29 February 2012 - No Proposal at Nobbies!

In the early hours of the morning I heard I am an aunty again!!! Yay, Anne has had a little boy, all doing well, and beating the “Leap Year” by 11 hours in Ireland. Had he been born here he would only get a birthday every 4 years. No name yet, and I am still awaiting a photo.

After a trip to Nobbies Head to spot the penquins again, we headed back to watch the Pelican feeding at San Remo – all very interesting.

We headed towards Melbourne in the afternoon to meet the cousins. Joanne had organized dinner at theirs, and we got to meet Neil, kids – Jayden, Caleb, Tara and Hannah – Rory and kids – Tadgh, Emmerson and Caol. It was a wonderful evening and our only regret was not to be more organized and stay the night so a few more beers and wines could have been enjoyed!

To top the day off, Nick is relieved to have survived the day without a proposal. He can now relax for another 4 years before I get my next opportunity:-)

29 February 2012 - No Proposal

In the early hours of the morning I heard I am an aunty again!!! Yay, Anne has had a little boy, all doing well, and beating the “Leap Year” by 11 hours in Ireland. Had he been born here he would only get a birthday every 4 years. No name yet, and I am still awaiting a photo.

After a trip to Nobbies Head to spot the penquins again, we headed back to watch the Pelican feeding at San Remo – all very interesting.

We headed towards Melbourne in the afternoon to meet the cousins. Joanne had organized dinner at theirs, and we got to meet Neil, kids – Jayden, Caleb, Tara and Hannah – Rory and kids – Tadgh, Emmerson and Caol. It was a wonderful evening and our only regret was not to be more organized and stay the night so a few more beers and wines could have been enjoyed!

To top the day off, Nick is relieved to have survived the day without a proposal. He can now relax for another 4 years before I get my next opportunity:-)

28 February 2012 - Nearly a Leap Year Bub

Wonderful day with the sun showing its face again. We headed to the Wildlife Park on Phillip Island for the morning and the kids (and ourselves) had an absolute ball.  On entry you get a bag of food to “feed the animals” and while this was great it was also poor em’s downfall. They advised we hold the food, and with good reason we realized as Em got a horrible scratch from a wallaby, all about 2 mins after she had a bad fall. Poor girl, hopefully she is not mentally scared for too long, but with promises of an afternoon icecream, she soon recovered.

We had icecreams by the beach at Rhyll, but at this stage the wind was up again and it was freezing. Kids had a ball, enjoyed the beach and played at the park – we sat in the car rugged up supervising through the window!

Beautiful sunset, and found our early in the morning that I am an aunt again, but have to mention here as he is officially "Nearly a Leap Year Bub". Congrats Anne, DJ, big Sis Siofra, big brothers Daniel and Charlie. Can't wait to mee the nameless bub, but looks like being a way off yet:-(

28 February 2012 - Nearly a Leap Year Bub

Wonderful day with the sun showing its face again. We headed to the Wildlife Park on Phillip Island for the morning and the kids (and ourselves) had an absolute ball.  On entry you get a bag of food to “feed the animals” and while this was great it was also poor em’s downfall. They advised we hold the food, and with good reason we realized as Em got a horrible scratch from a wallaby, all about 2 mins after she had a bad fall. Poor girl, hopefully she is not mentally scared for too long, but with promises of an afternoon icecream, she soon recovered.

We had icecreams by the beach at Rhyll, but at this stage the wind was up again and it was freezing. Kids had a ball, enjoyed the beach and played at the park – we sat in the car rugged up supervising through the window!

Beautiful sunset, and found our early in the morning that I am an aunt again, but have to mention here as he is officially "Nearly a Leap Year Bub". Congrats Anne, DJ, big Sis Siofra, big brothers Daniel and Charlie. Can't wait to mee the nameless bub, but looks like being a way off yet:-(

26 February 2012 - Beaches at Phillip Is

We headed up to the surf beach at the end of Michael and Moya's street for the morning. The kids looked for crabs under the rocks and I managed to get a swim in. It was not as hot as yesterday but still quite warm. The waves were great for bodysurfing but the current was a little strong for the kids so they stayed on shore.

Did not do much after lunch, the kids played while we watched storm clouds roll in from tune west. It took a while for the storm to hit but it ended up raining for much of the night.

25 February 2012 - Phillip Island

We left Torquay at around 10am bound for Phillip Island. We will be staying with Clare's uncle and aunt Michael and Moya for a few days. The weather forecast was very accurate and it hit 37 degrees on our drive across Melbourne.

We arrived at Phillip Island and were treated to a fantastic roast dinner. Michael and Moya were babysitting 2 of their grandkids, Emmerson and Kayle, for the weekend. The kids were around the same age as Em and Lachie and the 4 of them got on extremely well.

It was a hot night but the sea breeze kicked in at around 9.30 pm cooling things down but it still took a while to get to sleep.

24 February 2012 - Bike riding at You Yang

We headed off to You Yang Regional Park, which is about 1hr from Torquay to check out the mountain bike tracks. Once again we were not disappointed and had great fun taking turns to head around the trails on our bikes. Clare, Em and Lachie went to Serendip Reserve while I hit the tracks.

We found a pump track, bit like a mini BMX track, and Em and Lachie flew around this on their balance bikes. Lachie is developing a bit of a no fear attitude while Em remains a little more cautious on the bike.

The weather has been warming up and a hot weekend is predicted. A late summer perhaps? The post ride swim at the caravan park upon our return was most refreshing.

23 February 2012 - Torquay and Bells Beach

We visited tourist information first thing and also wandered around some of the surf shops in Torquay. With it being the home of Rip Curl and surfing in general, you would think things may be a bit cheaper than normal but this was not the case so we did not pick up any new boardies.

We headed to the front beach where Em and Lachie did the usual playing in sand and water as well as looking for treasure. In the afternoon we checked out Bells Beach. It was certainly not swimming conditions as the surf was pretty big so we wandered on the beach and the kids found some sand mounds to jump off which kept them amused.

February 22 2012 - Finally some Ocean on the Great Ocean Rd!

Packed up and left Forrest this morning but we will defo be back. Mtn biking alone just isn’t as much fun so we will need to find somewhere to leave the kids or wait til they are old enough to do the trails themselves. We headed for coffee at Apollo Bay and it was heaving, well relatively anyway. Thankfully we took an alternative route back to the coast after that shocking drive up the cliffs to Forrest a few days ago, though it was still hairy enough with the trailer. 

We enjoyed our coffees on the beach while the kids ran around and enjoyed beach stuff. Beach weather again, but we were not brave enough for a swim. After lunching at the side of the Great Ocean Road we finally got to see why it has this name. To date much of the road has been inland with glimpses of the coast, but not today. Beautiful scenery as the road hugged the coast back to our next stop at Torquay.

We set up camp as a nice little campsite with bouncing pillow, playground, “kiddie room”, pool, the works, so the kids were happy at least….well for all of 5 minutes. We pretty much immediately decided to extend our stay by another day, otherwise we would be a little too rushed here.

Down to Surf Beach after dinner to check it out and catch a few crabs. Thankfully the kids didn’t have buckets, so they got one each and released them back to a rock pool pretty quick. And finally, worn out, we have silence. Time for a beer I think!

February 21 - More Forrest Trails

Not much to do around Forrest so with Nick gone to try out the Yaugher Mtb trails, myself and the kids headed to Colac to shop. Nothing much worth seeing here either, but at least we got some food, a half decent coffee, and some beer for tonightJ

Nick managed to cover most the of the 10 trails tracks around Yaugher and packed me off for the afternoon to cover a number of them, giving the "Black diamond" ones a miss. Not a bad idea considering I was phoneless, and without pump, patches, food and alone. They were absolutely brilliant - great single track and so much fun. Just a pity to be on my own. Luckily I had no mechanicals, and with 2.5 hours riding I saw no one, one echidna, and a few wallabies on the trails, that’s it! I think I may have finally found my mojo and love for the bike again.

Went to Barwon Reseviour for a bbq - doesn't sound too exciting, but man has this council got too much cash on their hands. Beautiful park, sparkling bbqs and absolutely abandoned - as one may expect being just outside Forrest.

20 February 2012 - Sleepy Forrest and biking

Forrest is a sleepy place. If you are not a mountain biker then there is probably no point visiting. There was nothing open on Monday morning. The pub was shut until Thursday, the only cafe was shut with no sign about when it was going to open and there is not much else in town.

I set off on the bike leaving Clare to find out that Forrest is very quiet. The tracks were second to none. They have been built by the Victorian Parks Dept of Sustainability and they have done a fantastic job. The loops through the forest of tall eucalyptus trees were spectacular and challenging. I rode all of the tracks in the south end of town and found Clare down near Lake Elizabeth, where she had taken the kids in some hope of relieving their boredom.

After lunch, Clare got out for a ride herself and we both agreed that it would be hard to find better trails, particularly in Australia. I would recommend anyone coming to this part of the world to bring their bike, but perhaps stay down at the beach at Apollo Bay and drive the 40km or so to Forrest rather than stay in Forrest itself.

19 February 2012 - Cape Otway and perilous roads

We set off for Forrest with a stop planned at Wreck Beach and Cape Otway. The road to Wreck Beach was not suitable for coaches nor caravans so we decided not to chance it with the camper trailer. Long way to reverse if you get stuck at a point where you can't turn around.

The roadside to the lighthouse is a popular place for koalas and we were not disappointed as we pulled up with the hoards for some viewing.

The Cape Otway lighthouse and surrounding grounds are spectacular. Great views and well kept with a very interesting history.  The light house was built to help reduce the risk of emigrant ships from the UK and from Sydney to Victoria getting wrecked on the coast line. Victoria was desperate to attract more labour to get it going and the risk of shipwreck was becoming a deterrent. In fact the wrecks were one of the main reasons for Victoria breaking away from NSW as the locals felt their voices were not getting heard in Sydney.

We left Cape Otway and headed toward Apollo Bay before turning inland to Forrest. The sat nav sent us up a road called 'Wild Dog Creek' Rd rather than the main road up the mountain and it was not a pleasant trip. The dirt road was very narrow with no passing in most places, no guard rail and a sheer drop down into the valley. Not being a fan of heights, Clare was crapping herself, to put it mildly. The road went up for 10km and fortunately the only car we saw coming the other way was on one of the wider sections of road. We got to Forrest with no incident and set up camp in the local caravan park.