Half-lap Day 87: Cape Range National Park

The wind became very strong through the night, the strongest night time wind we’ve had on the trip. Tony and I were awake several times, and for a long time each occasion. Tony got up 3 times and went out to tie down things that were flapping or knocking, and to make sure that everything that might blow away was put away. The wind was slamming into the tent behind our head and slapping the canvas against the pole, I felt like it was a constant punching right behind me and it really wore me out. The kids each woke up, worried, once or twice, but we reassured them and they went back to sleep, and the tent and all our stuff survived the night without any damage or loss.

We eventually fell back to sleep at some point in the early morning, then I woke up around 6.30, as it was getting light. We had to be up and out early today to go on a glass-bottomed boat tour, so I decided not to go back to sleep despite feeling exhausted, and went up to the beach instead. I sat at the tables and drank my cup of tea and watched the waves and the whales, and the sun coming over the ranges and slowly lighting up the ocean. It was windy up there too and my travel mug got blown off the table, so I lost half of my cuppa.

Back to the tent and I woke the others up around 7.30 – we wanted to leave at 8 so we could call in and see our friends at Neds, they were packing up today and I wanted to see them before they left. The kids got out of bed fairly quickly, and had some breakfast. I made sure we had swimmers and snorkels and food for the day, so that we didn’t have to come back to camp until we were ready, and we were in the car by about 8.10, one of our quickest getaways on the trip.

It was a beautiful sunny morning, although still quite windy. The swell didn’t look very big though, so we hoped the wind wouldn’t impact on our boat tour. We got to Neds and walked up to see our friends, who were happy to see us. The girls played in the car and we caught up on our news of the past few days. They’d gone to Oyster Stacks on the day we did Turquoise Bay, so we’d missed them there. It was great to see them again and to share our plans for the next few days to see if we could catch up again somewhere soon. I mentioned that we couldn’t find Millie’s thongs (missing since Karajini – they could be in the car somewhere, or they could be with Tony’s missing hat and sunglasses…) and my friend said someone had given her a pair that they thought were her daughters (same pattern) but were a size too small – they just fit Millie, so she has thongs again, that look exactly the same as her friend’s thongs. Perfect.

We had about 15 minutes there, and then headed back to the car and drove to the Tantabiddi Boat Ramp. We got there just as the boat driver was reading off the names to make sure everyone had arrived. He introduced himself, Alec, the owner of the company, then we headed out along the jetty to the boat. He suggested that kids go in last as there is more room at that end of the boat, so we let everyone else get on and then we climbed in and sat on the bench seat to the left. The boat had a bench seat along either side, then 4 glass panels covering the entire middle section of the boat – so everyone was sitting facing the glass and could look down and see whatever was underneath. There was another family across from us – a young couple with a 2yo boy.

Sitting at the jetty, LiAM and the girls spotted a sting ray on the sand under the boat – a very exciting start to our tour. We motored out to the Tantabiddi Sanctuary Zone, a rectangular area of the reef where this tour operates. Alec told us about himself and his company and the boat, and made lots of jokes, he was fun to listen to. He then asked where each of us was from, and I was surprised that everyone on the boat was Australian. There was another couple from Melbourne, and he said ‘ooh, you’re not Collingwood supporters are you?’ – they said no, but when he got to us, Tony’s Collingwood hat gave him away. Alec offered to throw him overboard for a free snorkel…

On the way out to the reef some people saw a turtle – it was under our side of the boat and we missed it. Once we got to the reef, we saw amazing amounts of coral and fish, and it was great having a commentary about what each thing was, and interesting facts about behavior, diet, fragility and so on. We saw staghorn coral with blue tips – they looked like fairy lights (so we call it fairy light coral now) and large rock like coral formations which are called bommies. All the fish that we’d been seeing over the last few days were here, and we learnt more names. A very long, thin yellow fish that Millie and I had seen was a Spanish flutemouth, then LiAM spotted a silver one that looked the same – he pointed it out to Alec who said it was also a flutemouth. The most exciting thing was seeing a green turtle, feeding on the bottom. Alec turned the boat around 5 times so we could all see it properly. Very exciting and what I’d been hoping to see on this tour. We also saw a crayfish, and a large reef shark. I managed to get a fair few decent photos, as long as I remembered to hold the camera very close to the glass, and not on an angle. The 2 yo boy was so excited about seeing all the fish, it was very cool to listen to him talk about them.

Staghorn, or Fairy Light, coral

More coral

Green turtle

As we headed back to shore Alec handed out a DVD to each couple or family, filled with underwater photos of the reef that he has taken when diving or snorkeling here himself. I love going on tours when the operator is so passionate and knowledgeable about the area we are seeing, we always learn so much.

Once we were back at the car we looked at the map for a while to figure out what we wanted to do with the rest of our day (it was only 10.30 at this stage). We decided to drive all the way down to the southern end to check out Yardie Creek and the gorge there. We drove down then had a bit of a snack, then set out for the short walk along the creek. It was quite pretty, and we could see the gorge walls up ahead, the permanent water of the creek next to us, low scrubby land in either direction, and the ocean and reef behind us. The walk to the lookout at the start of the gorge was very quick and easy, so we continued up along the gorge walk, which was slightly more difficult but not hard. We saw some tenacious little yellow flowers growing out of holes in the rock, there was much less vegetation up here. We walked to the first lookout, where we could see down into the gorge. We watched some people float past on what I said were kayaks, but were actually stand up paddle boards. One guy was doing yoga on his, head stands and chimneys and so on – fairly impressive. The view was great in all directions from here, seeing the gorge, the ranges, the creek, the ocean and the land between the shore and the range. We could see whales way out in the distance. We walked back down, looking at the tough trees that live here – all bent over quite significantly, with very hardy looking branches and leaves.

Yardie Gorge

Yardie Creek

I wanted to snorkel at North Mandu (our original campsite) at high tide, which was just after 3pm today. We drove back up there, arriving a little after 1.30. Everyone was exhausted after our disruptive night’s sleep, and we considered just going back to the tent for a nap. The wind was still quite strong and was also wearing us out. We decided to stay though and just have a quick try at a snorkel once the water was high enough, then go back and rest. The kids and I wandered down to the beach, and walked towards the creek bed. We sat on the side of the creek bed and watched the ospreys – one was sitting on a dead branch on the other side of the creek bed, the other was in the nest. When seagulls started swooping the nest again, the osprey returned to the nest to help its mate scare them off. We didn’t ever go close to the nest so don’t know if they had eggs or chicks in there, but both adult birds kept looking down into the nest, so we’re sure that the nest was occupied by something. LiAM and Millie made rock cairns out of some of the flatter rocks, and we looked at shells and all the other things on the beach. There were huge white clam shells here, and more of the pink and brown shells, bits of coral, lots of driftwood, and rocks of a whole range of colours. Mainly white, pink and brown, and some were stripey. More whales were going past and I finally got some photos of one breaching – and all the kids saw it too, they have mainly only been breaching a long way out so it’s hard to show people, but these whales were just beyond the reef and one whale went up 4 times in a row, incredible to watch. We wandered back to Tony and sat at the table in the middle of the campground and had some lunch. By the time we’d finished eating it was after 2.30 and a good enough time to go in the water.

Humpback Whale

I went in first with LiAM and Millie. We went in pretty much from the end of the path to the beach, over the rocks and then into the deeper water (it’s not very deep here anyway). I wore my reef shoes so that it was easier to walk on the rocky shore and then over the rocks into the water. The swell was higher than we’d snorkeled in before, and the current seemed to be running strongly to the south, so I tried to go straight out then swim a bit north then head back in. We saw lots of fish again, and it was quite beautiful once we got out past the rocks. Millie coped well with the swell, and both kids could swim easily out there as long as they were holding my hand. Heading back in to shore I was really missing my flippers as I had to do all the work with my legs.

Tony decided to walk further north along the beach and go in at a less rocky part, then drift back down towards us. We walked along the beach near the shore, and saw a little reef shark darting in and out. He kept swimming quite close to us, then shooting back into the water. We followed him along the shore for ages, and later found out that juvenile reef sharks are very inquisitive and often come up to check people out and will swim near them along the shoreline. Tony swam way out and back towards the point, he saw a fair bit of coral and fish and said it was a good way to do it. At one point he was out pretty far and directly in the sunlight and I couldn’t see him – I was starting to wonder what I should do if he’d disappeared when I saw his orange snorkel come out of the shiny sun reflections – a big relief. I went and got my flippers and headed back in with LiAM. We were debating how far out we should walk before submerging, when Caitlin (still on the shore getting ready) shouted ‘Oh my God!’ and pointed in front of us – there was a turtle, right in front of us, only about 10m away. We both dived into the water and shot straight out there, Caitlin was not far behind us – but it had disappeared by the time we got there. We swam out beyond the rocks, and LiAM and I saw a blue-spotted ray hiding in under a ledge (my first ray of the trip, I was very excited). Back along the coral towards where Tony was on the shore, and saw lots more – every time we go out it’s as good as the last time, there’s so much going on under the water, fish eating and chasing each other and swimming around, interacting at times or going about their own business as if no one else was there. It was much easier swimming with my flippers, even though the blisters hurt a fair bit when I put them on. Once I was in the water though I didn’t notice them at all.

Millie came in for one more quick snorkel, then I took the others out again for a lap, and then we’d all had enough. Feeling very happy that we’d seen lots of cool things again, we headed back to the car. We stopped off at Bloodwood Creek on the way back to camp and walked up to the small lookout there. There was a bit of water in the creek although it wasn’t flowing, and there were a few birds around. We walked over to the beach and the kids and I decided to walk back, our beach was really not far. So Tony drove the car and the rest of us wandered back along the beach and rocks. The shoreline here was a series of low rocky outcrops, with small crescents of white sandy beaches in between. There were lotts more of the moss covered rocks on the edge of the larger rocks, interesting rockpools and holes in the rocks that we walked over, beautiful white sand with shells and fascinating driftwood in between each rocky part. The dunes to our left were covered in low bushes – great for LiAM to hide behind when he ran ahead, then jump out of as we came past.

Back at camp Tony was using up some leftovers for dinner – bread and eggs and bacon and maple syrup for some delicious French Toast. Caitlin and Millie went and talked to the guy with the guitar again, and they offered the girls a Harry Potter book that they didn’t want (The Deathly Hallows). Millie eagerly accepted it and then sat looking at the words while we ate our tea, she was very excited to have her own copy of a Harry Potter book. We finished eating then grabbed our drinks again and headed up to the tables for sunset. The sunset itself wasn’t as spectacular tonight, but the company was great once again. Caitlin took my camera up and asked the camp hosts about our nocturnal visitor from the night before – it was a Western Antichenus – I’ve always wanted to see one in the wild so was very pleased that it had chosen to visit us. We chatted with the camp hosts and some of the other couples, then with the other homeschooling family again. All the kids played on the beach again, having races and exploring the rocks until it was dark. The wind had died down by now and it was quite pleasant. We weren’t the only ones who had had a disturbed night, everyone was commenting on the wind and the lack of sleep that had resulted.

We gradually drifted back down to our sites and we got ready for bed. The stars were amazing again and I got my tripod out and took some photos – more successfully than last time I tried (at Devils Marbles) – I still need more practice though. Millie and I went to bed first and started reading her Harry Potter book, she asked me to show her where I was reading and she read the words that she knows (that’s how Caitlin started reading too, with the first Harry Potter book). We did that for a while, then the others came in and we read Inheritance for a short while before everyone crashed.

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 7: Mt Field National Park -> Hobart

I woke up a lot overnight, listening to heavy rain and very strong winds. Normally wind scares me but I actually felt quite secure where we were, the huts are well built. I wasn’t looking forward to heading out to the toilet though! The kids slept fitfully as well, and at 4.30 Liam got up to have some breakfast. The girls were soon up as well so we played Up and Down the River for a while, then eventually I couldn’t put off a toilet trip any longer. When I went out in the dark the ground and picnic table looked a bit white, and when I walked into the rain I realized that the drops were actually icy – it had just started to snow. Everyone came out to have a look and we did a quick toilet trip, then back inside to rug up properly with thermals and jackets, boots, beanies, neck warmers, the whole lot to go out and play in the snow. There was enough to dance around in and to scrape off the back of the car, then it stopped. By the time it started to get light it was raining a little and the snow was melting – but then it turned to snow again and there was another chance to play and even build an ice mountain on the table. A bit later on it snowed more convincingly, the snowflakes actually looked like snowflakes rather than chunks of ice. We played and took photos in the snow and then went for a walk down to Caitlin’s magic land – the logs, bushes and rocks dusted in white looked pretty special, and snow on gum trees always looks beautiful. It was pretty icy with the wind and snow on exposed skin (just our faces) and Millie didn’t like that bit so much. The tops of the mountains were looking sprinkled with icing sugar. There was just enough snow for the kids to try a snowball fight, but the snow was still pretty icy and they hurt when they hit, so they threw snowballs at the windows instead.

Liam making an ice mountain in the snow

Snow falling on Eucalypt Hut

Caitlin (without snow gear except boots and gloves) in the heavier snow

Snow on our surrounds

It was time to pack up the hut which was a little more challenging because so much of our stuff was wet so I organised things a bit differently (challenging to me because I like to know exactly where everything is going to go so I’m not making decisions while trying to pack…) Putting things in the car was also challenging because it kept snowing on and off and with the back of the car open the snow was blowing straight into the car. We managed though and got everything cleaned up and crammed into the car and drove down through a lightly snow-coated forest. It was probably the perfect amount of snow – enough to play in and to marvel out, but not so much that driving out was a problem.

I’m so glad we took the risk on this accommodation. I had been nervous about it, not sure if it would be too cold or if the kids would manage with the composting toilet, no electricity, what if the weather was bad etc. But it was a pretty magic experience and despite some bits being a bit tough everyone really enjoyed it.

I dropped Tony off at the Tall Trees Walk so he had a chance to walk down past Horseshoe Falls and the top of Russell Falls (Caitlin was disappointed he’d missed seeing them the day before) and we met him at the Visitors Centre. Millie bought her platypus, Caitlin bought some gifts for friends and some earrings, Liam bought a Tasmanian Tiger and I bought a book on Tasmanian Wildlife with gorgeous drawings of the animals.

We finally left Mt Field National Park and headed to Hobart, going straight to the Cadbury factory for the chocolate making presentation. We had time to browse in the shop first and I was impressed, the kids each picked something they wanted but didn’t want to buy a lot of chocolate.  I actually found it harder to not buy much because everything was so much cheaper – but I restricted myself to the things we normally buy and got a decent little haul for about $20. We went into the presentation and Liam impressed the presenter with his questions, such as ‘Do you make dark and white chocolate the same way as you make the milk chocolate?’

Then off to our caravan park where I was surprised to see we’d booked a standard cabin rather than an economy cabin – it was like major luxury compared to where we’d come from! Millie was very impressed that we had a shower and a toilet inside (even in our cabin in Kelso we had to go to the amenities block for toilet and shower). The kids explored the playgrounds (one is right near our cabin) and then enjoyed having tv and ipad to play with again. Tony popped down to the supermarket to get supplies for dinner and I had a lovely long shower.  We didn’t go to bed quite so early tonight because we had electric lights but it was still earlier than usual since we’d had such an early start. I read Anne of Green Gables to everyone again and then we all went to bed.