Tuesday, April 19, 2011

A relaxing week..

Our home for this week doesn’t officially have a name. It is on the road between Orbost and Marlo on the side of the Snowy River. The camp area had been highly recommended to us by Ron and Rhonda, because it had a beautiful sandy beach where the kids could splash around in the water. However, when we got there, there was no sign of any beach and the river was flowing in rapids. In fact the road had been closed last week because the river had broken its banks and flooded the whole area.



We decided to stay here anyway because it is a nice grassy area where the kids can play. It is only a short drive to Marlo, where The Snowy meets the ocean and Cape Conran is about 20 mins along the coast.

We have had a fairly relaxing week here, spending a lot of time reading and playing games. I re-discovered how much of a nerd my husband is when he started teaching Sam how to play Dungeons and Dragons. And I discovered how much of a nerd Sam is when he fell in love with the game!

We are still really enjoying our trip and love living on the road. The school holidays and Easter are in a couple of weeks, and we thought it was a good idea to book into a caravan park in Eden for the holidays. The kids are really missing their friends, and they are looking forward to the company of other kids over the break. We would normally prefer to travel greater distances than we have been, but we are simply killing time until we get to Eden. Although there is not much to do here, it is nice to slow down and discover what it’s like to live a more simple life!

Saturday, April 09, 2011

A Buchan good time!

After spending nearly the whole day in Sale, doing washing and grocery shopping we finally arrived at Buchan Caves Reserve at about 6pm. The problem with arriving so late is that we are forced to set up in as it’s getting dark. The good thing about arriving that late was we got to see lots of kangaroos feeding on the grass right next to our campsite. Our 2 year old, Zac absolutely LOVES kangaroos (or as he says “kanmaroos”) and was in amazement as he watched them casually eating the grass.
 
Monday morning was one of the best yet. Nothing special happened but it is one that will stay with me for a long time. We had not yet set up the playpen at the caravan so I took the boys to the big open grassed area by the camp kitchen. There are table and chairs there that the boys sat on to do their schoolwork. I brought over a picnic blanket and Zaccy and I played cars on the grass. Once the boys had finished school we had morning tea on the blanket then lay down and all spent about an hour playing, tickling and watching the big fluffy clouds. Will told me he hopes he remembers that morning forever, and so do I.




That afternoon Sam and Will went exploring the reserve and discovered a hidden cave. Of course they thought they were the first to discover it and rushed home to draw maps and plans for it. The cave was proudly named Will Drop (after its founder) because you have to drop down a hole to get into it.


We had heard that there was a cave that runs under the main road to Orbost. So Dan went out one afternoon with Sam. They found the entrance to Wilsons Cave by driving down a slippery steep track. While they were down there the heavens opened and they found themselves stuck. The only way out (without winching from tree to tree up the hill) was through a farmer’s paddock. So in the pouring rain they drove over paddocks, through farm gates and past herds of cows. Dan came home drenched (but with a smile on his face) from getting out to open and close all those gates!

Dan’s family came up to Buchan for the weekend and stayed in a unit at the reserve. It was really good to see them and the kids were all extremely excited to see their cousins. Friday afternoon we went back to Wilsons Cave, but this time we parked up the top of the track and walked down!  Zaccy was grumpy and didn’t like the dark caves so I took him back to the car for a sleep. Apparently everyone had a great time, and this is Dan’s recount of the afternoon.

“After Kaz took Zac back out of the cave with the loan of Peta’s torch, the boys - Sam, Will and Jack took off down a narrow tunnel with Ben and Emily, leaving Grandma, Pa, Peta and I to take the easier larger route through the caves. Pa and I raced on ahead with the sole purpose of hiding in an alcove somewhere, turning our torches off and scaring the wits out of whoever walked past first. Sadly it happened to be Will, who proceeded to smack his head on the rocks (totally ruining the good scare for everyone!) The group then started to wonder back as we had gone as far as we were prepared to go – as far as the adults were prepared to go anyway. Once again the boys, Emily and Ben raced on ahead to explore any tiny cracks and crevices they could find, leaving Grandma and Peta making their way back and Pa and I exploring a possible exit nearby. Suddenly from just up ahead, Pa and I hear the petrified screams of Peta yelling “I’M SLIPPING, I’M SLIPPING, GOD HELP ME I’M SLIPPING!!” rushing back Pa and I find Peta has fallen between 2 rocks and Grandma is holding her up by the back of her top yelling “HELP HER, HELP HER, SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING!!!” Running over we shine our torches down between the 2 rocks to find that Peta’s bent up legs were only about 5 inches from the cave floor. Unable to help ourselves we both doubled over with laughter, only to receive a serve from Grandma (still holding Peta up from certain death) for not helping in this time of need. After wiping away the tears and saying our final goodbye to a beloved sister and daughter we inform Peta to “just put ya feet down”. Once back on solid ground she informed us all (among other things) that she didn’t have a torch so couldn’t see the ground, well that’s her story and she’s sticking to it. After this little adventure we proceeded back out of the caves to tell the story to all who would listen.”

We were all still crying tears of laugher and re-enacting the scene late into the night. Once everyone had calmed down, we took a few bottles of wine over to the fireplace and sat down to relax. In the quiet of the night the nocturnal animals started to show up. Pa decided -in his drunken wisdom- that he would go over to a possum (whom he named Ralph) and try to befriend him.

He was crouched down close to the ground, as the possum tentatively climbed down the tree. We all had our torches out and I was getting my camera out to try to capture the moment on film. Just as I whispered “Hang on a sec Pa, let me film it” Pa stuck his hand out toward Ralph so he could sniff it. In a split second Ralph saw the fat little finger, thought it was a sausage and took a big bite! In one quick motion, Pa yanked his finger away, swinging Ralph across the grass and made a fist to try to punch the poor little possum. Thankfully Ralph was quicker than Pa’s alcohol induced reflexes, and he managed to scurry back up the tree.

The whole lot of us erupted in fits of laughter and it took forever to calm down. Pa was still in a bit of shock and whenever one of us looked at him, the tears and giggles would start up again. Once I had control of myself I looked around to see where Dan was, only to find him over in the bushes, rolling around on the ground, holding his stomach and laughing so hard he could not breathe! That started us all off again!

The only unfortunate thing was I didn’t manage to press record. I did get photos of Pa chatting up another possum called Bill later in the night...

We went to see where the Snowy and Buchan Rivers meet. The Snowy has recently flooded further upstream, so it was a awesome  sight to see the power that the river's have when they are so full.


Over the weekend we toured the Fairy and Royal caves. They were spectacular and the displays took your breath away. The caves were formed by underground rivers cutting through limestone rock. The formations are created by rain water seeping through cracks and dissolving some of the limestone. As each droplet comes through the roof it deposits calcite which crystallises in a small ring. In time, stalactites are formed on the roof of the cave, and stalagmites build up from droplets which fall to the floor
     


Peta and Ben have recently purchased a 4wd and asked us to take them out for a bit of fun. Unfortunately, even though we have had so much rain, the tracks and river beds in the area were all really dry. We did find a few good tracks so had a bit of an adventure but not as good as we hoped.

Whilst driving around we came across a rope course out in the bush. We all had great fun seeing who could keep their balance well enough to complete it.









The night before everyone left we walked to the Buchan Pub. We all had a beautiful meal and as always, we all ate too much so were grateful for the walk home.

It was great catching up with the in-laws. Dan and I are still giggling about Peta’s near death experience, and Pa’s "Bear Grylls" moment. But sadly it was time to say goodbye and move to our next destination...

Sunday, April 03, 2011

Paradise!

After a sad farewell to Julie, Rasmus and the kids we headed to a beautiful little campground at Paradise Beach. Paradise Beach is about 30 mins from Sale and on the famous Ninety Mile Beach.

The campground is really nice. It is free camping where you can pull in anywhere, so first in best dressed. We had hoped that by arriving in the afternoon of the public holiday, there would be lots of people leaving to go back to work on Tuesday (poor suckers!). Unfortunately there were a few other nomads who had the same thought as us. It was quite busy when we got there and we had trouble finding a spot where we could fit, without camping on top of someone else.


There was a really nice couple who said they would be more than happy to move their car so we could pull up next to them. It turned out to be a wonderful spot in the shade surrounded by trees for the boys to climb.

One of the requirements we have for a campground is that it has good mobile phone and internet coverage. Dan needs to be contactable for work and must be able to email his clients. However, on Monday we were too busy worrying about a good spot, and we didn’t give a thought to the phone service.

Once we had set up everything (and we do have a really good set-up but it does take a lot of effort to sort it out) I decided to give mum and dad a ring and check in. The only place I could get service anywhere near our caravan, was standing on a tree stump over near the road.  Dan really couldn’t work from there could he?

The thought of packing everything and moving was a horrible one. But we needed to sort something out.  So the next day I set off with the kids to find somewhere better. There are over 20 free campgrounds between Paradise Beach and Seaspray (so about 100 or more sites), but not one of them was both big enough for us to get in and had phone service.

I then spent the next hour or so looking like a fool by walking around our campground, waving the phone in the air and freezing every now and then to see if I had service. I found a place about 30 meters from where we were so moved the car over there, set up the tent that attaches to the back of the 4wd and set up a mobile office. It worked really well, Dan had a bit of peace and quiet away from the kids and ran all of his equipment off the car’s second battery. I was secretly relieved that we didn’t have to move and I think Dan likes working in his ‘secret base’!

As we were setting up, we got chatting to our new neighbours. Rhonda and Ron are a lovely couple and the boys instantly fell in love with their beautiful, big, black, curly poodle named Louis. Sam and Louis spent all afternoon playing catch while Zac happily watched and laughed (made me miss my Marvel - who we saddly have left at home). Rhonda also made a new best friend when she let Will have a go of her electric scooter. I nearly had a heart attack thinking he was going to crash it, but Rhonda was so relaxed about him riding it.

Rhonda and Ron were camping with another couple Bev and John. They were all heading in the opposite direction to us so could tell us the good places to stay (and the ones to avoid). They also gave us their address and told us we are welcome to pull into their drive when we get further north. 

Tuesday afternoon my Mum and Dad arrived. It was so good to see them again and the boys were all very excited. We spent the next few days going for walks, playing on the beach and sitting around chatting and drinking lots of tea!




Thursday was my 33rd birthday so Dad made pancakes for breakfast, then Mum, Sam and Will made me a surprise birthday cake. Remember it is quite a challenge to make a cake when you are camping so it was even more appreciated. We had fish and chips for dinner and I hardly had to lift a finger all day. It was great!

My Uncle and his wife, Clive and Maggie arrived in Sydney from England last week and are travelling down to Melbourne by car. So on Friday we all drove into Sale to meet up with them.

I had been quite upset when I realised that we would be away when Clive and Maggie were visiting Melbourne, so I am really pleased that we managed to cross paths. I hadn’t seen them since I was in England when I was pregnant with Sam (he is now 8!) and Dan hadn’t seen them since our wedding. It was also really nice for Sam and Will to be able to put a face to the names they knew so well.

After a delicious morning tea and a walk around the lake we said goodbye to both Clive and Maggie and Mum and Dad. Then we went home to catch up on work and school.

On Saturday I was feeling like I needed a bit of ‘me time’. So Dan dropped me off in Sale for some retail therapy while he took the three boys to the Air Force Museum. They all (especially Dan) had a great time and were very excited to be allowed to go into the cockpit of a plane.


 








 
On the way home we stopped off to watch the historic Swing Bridge close. It is located where the Thomson and the Latrobe rivers meet, and is a spectacular, nineteenth century iron Swing Bridge.  It was designed to swing open for shipping to and from the Port of Sale. It was very slow but fascinating to watch.





The following day we once again packed up and moved on. This time back to the High Country where we will be meeting up with Dan’s family.