28 - 31 South West Rocks

So we are now really on the road again, and will be back in the tent again for the first time in 3 weeks. It is so exciting to be back on our own for the final few months. We booked into a lovely Big4 Camping Ground in South West Rocks and the facilities had the kiddies bouncing sky high pretty quick.

We took a drive to the beach at Trial Bay to watch the sun set, and of course to have a swim. The water is just beautiful and the water so calm the kids loved it. There were kangaroos hopping about when we arrived there, and plenty back at the campsite on our return. Kiddie heaven!

We headed down to check out the Gaol at Trial Bay the next morning and agreed if you were to be sent to prision, this is top of the list. The Gaol opened as a works prision and was used as an internment camp during WW1 - it closed shortly afterwards. Interestingly, the artist who did the drawings for the first release of the book Bambi was interned here.

The campsite has a fabulous pool and amazing kiddie facilities, so Em would have been happy to just spent her time here. They had a bouncy pillow, playgound, mini-golf, pool, and a real kiddie room with blow up bouncy castle and toy horse. Lachie was fully convinced he was Yankee Doodle and wouldn't let go of it for love nor money.

Nick's cousin Adrian, his wife Clare and their boys William and Campbell came to visit. It was wonderful to see them and hear their stories of life in Qld have resettled back from the UK last year. It was lovely for Em and Lachie to meet their 2nd cousins - hopefully they will see more of them now they are back in Oz.

We left South West Rocks thinking this is a wonderful spot of paradise and somewhere we definitely want to visit on our trip back down south.

25 - 28 March 2012 Smiths Lake

Nana Margaret had gone to Smiths Lake for a croquet tournament and a little holiday, but we arrived on her doorstep shortly afterwards to crash her party.  The kids were just thrilled with all the attention they got, and we just loved being on the road and back on the water after a few weeks inland.

We started Monday with a coffee at Frothy coffee on the lake – wow, what bliss. A wonderful location and such fabulous views. Em and Lachie befriended a couple feeding bread to some fish swimming under the café, and soon they had gone through half the loaf of bread.

We headed to Elizabeth Beach to spend a few hours building sandcastles, digging swimming pools, collecting periwinkles and even swimming. The water was amazing, though the waves a little big.

We followed this up with kayaking on the lake in the afternoon where the kids had a swim in the murky water and enjoyed a little kayak too. What a wonderful day and such a beautiful part of the world….again making us question do we really want to return to Sydney????

It had been a while since we visited Seal Rocks, so a trip there was certainly on the cards. The water was crystal clear and the beach pristine and soo warm…..the kids were in heaven. Nick had a snorkel, the rest of us swam and then we headed to the lighthouse to check it out.

Without a stroller Lachie went on strike, but thankfully Em managed to walk the 800m to the lighthouse and back, even carrying her dolly “Pet”.

Our last day at the lakes was spent at Forster. We visited Tourist Information – pretty average – and then headed to One Mile Beach to catch crabs, swim and climb sand dunes. The surf here was pretty wild, so the kids were not overly thrilled with the water.

We had lunch at a park – back to our staple diet of sandwiches, and then off to find Margaret and watch some croquet. Unfortunately we missed the match, but the kids did get to see others playing so they got the general gist of what Nana was up to for the week.

We finished the day off with fish and chips on Bluey’s Beach at Pacific Palms, and watched the surfers arrive for a quick surf after their day at work. Interesting to see how life somewhere like this could be so wonderful.

Anyway, while we had a wonderful time at the Lakes it is time to pack up and ship off up the coast in the morning. 

23 - 25 March 2012 Sydney – A Visit with Liz and Mark

We packed for the second leg of our tour and got on the road with about 60% of what we brought on the first leg. We downsized clothes, bikes, bbq, tables, chairs and hope that the tent will be a little easier to pack from now on. Of course the kids nearly tore each other apart before we left with Em smacking Lachie over the head with a stick and causing a serious bump and blood. Threats of leaving her with Malcolm Naden seemed to have some impact, so fingers crossed there will be no playing with sticks in the future.

We drove to Sydney to catch up with Baby Isla and of course Liz, Mark and Chewie too. Nana Margaret came out to see us, and a lovely evening of fun, pizza and chat was had.

Never before had Em, Lachie and Isla shared a room, so we knew there would be trouble ahead. After a lovely catch up with all, the kids went pretty much bonkers and we ended up splitting them all into separate beds until they crashed. Looks like a fun day ahead.

Saturday we took a trip to the Genius Bar at the local Apple store to try and revive my fried power cord. Much to my surprise the cord was not covered under warranty as there is only a 3 month warranty on replacement parts, but as I had spoken to them earlier in the week they honoured the error to replace it for free. So yay, finally back in business.

Em took Daddy shopping and got her a new dolly. This was the long awaited “prize for learning her alphabet. She was in absolute heaven, more so as Lachie and Isla were green with envy and dying for a shot of the doll. The doll had to be put away until Em was alone or an eye would have been lost in the war for it.

After being spoilt with a beautiful roast and a great weekend, all too soon we packed up and it was time to bid Sydney farewell again. Though I was keen to drive by Concord we didn’t get the time, but we’ll be back again soon enough.

8 March - 23 March 2012 The Farm

So finally we get to spend a few weeks at the farm, and we made our list of things to do. With the weather being rather horrid and no offers from anyone to take the kids off our hands, things didn't quite go to plan, but fun was had nonetheless.

Days were spent jumping in puddles, collecting grubs and bugs of all shapes and sizes, off-roading on the bikes and generally loving being back in a house.

We enjoyed the great coffee at the Albion, and the donuts and sourdough from the bakery, and in between did a few jobs on the farm, though time just ran away with us and it was time to get back on the road before we knew it.

We did manage to get the grass cut, and more importantly reinstall the electric fence to keep the wombats out. They have made several holes in the fencing and made pathways through the orchard and garden, so it was time to lock them out before they set up home under the house and damaged the foundations. It took Nick about 3 days to sort our what was going on, but all good, and fingers crossed we do not have a new family of wombats under the house on our return.

Interestingly Nick spotted a baby wombat with the one previously known as Barry, so it is thought Barry is actually a chick!

7th March 2012 – Homeward Bound

7 March 2012 – Homeward Bound

Waking to more rain and forecasts of lots more to come across Southern Victoria and NSW, we contemplated whether or not to continue through Gippsland to the Southern NSW Coast. Roads into some of our preferred destinations were closed due to floods, and having driven for a couple of hours we decided to cut our losses and head north up the Alpine Way towards the farm.

The weather was brutal and the roads even worse. We ended up on a dirt road for about 100km and it must have given the Kluger a better work out than it had had for the entire trip to date. The further we drove, the more convinced we were to get back to dry ground, or at least a dry roof for a few weeks.

Due to recent rains Braidwood was amazingly green, and we were lucky to make it onto our property with the creek being very close to overflow. Richard next door warned us to bring enough food for a few days, as, if the rain continued, we would be stranded there for a bit. We didn’t care, it was bliss to be home and have a dry roof over our heads, washing machines, and running water…..ahh….

We were so thrilled to return to the farm. Em was thrilled with the “comfy sofa”, both kids thought all their Christmas’s had come at once, and I was thrilled to have indoor space, comfort, my great bed and the toilet back in comfortable walking distance. Hurrah!!!

It took a few days before we could pull the tent out to dry it, as the rain continued, and the weather was generally miserable, but alas, we are now starting to focus on Queensland

6 March 2012 - Back on the bike

It was a cold night, more of the unseasonal cold weather. Today I headed out and cycled up the Gippsland Discovery Trail, which joins up with the East Gippsland Rail trail.

The Discovery trail follows an old tram line, used in the early 1900's to bring granite from a quarry about 15km inland down to the coast. The granite was used to shore up the entrance to Lakes Entrance as the wooden pylons were getting eating by worms. One of the highlights of the rail trail the Stony Creek trestle bridge near Nowa Nowa. The bridge is 276m long and 19m high and quite impressive, particularly given it was built in the 1800's.

I met up with Clare and the kids at the bridge. We spotted our first snake of the trip, sunning itself next to the trail. I rode the 3km from the bridge into Nowa Nowa, and we had lunch down beside Lake Tyers.

In the afternoon we headed to Tyers beach and had fun collecting pippis. There were thousands of them on the beach but none of legal size, so we had to throw them all back, much to Emily's disgust.

5 March 2012 - Around Lakes Entrance

A quiet day today. We headed to 90 mile beach for a walk but no swimming as it was blowing a gale. Wind seems to be the prevailing weather for this part of the coast.

We went for a drive and a beer at a small town called Metung, just west of Lakes Entrance. Nice place and no doubt much busier during holidays.

I threw a line into the channel next to our campsite in the evening and managed to catch a small bream but it was definitely under sized and went back to fight another day.

4 March 2012 - Cruising Lakes Entrance

After a night hibernating in a cabin, it was do or die time to unravel the soaking tent and all that was with it. We checked into a Camping Reserve beside North Arm in Lakes Entrance, and got a beautiful little site right on the waters edge with a little beach for the kids. It was heaven. And to top it off the sun even showed its face.

It seems we have some overly friendly black swans with a family of 7 coming up to our tent in search of food and seem just a little too cheeky for our liking. One hissed at Lachie, and another snapped as he ran past but the little lad was oblivious.

After setting everything out to dry we headed for a cruise of the Lakes on “the Doncaster”. With other 3 other visitors on board and 3 decks, it left lots of room for the kids to roam without annoying anyone but ourselves. The only cruise we could get was 3 hours from 1pm, so we knew with Lachie having no sleep it could be a shocker, but all in all they were relatively well behaved and we had no man overboard.

The cruise was fabulous. It was run as an eco-tour and while they hoped to find us dolphins and seals, we more heaps and heaps of birdlife and some stunning scenery in a very relaxed atmosphere. The number of piers, private and otherwise was amazing, and we spotted a beautiful hotel on the water at Metung which may require a visit tomorrow for a beer.

Nick picked up some bait and the evening was spent with Em and Nick trying their bit at fishing from the little beach only meters from our front door. Lachie was obsessed with the blue bait fish and was content to just carry these around.

Fingers crossed for a little more sun, it was badly needed and all is dry and ready to face the world again!