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.

Point Leo Trip

Tony's cousin asked us last week if we would like to join them camping for the Melbourne Cup long weekend, as they had a spare campsite available. The kids had Halloween plans for the Saturday night - Caitlin had been invited to a party and the other 2 had been looking forward for months to trick-or-treating in Yarra Glen - so we decided to head down on Sunday morning and stay for 2 nights. It was a very exciting invitation as Millie has been asking to go on holidays and we'd thought about camping for Cup weekend but figured we'd left it to late to find anywhere with vacancies.

Last week Tony had had a lot of trouble with his eyes, and on Friday afternoon he'd gone to Emergency to see if he could do something about them (the treatment his GP had suggested hadn't worked). We ended up taking him in to the Eye and Ear hospital in the city, and not getting home until 1am. So on Saturday we were all pretty tired and in a bit of a daze, and not much holiday preparation got done. Saturday evening was Halloween and the kids all had a great time. We came home and watched The Empire Strikes Back until I fell asleep, which still left most of the preparation for Sunday morning.

Having the camper trailer permanently half ready meant that there wasn't quite so much to do, most of our camping supplies were already packed. We got away before midday and arrived at the campsite around 1.30. The kids went down to the beach with the others while Tony and I set up the tent. We spent the afternoon between the beach and the campsite - with 4 adults there was always someone available to take kids to the beach or wherever they wanted to go, and someone to stay with those who wanted to hang out at the campsite, so it was a very relaxing way to spend the weekend. Not any stress or pressure for anyone to do things or be places they didn't want to be.

Our campsite was at the top of the sand dunes, right near the beach, although the dunes were covered in thick trees and bushes so we couldn't see the water - we could hear it though, especially at night. The waves seemed to be crashing so loudly, I was always surprised at how small they were when I went down to the beach. It was only a couple of hundred metres walk to the beach access, down a long flight of stairs, and once there we could swim, play in the sand dunes, or at low tide, explore the rocks.

The kids found some pathways through the sand dunes further down the beach and spent a lot of time playing in their 'hideout' on Sunday afternoon and Monday morning. It seemed pretty cool - a really awesome holiday memory I would say. The others had a kite and LiAM spent some time flying it one afternoon when it was cold and windy. The girls had built a big hole to shelter from the wind and all 5 kids were in and out of that. The girls also went swimming - I'd been in on Sunday afternoon but gave it a miss on Monday as it was pretty chilly. The others had little surfboards and Caitlin regularly borrowed one and did a lot of body boarding which she really enjoyed. Millie ran in and out of the edge of the waves and really loved it.

The boys in the big hole dug by the big girls, Caitlin body boarding, Millie running up and down the sand

On Monday morning I took the girls down to the beach before breakfast. It was cold and wet and we didn't have much time before food was ready, so we played around the edge of the rocks for a little while, then headed back for pancakes, bacon and eggs. After that delicious start to the day I went back to the beach with LiAM and Caitlin and we explored the rocks and rock pools. The rain was icy and my hands were frozen, and the water in the rock pools felt so warm in comparison. After a while the rocks stopped feeling uncomfortable on our bare feet because they were numb! It was a lot of fun though, looking into the rock pools and having the ocean rumbling all around us. When we got back we were so wet that everyone thought we'd gone swimming in our clothes.

Caitlin exploring the rock pools on a cold and wet morning

Tony had an appointment at the Eye hospital on Monday afternoon to check that his eyes were healing ok (they are) and then went up to Croydon for his Monday evening Masters baseball game, and came back to the camp late that night. The rest of us spent the afternoon at the beach, playground or campsite. We played lots of card and board games, and a little bit on the iPads, and had some time riding scooters. The kids all got on well and played together in lots of different combinations. There was always lots of do, and someone to do it with, or the chance to be alone if anyone needed a bit of down time.

On Sunday evening we cooked up lots of pasta, vegetables and salami, and put it out on table, each item in it's own separate bowl, so everyone could pick the bits that they wanted. An easy and effective way to feed 9 people with a range of tastes, and everyone was happy. Monday night we had fish and chips, then ice cream in a cone with ice magic. Monday lunch we had sausages and chops cooked on their Weber-Q, bacon and eggs both mornings, and left overs on toasted sandwiches (and hot dogs for the kids) for Tuesday lunch. Great food all weekend for minimal effort and cost!

The others had bought glow sticks with them and both evenings the kids had a great time as it began to get dark. They were pretty fancy glow sticks, with head bands and connectors to make ears and glasses, bangles, earrings and so on. We put them in the freezer the first night so that they would last, and used them again the 2nd night, then hung them in the tent. It was very cool to go to sleep by glow stick light!

Glow stick fun

On Tuesday morning I woke up before everyone else and went for a walk on the beach. It was sunny again and not as cold as Monday. I walked quite a way down the beach - saw some red plovers running in and out of the waves just like Millie was doing the day before - very cute! I took lots of photos and was thrilled to be by the ocean early in the morning. I decided to go for a swim - I knew I'd be disappointed later if I didn't, even though it was cold - and it was wonderful. One of my favourite things in the world to do is swim in the ocean in the early morning - it was refreshing and exciting and relaxing and so beautiful. I was very happy and content and so glad I made the effort.

Early morning on the beach

Later in the morning I took some of the kids back down to the beach - it was the first time LiAM went in the water and he loved it. The waves were small enough to not be threatening and we could easily get past where they were breaking. It was mainly like a being in a large lake with a bit of a swell, then occasionally there'd be a bigger wave which was quite exciting. Perfect conditions for kids not used to swimming in the ocean. After a while I started to get cold, and by then the dads and the rest of the kids had come down to the beach so the boys and I headed home.

While the girls and dads swam at the beach, the mums packed up as much as we could before having lunch, and the boys played around the campsite. When the others returned we ate lunch, then finished packing everything up. With no new campers coming in we were able to take our time and pack with no stress. Everything was all done by about 3pm and then we all headed for home.