Brisbane Trip Day 21: Brisbane

It was another quiet morning at home. The kids gradually woke from their various beds (they all seem to have settled into their own spot, after all the bed switching over the first few nights). I spent some time on the computer and then curled up on the couch with my iPad, then we watched some movies as the kids emerged - Chasing Liberty, and When We First Met. We started I, Robot then people kept getting distracted so we paused it for later. Lots more chatting, making and eating dehydrated food, cups of tea, Roblox, Minecraft, playing with the kittens. I transferred Caitlin's phone to a new plan so she has unlimited calls - will make contacting her friends (and us) a lot easier.

In the afternoon the older girls were going to dancing. I felt like going out as well so was keen to take the boys to a river or lake or somewhere and have my friend meet us there with Caitlin. No one wanted to go and I was tempted to talk them into it, when one of the girls suggested I take them to dancing. This worked for everyone - all the other kids were able to stay home, my friend had a night off the drive to dancing, and I got to go out and explore.

We left around 2pm (I took her car because we were picking up some other girls and there wasn't really room for people I didn't know in my messy car). I love talking to these girls, they are interesting and informed and curious. We picked up the other girls and I dropped them all at dancing and then I had about 3 hours to do whatever I liked. I kept driving along the road that dancing was on and found an information centre. I popped in and said I had 3 hours to kill, what kind of things were there to do and they looked at me like that was the hardest question they'd ever been asked. They suggested a couple of picnic areas but warned me that they might be a bit isolated and creepy at this time of day. We had a bit of a chat and they gave me a map. I wandered a little around the park where I was (Pine River) - the playground was amazing - and wanted to go down to the river but it seemed to be blocked by a DiscGolf course. I drove further north towards Petrie and saw a BCF, so went in to buy a replacement cord for my car fridge (it's only been 2 weeks since it stopped working...). I drove up to the river, traffic was heavy but flowing. The first park I went to didn't feel inviting, so I drove over to the other side of the river. There was a guy standing in a gazebo and I felt uncomfortable walking past him so I walked the other way, under the railway line and alongside a football field. There were occasional places to stop and look at the river, some cool mangroves and 2 bridges to walk under. It did feel isolated so I didn't linger - I did take some cool photos though. The river wasn't super pretty, it was nice though.

I headed back down the road to a big shopping centre (Strathpine). I wandered around for a while, browsed a book shop, then realised I needed to eat. I had a chicken burrito from Zambreros which was delicious. I was heading to Aldi to buy a cheap drink when I walked past a massage place -they did a 20 minute foot massage for $25 and my feet have been SO sore on this trip - so I treated myself and it was amazing. So relaxing and nurturing, I'm so glad I did it. Walking felt much easier afterwards, and I was quite relaxed and happy. I browsed in Aldi, bought and ice coffee, wandered around a bit more and went to Big W to get more charging cables for our devices. It was nearly time to get the girls so I went back to the car (and could now play my music because I could charge my phone and not risk running out of battery). On the way back I stopped at an electrical store to try to find a charging cable for our multi-USB box, they didn't have what I needed but had some suggestions for me to try. I arrived at dancing and read in the car until the girls came out. We had another great chat on the way home.

Back at the house I joined my friend in the bedroom watching tv again and the girls all ended up with us as well, talking about our days and lots of other things. We watched The Revenant while we talked (and played with kittens) - it got pretty intense, certainly not a relaxing movie but so well made and acted. The boys were still playing Roblox and the girls wandered off to watch various things on Netflix (Caitlin and one of the girls are watching Brooklyn 9-9, the other has been watching Married At First Sight). Amelie and I went to bed and she watched youtube videos for a while and I played on my iPad until I was ready to sleep.

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 17: Brisbane

We were all up by around 7am today (after our restful day yesterday). I'm surprised too that I am sleeping really well - that is quite unusual for me! We all got ready - the other kids to go to dancing, and we were going to visit a friend who I met when I lived in Canada. We've seen each other a few times since we both got back to Australia, but not since my wedding, 15 years ago!

We got to my friend's house at 9am and immediately felt welcome and comfortable. We had a cup of tea, ham and cheese croissants, and scrolls for breakfast. Delicious and very relaxed. My kids and her youngest went and had a swim in the back yard while we chatted as if we'd not had such a long break.  Her husband was in and out of the conversation, checking on the kids and watching the V8s. The kids came back inside and played some other games, jumped on the trampoline for a while and then they all played with her son's Mip robot, racing it around an obstacle course they set up with shoes and bags. It was a lot of fun. I had a wonderful morning and our 3 hours there passed so quickly.

They were going out at midday so we said goodbye and headed off. We drove up to Redcliffe to meet our host friends. It was about an hour from my Canada friend's house - I'd been given good directions by my host friend's husband, and I enjoyed driving around parts of Brisbane I hadn't seen in a while, or never seen at all. We drove over a very long bridge as we got close, that was pretty cool. At Redcliffe we drove around the carpark for the swimming area a few times until we found a spot, then went and met our friends.

There's a large manmade lagoon near the shore at Redcliffe, which is where we swam. The kids all swam around for a while and I cooled off then sat and chatted to my friend. The kids all played some games in the water and were in and out. My friend went to pick up one of her kids who was at a birthday party, and the rest of us went in the water again. The kids retrieved a hat from a drain at the edge of the pool - it was a huge team effort and they were very proud (and Amelie happy to have a new hat). They sat on each other's shoulders and wrestled, and worked on the flipping trick I taught my kids at SeaWorld Resort. The boys and Amelie went over to the park and I sat and chatted to the older girls for a while. Liam and one of his friends went to explore the rocks now that the tide had gone out, and the other boy took Amelie to the kids pool. When my friend came back the older girls cooked some sausages on the BBQ and the rest of us swam. The water was fairly warm but it was refreshing. There were clouds coming over (a possible storm was forecast) and one of the clouds was in the exact shape of the Starship Enterprise!

Once the sausages were ready we hopped out and ate them (the kids devoured them so quickly!) and the kids went back in the water. My friend and I sat and chatted until some of the kids were keen to leave. The 3 older girls wanted to stay - so I took the 3 boys and Amelie and my friend followed a bit later with the girls. It started raining as we were leaving, and we hit very heavy rain as we crossed the long bridge. There was a lot of lightning around as well. I drove pretty slowly because of the rain and low visibility. I was pleased that I pretty much knew my way back, I'm feeling more and more confident about my directions around Brisbane. I'd downloaded a heap of music on to my phone and was able to listen to that while I was driving, it was very enjoyable. The boys started the trip playing Terraria and Amelie was playing something else - gradually the car became quieter and Amelie told me that all the boys were asleep (it was 7pm). She drifted off herself not long before we arrived home - so it was a very quiet trip. They all woke as we stopped at the house, and came inside to watch tv. We watched Big Momma's House 2 and despite the naps everyone was still pretty tired. All the adults were in bed by 10.30 (or earlier) and the kids seemed to head to bed soon after that.

Brisbane Trip Day 16: Brisbane

3 of our hosts had dancing all day today, so they left the house with their mum around 6.30am. Amelie and I were up not long after that, and the other kids woke later in the morning. We had a very much needed, very relaxing day. I spent a long time on my computer, catching up on my blog and email and Facebook, and sorting photos, tidying up my hard drive and so on. The kids watched Netflix movies and TV, played Xbox games and iPad games. Lots of Minecraft and Terraria and watching YouTube videos. And of course a fair bit of time was spent playing with the kittens. One of the boys stayed home with us, and he had a couple of friends come over, the boys all played on the trampoline and in the trees for a little while. It was hot and very sticky, so we all tried to sit or lie under fans and keep a little bit cool. Late in the afternoon Caitlin walked down to the shops. It was too late for the op shops but she bought herself a drink and snack and walked back. The other kids and my friend were back late evening, and we spent more time chatting and watching movies (Hotel Transylvania 2). The kids have been rotating who gets the good bed in the lounge room - they've sorted out sleeping partners (Amelie with the oldest girl, Caitlin with the other girl, their 2 boys together, and Liam on a single sofa bed). It was the boys' turn on the good bed, and the some of the girls were going to sleep on the air mattress. It kept going down though and one of the boys discovered if he threw his body down on it, Amelie (who was rested there) would fly up into the air. That led to about half an hour of tossing people up in the air from the air mattress, it was a lot of fun to watch! (and definitely the most energetic part of the day for us). We all drifted off to bed eventually.

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.

Half-lap Day 69: Broome

I was still feeling a bit sore and low when I woke up, and I spent some time playing on the iPad which was lovely and soothing. I was reluctant to use the computer because the keyboard is still playing up and I didn’t feel like I would manage the frustration well. After everyone was up and had had some breakfast we went for a swim. Tony took the kids over first and I joined them later, they were playing Marco Polo with 3 boys from another family. I played with them for a while then we all went and did our separate things in the pool. It’s such a beautiful pool to swim in, surrounded by big palm trees and sculpted rocks with water running over them, it’s easy to spend a lot of time there. We’re really close to the pool in our new spot now too so it’s even easier to pop back and forwards for a swim.

Tony came back to the tent to watch the Collingwood game on his phone, and after a while the rest of us got out and got changed. The races were on in Broome today, so we decided to go and drive past the racecourse to see if we could see the horses (there are signs on the roads all the way around the track, cautioning drivers to watch out for horses, so we thought we might see some being walked around before their race or something). All the kids came with me, and we drove past the race course and saw a couple of horses in their stalls, nothing too exciting.

The race course is right near Gantheaume Point, and it was high tide, so I suggested we hop out and have a look at what the point looks like with the water up high, after only being there for a very low tide beforehand. It was a completely different place – the very blue, silky looking water came right up to the cliff, and that red rock/blue water contrast was really stark. It was hard to imagine that we had climbed down the cliff just here, the water looked so permanent and like it was meant to be there. We wandered around the rocks behind the cliff, then down to a flat area near where we climbed down last time. The waves were breaking just below this area, and sometimes splashing up near our feet. We kept well back from the edge and stayed and watched the waves for a good while, LiAM and I in particular were fascinated. There were guys jumping off the cliff top into the water – this scared us a bit as we remembered what it looked like under there, the rocks were pretty jumbly and we didn’t think it was incredibly deep – everyone jumped safely and happily though so we left them to it. There were people setting up there for a wedding – a beautiful place to get married!

This is where we climbed down to the rocks a few days ago at low tide.

Once we left we drove slowly past the race course again and saw 10 horses being walked around by their wranglers, getting ready to race. One horse in particular (#9) was not happy, trotting when he was supposed to be walking, tossing his head, trying to go backwards. We pulled over to the side of the road and watched as they got all the horses ready, and #9 didn’t settle down, even once the jockey was on and they’d moved out to the track – he went through the gate to the track sideways and unhappy. It was cool watching all the horses moving around and see how differently they were reacting to race day.

We went back to the tent where Tony was very happy because Collingwood had won. We spent the rest of the afternoon between the pool and the tent, going swimming then coming back and playing, reading, relaxing. LiAM decided he wanted to learn how to ride a bike, so Caitlin took him and Millie’s bike out to a flat, clear area and helped him for a while – half an hour later LiAM rode back over to the tent. He loved it and spent the rest of the afternoon riding around the caravan park as much as he could. Caitlin has been putting Millie on the back of her bike – sitting her on a cushion (or using our stepping stool) on the cargo rack at the back, and they both love riding together. With LiAM on Millie’s bike the three of them were able to ride together which they all enjoyed.

We had a few snacks through the afternoon, then Caitlin put her tent up, and around 5.30 we headed into town to go to the movies. Tony dropped me off at Sun Cinemas to join the line for tickets (I was worried about the length of the line, the realised they hadn’t opened the doors yet, and it ended up being fine) while he and the kids went and bought some hot chips. I got the tickets then met the others back at the car when they returned and we ate our chips, then grabbed our pillows and headed back to the cinema. This is a garden cinema, with the screen outdoors surrounded by trees on either side, and the roof only covers about 2/3 of the seating. The chairs are all deck chairs (hence the pillows, for comfort). We found 5 seats together and debated whether to sit there or on the grass – we all preferred the seats except for Millie, who was worried she wouldn’t be able to see – she sat on her pillow on Tony’s lap and then she was happy.

We saw Finding Dory (sequel to Finding Nemo) and it was fantastic. I loved everything about it. There was a very cool short film beforehand too, called Piper, which had incredible animation and a very cool little storyline, with no words. We had bats and birds fly across in front of the screen a few times, and it felt wonderful to be sitting outside (we were under the roof but it felt outdoorsy, just like sitting under an awning) and watching this great movie. At the end of the film the audience applauded, I think the venue made it all seem so much more real and like we were part of the experience.

As we were getting our stuff organised and watching the credits at the end, Tony said ‘isn’t that Millie’s friend?’ – and 2 rows in front of us were the family we met at Kings Canyon, who we’ve seen several times since, but not since Katherine! It was so exciting to see them again and catch up on their news and tell them what we’d been up to. We chatted for a while in our seats then realised there was another movie on soon so we probably should go outside. The girls were shy with each other at first, and both feeling tired and wanting to go home. As the rest of us chatted though they started playing, and played a complicated game about being sisters and not realising, and had a great time. We stood out the front of the movie theatre and chatted for nearly 2 hours. LiAM got a bit bored so he and Tony went for a walk and bought a carton of chocolate milk, they came back and we talked a bit more and then finally all headed for home.

It was late when we got back to camp but everyone was in a really good mood, although Millie crashed pretty quickly. We read a quick chapter of Inheritance (it was the first night in 3 or 4 where everyone was still awake so everyone was keen to hear more of the story) then happily went to sleep.

Houseboat /Wedding Trip Day 1: Home -> Sydney

We were up fairly early to finish getting ready and out of the house before 9am. Running a little later than I would have liked, we then had a slow trip to the airport, and by the time we arrived to drop our car off it was getting pretty tight. I had already checked in (as weird as that seems, checking in before we arrive) and we raced to drop our bags off but everything took longer than expected and bag drop off closed before we had them all in. A Qantas guy came to help us and checked our bags in for us, we got to the gate and they were already boarding - so a crazy rush to get started but we did happily make it on to the plane.

The kids were given little activity packs and there were iPads to watch TV shows on so the kids were quite well occupied, and I took the chance to do some of my own puzzle book. Arriving in Sydney we caught the train to Central Station (I haven't been there for a long time, it was partially very familiar and also different as some things have changed in the intervening years). We had Hungry Jacks for lunch, as everyone was tired and hot and hungry, then caught the Light Rail out to Leichhardt to our friend's P & S where we were staying the first night.

It was a hot walk up from the station to their house, then the kids and I quickly got changed into cooler clothes, had a drink then set off again to catch the bus to my brother's house. Tony went shopping for suitable 'Garden Party' attire for the wedding. The kids tried on their wedding clothes, which all needed slight altering, so C, her sister E, and the kids and I walked up to her tailor. It was the first time I had met E and she was lovely. She has been to Afghanistan so I was looking forward to talking to her about that, which I did, and then the tailor himself was from Kabul so we both chatted to him a bit about life there and here. The kids tried their clothes on again and had them marked for alteration, then back to the flat for a cool drink and a bit of a rest, my brother turned up while we were there.

We caught the bus back to Leichhardt and played in the park for a while, then back to P&S's for Indian takeaway. The kids all played really well (they have a 5yo boy and 3yo girl), playing with a football, on the iPad, making hama bead designs, and watching a Barbie movie. It was great catching up as always.

NSW Trip Day 15: Newcastle

The rain had stopped overnight so I used the opportunity to clean out the car and get a bit organized before we leave tomorrow. The kids had a great morning climbing the tree across the road and Tony bought them ice creams from the ice cream van. Tony and P went shopping for tonight’s BBQ and Aunty L arrived in the early afternoon. The kids played basketball and loom bands and watched TV and played in their cubby. In the afternoon we did some baking, J helped me make some butterscotch cookies, and K made some gluten free chocolate mud cake – one big cake and some cupcakes. The girls decorated the cup cakes with pink and blue icing. The kids went foraging for flowers and greenery to decorate the tables with as well.

In the evening Poppy, D and D’s daughter L arrived for a birthday BBQ – it’s Poppy’s birthday next Friday so it was a great chance to celebrate with all his children in town for the weekend. It was a fun family night, with great food. The cupcakes were Millie’s birthday cake – its her birthday on Monday, so we sang happy birthday to her, then to LiAM (his birthday is Monday week), and then Poppy. K and Aunty L bought Millie some great craft activities for her birthday. After dinner the kids were planning parties and made signs and even sold tickets for us to come to their party. We wound down the night watching Ice Age 3 while Tony and P played darts. And Millie, after waiting all week, finally got to sleep upstairs with the big girls in J’s bed.

Cupcakes decorated by the girls

Table decorations

The first of Millie's 5th birthday celebrations

NSW Trip Day 11 - Newcastle

P & K decided to let their kids have a day off school, so all the cousins could have a full day playing together. Everyone was pretty excited and they all played so well, in lots of different combinations. They built a great cubby under the house, played basketball, played musical instruments, sang, watched tv, watched Frozen (again, for everyone else, and for the first time, finally, for me - and I loved it), chatted, did loom bands, played on the iPad. Tony played golf with D at Merewether Golf Course, using a voucher we’d bought from a discount site – it was a warm sunny day, with a bit of wind, beautiful to be outside in. I hung around at the house with the kids and had a chance to read my book for a good while because everyone was happily occupied. LiAM seems to really be enjoying having a boy to play with (K's son is LiAM's age, so after always having only sisters and girl cousins, he's enjoying this addition to the family). Sometimes the 2 older girls get together and want to be alone, so J (also 7) and Millie have been hanging out a lot as well. 

In the afternoon K and I took the 7 kids for a walk down to the park on the lake. We talked about going fishing and took the rods – Caitlin and LiAM were very excited – but with a westerly wind blowing off the lake it was not ideal conditions for fishing. So the kids played in the water at the edge of the lake, and on the playground. We stayed until after sunset, lovely to watch over the lake. Back home for dinner and a quieter night. Millie and J lay in J's bed and told stories, the big girls made loom bands and the boys watched tv. The kids slept downstairs with us this time so that their cousins could get to bed more quickly and have a better night’s sleep as they have school tomorrow.

Getting ready to go fishing

Sunset over Lake Macquarie