We booked into lane cove national park caravan park right in the centre of town. It said it was an Eco park so we weren’t sure what to expect in regards to power and water but it was fairly cheap and our travelling friends the James were staying there and they told us it was good to go. We arrived and the place was right in the middle of the city but surrounded by bush and trees. We got a site right next to the James’ and we had a nice dry slab which was great because there had been a bit of rain and it was a little muddy. The kids were all wrapt to see each other again and they were off playing while we set up the van.
The amenties were right across from us which was handy for the kids and they were nice and clean. They had a pool, a tv room, night tours of the national park, a guy that cooked pizza’s at the park Wednesday to Sunday and an aboriginal cultural dance every Wednesday night. The aboriginal dance was very entertaining they had the kids up dancing like emus and even Clint got up with the Jayson and danced the emu dance as well. There is a You Tube link.
But the highlight was that very afternoon that we arrived, Jayson knocked on the van door to tell us that Home and Away was being filmed a couple of doors down!! Well...me being a fan couldn’t get out the door fast enough to have a look. We saw Colleen doing a scene at her caravan and this was the caravan park that they shoot the scenes for the summer bay caravan park. I couldn’t believe it we drove all the way to palm beach to try and see some home and away action and low and behold her they were in the very park we were staying at!! A few of the park visitors all gathered around with camera’s and we all watched Colleen short scene that they filmed quite a few times. The park ranger was telling me that yes this is where they do the home and away shots but that they aren’t allowed to advertise or tell anyone as it would get too crazy with people. Slade got his photo taken with Colleen which was exciting and she was a really nice lady. Slade was also very excited with all the commotion and on another day when they came to film we got to meet Charlie (Esther Anderson), Slade spent a few hours with her in her trailer playing games on her phone. The crew even asked Slade to hang around and help them. They were giving him cookies and drinks throughout the day. I went to grab him to go food shopping and they asked Slade to come back after the shopping. Well that was it for Slade he was so excited, he would tell us “Dont be long at the shops because I have to go to work on home and away” so when we got back he was off. He was hanging out with the home and away extras and Nathan the fellow that was in charge of the extras, he met the most of the crew the film editors, he met Luke Mitchell who plays Romeo and they took pictures of Slade with the crew. Later in the night when I went to pick up slade I saw Alf Stewart. I was happy I got to see them but stoked that Slade got to meet a few people.
At this stage I am still feeling great about Sydney, wow!! We were only a 15 minute walk to the train station so we would catch the train to the city and we took the kids to the Opera House, we went on a ferry ride on the Sydney harbour and went under the harbour bridge. One day we went to the Powerhouse Museum, this is a must see place of past and present technology and fun things for kids. There was an 80’s section with all the music hits and memorabilia, clothing, albums, newspaper clippings, toys and tickets of all things from the80’s. They had lots of fun things for the kids, they had a playzone construction site where they could build a house with foam bricks. The kdis loved it and they loved putting on the hard hats and safety jackets. It was very cheap too $20 for the whole family for the whole day, we thought it was very good value.
After a really long walk to the train station we finally got home. On one day when we went to the city we just couldn’t get the right train home, we got on one then realised it wasn’t going our way, so we got off and waited for the next one got on that one and this one didn’t stop at our stop, then got off on another one and anyhoo it was about 8 trains till we got the right one but we got back and we had another adventure on the trains.
We were frequent visitors of the Macquarie Park Shopping centre, this is where we did our food shopping, heaps of Asians in the area maybe due to the Macquarie University, but it was upper class shops everyone seemed to dress up here. The kids saw the teletubbies on show which they enjoyed dancing and jumping around. There was an inside ice rink below the foodcourt.
We went to Sydney Olympic Park and visited the aquatic centre where they had the Olympics. It was obviously a buzz with action when the olympics was on but it was kind of ghostly when we were there. The aquatic centre was always busy with kids and people but the rest of the place was dead. They had the Easter Show there was which would of been huge and the AC/DC concert was also held there so when there is an event is most probably works well. The aquatic centre was so cool the kids loved it had a water playground, a gigantic bucket that fills with water and then an alarm rings to let you know that it is about to tip over and all the kids gather around and lay down on the ground and wait for it to tip on them. It makes a huge splash too. You will see the pictures. They also had a huge 'plughole' as they called it, its a circular pool of water that the water pushes anticlockwise and you just swim into it and it takes you round and round. It was great for all the kids and even us big kids!! There was a giant water tube that Slade wasnt quite tall enough but conned his way down past the guard. Shelby was shattered she was way too short to go down, she tiptoed and jumped but the guard just wouldn't let her go down.
What we couldnt believe was we had just travelled 30,000kms around Australia and didnt see any snakes or reptiles and we arrive at Lane Cove Caravan Park in the middle of busy Sydney and a huge monitor lizard was walking around our caravan. It was a really big one too and a big chunky probably from eating left overs from the park visitors. I had tipped out of a small bowl of 2 minute noodles that Isla not finished and within 5 minutes the Lizard was licking them up like a baby with a 50cent icecream cone. We also saw a frilly necked lizard wandering around camp too.
One weekend we made a last minute decision to drive down to Melbourne for the Caravan and Camping Show, it was Friday afternoon about 2pm when we thought lets pack up and head down. We had been wanting an annexe for the van and thought we might be able to check out a few at the show and maybe get a good deal on one. We called David and Karen to see if they wanted some visitors for the weekend and they were excited to see us. We headed off at about 4.30 but that was before I jammed my thumb in the door of the Landcruiser!! Ouch was all I could say as the kids were watching in the car. I did have a moment of cursing when I went back into the van and closed the door. We stopped overnight at Gundagai in a Motel and got up early in the morning to get to Melbourne. We stopped at Seymour for breakfast and then arrived at Davids at 11am headed straight to the Caravan Show. We only found 1 annexe crew but it was the one we had checked out on the net so that was good. We paid our deposit and all that was needed was to measure up. We had a lovely weekend with David and Karen and headed home on the Monday morning. We decided to take the coast road and turned off at Moss Vale as we were looking for Grand Pacific Way, long story short we couldnt find it and when we did we had just had enough of the driving being that is was now 5pm and we left Melbourne and 8 in the morning!! And...we were still an hour away from home, so we decided we would see another day. Just another St Albans adventure!!
On the last week I got a chance to visit Paddy's markets made you feel like you were in Singapore there were so many Asian people there. This is where a chinese man and his wife helped Slade to use chopsticks, he couldnt quite get it at first and told them he should just go home and keep practicing, but being Slade he persisted and was eating away like an old chinaman. Shelby had a go too and she managed to master it, although when it comes to food she doesnt fall far from the apple tree, eat it eat eat it. We finally got our fix of chicken rice and it was lovely!!! Thanks Paddy.
See all the pictures
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2059279&id=1178196973&l=563801eae9
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2055203&id=1178196973&l=13be9a18bf
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