Port Douglas Paradise

Port Douglas Paradise

We met so many people and made so many friends in the 5 months we were in Port Douglas and you are seeing some of these people everyday, first thing in the morning, last thing at night and all the times in between, you share the same backyard and front yard, eat at the same camp kitchens, cross paths when your going to the loo and unless you are locking yourself in your caravan then you are pretty much living with them.

Its a little like a reality show, I found myself getting rather attached to people like family (I was also missing my own family). We had many nights of BBQ's, takeways, or someone would just be cooking up a storm (like grandmamy), one night we all had tea together and had a night watching 'Beauty and the Geek'! We had a great laugh.

We first met Jamie and Tenille and their daughter Ta-leah, they worked in the park and were from the West as well. Isla and Ta-leah were the same age so they played alot when the other kids were at school. Tenille made soaps, potions and lotions from the van and they smell the greatest.

Then we met Dave and Kirrilly and their kids Xander and Kate, also from the West. Xander was the same age as Slade and they became really good friends, as seven year old boys do they had alot in common and were very energetic always off doing their exploring or just running around pretending to shoot everyone. Maybe they thought they were some kind of cowboys. Kate was a cutie she was aged in between Isla and Shelby so they were all good playing together and Ta-Leah also played together. We had met Dave first and he was a funny guy very neat and clean, washing his car and cleaning the caravan, Kirrilly called him CB (caravan bitch) which was funny when we would ask her where Dave was. He looked like Dave Hughes but with Blonde hair and luckily he didnt have Hughesy annoying whiny voice. Finally Kirrilly came out of the van, took her awhile later I discovered that she had a Thermomix (very cool appliance) she was busy cooking?? It wasnt until they moved to a site closer to us that she got her ass out of the van and felt the sunshine. We got along great we had a special connection sharing the same birthday! I had not met anyone that has the same birthday as me and our birthdays were only days away at the time so we left it to the men to organise a combined special dinner for us. Just a BBq but it was the not having to prepare it and clean up that made it special.

This birthday for me was also my 40th and I was taken to a beautiful restaurant called the Salsa Bar, very upmarket (although you could wear thongs to the venue) with the menus and the cocktails were fancy and yummy. We had a very french waiter with an animated twist to his accent, he attended to our table and read us the menu and the specials and it was a little hard to understand but very very funny, so funny that I could not look at him or Clint in fear I would fall off my seat in fits of laughter. The way he described the Mackeral and pronounced it (muckrel with a lemon zest) kind of reminded me of Beverly Hills Cop and Serge offering the coffee with the lemon twist, very similar. Made the evening entertaining that was for sure. It was nice having the night off from the kids and eating in peace. Mum and Charles arrived in Port Douglas a few days before so they were more than happy to have the kids for the night. Kirrilly offered us a ride into town so we could have a few drinks and it just so turned out that they went into town to have dinner and when it was time to go home I saw them driving and they gave us a lift home!! They put their kids to bed and we stayed up till 12ish and had a few drinks with them.

Port Douglas - Our Magical Paradise

Port Douglas 

Our Magical Paradise

We had mail to collect so we decided that Port Douglas might be a good place to stay so we booked in for 4 nights at the Glengarry Holiday Park. We were then going to plan our journey to the Far North of Queensland.

Our 4 days actually turned into 5 months!!

After checking out the township and it was pretty flashy with all the pubs, cafes, boutiques, little Nick knacky shops. Not a very big town but it was choccas full of tourists all oozing out of the shops and pubs. We could really see ourselves heading out to a few of the pubs and having a nice cold drink and a juicy steak. The main street into Port Douglas is lined with coconut trees and five star resorts and when you see all the tourists you can understand why they come here. Its a very relaxed place, very beautiful to look at, easy access beaches, rainforest's just a short drive away and the weather...just perfect, warm all day and the nights just the same.

Time to get into some home schooling, I'm excited...and then it starts the lack of concentration, I'm hungry, I need the toilet, I want to go and play, Oh Mum, oh mum!! Just about to strangle him when dad calls it, time out lets go for a drive. I had been trying to do the home schooling on the way up from Melbourne whilst travelling but even then its the same head to head drama with all 3 of them in the back seat and miss middle child piping in all the time, you can get a bit done but never feel like you've really done anything. Maybe its me I don't know, but I do know that I am not happy being the teacher, I rather love just being the mum.

Clint sends the kids off for a play and I sit and cry and Clint can see that I am not coping very well at this very moment. I throw my hands up saying 'Later in life he is going to hate me if I don't give him a good education, but he hates me now trying to teach him'. I remember my cousin Peter telling me that it was his mums fault that he's dumb because when he and his brother were little Aunty Rachel and Uncle Bill travelled in a caravan back in the 80's and they didn't have any home schooling but they occasionally went to school but thinks his mum should of given him a better education whilst enjoying themselves. I'm pretty sure he was just fooling with his mum, but that still did not vacate my memory bank.

We both decided to go for a drive and take a look at the locals schools...there is 1. So I said what the hell I will go in and see if they have any vacancies. School was about to commence for term 3 and the teachers were at the school getting things ready for the return of the kids the next day.

I was greeted by the assistant principal Glenys, as the principal was recovering from an eye operation. I told her of our situation that we were travelling and I had been home schooling but would like to see if they could come to Port Douglas State School for a term of two. Much to my delight she said yes and wanted to meet them both. I went to the car and told them everyone the news and we all went in to meet Glenys. She was excited to meet Slade and Shelby and made them feel very welcome, she sized them up for school polo shirts and told them they could start tomorrow. Glenys gave us some information on the school and it all sounded just superb!! I was not really concerned about the school I was just so happy that they could come to school and be taught by a professional....trained and a bit more patient than I.

Clint pays more attention to the finer details but I had a good feel about the place. The one thing that pricked my ears and Clint's was when she told us that the school had a "No shoe Policy" meaning that shoes were optional and thongs or barefeet was allowed. She then started to say 'We are very fortunate...' and I was waiting for her to say something like 'that we will be wearing closed in shoes very soon' instead she said ' We are very fortunate to still be able to do this'. Even the teachers wear thongs! You get used to it but it was funny at the start. We just assumed that due to wet seasons and humidity smelly wet feet don't mix.

I laughed at the kids because when they would get to school because they both would kick off their thongs at the school room door like they were at grandma's, with all the shoes at the front door!!

They were both very excited Slade a little more than Shelby as he was just keen to meet more kids. Both their teachers were lovely and everyone seems to be so relaxed. Slade made friends fast as he does, he only had one kid that annoyed him but he was handling it. Shelby had a problem with a girl named Bo, she would poke and probe her, or flick her with her fingers. During the first week Shelby awoke in the middle of the night screaming about this girl and I was not having this!! So I was going to approach the mother first and whack her in the face but decided that speaking to the teacher might be a better idea first and then assess the situation after. Miss Janelle was Shelby's lovely teacher very calm and friendly and I discussed the matter with her and apparently they have been working very close with Bo and were keeping an eye on her. Miss Janelle said to Shelby that she would make sure this didn't happen again. Later Miss Janelle told me that yes Bo had some issues with showing her affection with others by being Mean. So I just left it at that and Shelby managed to deal with her ok.

Other than that they enjoyed their time at the school, they both got a honour certificates which excited them and us! They got a chance to compete in the school sports carnival and both got blue ribbons for running events. Even Dad got involved in the Parents and Teachers Race which coming from last almost beat one of them. They participated in Surf Life Saving which was part of their curriculum and they thought that was just so much fun. And just before we left they had swimming lessons.

The days were now joyous with two kids gone what were we going to do with ourselves? Enjoy ourselves, do whatever we wanted, well for 6 hours till pick up anyway. I did forget that the mornings were going to be earlier and sandwiches needed to be made but they was manageable.

On the first day of school we decided to drive to Cairns for some retail therapy without the whining and toilet stops, Isla was easy and happy to please with a lollipop and a ride in a pram or a trolley. Everyone said Isla might of felt a bit lonely with her siblings going to school...NO WAY!! She was happy to be left alone and have her mum and dad all to herself, she would even be happy just playing for a few hours by herself playing her barbies and dancing in the tropical gardens of the caravan park like a fluttering butterfly.

Back to the drive to Cairns for the fun day of shopping while the kids were left at their new school not knowing a soul, making friends and learning more in one day than they did in a week! I cant remember if we actually purchased anything but we were enjoying our time, now Cairns was a 60km drive from Port Douglas and we suddenly glanced at the time and it was 2.20pm, school finished at 3pm. No problems we should make it, but we were about another 15kms inside Cairns with traffic lights and at least 20 roundabouts, as we wound around the crazy coastline back we could see where Port Douglas was and...the remaining kms and the time were not coming together at 3pm for the pick up.

 We arrived at the school at 10mins past 3, I felt so bad my heart was racing and all I could think was, what a bad mother I was for their first day of school picking them up late. I had visions of them both sitting in their classes alone feeling sad thinking that we had packed up the van and taken off without them and how was I going to get them to go the next day. I felt selfish for leaving them to go off shopping and enjoying myself. When we arrived at the school Slade was standing out the front waving and smiling but no Shelby, so before the car had even stopped my door was open and I bolted to her classroom. There she was alone sitting with the teacher and when she spotted me she just smiled, phew I hadn't caused her any grief. I did however get a quiet whisper in the ear by the teacher saying 'perhaps you could be a little earlier just for the first couple of weeks'. Hmm I felt bad enough lady, but yes we will need to manage our time and distances better for school days. The next week and most weeks we were always sitting in the carpark 10 mins prior to the bell. Lucky for us no harm was done.

We met a few of the parents from school and was greeted by a father who's boy Daniel was in Slade's class, Harry was his name and he was a Captain on the Quicksilver boats that went out onto the Barrier Reef, he was very nice and we had many chats after assembly's on Fridays. We went to every Assembly which was a great experience for Clint because if we were home he would probably not see too many of these. They were great assemblies, first they would sing the national anthem in their own made up tune, then they would state their grievances, give out the awards, and the principal would advise the students 'to focus on their goals for the year and work on making them happen' (this would always make Clint and I giggle, would these primary kids be paying any attention? probably they were)

So for awhile we mainly stayed 'loco' until we did a couple of practise runs to Cairns to test the kms, if we didn't have too much to get we could get back in time for pick up.

When we arrived at Glengarry it was pumping busy with travellers. We were on the south side of the park near the new cabins on a grassed site, it was ok but a slab is definitely needed if we were going to stay for a few school terms I ideally would want to be closer to the amenities for the kids. We did consider renting a unit and storing the van, but I really enjoyed the caravan experience of meeting people and plus we had no furniture. After looking around there wasn't anything that we liked and at the time we were paying $360 a week for the site as it was peak season.

I went to the office and spoke to Margy, Shayne and Tennille at different times asking about available site and about staying for a length of time. Margy was ok with that as they did have permanents in the park anyway. So they gave us some sites to look at and some dates that they were available. We managed to move to site 40 on the 4th of August (Tuesday)which was a good time because Grandma Norma was arriving on the Saturday early in the morning...here's another story...

Grandma was due to leave Friday night on Jetstar at 10.30pm flying directly to Cairns arriving about 3am in the morning. All good we were going to have an early night bundle the kids into the car in their pj's drive to the airport 60kms...all set and organised. Kids could not wait Slade was counting the days to see Grandma. They all went to bed early and had the alarm set for 2am we were still up when the phone rang around 12. Grandma's plane had been delayed on the website and it wasn't departing until a later time, but as grandma hadn't checked in Jetstar thought they had all their checked in passengers and left already. Grandma was not happy and neither were we, she booked another flight for the Monday but that was going to cut her holiday short. So we checked Qantas online and booked her a flight for first thing in the morning that way she hadn't really missed a day. Everyone was pleased to see her at the airport after a disappointing morning when they woke and we weren't going to the airport. Lots of hugs and kisses were had.

So we moved to site 40 and it was a nice sized site with a slab and right across from the amenities and camp kitchen. We also had some nice grass around us and the backdrop was a tropical paradise...yes this was going to be enjoyable. The park was still buzzing with activity lots of comings and goings and lots of spectator enjoyment with backing in vans. Every site was filled on every night.

Going to post this but there is more...stay tuned and I promise it wont be long xx

Melbourne to Qld

Melbourne to Queensland

The Chase for Warmer Weather

 

The trip to Queensland was off a speedy one, the kids had colds and we were eager to get to the warmer weather and see some more of QLD.
We only had overnight stops and it only took one day to cross the NSW border. Our first night was in Albury a nice park across the road from Hungry Jacks, very small but ok for one night. The amenities were good they had floormats for when you had a shower and hand towels as well. The other stops were Goulbourn and we did have 3 nights at Sydney Gateway. This was a 5 star caravan park all amenties were sparkly clean and the sites were slab and they even had a slab for your vehicle.


The highlight was watching the guy next to us reverse his van straight into the fence behind us and missing our car by the skin of his teeth!!



Port Macquarie was the next stop we arrived at a reasonable time but because the computers were down they couldnt allocate us a site, so we had to just park anywhere and then wandered around. Along the coast they had a rock wall and each individual rock was painted that was quite neat. The amenties here were disgusting and they should be ashamed of themselves. It didnt give us a very nice experience and I cant say we will be stopping there again.


Coffs harbour was next, we stayed at the showgrounds here and that was nice and we had plenty of room although it was noisy.





Ballina was next, this was ok, but the park we choose charged us an arm and a leg due to their facilities for the kids. A bit unfair as we were only staying a night and we didnt use them, but you live and learn and we wont stay there again.

We stopped at Ballina as Gwen and Henk were staying at a park across the river, we went over to catch up with them which was lovely and then headed off the next morning.


Finally we reached the QLD border things were slightly warmer but still at the max of 25 during the day, not bad considering it was still winter. We stayed at the Broadwaters on the Gold Coast and it was nice and close to everything. We were trying to catch up with Robert and Glenda because this is the park that they stay in with their fifth wheeler, but the park had only 5 nights for us and then we would of had to move sites, not going to happen. So they were arriving the day we were leaving and it wasnt meant to be. Amazingly when we were on the road we did see them pass us on the other side of the freeway and it was amazing because most of the freeway is divided by lots of trees and bushes so for us to see each other at the moment when there was nothing between the freeways was amazing.



While we were on the Gold Coast it gave us a chance to test out the annexe a bit more, check for mail, do the washing and map out our next journey.

Our plan was to head up as far north as we could and stop when we thought the weather was perfect and slow down the journey.


We stopped at a few free camps along the way, Tiaro, Benarby, Claireview which was a magic spot right on the beach, Guthralunga just on the roadside and Townsville right on the beach but with heaps of sandflies, no good for Clint or the kids as they were savagely attacked.


After Townsville we headed straight to Port Douglas to collect more mail we booked in for 4 nights and then thats when the magic began...

Melbourne - Football, friends, fun, family

Melbourne

Nine weeks!! This is the time we spent in Melbourne, our longest stay anywhere. We were lucky to be able to stay at David and Karens for so long but I would say that the kids probably tested their patience. Three housebound kids under 6 is a task even for the best of us. Luckily they both got to go to work and have a bit of a break!!

We did a couple of sets of school work in Melbourne which was good. We enquired about them going to school but it seemed to be more hassle than what it was worth so we ditched the idea. We did as much as we could and that was enough. It is one of the hardest things to do when you have more than two kids and not enough hours in the day. Its not just the school work but I had to do feedbacks every day that the school work is being done to send back to the teacher. Maybe it was just me trying to do too much. You get so behind when you are travelling and trying to sight see too. Anyway we did our best and thats all you can do. The bright side is that I have wonderfully smart children who can pick things up real easy and I love them to bits! The kids made a Vegie garden as part of their school work and watched it grow and watered it on most days. Most days were very cold and raining so the vegie garden only missed the sun.



The suburb where Dave and Karen lived was Keilor East and it was fairly close to everything, trainstations, shops, food, freeways etc. David's work was only up the road too so he was home fairly early on most nights. The kids would yell and scream when he got home and jump all over him wanting him to play. Of course he would love this and he'd be out the back kicking balls and chasing them around.

Being close to Hungry Jacks was great we would often take the kids for a walk after tea and go sit in the playground at HJ's and buy 50c cones...yummo we did that until it got a bit too cold. Some nights it didnt matter that it was cold because they had outdoor heaters outside so you could have a cold icecream and still stay warm.

We were also close to one of the largest shopping centres in VIC called Highpoint. They had a great food hall where we found the best chicken rice!!! We visited here a couple of times a week or more. The DFO (Direct Factory Outlets) were always a must see in Melbourne and most times you can pick up a bargain or two. I saw a lot of things to buy but living in a caravan keeps you from collecting items you cannot take with you. Shame for me but joy for Clint.

Katrina and Michael lived not far from Dave's and we got to catch up with them a few times. Slade loved going there and playing the Wii and Shelby and Isla would chase Michael around the house while Katrina filled them with food. They have a beautiful home which they both built themselves, mum liked it when she visited as Trina's house has central heating and it was nice and warm for her.

Katrina and Michael took us to their favourite Chinese Restaurant at Highpoint called Plume...we had a nice banquet dinner that got a little out of hand and when we got the bill its was $800!!! There was only 7 adults and 3 kiddies and Karen hardly ate anything,!! It was one night out we were trying to forget (note to self... never order chinese on a very empty stomach) but very hard because the food...the food was so delicious we had dumplings for the first time and we were hooked!! We went back again but we watched how many dishes we ordered this time

Clint got to watch quite a few games of Essendon and I even got to watch a couple. The atmosphere at the games is very exciting even if you dont really get into the football. Its such a sight seeing a whole state that just gets so involved in their teams, every weekend the city is full of people just walking around in their footy team colours.

We were in Melbourne for the ANZAC day match and the dreamtime game against Richmond which is always entertaining with the prematch entertainment. Slade and Clint had their photo taken with the Bomber mascot the mozi.

Windy Hill was only a 10 minute drive from Davids so went down to the oval and watched some training sessions. At one training session James Hirde was there and they had a free sausage sizzle for everyone. We got some signatures on that day too, I visited the bomber shop to get some things for Ada and Bec and saw some Essendon tea towels I thought Bec might like for her birthday and when I got back Clint was on his way to get Slades shirt and footy signed so I threw him the tea towels to get signed for his sister!! I was excited and so was she when she finally got them in August.

Slade was very keen to get into Auskick and it was fortunate that the team closest to David's is in the Essendon Area, so there was a lot of Red and Black. Every Saturday we took Slade down to the oval and he would just run off and get into it with all the kids. No fear of being new Slade just goes up to anyone and says hi and away they go!! Apart from his listening to instructions from the coach he blended in well having a kick and marking the ball. As with most kids they are only thinking of one thing...having fun!

We had a few visitors when we were in Melbourne, Mum came for 3 weeks, Mark came for the weekend, Grandad came for a weekend to watch the Anzac game and Rochelle and Matt also came for an extended weekend of shopping and shopping and to see her waxing client...me.

We took everyone to a beaut little bakery cafe we found in West Meadows called Whitings Bakery which changed its name back to Westmeadows bakery. We were looking for somewhere to have breakfast one morning and stumbled across this place and a little Italian lady we called Mama maria cooked up the meaniest and cheapest brekky's in town. She absolutely adored the kids, she would bring their breakfasts' out to them and them and pinch their cheeks and give them kisses. And speaking of Bakery's we found Beechworth Bakery which probably doesnt mean anything to you but for Clint Brock and I, we had read article on this Bakery and how the ownerTom O'Toole built this franchise of Bakerys into an empire. Very interesting reading. Oh and the food and coffee is a 10 out of 10 yummy!

Grandad was here for a weekend and stayed for Shelby's birthday he had a lot of fun with the kids playing cricket and footy and spending some time with Clint and David. Mum came the week after and Mark (who used to live next to us in Huntingdale) came for a weekend of footy and beers with Clint. Mum babysat one night and David, Karen, Clint and I took him to the crown casino. We had a great night and sat out on one of the balcony's and watched the flames of the giant torches that align the Yarra River. Wow!! you can really feel the heat come off those things...hey Marcus??? We missed the last train home and had to catch a taxi but we eventually got home in one piece.

Mark and I also had fun with a magnetic crocodile that was Karen's on the fridge and somehow Mark and I would be the only ones to walk past the fridge and knock it off. After a few attempts to hide our clumsiness and get Clint on the superglue without karen noticing, I finally had to tell her of our sneeky fixings in which her reply was...'dont worry its only a $2 magnet'. We even went out on shopping searches looking for a replica...I am still looking Karen!!

We took a drive down to Frankston and Shelby needed a pee so we stopped on the side of the road walked down to the beach and saw all the coloured beach shacks!! We had a lovely lunch at one of the beachside restaurants and then played at the playground, heaps of fun.

It was Mother's Day whist Mark and mum was here and we went down to St Kilda and had breakfast, walked around the street markets and we also watched a really good Elvis Impersonator busking in the street. We took the kids to Luna Park and they wanted to have a go on the Bounty ride, they had such a fun time and their faces were priceless.
Back to Shelby's birthday, she had a really nice birthday and got lots of pressies and she especially loved her Barbie Cake that I worked hard on. It turned out well considering it was made in the caravan oven.

We made a trip out to Ballarat to visit our special travelling friends the Andersons at their house. What a beautiful house and property they had up on a hill. They had an excellent back yard for the kids all four of them and with another bub on its way it was definitely built for fun. We had a lovely lunch and tried to squeeze as much chit chat as we could in. They invited us to bring the caravan up and stay and we would of loved too but it just got too damn cold.

Mum shouted us and David and Karen to a couple of nights at the Hyatt, mums loves the 5 star treatment and why not I say. It was great having a long hot shower in a nice warm room, we could stretch our legs and lounge around and order room service!! We had breakfast in the restaurant in the morning and it was a smorgasbord of deliciousness!! We had tickets to the footy for the Dreamtime match and it was great because it was only a 15 minute walk from the Hyatt.

We took a drive to the Black Saturday Fire Regions through Marysville and surrounding areas, it was shocking to see the towns affected and ruined by the fires. To think that they once like all the little towns we past through during our travels, is devasting. All the memories gone. I guess that although they were rebuilding these towns it will and never can be the same, but like everything you must gone on and try to move forward.

We had a slight incident with Isla in which she acquired a broken leg. The girls were running around and being pre-warned by their father to do not run, they fell over and Shelby landed on Isla's leg!! She wasnt screaming but moaning and Clint was concerned that she may have broken her leg (how right he was).

We went to the closest emergency department but they did not see little kids so were sent to Sunshine hospital not too far away. It was fairly busy here when we arrived at 11am and we waited until 5pm to get an xray. After waiting this long the student doctor asked me if I really wanted an xray as they were busy and Isla seemed to be getting around ok. Well she wasnt really she was not putting any pressure on that leg but still getting herself around. She wasnt crying either which made them wonder if anything was wrong. I stated to her that I had waited this long and yes I would like know if there is a break or not! So they took her away and xray her and came back to me to tell me they could see no break but come back tomorrow so we can check her.

During that night Isla awoke rubbing her shin bone and in quite a lot of pain. We went back to the hospital very early and saw another doctor who took her for xrays again, but this time they xray'd her whole leg!!! Yes, apparently they only did an xray on her ankle and knee?????? So this time, helloo!! there was a fracture, a long one on her Tibia. So after saying how brave she was and not how stupid they were they proceeded to plaster her leg. by the time we got her home the plaster started to come away at the knee so it was back to the hospital again where they put on a fibre glass plaster. Six weeks was the length of time the plaster had to stay on and we did have another xray and a consult with a Orthopaedic doctor before we left Melbourne to make sure it was ok if we continued our travels, which we did get the all clear.

Our Annexe had arrived at Davids and we had been waiting for this to come before we left Melbourne to make sure it fit ok. We had booked into the Werribee caravan park for the last week to fit the annexe. All was good and we even had 100kms gust winds to test it out. Only damage was a velcro strap that came undone at the stitching, easily fixed by the annexe people.

We the making of the Film ' the killer Elite' starring Robert De Niro, Turkish and a few others being filmed on the beach across from where our caravan was parked in Werribee. We could hear this chopper flying over us for about an hour before we thought lets go and see what this was. We asked a few crew people who told us they were filming a corporate Advert...liar liar! Another guy had told us what was happening and then Clint googled it on his phone and we saw it on there that it was a blockbuster movie. Unfortunately I didnt see anyone famous.

Well it was time to go and we are going to miss David and Karen as well as the cheap meat and vegie's but it is time to see some more of this big country.

See some pictures by copy and pasting link to:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2069511&id=1178196973&l=c72d47c7ae

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2066931&id=1178196973&l=1da538b72f

JINDABYNE & FREE CAMPING TO MELBOURNE

Jindabyne NSW

Camping from NSW to VIC Melbourne

We free camped all the way down to Melbourne after we had a few days in Jindabyne which is in the Snowy mountains.

Jindabyne  is a town in south-east New South Wales, Australia that overlooks Lake Jindabyne near the Snowy Mountains, in Snowy River Shire. It is a popular holiday destination, especially in winter, due to its proximity to several ski resorts throughout the Kosciuszko National Park, including Thredbo and Perisher Blue. Both resorts are approximately 30 minutes drive into the park, although require the payment of park entry fees ($27 per vehicle per day and the compulsory carrying of snow chains in winter. However, Jindabyne also attracts tourists in summer with Lake Jindabyne popular for activities such as fishing, water skiing and wakeboarding.  The town's name is derived from an aboriginal word meaning 'valley'.
 Jindabyne is connected to the surrounding area by Kosciuszko Road, the Alpine Way and the Barry Way.

There was no snow for us but we did take a drive up to Thredbo and it was pouring with rain and at some spots higher up it got down to 2 degrees, brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. It was a beautiful drive and very scenic lots of winding roads and beaut lookouts.

I had a really sore knee at Jindabyne and drove around looking for a chemist for some painkillers, this was a lunch time and nothing was open except woollies!! So I went back to the home remedy of an ice pack on for 5 and off for 5mins. Worked, cos the next day I was good to go!!

Our next stop was  Pinch Dam a free camp about 5kms off the main road. We all loved it because we could actually get to light a camp fire. We went in search of fire wood and then got the marshmallows out. After the kids went to bed Clint and I sat around the fire enjoying the peace and quiet.

The next working we went for a short bush walk to the dam and on the way saw a tiger snake slithering along the path. We were glad to spot it so there weren't any surprises walking with the kids.

Next stop was Bellbird Motel, here was lonely old motel very small on the main highway. Down the back of it was a free camping area with swings and a large grassed area. It was a great spot surrounded by rainforrest bushes. It was starting to get a bit coolish in the nights but was ok inside the van. We didn't have a fire that night because there was a few mosquito's about.


We went up to the Motel and had a few bourbons and a met the owner and she had a lot of stories to tell us which kept us entertained for a few hours.

The next morning we left the van and unhitched to go for a rainforest walk not far up the road through the Bemm River. It had a swinging bridge which is always very cool.

The next stop was interesting...Clint had the next spot picked on the coast that looked really nice but there was no water for the tanks so we found an Apex Playground Park in Stratford which had public toilets very clean and safe.

Next to the toilets was a tap where we could pull the van up alongside and fill the tanks with water to last us 3 days. While Clint was filling the tanks Slade and Shelby were asleep so I took Isla out for a play at the park which was a Medieval themed park with a big green dragon and mirrors and a castle. I thought it was great and so did Isla, just as

Clint was finished the other two kids awoke and they ran straight for the park as well. We had a couple of hours here and it was getting a bit late in the day and the next stop was a few hours away. I suddenly had a thought...why dont we stay here for the night. Mind you there was a caravan park across the road but the kids were having so much at the park we couldn't be bothered setting up over the road. It was a great spot at the park as it was down from the road where the major traffic on the Princess highway passed. But unless you were really looking you wouldn't see our 26ft van and black cruiser...much.

So we decided why not lets just camp here and if anyone asks we tell them we were just too tired to drive any further. We even got a few hours of power as there was a power outlet in the BBQ covered area. Clint was a little restless waiting for the knock on the door to tell us to move on but we woke up in the morning with no incident. The kids had another play before we headed to our next spot...

We had trouble finding this one and it wasn't planned, Clint had picked one out the book which had a tick on it but it was nothing but a dump so we put the co-ordinates of Kurth Kiln which is in a national park. Our wonderful GPS took us on a couple of dirt road which were dodgy and we were having flashbacks of Wisemans Ferry. We eventually found the road to Kurth Kiln but it was also a dirt road and Clint was unsure if it was going to facilitate our large van so he decided to head down there on foot to check it out. We thought it wouldn't be far down the road but it ended out being 4km run for him. Just previously we headed down a road and missed the turn around and had to a 300 point turn with abusive hand signals by myself, so we didn't want anymore hostility so Clint thought checking it out would be a good idea.


After all the dramas we found a nice camp spot and it was rather cold during the night and the flannels and thermal wear were put on.

The next day we arrived in Melbourne City and we had no idea where we were staying when we got there. We rang around to some parks and they were very expensive and we were planning to stay awhile so we needed to budget for this. A lot of the parks were asking for $60 - $70 per night. We finally rang a park in Werribee who gave us a quote on half the price and we ventured down there. It was about 40mins from David & Karen and from the City but the freeways make it alot faster getting to places.

We set up in Werribee and then headed to David and Karen's to see if we could get the van into their place. Stayed a couple of night at Werribee before we managed to chop a tree and dissemble the small brick wall out the front of the yard and very carefully and skillfully back the van into their front yard. We even used David's car the Hyundai to assist in the manoeuvring of the van so we could get the van door open. Overall a very impressive job done by all parties.

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CANBERRA

Canberra...the capital city of Australia. Did you know? that the site of Canberra was selected for the location of the nation's capital in 1908 as a compromise between rivals Sydney and Melbourne. Not surprising!!

In Clints word Canberra is full of pollies, old farts and chairs because both need somewhere to sit.

No...seriously there was a lot to see in Canberra, mainly the War memorial for us we were very interested in our world war histories. Its a huge place the war memorial and we didnt get to see it all even though we were there for the whole day. We will revisit for sure.

We took the kids to Questacon, Australia's National Science and Technology Centre, its a hands-on interactive science museum. They had an absolute ball here, they had floors and floors of different science and technology displays. Well worth the entry fee. They had giant animatronic dinosaurs that looked very life like to Isla. She was funny because the dinosaurs were behind a bar and when they roared she snared at them 'na na na na na' as if to say you cant get me. They had a  threatening Tyrannosaurus, spiky spined Stegosaurus, and a motherly Maiasaura complete with her nest, they all sway and roar with pre-historic passion in Terrorsaurus. They had a room that made to look like a house and it imitated a earthquake, the kids were amazed!! It rocked and shook it only went for 3 mins and really gave you an idea of how much damage one could do in such a short time. Good for big kids too.

We went for a drive past 'The Lodge' but didnt see Ruddy. We took the kids to the Dinosuar Museum and they had an educational lesson on the different types.

We only stayed for 4 nights it was starting to get cold at night and Clint had tickets to Footy.





 
 
 
 
 
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Pretty Beach -South coast NSW

Well we are on our way to wintery Melbourne but not before a few coastal stops. There were so many nice little towns and the coast was something we had never seen before. Flat grassy landscapes and then huge cliff drops to the ocean blue.

We arrived at Murramarang National Park - Pretty Beach, it has the best of both worlds here. The campground is nestled amongst landscapes of rainforests and rugged bush to marine wonderlands . Our campsite setting was quiet with wilderness clearings, and walking tracks to suit every level of experience.

There were many varieties of coastal walks from this campground, which is well known for its kangaroos. There was plenty to do for us from this spot, including fishing, bush walking, swimming, rock platform walks, and kayaking in Slades yellow boat. Even better was that the beach was only 50 metres away.

The beach was crawling with hermit crabs at different times of the day and Slade, Shelby and Isla found that many that they made a hermit crab farm. The water was only ankle deep for about 10 metres so it was a good spot for the kids. The rocky platforms would pool water and when the tides changed little fishes would get stuck in the pools of rocks and that made very interesting fishing for Slade and Shelby. When the tide is out you can see the abalone under the rocks, a man we met on the beach showed us one and asked if we knew when the season was. We were unsure so he decided he best put it back.

We only booked for 4 nights but the weather was just perfect and it was very peaceful and relaxing. We decided that we would stay for the Easter Break so we weren't on the road with all the crazy school holidays makers. We did need to change our spot because the campsite was booked out. We found that hard to believe as there was only ever 3 other campers whilst we were there, so we were eager to see the how it was going to fill up.

There was no phone service so that meant no work could be done but we somehow managed to amuse ourselves. We had powered sites but no water, they had water tanks that you could use so that meant Clint had to do carts of water everyday just to keep it topped up. There were toilets and showers that were ok, the showers cost you a dollar for a minute for hot water but we just used our own showers. The days were nice and the nights were sometimes a bit cooler so we were able to light fires which is always nice to sit around at night. There were heaps of kangaroos, possums and rabbits moving around in the night which the kids thought was great.

Slade befriended some people with Kayaks on the beach and they let him use theirs, he was was very good out on it so we made a trip to Kmart to buy a Kayak for him to use.

We moved our van towards the back of the campground and waited and watched the Easter Mayhem. We met a lovely couple Heather and Chris from Sydney and they were two doors down in their camper. Chris and Clint spent a bit time chit chatting and enjoyed having a laugh at the antics of the holidaymakers-parking, erecting, shouting, banging in pegs in the middle of the night. What was better was after we had all the beautiful weather the week before when it was the easter break it poured with rain for a week. Makes funny moments watching tenters try and keep dry, light fires in the rain and keep kids out of mud!!! A bit selfish of us seeing us we were nice and dry in our caravan.

The School holidays meant that the kids were able to meet lots of new friends. They met some Canadians who live in the Phillipines who were on a five day break in Australia, the spoke French, his name was James. They were a lovely family and James taught Slade a few moves in fencing. Slade also met another nice boy Kyle he was an interesting character who would rarely take a breath when speaking. He also met two shitheads called Rory and Cory they had two mums...say no more.

Clint got friendly with the Ranger Dennis and they had a few beers together and they even barracked for the same footy team . During the Easter break Dennis's wife and two kids Liam and Emma camped at the campground so that could spend some time over easter as Dennis was working here everyday. They were excellent people and we were lucky to have met them.

Not far North of us was a nice town called Ulladulla, its a coastal town in New South Wales, in the City of Shoalhaven area. The name Ulladulla is an aboriginal word meaning "safe harbour".
Ulladulla is surrounded by the adjoining towns of Milton and Burrill Lake as well as Mollymook and Narrawallee. The extended area from Burrill Lake to Milton is referred to as the Milton–Ulladulla area.
Close landmarks include Pigeon House Mountain and "The Castle", both named due to the unique shapes of the mountain. Pigeon House was sighted by Captain James Cook upon his journey along the eastern shores of Australia. Pigeon House has recently been renamed "Didhol" out of respect to the elders of the Huin nation, the aboriginal elders past and present who originated from the area Ulladulla was built upon. The traditional name of the peak, Didhol, means Woman's Breast, owing to the mountain's clear resemblance of, um, a woman's breast



The Blessing of the Fleet festival is held annually at Easter since 1956. This is centuries old tradition which originated in Sicily, Italy, and now continued by the area's descendants of the original Italian fishing community. The most significant element of the festival is the actual Blessing of the Fleet ceremony held at Ulladulla harbour on Easter Sunday. The festivities conclude with fireworks display, over Ulladulla harbour on Easter Sunday and the Harbour Markets on Easter Monday. We were going to go but were warned that is would be chaos. We did have great pizza there and we did alot of our topping up of supplies here.

We had a day trip to Canberra to decide if there was much to do and there was so after here we were off to Canberra.
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Lane Cove National Park - Sydney

 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.

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UMINA BEACH - CENTRAL COAST NSW

Well...we liked this place so much we stayed for 4 weeks (28 days to be exact). This is the place we decided was going to be the place where we just chilled out, catch up on schoolwork and let the kids run wild!! I  picked Umina Beach  from the list of Big 4's Caravan Parks looking for place along the coast somewhere. When I rang and got the price is was very cheap about $170 for a week.

When we arrived it looked really flash like a resort, the pools were all huge with a hot spa, a slide into the pool, a kiddies pool which was also very large with giant mushrooms spurting water from the top, they had 2 bouncy pillows for different aged kiddies, a playground, the caravan park was right on the beach, there was a cafe, a gamesroom and the van sites were a good size too, enough parking for your car which is always a good thing when you need to plug in our car fridge.

Initially there was a slight hiccup with the directions the front desk gave us to the site because the way she told us to go we would not have been able to back the van in and considering it was a drive through site we should not have had to back in. Not a worry, after Clint pulled over and checked out the options and with help from our neighbour Gwen we got into the site without incident. Gwen was the lady I had originally called to make the booking and she was also staying and working at the caravan park. She booked us the site right next to hers because I had told her our van was 31ft and she knew the site next to hers had occupied other large vans like ours.She lived with her partner Hank and  I did warn her there was going to be children but she didnt move us and we all got along great. Gwen also warned us about the crazy lady 2 doors up saying do not make eye contact as we would not get rid of her and she was trouble. Gwen and Henk were not wrong she was 2 snags short of a bbq for sure!!! She was eventually asked to leave the park due to their 28 day stay policy.

Our site was right across from the toilets which was great during the week but on the weekends the park filled up with camping folk and they would trash the toilets for the weekend they stayed. It was a very popular park and it filled every weekend. We could see the bouncy pillows from our van and the playgrounds so that was handy for the kids when they wandered over there. They  also had security so that also made it safer knowing that someone was always around and watching.

And Birds...heaps of birds and ducks and with these come poo's. Every morning Clint was out sweeping of the poo from the slab. Lots of beautiful Lorikeets which the kids would feed with Henk. We went through a loads of loaves of bread feeding them. They were very tame and always very hungry they would sit on the kids heads, arms and chairs and eat the bread from your fingers.

The weather was really great in the 4 weeks we were there just perfect. We had one day where it was really windy and we witnessed a fellow caravanner lose his awning in the wind. Nasty bit of damage for them.

We met some really nice people and the kids made alot of new friends. We became regulars at the Gosford RSL and even joined for discounts on the food and drinks. The RSLS have great playareas for the kids which give us peace and quiet to speak to each other and enjoy a drink!

The scenery around the central coast is truly beautiful. You drive through rainforrests, windy roads, up hill down hills and then your on the beach. When you are down the beach you see the ocean and when you look behind you see the hinterland. Really great landscapes, better than I ever thought NSW was going to be.  You will see the pictures for yourself.

Around Umina there are other small towns like Woy Woy, here we did our food shopping, the kids found a pet shop that they would spend an hour or so playing with the dogs, cats, looking at the fish tanks and asking the shop assistants 50 questions. I even found a beautician who groomed me so I wasnt so 'Carnivaly'. They also had markets here but I didnt get a chance to see them.

We had lunch one day at a pub in a town called Patonga Beach right on one of the coasts points. Gwen had given us the tip on the good food here and she didnt let us down. We had surf and turf's overlooking the beach watching the world go by.

One day we went to Palm Beach where they film Home and Away. We didnt see any filming but we did walk around the surf club which has Alf Stewart's name up on a board. We were a bit upset we didnt spot any stars but at least we saw where is was filmed. It was a beautiful spot but I did expect the beach to look more like Cable Beach, in fact it was quite slopey on the sand banks. On the other side of the surf club is the boat shed where they film the shots for the fishing boats Alf has and the jetty you quite often see in the show.

We went out for an hours drive to the central Mangrove area to get some fresh veges and fruit and visited a place called Kulnara here we stopped for a bit of a snack and behind the cafe was a workshop where a man called Dave Thurston turned old Gas Bottles into Ned kelly Letterboxes. He used a lot of steel and aluminium and turned it into art, mostly australian animals. He also did wooden furniture which was really different but nice. Out the front of the shop was 'The Big Chair' which you will see a picture of. On the way home my beautiful man stopped on the side of the road to buy me a bunch of roses for Valentine's day xx love you.

We were able to do a bit of school work which was good as we hadnt done too much of it recently. Clint would take the girls for a walk on some days when Slade needed a bit of quiet time to do his schoolwork. We did have a couple of days where there was a wild storm with lots of rain, lightening and thunder, its all good when everyone is safe and sound and even exciting! It does get loud in our tin home but its a good experience and all part of the adventure!

At the caravan park which was owned by NRMA they had weekly activities for the kids and this was not just on school holidays it was all the time. They had arts and crafts, sporting activities, beach cricket & tractor rides. It wasnt like a kids club as they encouraged parent involvement so that families do things together.

One day we took a day trip to Bondi Beach. Now that was very scenic lots of tanned, muscley, fit looking people heaps of tourists. On the day we went it 32 degrees so there were plenty of people. We also saw the filming of Bondi Rescue. One of the life guards came up to Clint when he was sitting under the sun shade, I was in the water with Isla and I thought we were going to be asked to put the sun shade down. When we got to the beach it was pretty busy and I told Clint to go right down to the water and set up the sun shade. I came out of the water to ask Clint what was said thinking the worst and all he asked was where did we get the sun shade from as he liked the one we had. Clint has so many people come up and talk to him about the truck, the weather, the van or the kids. Its quite funny sometimes when we are just minding our own business and someone comes out of the blue and starts having a chat.

The parking at Bondi was a joke it cost us $15 to park for a couple of hours!! Its so expensive the ticket machine has slots for your credit cards.

At Umina we met the James's, Annette, Jason, Chloe, Curtis and Tiffany, from QLD they were just starting their aussie adventure and the kids all enjoyed each others company. Slade met another boy who's dad lived in the park and on weekends he went to his mums or grandma's his name was Maddox and Slade enjoyed going over to his place to play xbox and riding off on their bikes. On the weekends there was always alot of kids staying at the park and that was good for the kids to get off and find new friends. There was another lovely family we met the mum and dad were Erin and Danny and the kids were Sam,Cooper,Abby, Fletcher,

Lone Star
One of the good things about Sydney and NSW...they have Lone Star Restaurant!!! Oh how I miss this place and it was still as good as it was when it was in the west.

ACDC

Rob and Lou had a spare ticket to the AC/DC  concert so we drove to Sydney to the apartment Rob,Lou and Dawsey were staying in and Clint went along with them. The kids and I just camped out in their pad until the concert finished and then we drove back to Umina. The concert was well worth it of course, it was a shame I couldnt go but at least one of us got to go. It was great to catch up with them again.

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