Half-lap Day 76: DeGrey -> Indee Station

I was up at 6, just as it was getting light, to get all the food we’d bought yesterday organised into tubs so we could pack the car and the trailer and move on. It was beautiful working in that early morning light amongst the trees. The others came out as they woke up, and we had breakfast then the kids went back up to see the sharks again. Tony discovered some green stuff at the bottom of one of our water containers, so he spent a bit of time cleaning that out and sanitising the container. I had wanted to get away early and was starting to worry that we didn’t ever seem to be able to do it – then realised it didn’t matter. We have relaxed evenings and mornings, there’s no stress and little rush, and we can do this trip at our own pace. Just because most people are up and out between 7 and 8 doesn’t mean that we need to do that as well. And if there is ever a day when we really DO have to be gone that early, I’m sure we will manage it at the time.

So we got away by 10, feeling happy and relaxed and still not sure what our plans for the day were. We’d been thinking of going straight to Karajini (about 400km) but were slightly worried about getting a campsite unless we got there early, and the girls really wanted showers – after 3 days without one here, and with no showers at Karajini, they wanted a shower stop in between. I’d been told there were free public showers near a beach in Port Hedland, so we decided to shower there and then figure out the rest of the day later. We stopped at the railway bridge again because the digger was up on the sand pile and I wanted to get a photo of it – then we jackknifed the trailer as we attempted to back out of our spot. Looks like it’s only cosmetic damage though so it shouldn’t impact on our trip. We reached the beach and it was a beautiful spot, with a creek winding in from the ocean and gorgeous sand hills either side of it. The showers only had cold taps though and no one wanted a cold shower. We filled up all our water containers at the drinking tap there, and Tony rang a station stay we’d heard about to see if we could get in there with our 2WD car – no problems, they said, so we decided to stay there tonight and head to Karajini tomorrow.

We popped back into Woolworths to get bread and cash and petrol, then back out over the railway bridge for the last time, then out of Port Hedland. We only had another 70km or so to go to get to the station, so it was a short days driving today, but makes the trip to the National Park easier tomorrow. On the way to Indee Station we saw more 4-trailer road trains than we have seen on our entire trip so far, they’d be coming past 2 or 3 at a time. I counted the wheels – 84 altogether! They are amazing – although often quite disconcerting as the back 2 trailers often wriggle about a bit as they drive. They always stay well within their lane, but it looks a bit scary as we approach.

There was a big road train in the driveway as we turned off to the station, so we were able to have a good look at it. We drove the 9km in off the highway quite easily. This is dry country, red dirt, sparse trees but with lots of magnificent white gum trees. We saw a few areas where mining workers are obviously staying, and I think there are several mines on the station. Eventually we reached the homestead and were taken out to the camping area. It wasn’t flash, but as usual once we’d put the tent up I felt right at home. The kids played under a big gum tree, LiAM did a magic show, the girls ground up some of the rocks to use as makeup, and we wandered around and explored the place a bit. There were calves wandering through the campground although after LiAM’s cow incident earlier the kids all avoided the cows. They met some people with a dog and chatted to them, I talked to a guy who used to work here and had come back to get his swag which he’d left behind. He said the station was bigger than the whole area of Perth!

Later in the afternoon we drove another 9km into the property to see Red Rock. We had a map to get there, but a couple times we seemed to cross trails that weren’t marked and it was a bit sobering – it would be easy to get lost in country like this. The kids were joking that we were going to see Uluru – and when we saw the rock it felt like we were! It was nowhere near as big, but is a large red rock rising up out of the ground, a similar shape in profile to Uluru.

At the end of the rock was a beautiful rock pool, full of water and reflecting the big rock in it, as well as reflecting the rocks all around it’s edges. The water was freezing! Caitlin had found a path up to the top of the rock, and then saw an easier way up, which LiAM took. Tony followed them and Millie and I walked around the back of the rock looking for the Aboriginal engravings that we’d heard about. Millie decided to go and join the others, so we headed up to the top. The view was fantastic – most of the country was flat with the occasional large rocky hill, and a couple of small mountains in the distance. There was a river which wasn’t flowing but there were many many water holes. The white gums stood out amongst the spinifex and lower vegetation. We could see the big road trains traveling along the highway in the distance. The sun was getting low in the sky and the light was amazing. There was a flat, grassy area about halfway up the rock that Millie thought would be great to build a cabin on – a beautiful, peaceful place to live.

We wandered back down and Millie and I saw a sign that said ‘etchings’ so found one of the engravings in the rock – large emu tracks we think. The boys walked the rest of the way around the perimeter of the rock. Caitlin wanted to go for a quick swim and went to get changed, and found some more etchings – a couple of lizards this time. They were quite cool to see. Caitlin spent a short amount of time getting wet in the rock pool. I put my feet in and felt quite refreshed.

We headed back to the campsite, seeing more cows and a couple of kangaroos on the way. We went over to the homestead for happy hour at 5.30 – byo alcohol, and they provide nibblies. It was fun to sit around a large table and chat to the other campers – most of them were heading north and had just come from Karajini, so we had tips for the northern part of Australia for them, and they told us lots about the National Park. There was a lot of talk about football too – there was enough signal for Tony to watch the Collingwood game on his phone, and everyone was interested in the progress of the game.

LiAM and Millie and I headed back once they’d had enough, and Tony and Caitlin followed soon after. The girls and I went over to have our showers – nice and warm and good water pressure, everyone was happy. We had cup-a-noodles for tea and then set up the beds. Tony watched the rest of the game (with a disappointing result) in the camp kitchen. It was a very cold evening, possibly the coldest we’ve had since we headed north. We got everyone snuggly into their beds and read a couple of chapters and the tent warmed up a bit with us all inside.

NSW Trip Day 14: Newcastle

The rain had started again and didn’t let up all day, so we were looking for indoor or sheltered options for an outing. We took it easy in the morning, and at 11.30 I rang a trampolining place P had told me about – they said we could bounce at the 12pm session and everything else was booked out. So we quickly got ready and made it to Springloaded by just after 12. The kids jumped and bounced for about 45 minutes – it was great. There was an area with a floor made of little tramps that they could jump around on (and tramps on the walls to bounce off as well), and a similar area that was also a dodgeball arena, long tramps that they could run or bounce along and then jump or flip into a foam pit, and larger tramps to jump high and do tricks.

From there we decided to make our regular trip to Blackbutt – a nature reserve, with Australian animals, in the middle of the Newcastle suburbs. Tony dropped me and the kids off and went and got fish and chips for lunch, while we went and saw the wombat, rock wallabies, koalas (including a quite active juvenile who was climbing around his tree eating gum leaves), and lots of birds and frogs and lizards. Once our food arrived we ate under the shelter at the new playground, and the kids braved the rain to have a play on the excellent equipment – particular a rock climbing hill and a rope to help climb up and down the (steep) hill.

I had dry clothes in the car today – the other 2 times the kids have gotten wet on this trip I didn’t have spares with me – so they got changed and then we picked R up from his house (the guy we had dinner with on Wed night) and I dropped Tony and R off at the pub. The rest of us came back to Marks Point and the kids played with their cousins for a couple of hours until they went out to a Thermomix Party. The kids and I relaxed downstairs, watching TV and reading, then later Millie and I went in to town to pick Tony up from a pub at the foreshore, where he’d been catching up with some old friends from baseball (a few guys who were at our wedding 11 years ago and we hadn’t seen them since then – as we moved away straight after we were married). Back home and I went straight to bed, Tony and the kids played for a bit longer.

NSW Trip Day 7: Orange -> Blue Mountains

It was just an overnight stop in Orange so up and packed the car and on the road again. Driving through Lucknow LiAM was impressed with the mining shafts he could see. Bits of the drive to Bathurst were familiar to me. From Bathurst we turned off towards Oberon, then through to Jenolan Caves down a road that was very windy towards the end – tight, switchback curves. Coming to the caves from that direction confused me a little, it took me a while to feel familiar with the place, but once we were parked and down amongst the buildings it felt right.

We had lunch from the bistro and tried not to share it with the rosellas that were flying onto our chairs and even the table once. We went on a tour of the Orient Cave, which is apparently the prettiest cave in the world. To get into the cave we went through a man made tunnel which was very interesting for our mining enthusiast kids. LiAM had also wondered if there would be spiders in the cave – and as we entered the tunnel there was a spider on the roof a few metres in, so he was happy even before we’d reached the natural part of the cave. The cave was beautiful, quite spectacular in places. I felt the guide did a little too much explaining about how the caves were made etc when we were in the first, small chamber, where there wasn’t so much to look at, and the kids got a bit bored, but once we moved on there was enough to see and marvel at that everyone picked up again. There were a lot of steps and Millie managed all of them – it was a bit steep and narrow for us to carry her, so I was very impressed that she managed by herself. LiAM and Caitlin answered lots of the guide’s questions and I took lots of photos.

Once out of the cave (into the bright sunlight – we’d been talking the day before about how it would feel to come out of a dark cave into the light, and we got to see what it was like) we walked down through the Grand Arch and then under the road to the Blue Lake. The water was so clear we could see most of the bottom in places, and there were also beautiful reflections of the trees, and the rocks and the arch – and there was a platypus in there! It came up to the surface repeatedly as we walked along the edge of the lake, then would dive down and be gone for a while, then back up. Very very exciting. The kids did a bit of climbing up some rocks next to the path – they got quite high enjoyed exploring the bush there. Back to the car after a toilet stop, using the toilets built in to the rocks under the Grand Arch. We sat Caitlin in the front for the drive out as it is a long windy road and she often feels sick in that situation, and it helped as she was fine today. (I drove so that I wasn’t sitting in the back feeling sick myself).

From the caves we went to my friend S’s house in Hazelbrook (between Katoomba and Springwood in the Blue Mountains). She and her family have just lived in Canada for a year on teacher exchange, and it was great to hear all their stories and see lots of photos. We realized that we have known each other for 30 years this year – great to spend an evening catching up with each other and with our families. Her girls are much older than our kids, but they all played together at times and everyone had an enjoyable evening. We’re staying in a cottage own by one of S’s friends – we got here quite late so basically just jumped straight into bed and crashed.

Tasmania Day 13: Cradle Mountain -> Devonport

Our big day yesterday took its toll on everyone. Caitlin had a very restless night's sleep and woke up with a fever. Millie had fallen asleep without eating dinner, woke up in the middle of the night and had some juice, and woke up in the morning and threw it all up. I was particularly worried because we had to drive out along a very windy road and I thought having 2 sick girls was going to make it much harder.

Millie picked up after a while though and ate a huge breakfast. Caitlin was extremely tired and I wasn't really surprised after her big climb yesterday. The kids watched TV while Tony and I packed and cleaned. As the kids were getting in the car to wait for us to finish, a pademelon came and hung around the car which was an exciting end to our time in this caravan park. A currawong also hopped in the open door and started to peck up crumbs - we shooed him off and closed the doors.

As we left we headed down the road towards Cradle Mountain for one last peek, then turned around and set off for Devonport. We had considered doing a few things on the way seeing as we had all day to get there, but with the girls feeling off colour we decided to get there as soon as possible and take it easy for the afternoon. The trip through the bends wasn't too bad - we were well equipped with lollies to suck on, water to drink, windows down when necessary, and Tony took it quite slowly. We stopped for a couple of quick photos of Mt Roland, then up to Devonport.

Our plan was to go back to the playground where we'd played on our first day - when we arrived however it was windy and freezing cold and no one felt like getting out of the car. We ate some lunch in the car overlooking the ocean, then went for some indoor activities - we found a play centre which had indoor rock climbing, a science centre, and a jungle gym play area (also laser tag but we skipped it). Caitlin started with the rock climbing, the women were very impressed with how quickly she picked it up, and she made it nearly to the top on a couple of walls. In the meantime I took Liam and Millie into the science centre, where we played with balls, air, pendulums, bugs, microscopes, a train set, an igloo made from foam blocks, and a few other activities which were all quite entertaining. Then the 5 of us went into the play area where Millie and Liam played happily for about 2 hours, while Caitlin sat exhausted with Tony and I - she had revived for the rock climbing then crashed once it was done. Liam made a friend and it was a lovely relaxing and fun way to spend our last afternoon.

Once they closed (after a couple of games of air hockey on the way out) we went and found a quick snack and got some cash, then off to line up for the boat. We sat in the queue for almost an hour before we were able to drive on to the boat, then up to our cabins and then to the eatery for dinner. The kids knew what to expect this time so picked the food that they wanted to eat and it worked much better than on the way over. The movie tonight wasn't of interest, so we watched The Block and House Rules on a couple of the various TVs around the boat, and Liam and Millie and I played Uno. Liam popped into the gift shop and the lady remembered him from the trip over and asked how his holiday had been. Caitlin crashed early, the kids and I went back to the cabin to read Anne of Green Gables and Liam and Millie played with their animals, when Tony returned I went to bed too and he stayed up (not long) with the others. The trip seemed less rough this time and everyone (even me) got to sleep quite easily.