Finally a post!!!!!

Kiama - 28 April 2008

Everyone had given Kiama a big wrap so we decided to drive by for a look, and ended up camping here the night as we needed to do washing and shower. Kiama is about 20kms south of Wooloongong, beatiful coastline but very cold tonight. So we have been holed up in the van by 5.30pm and it is 16 degrees in the van after cooking dinner. The gas hotplate might get a bit of a workout tonight. There is a natural blowhole in Kiama that is quite amazing, I took some video of it and will try to get it onto the blog for you all to look at.

Hutchy is getting into the swing of caravanning, he is quite happy with the caravanning wave (everyone who is towing a van waves to you) but keeps waving to people with vans when ours is not hitched up. He also says he is getting used to cruising around at 80-90kms.


Bawley Point - 27 April 2008

Our free camps book had a campsite just near this spot on the edge of a National Park but we couldn't find it and ended up asking a couple (and thier SIX kids) that were leaving one of the caravan parks if they knew were it was, he directed us to a spot right on the beach that is not actually a camping area but just amazing, we went down a dirt road and came to a large clearing, there were tracks down to a river mouth and this gorgeous little beach virtually deserted. We were both a little nervous at our first time 'illegally' camping, but it was getting really late and the next free site was about 70kms away and we just can't afford caravan parks every night. It was a very dark night with clouds covering the moon, pitch black, and I was too scared to even go to the car
(that was still hitched to the van) to get a beer, I remembered the nearby Bangalow State Forest and that was it!

Cobargo and Tilba Tilba
We drove up the coast from Merimbula to Bermagui and then back out to Cobargo which is a town known for its arts and crafts and traditional workings, I couldn't believe it when I saw beanies almost the same as mine for $45 in the local craft shop. We stopped in at the cheese factory at Tilba Tilba and stocked up on Applebox Smoked Cheese, but didn't visit the Foxglove Gardens which was $7.50 each, we had thought we might get good ideas for our garden but weren't prepared to spend that much for them.

Merimbula 25 - 26 April 2008

Anzac Day so we have no food as we didn't think that all shops would be closed. Listened to the Collingwood / Essendon match on the radio on the way there. We stayed at the Big4 caravan park at the top of town, a luxury we can't afford but it has a jumping pillow so who could resist? We wanted to stay in town a couple of days and you can't really leave your van in free camping spots to go cruisig around so we decided to fork out the cash for a nice spot. We had water views (glimpses) from the van, but can definately hear the ocean which was a welcome sound for us Queenslanders. Last night we got into the true caravanning spirit by having dinner at the RSL and then sitting under the annex listening to the footy on the radio with Hutchy reading while I knitted.

Paynesville

Hutchy's Dad and partner Jill have just moved to their 'retirement' home in Paynesville so we stopped in for a week to vist them. Paynesville is really lovely, it is just near Lakes Entrance, a quiet little spot on the water but only 10 minutes from shops in Bairnsdale. Hutchy and his Dad had a couple of fishes. Jesse really enjoyed spending some time with Poppy Hutch and Nanny Jill. We were lucky enough to drop by a 'junkyard' on the first day and the very generous owner lent us a bike for Jesse to use for the week, needless to say we spent most of our time walking up and down the foothpath taking it for 'test drives' and delivering 'mail' to all of the residents in King Street, Paynesville. We went for a 'drive' to Metung and Lakes Entrance. It quickly became obvious that Hutchy and I have very different ideas on what it means to take a 'drive' somewhere. I think you should drive there, drive around for a little bit, get out and maybe have a coffee or look at something interesting, go for a walk on a jetty, check out some local attractions. Hutchy's idea is to just drive there, drive around, drive around a bit more and then drive back. We are working on understanding each others needs in
regard to this.

Wilsons Prom
We broke one of the commandments of caravanning today and arrived at our destination after dark. It turned out okay though, we actually picked quite a good spot near the entrance to the path down to the Tidal River.Wilsons Promintory is just breathtaking. Beautiful granite peaks coming out of the ocean, that apparently go all the way to Tasmania under the ocean through Bass Strait. Loads of wildlife with wombats, possums, kangaroos and colourful rosellas. I had, in one morning, one of the most beautiful moments and the most shocking since Jesse has started talking. In the morning the first thing he said when he woke was 'I can hear the beach' which was just lovely to hear, and then when we went to the ladies toilets to brush our teeth there was an older lady with short grey hair at the sink and Jesse said at the top of his voice 'What that man doing Mummy?' I was speechless for once in my life.

Melbourne

After leaving Cobram we headed to Melbourne, first stop Newtown, Chook and Lenny's house. We had a great few days there, with some great food at Williamstown and Yum Cha in the city, Chooks famous fig and mushroom duck and a visit to Scienceworks and the Melbourne Zoo. After Chook and Lennys we moved down to Seaford (near Frankston) to my Aunty Diane and Uncle Bobs house to spend some time with them and my Nan. Hutchy went to his first footy match at the Telstra Dome with Chook, Hawthorn v's North Melbourne and Chook is a Roos supporter, they had good day and night apparently. Hutchy didn't have a beer until very late the next day so it must have been a reasonably big night. We went to watch my cousin Travis play a practice footy match against St Kilda City and then on to visit with Vonnie and Mitchell in Oakleigh. Very busy! We stayed with Sue and Anthony (my Aunty and Uncle) at St Andrews for a week. St Andrews is a beautiful little spot, outer Melbourne suburbs and we had a great time catching up with everyone over there again. St Andrews is famous for its pub, renowned blues venue and Sunday arvo sessions and also for its Saturday morning markets. We also spent a night at Jodi and Karls new mansion and caught up with some more mates, Donna and Trudy. Thanks everyone in Melbourne for putting up with us and looking after us and making us feel so welcome! Most of all thanks for the free campsites, power, water, showers, toilets, washing machines..........

Cobram / Barooga

We arrived in Barooga just after lunch on Wednesday --- March. There were already about 8 campers down the river, including Dad and Grandpa and Bruce, Cassie, Dale and Teagan from Caboolture making the trip for the first time. We had an excellent time as always. Friday Night Games was a new edition to the weekends activities and lets just say it ended with most of my family taking it in turns to skoll a bucket of mixed spirits.

Berrima

We hit the road on Tuesday and made it to Berrima, a little town 70kms north of Goulburn we found a free camping spot by the river just north of town. Our first experience with the accuracy of information in the Camps 4 book. Lovely spot, but the toilets and 'showers' were about 100 years old, maybe the fact that Berrima is a 'historic town' should have given us a clue. The toilets were chain pull and the showers were cold, concrete, open cubicle. Dirty travellers.

Moonee Beach Caravan Park

We arrived at Mum and Roger's at around 10:00pm, Mum had booked a site for us at the caravan park down the road from thier place but we didn't think the other residents would appreciate us setting up at that time so we left the caravan on site and slept at the house - not really a successful first night's caravanning? Moonee Beach is just lovely and highly recommended, there is tidal river from the surf beach, stunning scenery and good for walking, swimming, surfing, kayaking, fishing, its great for kids because of the large shallow puddles created by the outgoing tide. It's about 15 minutes north of Coffs Harbour. We had a great couple of days catching up with Mum and Roger, and my brothers Ace and Caine. Jesse had alot of fun with Nanny Carly at the beach and the swings.

15 Mar 08 D-Day

Well we did leave home on the scheduled day, about 4 hours later than planned and not exactly well organised, Snake and Wazza (the new residents of 6 Glenrowan Close) were moving in as we were taking the last loads down to the van and container. The container that we got to put all of our belongings in was loaded up completely, not a square to spare, as was the caravan and car but we were quite pleased with our packing efforts as we seem to have taken everything we need (and just a few things we don't) without much time to spare. We were seen off by Snake, Wazza and Darcy at about 2:00pm on a beautiful Sunshine Coast day.