing that and has only done it with small cylinders, it was exciting for her to do it with a big fuel drum.

Millie was tired and stayed at the tent with us. I played a game on the iPad with her and then we set up the beds. For dinner we had pasta and salami and a pasta sauce I’d made before we left home. There was a bit of wind and it was a clear night and very very cold, I ended up with beanie and scarf on and still felt cold. I went up to the camp kitchen to heat water for the hot water bottles, while the kids got into bed. I browsed a few more travel brochures that were up there and eventually the water was ready and I brought the bottles back down to warm everyone up. We read a couple of chapters of Inheritance and settled down to sleep.