Unwanted House Guests

After another lovely (but cold) night around the campfire we packed up for another move. We left Cockburn River and headed up the very steep Moonbi Mountain range. We were watching our altitude on the GPS and we reached a height of over 1200 meters above sea level.

We had planned on staying in Woolbrook but when we got there, we couldn’t get phone reception (the brand new Telstra tower in the camp area isn’t being connected until next week), so we continued on to a little town called Walcha. Walcha (who the locals are very quick to tell you is actually pronounced Wolka. It was spelt wrong when it was Gazetted and has never been corrected) is on the south-eastern edge of the Northern Tablelands in NSW.

We stayed in a road side rest stop which had a lovely little gazebo and beautiful views of the valleys below.  It was another great setting for the boys to do their schoolwork outside. However after a couple of days the weather turned against us and we got hit by continuous rain. We braved the rain and went into town a few times, but spent most of our time inside the caravan. Thankfully mum and dad were with us so the boys could go between our caravan and their motor home for a bit of a change of scenery.

Whilst we were at Walcha, I realised that we had more of my furry little friends (said sarcastically, through gritted teeth). The mouse plague in Central NSW was chasing us! After a prompt visit to the local hardware store and buying their remaining stock of mouse traps, we managed to catch a few of the rodents. One evening we heard a noise outside and after investigation, we realised there was a fox who had taken an interest in our rubbish bin. At the same time one of the mouse traps were set off, so Dan fed the mouse to the very grateful fox. We are hopeful we have got rid of all the mice now, but I’m not holding my breath!

Walcha is famous for its many statues placed throughout the town. We went for a walk and tried to find as many as we could.

We left Walcha and headed back across the Great Dividing Range again. After nearly missing the turn-off – Dan is still getting use to the caravan brakes in the wet – we stopped at Apsley Falls. Because of the huge amount of rain we have had over the past week, the falls were absolutely spectacular! The water forcing its way over the falls was roaring so loud that we had to shout to hear each other. The sight took our breaths away, especially little Zaccy, who had never seen anything like it. The surrounding gorge was beautiful and such a powerful piece of nature.

The trip over the Range and into Ellenborough reminded Dan and me a lot of the Dandenong Ranges. We were surprisingly hit by a case of homesickness and found ourselves spending the drive talking about our family and friends we have left at home.

After our GPS tried to drive us straight through a river, we finally made it to Ellenborough. Mum and Dad had arrived before us and had already met our friends who we had been hoping to catch up with. We met Gary and Bernadette, and their teenage daughter Tash at the Tamworth lookout. We had a lot in common and were travelling in the same direction, so we decided to meet up.

The campground at Ellenborough was very wet and soggy after all the rain, so we thought it safer to avoid the grass and park on the bitumen. Mum and Dad braved the soggy grass, but they are much lighter than us.

The campground is beside the Hastings River which was flowing rapidly. We set the boys up on a couple of picnic tables and they completed their schoolwork to the beautiful sounds of the river flowing and the birds singing. I don’t always think the boys really appreciate how lucky they are going on this trip, but that day Sam said to me “how many other kids in Australia do you think are doing their schoolwork in a place as cool as this?” I couldn’t have agreed more.

We have had another visit from the Ellis Mouse Plague this week. We thought we had caught them all at Walcha but we were wrong. The boys were in bed and I was just getting Zaccy ready for bed, when Dan spotted another one of the little critters. Without a word, I scooped Zac up and ran out the door and over to Mum and Dads. I stayed there until Dan rang me on the mobile (it was pouring with rain!) to tell me he had caught it.

The reason they had been so hard to get rid of, was because they were building a nest in the back of our couch! It still makes my skin crawl to think that we have been leaning against them whenever we have sat down at the dining table!

The following day I pulled everything (and I do mean EVERYTHING) out of the caravan and cleaned it from top to bottom. I was so angry with the mice for chewing a hole in my beautiful new caravan, that I was prepared to squash and kill anything that moved. Dan and the kids very wisely kept their distance that day!

I do believe that we have finally got rid of all unwanted house guests! Now I can go to the long awaited Wintersun Festival and spend the next 2 weeks relaxing.