Dubbo

We left Singleton and headed to Dubbo for two nights.  Our main reason to go to Dubbo was to visit the Taronga Western Plains Zoo.  We had heard so much about it and were told we had to see it.
We found a great free camp spot right by the river, only ten kms out of Dubbo called Terrumungamine.  Pretty popular spot.  We set up along the road, and tested the new generator out, all seems to be working, cross fingers it copes with the workout it'll get in the heat.
We got up early and headed to the laundromat to wash a few wet sheets (we had no water so couldn't use ours).  Got to the zoo about 1030.  Just in time to get to the elephant talk.
We opted to ride our bikes around the zoo, you could drive or hire carts but we were game and hoped the kids would last.
Western Plains Zoo is a fabulously laid out zoo.  Plenty of space for the animals, meaning we covered quite a few kms in a day.  We headed straight for the elephant enclosure.  We listened to a informative talk on elephants and watched the keeper feed the female African elephant called Cuddles.  The kids loved it.  And of course so did mark, as everyone probably knows they are his favourite animals.

Cuddles

The view across the "Savannah"

These are Siamang Apes.  They were my favourite.  Man they were crazy animals.  They are incredibly territorial, they puff up this echo chamber under their chins and let out these almighty screams.  You could hear them kilometres away.

Me doing the 'turtle' sign from sign language (about the only thing I remember from a course I did years ago).

The kids did an amazing job riding around the zoo, they must have rode 5km plus

We had a fantastic day the sun shone all day.  The kids didn't whinge too much and we saw some amazing animals.  Would definitely recommend it to any one heading that way.  We enjoyed it so much we went back the next day for an early morning guided walk around the zoo.  It meant getting the kids out of bed at 5:30am.  But it was so  so worth it.  A guide took us behind the scenes and we got to have a much closer look at a lot of the animals.  The giraffes had just gotten out of bed and we got to get so close to them, they kept watching us as though we were the exhibit!  There was this awesome little gibbon who put on this performance for us swinging through the trees and acting up, he was fantastic.
We took the kids to the gift shop after.  Jake chose a little stuffed elephant that he named Eli and Charlotte chose a lemur that she called Susan, they have been hanging out to buy toys as we have been holding off letting them buy too much every where we stop.  Then we had breakfast at the zoo, very yummy.

This is a black rhino, looks the same as a white rhino, they are both grey!  Apparently the British mucked it up in translation and they were being told wide lipped rhino not white rhino.  OOOPs.

The giraffes have this mammoth shed to sleep it.  It has markers up the side up to 5m, apparently they have never had one that tall though.  It put it into perspective just how tall these animals are when you stood right in front of them.

Dubbo proved to be a definite must see.  Well worth the 4 hour drive to get there.  Kids and adults had a smashing time!!!!!

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Singleton

We left Penrith and headed to Singleton to catch up with our friends the Betts family, who had moved there 6 months ago.  It was fantastic to see a happy smiling familiar face, little Piper at the balcony waiting very patiently for us to arrive. Lots of hugs and smiles were exchanged, so great to catch up with old friends.  We were planning to stay at Sim and Rohans but our big ass  van couldn't get in the drive way.  We could see some vans over Sim's back fence in the show grounds so we headed there.  Pretty cheap, $20 a night. 
We spent a few days shopping, eating and generally having a great time. The kids had a blast playing with each other.  The girls were doing dance performances and baking cup cakes and the boys were playing cow boys and shooting each other!!!

I conned Sim and her Mum Sandra into helping me with a project for the van.  Sim is a wizz at home decorating and Sandra is a sewer, just the people to help me.  Our van is lacking practical space to put our bits and piece, so I decided to make a pocket system, with a little help.  Here's the results......

The kids had a sleep over, Jake's first one to someone other than family.  He was so proud, mumma was a little sad, but also a little proud!
We left Singleton and spent two days at Dubbo (see next blog entry), then went back to Sim and Rohans for the weekend.  So we ended up spending four nights in Singleton.  It's a medium sized mining town.  A few good shops, lots of utes and some crazy looking mines and coal heaps. 
From Singleton we are heading to Port Macquarie.  It was sad to say good bye to friends, but we're hoping to see them again soon.  Thanks Simone, Rohan, Luke and Piper for a fabulous few days. 

Penrith and the Blue Mountains

We left Mittagon and arrived in Penrith early arvo. We set up camp at the Nepean river Caravan Park.  We basically came to Penrith as it was on our way north plus it was close to the Blue Mountains.  A place Mark and I had always wanted to go.   
We got a phone call from my brother James, he was on his way to the Sydney airport and wanted to catch up on his way past.  We thought that was a fantastic idea.  We met James at a steak house and had a couple of drinks.   Was a short but great catch up.  He always manages to make me laugh.  We ended up staying for dinner and filled up on a delicious meal.

Where we stayed was a more like a permanent residential caravan  (full of oldies) than a holiday caravan park.  We pulled into our spot, right next to a nice little garden.  The old lady (June) from the adjoining house came out to have a chat with mark and told him he could water her garden if he liked, heehee.  We ended up helping her with this as we bought our own portable washing machine, and set it up next to her garden.  Using laundromats end up being much too expensive.

We spent the rest of our time at Penrith shopping for bits for the van, cleaning and generally sorting our mess out.  We were without our car for one day, had to have the cruiser fitted with new springs and airbags in the back.  Mark super excited with how the cars back side sits now.  We finally also bought a generator, thank goodness no more cold nights and soon to be hot nights, when we reach warmer weather.

We spent a magic day at the Blue Mountains.  I can understand why so many people say it's a must see in NSW.  It is such a beautiful place, and so easily accessible.  We got some advice from the tourist info centre and a man at the caravan park as to where to go in the Blue Mountains. 

First stop was a place called Evans Lookout.  You park in the car park then do a 5 minute walk to the viewing platform.  Absolutely breathtaking.  Only a few other people around.  So quiet and picturesque.  We went for a half and hour walk along the gorge circuit, which basically was a huge amount of steps downhill, but you got an even better view, the hike back up wasn't the nicest!!!

Jake even managed to find a drum to make some music in the bush.

The we headed to Katoomba and the main area of Echo Point.  This is where you go to see the three sisters.  We had a lovely picnic in the park.  The trees were losing their leaves and the kids had a great time throwing them everywhere. So relaxing picnicking in the sunshine.

We went to check out the lookout along with three hundred other tourist, man it was like grand central station.  We had a quick look and then went for a walk away from all the tourists.  We went along the edge walk towards the scenic lookout.  Took an hour or so.  We were all kitted out in our walking  boots and coats.  It was a laugh a minute checking out some of the other people trying to walk along the very muddy and wet dirt path.  Some where wearing white leather loafers, but the most hilarious was a little asian girl wearing greco roman ten inch heels.  The view again was spectacular, you are so high up.  You get this weird kinda spooked feeling when you lean over and look at the valley below.  The trees almost look soft. 

We stopped on the way home and had afternoon tea at Conservation Hut.  Yummy hot chocolate, cookies and cake.  We were so full after, we ended up going for another walk.  What a fantastic family day out.  We were all so exhausted after.  The kids did an amazing job.  They walked such a long way.  Charlotte was especially awesome, her little feet didn't stop all day.  We were so proud of our gorgeous little people.

The last four days went like a flash.  Time flies when your having fun, and doing jobs!  Singleton here we come.





Mittagong

We arrived in Mitttagong late arvo to my Uncle Rays and Jenny's house.  We hadn't seen them in ages, so it was lovely to have a catch up.  We spent two nights at their house.  They were wonderful hosts, had some lovely meals and wine.  Uncle Ray and Jenny have done a lot of 4wd and camping around Australia so we spent a fair bit of time picking their brain for advice.  We spent a fair bit of time researching generators, trying to work out what size and brand we would need for our big van.  They have a little dog called Lilly that the kids had a wonderful time playing with.

They also had their friend Jake staying with them.  He was flying his plane back to Adelaide but the weather had turned bad, so he stayed the night.  We were lucky enough to go to the local air strip and check out his plane and watch it take off.  Uncle Ray is also building his own plane, Mark was in awe of his shed and his plane.

They have a chook yard and 7 chooks so our kids had a great time chasing them and collecting eggs.  And of course eating them.  They even convinced Uncle Ray to make them pancakes on their last morning, not that he took too much convincing!!

Most annoying thing that happened was that the laptop screen got cracked, not really sure how it happened.  But of course it's not covered by the warranty even though it's only a few weeks old.  Going to cost $300 -$500 to fix, not happy...:(

We had a really nice time catching up with family in Mittagong, it is a really lovely and beautiful part of NSW.  Thanks so much to Uncle Ray and Jenny for their hospitality.

Canberra

Well we arrived in chilly Canberra to a lovely sunny day. We set up camp at the Exhibition Park show grounds.  Pretty reasonable rate  plus it has power water and amenities.  We pulled up next to another van with kids, in the hope they were nice people and our kids could have someone to play with.  Lucky for us, they were.  Kids had a ball playing with the Ellis kids.  So great to meet and make new friends.  Spent a lot of time chatting and finding out about their van and some helpful advice too.

First stop on our first day was Parliament House.  Had a really informative tour, learnt a lot about Australian politics that we didn't even know.  Kids were really well behave, didn't quite understand all of it but enjoyed it anyway.  Charlotte even thought to ask a question to our guide about the sand timers in the house of representatives.  Charlotte was a bit put out that she didn't get to see Julia Gillard, poor kid thought we would!  The budget was on a few days later but we didn't go back for it.

Had a great drive around Canberra.  It's been years since Mark and I have been to Canberra, lots has changed.  It certainly is an interesting city, but not a very big one, not like Sydney or Melbourne.  We were driving through Ainsley when Mark got all excited because apparently that's where James Hird used to play.  Much to his disgust Jake asked who that was, oops, Mark was very offended.  Then mark proclaimed that there should be a plaque erected in celebration of James Hird.  he didn't appreciate it when I roared with laughter.....:)

Where we were staying is right at the race ground.  The first night we were there the trots were on, so Mark took the kids while I cooked dinner.   They thought it was great.  Mark went back later and put a bet on, won $9 but lost $10.  Better luck next time!

The next day we took the kids to Questacon.  What a fantastic day.  Jake and Charlotte had a ball running around trying everything.  It was more suited to Charlotte and kids a bit older but Jake still loved it but he didn't really slow down to understand much of it.  We went to two shows.  One on the wheel and movement, the other on light and colour.  The guys running it were very quirky and entertained me to no end!  The kids  both loved the Earthquake and the roller coaster simulators.  Well worth a visit.

On Monday we caught up on some school work and then went to the Australian Mint to see how money was made.  We first watched a video on the mint, including it's history and how it runs.  Then we walked around the viewing areas and watched the workers from above.  The kids favourite was watching this giant robot called Titan lift heavy containers of coins and tip them onto a conveyor belt.  There were lots of interesting displays and notice boards to read, Mark could have spent hours there, but the animals got restless!!!!  The kids got to make there own souvenir coin.  They loved it, but not very economical, you put a $3 in but only get $1 back.  Didn't seem to add up, guess that's how they make their money.

Then we packed up the bikes and took them down to lake Burley Griffin.  What a fantastic area for bike riding.  We went on a lovely long ride.  The kids did a great job getting used to their new bikes.  No major tumbles thank goodness.

We got up the next morning and the kids played with the Ellis children again and the adults did a little more chatting.  We packed up the awning, as the wind had started up.  Then we went shopping to get some more supplies for the van.

We left Canberra after lunch to head to Mittagong.

It was bloody freezing in Canberra!!!!!



Fun at Questacon



Country Victoria

We left Melbourne and headed to Euchuca on the Murray.  Only took a couple of hours which was great.  We planned to stay at a place called Christies Beach but couldn't find room to park our big van, ended up at the entrance to park area, right on the banks of the Murray.  Was a fabulous spot except that it was a straight drop of 10m to the river and I was panicked about the kids falling down and having to fish them out.  Plus there was a dodgy group of guys who kept driving past with their dogs running by their utes and couches etc on the back, they'd set up camp further down!  We had a camp fire but I'd forgotten the marshmellows, oops.
We got up the next morning and went in to Euchuca and went on a paddle streamer. The same one that was in the old old movie, Where the rivers run (or something like that, I've never seen it, I don't think) Was a lovely sunny day, had a great ride up the river.  We then had a look around town, did some shopping and had lunch at this quaint cafe under trees and wisteria.
We headed to a place that a nice old couple  had recommmended plus mum and dad said they'd stayed there.  A place called Tocumwal also on the banks of the Murray, this time though the spot was amazing.  Right on this lovely sandy beach.  We had two nights there at $5 a night, they had town water and toilets but no power.  It was really great, we lit a camp fire morning and night, cooked damper, boiled the billy and of course had marshmellows. Did some fishing, but didn't catch anything. Only down side, was that with no power meant no heater meaning it was freezing first thing in the morning.
The kids had a ball playing with the local dog called Smokey.  He spent hours with us, digging in the sand and stealing the kids toys and socks.  Made me miss my Jazz!
Had a nice walk around the local market on Saturday and stocked up on all my favourites, home made relish and sauce, fruit and vegies and a few bickies too!  Saw the big trout and the big strawberry.
Thought we'd get a start on the drive to Camberra so we packed up the van and headed off that arvo thinking we'd only do a couple of hours.  Stopped at the Ettamogah Pub for a beer, Mark was in his ellement!  Us being us ended up driving for longer then couldn't find anywhere to park for the night, ended up in the recreational grounds of some country town.  Woke up the next morning, absolutely freeziing, couldn't see outside because of the fog, and no heater!!  There's a lesson learnt.  Don't be a tight ass and buy a generator......:)  Had a lovely mothers day breakfast in bed then left for Canberra, only took us an hour as we'd travelled so far the day before.

The Adventure begins

Well we are finally on our way.  We went on another test run before we left Tassie to Hobart.  We camped our first night in the van parked at Bellrieve Yacht club, but with no power, it was freezing, so we soon left.  Ended up staying a few nights at the Hobart Show grounds.  Mark spent a far bit of time fixing James yacht and the kids and I went to the aquatic centre.  Basically we spent a few more days working out how all the bits of the van work. 
We kinda seemed to run out of time towards the end, but we got most things done before we left.  We had some fabulous get togethers with our friends and family.  Lots of fun, can't believe we would leave such great people!  But adventure awaits, and Tassie will always be home.  It was sad to say goodbye to everyone, you'll all be missed.  We were all so excited to go on the boat, kids got to have one last play at the play ground with all their friends.  The kids started to get sad and teary after saying goodbye to their friends when we were lined up in the car park to get on the boat.  I was trying to console the kids when Mark said "Can I hear someone shouting the kids names?" and then we saw them, all the kids and parents were lined up at the fence calling out to the kids, was very special, thanks guys!!!  Also thanks to the really loud people on the river banks in the dark, shouting out as we left, we all waved and yelled lots too.Thanks to everyone for their best wishes and all their help in getting us on the road, it was all much appreciated.
The trip on the boat went really well, a really calm night.  The kids insisted on sleeping on the top bunks, but there were no decent side rails, so we ended up jamming the ladders down the side of the mattress.  That worked well, no one fell out, thank goodness. 
Met an interesting old man on leaving the boat.  We were lined up to collect our gas bottles on the wharf when this old guy (weather beaten face, battered old akubra and a camper trailer,) was nice enough to say, "Your right love, you go first, I've got all the time in the world".  Thought isn't that nice.  Then he says"All I need to do is suck 2(smokes) into me once I'm off this wharf, then I'm outer here, I always look at Melbourne in the rear vision mirror as I leave and give her the one finger salute!  Gosh he was a character, am sure we'll meet plenty more on the road.
Found the Big 4 caravan park in Coburg, nice park.  We went to the footy and saw the Bombers absolutely trounce the gold coast suns, not the most exciting game, but mark loved it!  Caught up with Auntie Jill, Uncle Clive and Felicity for coffee after the game.
Raced around on Monday finding parts for a few broken bits on the van, lucky Mark gets to fix them.  Then we had a fabulous night in Doncaster catching up with Megan, Sam, Thomas and Hannah. 
We're spending today doing school work, washing, riding bikes and just having an easy day.  We're off to Euchuca tomorrow.
Below is a link to a google map I have set up, we'll fill it in as we go so people can see where we've been.
http://maps.google.com.au/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=210838582207629600696.0004a15767c1b6ae9da43&z=6