Mission Beach Australia

So about 6 years ago we were travelling home to Victoria from our first Big Lap. We were driving along the Bruce highway when we saw a sign to Mission Beach. I commented to the Bloke “It sounds like something from a James Bond movie.” We had a chuckle and then l asked him “Have you been there?” It’s one of a few places he hadn’t been to. So we decided to take a detour and go for lunch!

Somehow we took a wrong turn and ended up in South Mission Beach.

As we drove down the twisty road heavily fringed both sides with tropical rainforest – who knew there were THAT many shades of green??

l was already excited but as we came over the last hill and turned down towards the water.. such an awesome shade of turquoise we, all three of us went “Oh wow!”

My Bloke said “Lets stay here a night and explore!” And we all agreed.

So we found the local caravan park and booked a cabin for the night no sense setting up the whole tent and stuff for one night. We asked for sure directions to the local supermarket and headed out to buy some supplies. We had a two bedroom unit with a full kitchen after tenting for so long it was nice to be able to cook again.

Back at the Caravan park we swam in the pool and then decided to walk along the most beautiful beach l’ve ever seen! I still love South Mission Beach! I told my husband “One day I’ll retire here!” We stayed two nights, visited real estate agents and decided we’d be back!

Fast forward 6 years. The Bloke asks me “What do l want for my birthday?” It’s the first anniversary of my 50th! So l said “Lets go away!” He thought l was going to say Bali or somewhere l suggested Mission Beach! Because l’ve had some extra work this year l booked it and paid for it.. he just needed to organise the time off work!

So Wednesday morning the 10th of October we boarded the plane at 6.00am. He hates flying but he does it for me!

Don’t we look perky? Considering I’d been awake since 2.00am! The alarm went off at 4.00am, taxi collected us at 4.30am.

We arrived in Cairns at 8.05am their time an hour behind us back in Melbourne. It was already 27C and l was already a happy gal. All winter I’ve been waiting for Mission Beach weather. It’s not let me down!!

More tomorrow….

All Winter l’d waited for this weather!

First stop Innisfail!

Our zippy little hire car!

Home again Home again…

Jiggety jig.. Isn’t that how the childrens nursery rhyme goes? Well I’m not “jiggerty jigging” to be back home, I wish we were able to stay away or go further away for longer. Especially now we have Ursula Ultimate and the pack up is so easy, it makes my feet itch to travel more. The trouble is Australia is so big and lets face it we will probably never get to see it all… So each day at home is a day I wish I was travelling.

So lets have a look at the negatives..

The weather- its gotta be said it was miserable. God, or Jehovah or Yewah or Wankan Tankan whatever you chose to call our Creator, HE is the only one who can control the weather, so its no use whining about it, yes! I am a whiner, I try not to, but I really don’t do cold very well. Spring in Australia is typically our rainiest season, so we should probably have expected it, but my rose coloured glasses were firmly in place and denial had set in. 

The first 48 hours of Ursula’s exsistence were drenched, but like a professional she is, she kept us dry and while in NSW warm… Coming into Victoria on the final stretch home however was a different thing. It rained all the way to Lakes Entrance, and it continued to rain while we set up, miserable, I was almost tempted to tell The Bloke to keep driving 400 kilometers to home. Except, my Bestie was setting up with her family and they were already there and already wet, so we had to do it.

It was cold that first night, we all retired early just to keep warm. The next day was still fairly rainy, so we took a day trip to Buchan and went on the cave tours.

This is my bestie! Deanne and I have been friends for almost 28 years. We always have the best fun when we are camping!

Luckily for Deanne and I, our Blokes, Steve and Rob, get on well too, makes life so much easier! Photography credit to Star Son for this ripper pic! 

Saturday we had some nicer kind of weather so we spent the day exploring the streets of Lakes Entrance and then back at camp we did our usual things Deanne and I crocheted and the boys all went fishing! Jordan caught a salmon which was bbq’ed later! Oh and Deanne and I ventured to the beach briefly but in time to see a seal surfing the waves near the shore.

Then Sunday it was pack up time, we just made the pack up before the rain started and then it rained on and off most of the way home.

So the weather was a negative but for sure hands down, the positive of this trip was spending quality time with my bestie and her family. 

Now it’s only approximately 81 days until our Christmas break and we’re off for a month into outback New South Wales up to Queensland and then across to Cameron’s corner which is where NSW and QLD meet SA. Being that it will be early summer hopefully we will travel minus the rain! 

Introducing our newest girl…

Today we became proud parents of Ursula Ultimate. The whole reason for our trip was to pick up our girl and we had a great day. 

This  morning  we had to book out of our cabin by 10am so while we were waiting for someone from Ultimate to collect us (Priscilla was over the road at 9.00am at the auto electrician getting wired) we decided to go for a walk into town. 

Looking over the bridge at the fish below we found some stingray!

Once in town we wandered around went to the “poke stops” and had a look at the jetty. 

Finally it was time to be collected and taken to the Ultimate factory. 

We were handed over to John who showed us how to set up and dismantle the Ultimate, ours was out the back getting her finishing touches. Once we had learnt the fine art of setting up and dismantling, and Star Son had been given a task to set up the stabiliser legs and make sure we’re     all level. 

John then had us don safety vests and safety glasses and we were given a guided tour of the factory where Ursula was built. So John walked us through all the different steps and we discovered that it takes 300 man hours to build each camper and it’s all done by hand, no robotics used here! 

The Bloke is into metal and quality and so he was very interested in the bit where all the welding and metal stuff happened. And also he was very impressed with what he saw. 

So back in the show room we were given lunch. A lovely selection of mixed sandwiches and the yummiest ever wedges! John joined us for lunch. Then it was time to go and collect Priscilla and finally get our hands on Ursula.

Some of the staff had been quietly over in the corner setting Ursula up and giving her the final once over, so John walked us through everything again and then we all got to help with the dismantle. Then she was pushed out to the front entrance and we were able attach her to Priscilla. 

John and all of us drove around the block so that he could calibrate the break controller. Then it was time to sayFarewell, not before we brought ourselves Ultimate sweaters and got a bunch of paper work to read through. Star Sin got a drink bottle and some cups and l got a lovely bottle of sparkling pink blush wine with an Ultimate lable. 

John took some group pics of us with the girls! And it was time to leave. We felt like we made a bunch of new friends and loved the time we spent at Ultimate. 

Back at the caravan park Riverbreeze, we had to try and remember how to set her all up again! Surprisingly it was as easy as we remembered and 20 minutes or so later we had our camper all set. Of course as we do it a few more times it’ll get faster. 

We went out to dinner at the bowling club to celebrate! 

 

We have arrived!

Last night we drove to Albury New South Wales, about 4 hours from home, its just over the Victorian border. We stayed in a motel for the night, by the time we had unpacked and had dinner, showers and unwound it was bedtime, I’d totally forgotten to write my blog. Yesterday was a long day I was awake at 4:00am, trying to mentally pack everything. Needless to say there are things I’ve forgotten but things that I can buy locally so no dramas.

This morning was another early morning… Up at 7:15am, car packed, dressed and down for breakfast at 7:35am and then back on the road by 8:00am.. On a Sunday morning too!!

Today’s first stop was at the Iconic “Dog on the tuckerbox” its been made famous through a song, we didn’t see the Dog today because it was really crowded with tourists at 9:15am.. Crazy!  We stopped to stretch the legs, use the bathroom and catch a snack, boys are ALWAYS hungry. 

So here is the dog, this is NOT MY PHOTO this I borrowed from Google. 

“Tucker box” is an Aussie thing, “Tucker” meaning food and the box was usually a metal type box, which kept the drovers food safe from weather and insects. There have even been songs written about the dog, Dog sits on the tuckerbox.

After leaving the dog wet and soggy, we drove on, watching as the rain swept across the landscape, there were moments when the sun tried really hard to come through and there were long stretches where it stopped raining, but, like we always say “You can’t control the weather and you can’t wait for the weather to be perfect or you’d never get anything done”  Next stop for us was Braidwood.

**AGAIN NOT MY PHOTO** taken from Google.

Braidwood had a sign which tempted us “World Famous pies” now we’ve been to lots of places in Australia and everytime we see that claim we stop and put it to the test. There was one pie shop in South Australia that claimed it and in my humble opinion they owned it.. Their lamb and rosemary pie was sooo good! Today we decided to put NSW to the test. StarSon had chunky chicken, he didnt really want a pie, but he went along with us. The Bloke had a curried pie and I had Chicken Satay, it was delish! The flaky pastry and the chunks of real chicken, yum! 

Onwards- about 2 hours to go, we were running ahead of schedule. On the way to Bateman’s Bay we went over Clyde Mountain, it was beautiful scenery and a very steep descent, at one point on a hair pin bend, we and all the long line of cars following a truck were down to 10 kilometers an hour, l thought about taking photos but I was crocheting so… Its all about priorities!

All that lovely forest!

Steep descent 

Hair pin bends!

Bateman’s Bay, where we turned from inland to costal, and for me it was love at first sight, I have ear marked that to come back and explore at a later date! 

We were supposed to turn back inland at a specific point, but decided to stay on the coastal route and enjoy the scenery.

Like this tributary that runs from the sea along the road, it was so pretty! No waves,just peaceful and calm. 

At last- 2.00pm we arrived in Moruya and found the caravan park where we are spending the next two nights in a spa cabin, its really beautiful and the best bit is its river front! So I can sit on the verandah and watch the river flow by. Of course fairly soon after we arrived so too did the rain, but at least its not cold.

Look at my view! And the a little while later, these two cruised into sight…

Some of the locals dropped by to say hello.I love pelicans! We had gone for a drive to see the factory that is building our camper trailer, just so we knew where to go on Tuesday, and Star son has seen a stork or Heron, I’ll need to see it to confirm that. 

Somewhere within this building is our new “baby” Ursula, and we are scheduled to meet her 10:30am on Tuesday. We are all excited and can’t wait! 

On Tuesday after we pick up Ursula, we are coming back here to Riverbreeze Caravan Park and we will stay in Ursula for another two nights. We are doing that to make sure we have the “hang” on setting up and dismatling before we leave the area! This is only a short trip for us, but a very important one and we are squeezing in as much as we can!

We went for a quick drive around the afternoon and did some basic grocery shopping, but on a Sunday afternoon most of the shops were closed, so tomorrow, weather allowing, we will walk across the bridge into town to do some shopping and get the important things, like stamps and postcards and presents for the Grand babies!  

Now its evening, and we have cooked a couple of frozen pizzas in the oven and cleaned up and will have a nice relaxing night, I’ve got Amber’s crochet blanket to finish! 

I’ll be back tomorrow with more photos and news!

Tomorrow we leave!

For our trip to Moruya New South Wales, to collect our camper.

I promised to come back yesterday and tell you a bit more about Moruya, I’m sorry I missed out on coming back, I’ve been working flat out on a crochet project, I made a rainbow blanket for my daughter to give as a gift at her friends baby shower tomorrow. So I needed to finish that, so I could wash it and have it dried and wrapped ready for my daughter to collect. I must confess at the start I didn’t like the colour scheme I kept having this internal dialogue about the colours, but then I reminded myself this was “not for me it was a gift, I didn’t have to love it” needless to say by the time I’d come to the end of the blanket (which was 7:30am! This morning!!) l do love it and I will probably end up doing another one similar for my Grand Daughter Sweetpea, she was convinced “It’s mine Grandma” I kept telling her ” No its for a baby” she insisted it was for  “My bed now Grandma” so I guess I’ll be making her a rainbow blanket too! She’s such a funny little thing, she picked up my crochet hook before I could race back and rescue my crochet from her, and she tells me very seriously  “I do sticking” she meant of course my crochet hook, and she tried her best to poke the “stick” into the stitches. Maybe when she’s three I’ll start teaching her to crochet! My Aunt taught me when I was about ten, I started crocheting my own “granny squares” with the left over yarn that she was using to knit sweaters.

So thats why I missed yesterday’s post about “Moruya” 

Let me share some info about what I’ve found out about this little town, I’m so excited we are heading off tomorrow and will arrive mid afternoon Sunday!

Moruya

Town in New South Wales, Australia

Moruya is a town in New South Wales, Australia, situated on the Moruya River, on the far south coast situated on the Princes Highway 305 kilometres south of Sydney and 175 kilometres from Canberra. At the 2011 census, Moruya had a population of 2,531 people. The town relies predominantly on agriculture, aquaculture, and tourism. Moruya is administered by the Eurobodalla Shire council and the shire chambers are located in the town. Wikipedia.

I know right! I’d never heard of it either. But I am excited to get there and explore. There’s a museum there showcasing the dairy industry in the area, but mostly its poular for its nature based places, Moruya Head and National Park  walks like the Bingi Walking Track.. 

Follow in the footsteps of the Brinja-Yuin people as you walk the Bingi Dreaming track. Traditionally, Dreaming tracks or Song Lines link the places visited by Aboriginal people, the Bingi Dreaming track links campsites, ceremonial and trade sites, fresh water and plentiful coastal food sources. Along the way, you might see stone artefacts or patches of shell middens. The … Visit website for more info

For more information: http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au

I have a feeling that we won’t see all there is to do there, but thats Ok it just means we will have to go back again! 

So be sure to check back in the next few days where I’ll start posting my photos. 

Hump Day..

Yes its Wednesday, which means we are in the downward slope of the week tomorrow!

One step closer to the weekend.. We have Football presentation on Saturday for Star Son, and then after that we are leaving! Yes another “Road trip”! 

This time we are off to New South Wales to a small coastal town called Moruya. I had never heard if it until recently when we ordered our camper trailer from a company called “Ultimate Campers” we have been stalking this company for almost three years, wishing and hoping, buying lottery tickets to try and fund our camper, anyways finally the time has come, we ordered it and its being made as I write this, pick up date is Tuesday 20th September.

As you might know from reading any of my past posts, my Bloke names our things! Our tent is Tamara, our trailer which carried our camping gear is Matilda “We go waltzing around Australia with Matilda” things that we spend a lot of money on we name, the camp fridge is “Goldie” and the camp kitchen is “Donna Drifta” people think we’re wacky! Our Volkswagen Passat Highline was called “Heidi Highline” and she has now been replaced with a Toyota Prado 4 Wheel drive, we want to start going off road, she’s called “Priscilla” as in the movie “Priscilla Queen of the desert” trouble is so far she hasn’t been to the desert ( Thats our Christmas holiday this year!) so for now she’s just “Princess Priscilla” so naming our camper trailer was super easy, immediately her name came to me as I stepped out of the X-Plore GT display model I told the sales man “We’ll be back to buy this one her name is Ursula” he laughed and I said “Don’t laugh, you know the rule don’t you? If you name something you have to keep it” all the way along she’s been “Ursula Ultimate” and soon we will go to collect her.

So on Saturday afternoon, we will leave, drive about 4 hours to the border of Victoria and New South Wales, stay over night in a Motel and then on Sunday drive the other five or so hours to the little town Moruya. Sunday night and Monday night we are staying in a cabin. We are spending a few extra days there because Priscilla also has to visit the Auto Electrician to have some final wiring done, which will allow us to have a duel battery kit installed, that will allow us to use the solar panels to supply power when we are “off the grid” to charge, phones, lap tops, camera batteries etc. 

On Tuesday the 20th September, we have an appointment with the Ultimate company at 10 am, where we will spend a great deal of the day learning every little intimate detail about our new “baby” We will learn to set up, pack up and stock up our camper and then we will spend two more nights in Moruya in a caravan park where we will set up and dismantle our camp site on our own to make sure we have no dramas, while we are in reach of the company in case we need help, I’m sure we won’t need help, but better safe than sorry! 

Thursday we will be on the road again, this time headed South and towards home, we will spend that night in Lakes entrance back on the Victorian side of the border where we are meeting up with my Bestie Deanne and her husband and one son. I get to spend a few days catching up on our girly chats and crochet andjust spending some quality time with my bestie.

Tuesday we have an appountment to register Ursula for use on Victorian roads, we will have a special permit to bring her home, but its only good for five days.

I love me a good road trip, espcially when its to places that we havent been. I think the Bloke has planned the route to go on new roads, so I’ll have plenty of time to take photos and blog about our trip! For me thats all part of the joy of Road trips! In the scheme of things this is a “short” trip but I will manage to pack as much in as I can!

Tomorrow I’ll share with you some interesting history I learnt about Moruya, because whenever I am going somewhere new I like to research! 

Big Lap WA 2015— Done, dusted and wrapped up..

So we have been home for 4 nights and 5 days, and it feels like forever.

I’ve finally gotten everything put back away, I’ve scrubbed the house, all that is left to do is my Art Studio (Starting that tomorrow) I want to de-clutter and reorganise. The thing about living in a tent with one bag of clothes for 50 plus days is you appreciate not needing “Stuff” so I come home and this all seems like clutter! A LOT of it is being phased out and moved on.

The Bloke suggested we start work on the “Back deck” which has been on our “to do list” for a few years and we keep putting it off, well, we got home Wednesday and Thursday he went down and brought the new timber the fernery is part one of phase one, we removed all the broken timbers and replaced them all bright and new and all new shade cloth. During the week I’ll begin the weeding and the clearing up of the fernery in tome for some new plants for summer.. definitely some mints because the mozzie and spiders hate it. There are 4 phases of the back deck, it’s a huge task and huger still because we have put it off too long.

Phase one was this weekend, replacing the fernery roof and shade cloth.

Phase two will be the replacement of the fernery walls and the soil and tan bark and general tidying. De spider webbing.

Phase three is the top and bottom garden beds, huge job, all need to dug over, pruned, replanted and refreshed, Phase four is the lower deck, there’s an old cubby house which needs dismantling and an old worn out BBQ that is ear marked to be replaced along with the mis-matched outdoor furnishings.

Phase four is the back deck itself, it all needs to be washed with the pressure cleaner and then re-oiled.

These things take time and the Bloke works long hours so I will endeavour to do as much as I can by myself… but ultimately he’s a control freak and so nothing I do will be good enough, he’ll re-do it all! Ideally the time frame would be between now and Christmas so we could enjoy Christmas day out there but don’t anyone hold me to that!!

Being back home, I’ve re-established my morning routine of daily bible study and reading at least one chapter or my current book, yesterday I finished “Holy Cow” by Sarah MacDonald

Holy Cow! An Indian Adventure from Good Reads

by Sarah Macdonald

Holy Cow! An Indian Adventure

After backpacking her way around India, 21-year-old Sarah Macdonald decided that she hated this land of chaos and contradiction with a passion, and when an airport beggar read her palm and insisted she would come back one day – and for love – she vowed never to return.
But twelve years later the prophecy comes true when her partner, ABC’s South Asia correspondent, is posted After backpacking her way around India, 21-year-old Sarah Macdonald decided that she hated this land of chaos and contradiction with a passion, and when an airport beggar read her palm and insisted she would come back one day – and for love – she vowed never to return.
But twelve years later the prophecy comes true when her partner, ABC’s South Asia correspondent, is posted to New Delhi, the most polluted city on earth. Having given up a blossoming radio career in Sydney to follow her new boyfriend to India, it seems like the ultimate sacrifice and it almost kills Sarah – literally. After being cursed by a sadhu smeared in human ashes, she nearly dies from double pheumonia. It’s enough to send a rapidly balding atheist on a wild rollercoaster ride through India’s many religions in search of the meaning of life and death.
From the ‘brain enema’ of a meditation retreat in Dharamsala to the biggest Hindu festival on earth on the steps of the Ganges in Varanasi, and with the help of the Dalai Lama, a goddess of healing hugs and a couple of Bollywood stars – among many, many others – Sarah discovers a hell of a lot more

 

---

 

Sarah is An Aussie and so she writes like an Aussie so I laughed with her I cried with her and I wished I was travelling with her. I enjoyed this book and will give it 4* out of 5*

Now I have started reading Ruth Park’s “Harp in the South”

Being at home feels like we never left other than I had Star Son under my feet constantly.. so in a way I am looking forward to tomorrow when he returns to school and the Bloke returns to work, and I have that little bot of “me time” that’s when I will spent my time doing to art studio and starting to get back into my art which I am missing A LOT. Having said that, it’s going to be busy the rest of this month, we have stuff to do The Bloke had our soon to be son-in-law’s Bucks Night this coming weekend and then the following weekend is my Daughter’s “Hens Night” which I have to attend, that’s on Sweetpea’s 2nd Birthday so we will celebrate that on the Sunday, maybe just cake and coffee for the close family. Then the following weekend is the Wedding it’s all come along really quickly, and between now and then I am detoxing to lose a little bit of weight, and I need to get my hair restyle and nails and my eye brows done, it’s going to be full on! So the “holiday that was” seems like so far away!

Looking back at our trip and people asking (not that many people have! ok actually my sister-in-law only!!) “What was your favourite bit?” without a doubt I answer “the desert” because we spent a lot of time driving through it. I kind of wish we had stayed there in the desert a little longer. I liked Esperance, that was probably my favourite little town to camp in.

My favourite wild place was “Coffin Bay” The Bloke says “Whistlers Camp” which was at Cape Leewuin Naturaliste Park.

My least favourite place was “Lake Lascelles” it was pretty enough and maybe another time when I was less fed up with the whole trip I might have enjoyed it but right then I did not. Followed closely by the Grampians (only for the size of the camp sites)

Places NOT to miss: Ok so you might not know this about me ( I say with tongue in cheek!) But I love Rocks! So for me the places NOT to miss were… “Bunda Cliffs”, “Pildappa Rock”, and “Wave Rock”. Bunda Rock and Pildappa rock are free entry and free to camp there..(suggested donation for Pildappa, we gave $20 for the night for the three of us, because we used their bbq and their drop pit toilet) The Bloke said “Head of the Bight” which was where we saw our only whales. Hahndorf– I loved the German village.

Places I could NEVER go to again and not miss: The Star Son and the Bloke said “Fowlers Bay” they said unless they were Certain that there were whales there. I think I wouldn’t go to “Kingston on Murray” again although at the time I needed that break because I was really sick, so it helped. “Margaret River” was a disappointment and I wouldn’t bother with that again!

All time favourite thing: Star son replied straight away: food! which is funny since he ate chicken nuggets and chips most of the time.  The Bloke said: The Whales.. I agree they were special, when we did the last Big Lap, I wanted to see turtle and we did and I got really emotional about them.. less so with the whales but they are not something we are likely to see in the wild too often! I really enjoyed all our contact with the wild life, we saw wild camels and a fox, and snakes and lizards and kangaroos and possums and a bilby, things like that I think are special.

Anything to do differently: Me: stop pandering to spoilt children and giving up the things I wanted to do and see to keep the peace. I missed out going to see Rottnest Island, I missed the Anzac Memorial in Albany and the Whaling station, I missed out on seeing the Jarrah trees in the while, and I missed out on a lot of shopping, I kept thinking I’ll get it later” and then came home with no goodies for anyone. In the end I kept convincing myself that I’ll come back one day when I don’t have the kid” but in reality I doubt I would repeat this trip. I also felt that we were rushing even when at the end we had spare time before we had to meet our friends, but we got lost, we went off our plan and tried to fit into the weather pattern instead and then it all started going pear-shaped for me. We will be going to Western Australia again, but then it won’t be the southern portion again, I think I can say “we’ve been there and done that and got the sticker to prove it”

I MUCH preferred the first Big Lap in the desert and Up to Darwin and across to QLD, to me Western Australia was a major let down.

 

 

 

 

Big Lap WA 2015- Days 45- 49 Bel Far Niente (Italian for Home)

We stopped at Warracknabeal for some breakfast, I needed coffee and then we just kept on going.

The other places we had thought of to go were also getting bad weather and basically the whole of Victoria was stuffed… so we set our sails for St. Leonards because we have been there for about 10 years and we know from experience that whenever the rest of Victoria is having damaging winds and storms they usually miss it.. so I was feeling like we were off to our safe place!

Sure enough as we came into Geelong the sun was shining and the temperature was slowly creeping up and I was feeling much better!

Bel Far Niente (Beautiful doing nothing) … I’ve written about her before like here and here too So you’ll know how special it is to me.. it’s my escape from the real world when it gets too hard I run to my “safe place” there are no hard and fast chores and things everything is laid back and easy.. he hardest thing to think about in St.Leonards is what to eat and when!

So walking in the door I could have cried in happiness.. and the shower.. I reckon it was the best shower ever!!

We said we’d “stay one or two nights” because we were meeting my bestie and her family on the Friday which would be day 49

After a good nights sleep and a lazy day we decided we’ve just staying here till we need to be in the Grampians to meet Deanne. We got caught up on our laundry, and our reading, we sorted and DE cluttered the trailer and on the Thursday my daughter Amber came for the day with my son Jarrah, a friend Reece and my Sweetpea.. oh boy have I ever missed those Grand babies!! We had a few hours of one on one and then waved them all Goodbye until we came home for good.

A real bed made such a difference after all the setting up and breaking down of camps all over Australia, I found myself feeling a bit like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz… “there’s no place like home” even if it was only my second home.

By the time it came to Friday morning, I was excited to go camping again to see my Bestie, I haven’t seen her for ages… even though the weather reports were NOT sounding good, The Bloke even went as far as to call Steve –Mr Bestie and warn him about the weather forecast and they said “Well we are still going”so we said “We will see you there.”… we left St. Leonards at 10.30am and it was a grey overcast day but it was warm.. we’ve been having some high humidity so it’s not so bad!

We got to Halls Gap in the Grampians at 2.30pm and by 4.00pm we were all set up.. just sitting around waiting for the rest of the gang to arrive.

We’ve been to A LOT of caravan parks this trip, and so we’ve had A LOT of different camping sites but this one was the absolute worst!!

Big Lap WA 2015- Day 44- Lake Lascelles Victoria

I’m wearing down friends..

I’m tired, I’ve had enough of these Blokes and the closer I get the more I want to “just go home” Short drive today, we couldn’t decide where to go spoilt for choices, as long as we stayed inland.. because the coast is going to be wet windy and miserable.

So we headed in the general direction of “Jeparit” the Bloke made some calls yesterday about different areas we “thought“we might like to visit for example the Pink Lakes at The Murray Sunset National Park, which would be another night of no power and no showers, but I’m up for the challenge, at least I was till the voice on the other end of the phone said “There’s no water in the Lake” the same we found out for “Lake Albacutya” and then again for “Lake Hindmarsh“… these are small out of the way places that are names on the Map of Victoria and if we do anything for the rest of this trip we want to add more black lines to the Map of Victoria. So we drove on and we would figure it out as we went.

First stop was Ouyen let me tell you this… NOTHING is open on Sundays.. I feel so like we are back in the 70’s.. they were not helpful at all in the Bakery, so we kept on going.. One of the places on the map that sounded funky was “Patchewollock” repeat that a few times it sounded fun, so when we saw the turn off we detoured to “Patche” as the locals call it.. I have NEVER been more disappointed in my life… ok, I probably have but I was devastated.. there was nothing there. it resembled a ghost town.. OK… there “used” to be a Service staion there, which had burnt down and was now a gravel space with a solitary single charred petrol pump behind a chain link fence. There was a shop of sorts, with a sign that listed “bakery, milkbar, post office and general store” REALLY?! we didn’t even bother we turned Heidi and Tilly around and went back the way we came… “blink town” if you Blink you’ll miss it…

The map showed a Lake with free camping in a town called “Hopetoun” so we decided we’d stop there for lunch and check it out and see how we felt, we had no better offers… One pub in the town was boarded up, everything else was locked tightly up, but there was some kind of speed boat racing thingy on at Lake Lascelles and so we went to look, only to realise that it was where the “free camping” was. On one side of the sign you camped for free, on the other side you had power and a toilet for something like $15.00 per night.. hmmm… we drove around the lake picked out a good “spot”and decided that this would be “home” for tonight…we then decided to go into “town” and find some lunch… there was “one café” and I reckon most of the town were in there, so I stayed in the car and trusted the men to buy me a “pie” well, I don’t know what they were thinking but really? cheese in a pie.. it was not a good combo, but I was hungry I ate it..

So it’s been one of those hot, grey and over cast days, which I kind of don’t mind, because it’s not so hot when the sun stays away.. but then as we decided to set up the tent, out came the sun, up went the temperature and hello flies!!!

The place where we were camping was on sand, so the tent pegs were not going to stay in very well… to be frankly honest with you I hated the place on site, but then I thought I was having a “spoilt little brat” moment so I bit my tongue and set up camp. Then as the afternoon rolled on the wind started, you’ve read previous posts about the wind while camping, it’s not a good mix. Then about 6.00pm the sky grew dark and the rain started first it was big fat juicy drops, that splashed up on the sandy ground and dried quickly.. then the thunder started and the lightening and I’m muttering under my breath about being in the wild! (at least in a camp ground you have a camper kitchen to run and hide in when it thunders)

Before bed that night we removed the annex/ tarp because we feared we might fly away. The wind whipped up waves in the previously pretty little lake and the temperature dropped until we were cold! so by 9.30pm we were in bed with lights out, trying to go to sleep and wondering if we would still be in the same place in the morning, It was the longest night in the history of nights. The wind howled and bellowed ALL NIGHT long and by the time it was light enough to see I was growling at the Bloke “How long did YOU say we had to stay here?!!” he got up, looked around, saw the wind was too strong to even light the stove to boil the kettle and said “Let’s get out of here now!” So by 8.30am we had packed up 3/4’s of the camp and woken Star Son who had slept through it ALL and said “We are LEAVING NOW!”

Where to go next? we pulled over on the side of the road found some internet access and decided that we were about 2.5 hours away from our holiday place which is an onsite Caravan called “Bel Far Niente”  with an enclosed annex and a toilet and access to a shower and heating and safety.. we said “Let’s go to our other “home” and off we went.

Big Lap WA 2015- Day 40, 41, 42, 43- Mildura Victoria

Day 40- Wednesday – We packed up a very wet camp. I was awake at 6.00am and checked my online bits and pieces, we had free internet connection at Hahndorf so it was nice to be able to check up on the family on FB and my mail etc. It was cold and raining, so I took my breakfast ingredients and my bible study things and went to the massive camp kitchen and spent an hour over there with my coffee, vegemite toast and God’s word. When I got back to camp The Bloke was packing up and we had to wake up the kid to get him moving. By 9.35am we were “On the road again” and headed for warmer climes. Originally we had planned to go “straight” and spend a few days in Robe on the coast but when we checked out the weather websites it looked dismal and we are “fair weather” campers.. not really but why go into a thunderstorm when you can avoid it? so we changed plans and headed for the Victoria Border and across to Mildura which is usually always warmer. Good choice!

Although it was a grey overcast looking day it wasn’t raining or cold we can cope we that! We chose “Golden River” caravan park for a few reasons he main being it was a Big 4 caravan park and we know they always have good facilities and also because it’s on the banks of the Murray River and that means fishing. When we booked in they said we could only stay till Friday because they had a “Rod Run” coming in and they’d booked most of the van park out and were going to be loud and take over, we agreed that would be ok. So once we set up we decided to find out more info about “Goanna’s Run” and we liked the sound of it and so we decided to see if we could stay a few extra days. The “Kid”found the pool and reported it was heated and insisted that I get in since I went out in Albury WA and brought a new swim suit and had yet to wear it, I said “Maybe tomorrow” I finished my book and so that leaves me with two choices, the Bible or a book I borrowed from my bestie a Nicholas Sparks book, which I am trying to hold on to until I can give it back to her, I’ll read it in a few days. In the mean time I needed some more “Australian Author” books so we planned to hit the charity shops the next day and pick up a few, I’ve been so good at reading them and then leaving them behind. It’s a thing travellers do they leave their books in the laundry and pick up a new one, I could have done that but there are no Australian authors so I passed.

Crossing back across into Victoria our 5th border crossing

Me and my feet supervising

Camp Golden Rivers Mildura.

Since 25th September, just under a month I have read 8 books totalling 2,422 pages, so I am pretty happy with that!

The Bloke has been craving Fish ‘n’ Chips and so tonight we found a little fish shop and the smell of the oil as we walked in the door did me in, I got a “Plain Hamburger” which ended up being anything BUT plain, lettuce, tomato, cheese, beetroot and a slice of pineapple and I must confess though, it was the best burger I’ve eaten in ages. The Kid opted for McDonalds and the Bloke was disappointed in his fish ‘n’ chips. It’s usually the way when you want something so much you end up being disappointed, a little bit like parts of this trip really..

Day 41- Mildura.

I got bored last night and picked up a book I’ve been trying to read for 12 months called “Testament a Bible Odyssey” Maybe I’ve needed the 12 months in between starting it and picking it up again, because it seemed to flow a lot better than 12 months ago when I started reading it. I got about 100 pages read, yay me! ALAS it’s not an Australian Author and so I will put it aside as soon as I can.

Later that day….

I managed to walk into one of the charity shops I think it was “St. Vincent DePaul’s” and I picked up 6 Australian author books for only $6.50, winning!! We also went to the supermarket to stock up on some supplies. While the boys were using the bathroom, I wandered over the road to a fashion shop, the sales lady was so helpful I explained that I am going to be MOB and that I wont have much time when I get home to go shopping and so what could she help me with? nothing too over the top though. I tried on two dresses, two different styles and two different colours, I liked them both in their own way although the one I felt most comfortable in, my husband later tells me “it looked kinda like a sack” eep.. I liked that one and the colours were exactly  my type two colours. Anyways the sales lady said “Here try on these shoes“, and “try this little jacket” and “Ohhh you look lovely!” to which the blokes stood off to the side sniggering “Ohhh you look lovely” they mimicked. Just as this poor woman thought she was making a sale, my husband steps in and says “Let me take a photo and send it to Jasmin and see what she thinks?” the poor sales lady said “OH, yes of course” in a much less chirpy fashion and snatched the dress away and put it back on the hanger.

As we left the shop The Bloke reassured her “WE are here for another three days I’m sure we’ll be back” I wasn’t too happy to be honest, all trip I have been trying to find an out fit, and there I was with two I liked.. OK it was more money than I wanted to pay one was $289.00 and the other was $260.oo but I figured I’ll only be MOB this one time.. once! and there I was again with NO DRESS! As we drove off we discussed his reasoning and he came up with the “kinda like a sack” theory. They both liked the red dress but I knew that RED was not in my type 2 colour chart so it didn’t feel right to me, I even asked the sales lady “Doesn’t this make my boobs look bigger? “to which she replied “Love when you’ve got them make the most of them” which is almost the same as “If you’ve got them flaunt them” and I’ve never been comfortable with that saying either. Anyways.. I did send the photo to Jasmin and she replied that “she loved the dress, and no red wasn’t too over powering and that it looked good” I ignored it all and never went back!

Day 42- Mildura Friday.

By early morning the Hot Rods started arriving, the revving engines, or the throbbing of them driving in was loud all day, we are now comfortably surrounded on all sides by all shapes and sizes and colours and makes of Rods.. big, small, old and older, all colours, we are the only “normals” in the place but we were here first so we don’t feel too bad in our little corner where we can see them all arrive.

More shopping, I decided that I needed some singlet tops with thin straps if I am going to tan (which I have been doing without trying) I don’t want extra lines of tan marks, so off we went plus I wanted a little hand towel and some face cloths. I ended up with new shorts as well. We went down to the “Mall” to see what was happening with the Hot rod parade we heard there was going to be a band and we wanted to see f it was a band we were familiar with, there was one guy with a guitar singing, so Star Son and I went off to look at the clothes shops to try to find a MOB dress. He says “I don’t get why you can’t wear a dress from home, what’s the big deal?” he’s a 13 yr old boy, who can be bothered explaining? but I did because I want him to be patient and let me just get the flipping dress! I tried on one fitted style dress, he insisted that he see it when I get it on.. well I didn’t get it on, the biggest size did not fit, it was the right colours for my type two, but the wrong fitted style… next shop.. The next shop we went into the sales lady came right up and asked “Can I help you with anything?” So I explained “When I get home I have 20 days to become transformed from this ( I was wearing hiking sandals, leggings and a singlet top, not very glam!) to MOB, I need a dress BUT I don’t want it to be too fancy, I want to look fancy but still look like me” she sighed because they didn’t have anything “too fancy” So right away Star Son points to a dress he likes and says “try that one Mum” she agreed “Let’s start with that one” I liked that one, tried it on and right away regretted the fitted choice and pointed out to the sales lady who being about the same size as me agreed and rushed out to find something else.. the second one was a much better choice and all four of us agreed, it’s Cobalt Blue with silver accent. That shade of Blue and Silver are both type two colours, the dress is a little bit more fitted that I’d like BUT she showed me that with the right little jacket we can disguise that fact! So then the hunt for the perfect little jacket began.. she wanted one, I wanted a different and the Blokes each wanted theirs.. so I got none, I did however buy the cobalt blue dress with the silver accents, and I asked the lady since she’s already been so helpful “What accessories would you add with this?” she told me exactly what I wanted to hear what I’d already though of to add… yay! Apparently I’m learning this “fashion thing” I’ve never been the fashionable one, I like things that are comfortable and until I did the Dressing your type course I was hiding in dark dreary colours… NOW I know better so I can do better. I did not ask the Blokes to do any more “fashion” stuff because they’ve done two days worth, now I’ll wait till I get home and take one of my daughters with me for support. However she did point out that “Blue is a great choice for the MOB because Blue is lucky for Brides and you’ll be standing by her side some of the day! and especially in photos” I didn’t mention that Jasmin doesn’t want to do “those” photos but I like the dress anyways!

Sneak peek of my dress…

While we were out and about we also found the “Mildura Chocolate co.” because in their advertisement they said “Life is too short not to eat great Chocolate” and I agree a thousand % So I brought us a block of Chili Chocolate and Star Son got a chocolate bar for helping me with my dress.

Chocolate!

Back at camp, we decided to go fishing, so we packed up the requirements and went down to the river to catch fish, we lasted maybe an hour before we all gave up on the idea.  We spent the afternoon messing around in the pool and hanging around camp just relaxing and reading I finished another book, called “Reflections on Marriage” by Hazel Hawke and started a book by Tasma Walton called “Heartless” I’ve been accused of that a time or two.

 

Day 43- Mildura and New South Wales.

Today the Bloke decided that we should go and revisit an old friend. The Perry Sand hills in the outback of Wentworth New South Wales, so we made another border crossing into New South Wales. Last year we spent a week in Wentworth almost exactly a year ago and discovered these red desert sand hills and fell in love. In the middle of the sand hills is a huge old tree been there forever and it’s fondly named the “God tree” so we went back to say hello.. that makes it four states of Australia we have visited in this trip!

Tracks in the sand at Perry Sandhills

The Blokes and the God tree

Selfies with the God Tree

At The God Tree

Star SOn and the God Tree

Panorama of Perry Sandhills

these dead Paddy Melons looked like skulls and bones

Perry Sand Hills

I lost my leg in the deep

So that brings us up to date and now it’s time to start thinking about the great pack up because in the morning we move onto destination unknown, all we know is we are heading South.. on the 30th of October we meet our friends at the Grampians just near Horsham but between now and then we are free agents, and so tomorrow we head South and look at maybe the little sandy Desert or the Pink Lakes or somewhere like that. Which means we may not have internet access for a few days, but I WILL be back and catch up when I can.