The trip north March 2012

The time had finally came, and we were on our way back to Brisbane to collect our van and to restart our trip.  Adults and kids both sad and excited.  Very much looking forward to going on the Spirit to Melbourne.  Charlotte spent the hour lined up for the ferry, hanging out her window waving her stuffed Animal (from the Muppets) to everyone.  When we were walking around on the ferry, people kept saying hello and that they saw her earlier, she decided she was famous now!!  Had a lovely crossing, and a very early morning the next day!!

Goodbye Devonport

 We were up bright and early and saw the sun rise over Melbourne.  Saw a beautiful sight as we drove through the city.  These five big hot air balloons floated over, looked spectacular.  We headed to the nearest McDonalds for breakfast and to do our online lesson with the kids teacher in Tassie.  Not so easy as the kids were pretty tired after the excitement of  leaving and the early start.

We went to visit our friend Megan and her two children for lunch in Doncaster, Melbourne.  It was so nice to catch up again, we last saw each other almost a year ago on our way up north on our original trip.  Her son Thomas was at school, so the kids played with Hannah.  Girls had a bit of fun dancing etc.  I went with Meg and picked Thomas up from school, then they all had a great play together.  Was amusing listening to the boys discuss the merits of Lego!!

We stayed the night in Melbourne at my Auntie and Uncles house in Brighton.  Auntie Jill cooked a lovely dinner and the kids had a great time playing with the dog and annoying their second cousins!!

From Melbourne we headed North.  First stop was the Dog on The Tucker Box, an iconic monument that we missed on the way up, that Mark has been on about since!!  The monument was inspired by a bullock drivers poem 'Bulluck Billy', about a dog that guarded its owners tucker box.

Last year we spent a lot of time travelling with the Ellis family from Victoria, Dan, Kaz, Sam, Will and Zaccy.  We last saw them 6 months ago in Calliope QLD.  It just worked out that they are heading north as well and we were able to meet up with them.  Seeing we didn't have the van, and we were too tight to pay for motels we bought a tent to sleep in instead.  You can imagine my delight when I realised the Ellis's had set up camp in Jugiong.  We were there almost a year early on mothers day and it was the coldest foggiest place ever!!  Luckily this time it wasn't cold but it did rain of course!! 

We arrived at the showgrounds and could see the Ellis van in the distance.  They must have spotted us too as the kids started running towards us.  Was fabulous to see them all again, the look on the kids faces was priceless.  We spent a great couple of nights camping with these guys.  Us in our little tent and them in their van.  Kaz and Dan even cooked all the meals, we were definitely well looked after!! 

We headed out one day to Gundagi to check out the sights.  First stop the visitors info centre of course.  We then checked out a look out or two.  Looked at the old bridges and went to the park.  Gundagi was only recently flooded.  As we were standing watching the kids on the play ground Kaz and I were debating how high the river rose.  When we noticed weeds from the river stuck in the top chains of the swing.  So in other words, it got pretty high!!!

We sad a sad good bye, well not really that sad.  We are seeing them again when they stop off at the Gold Coast on the way through, then we are going to check out FNQ together!!!!  

Next stop was Wollongong to see my big brother Ben.  We decided to stay in a cabin that night, we got in lateish and it was wet!  Then we met Ben and went out for dinner.  We went to this beautiful Thai restaurant, Thai is my absolute favourite food, was a gorgeous meal.  Was so nice to see Ben again, if for just a short visit.  Only a few more days until Mark has to start work, so couldn't stop longer.

Then we headed north but inland a bit to Singleton.  Back to see our mates the Betts family, Simone, Rohan, Luke and Piper.  Once again another great catch up, good friends, great conversation and wonderful food.  Makes me sad that so many of our friends are spread out now, makes it great to visit but hard to say goodbye.  Kids got on like a house on fire, as you can see by the photos!!

It was too far to drive all the way to Brisbane on the next leg, so we headed to Tenterfield.  With a stop off at Tamworth on the way for lunch and the obligatory photo with the Big Gold Guitar.  We camped  the night at the showgrounds, nice spot by the river.  We had just set up when this old bloke came over and started chatting to me about Tassie.  Next thing Mark walked out of the tent and said hello Rob, turned out to be his second cousin from Tasmania, small world heh! 

We made good time and reached Redland Bay before lunch.  We were so excited to see our mates, Lee, Meegan, Carly and Sophi, and of course our van.  We had only meant to leave our van for a few weeks, ended up being far far longer.  So many thanks to our wonderful friends for babysitting it for us.  We had a lovely day swimming in the pool and a BBQ lunch.  Then hooked up and headed to Palm Beach, as Mark starts work in the morning.

So we have arrived on our next leg of our journey.  We plan to stay 3 or so months in Palm Beach QLD while Mark and I work to recoup some money we have spent on the way.  My sis Megan lives here, so am looking forward to lots of sister time.  Will try to do a blog entry while we are at Palm Beach so I stop doing such long ones!

Tasmania

Well it was kinda sad to say goodbye to Townsville, we had some good times and some bad times.  Towards the end I started humming, "Tell the world I'm coming home" all the time, So am guessing I was in need of a visit to my Island home! Pity it wasn't under better circumstances, but am sure our baby (the Land cruiser) will be OK.  I was unable to get any work back in Tassie, lots happening in the health industry, lots of cuts etc. So I played at being a stay at home mum.   Luckily Mark was able to pick up plenty of work with his old job at CMV and with his friend Anthony(Thomas).
We arrived home a few days before Christmas.  In time for me to run a round and do some very last minute Christmas shopping.  It was wonderful to be home and to be able to spend so much time with family.
Just before Christmas we got together with Marks Mum and sister Ruth for Christmas in Deloraine.  Kids got spoilt of course!!  And the adults too.  Spent the day in Deloraine, catching up with Marks family and Buster the dog.  Also took Jake's pedal car out for a run.  Kids have grown so much since we last used it.  So much so we kinda broke it!  Fixable though Mark tells me.  Think the grand kids have been missed!

Toys Toys toys, we got toys!!

Jake, Ruth and Charlotte

Beth and Charlotte

 We spent Christmas day at home with my family in Devonport at Mum and Dads.  All of my siblings were home which only happens a few times a decade.  Grandad (Dad's Dad), Auntie Trudy (Dad's sister), Pete and Cath (James' mates) also came for Christmas.  So a pretty decent sizes gathering outside in the garden.
The kids were so excited at the prospect of a visit from Santa, and a few presents too.  For me Christmas is about the delight of children, plus a time to enjoy family.  We had a wonderful day, full of laughs, presents, fabulous company and food, lots of food too!!

Pressie time in the sun room

Ninjago's of course, and a transformer dress up costume.

Dad's Chrissie girl.

Dad getting all chocked up about his pressie from Ben

Charlotte, Megan and Cath and some Chrissie music.

The ladies

The Christmas table, we all fitted, just!

James and Mum

Grumps got a bit hungry

Can you see the family genes over three generations??

The Thorp family

The parents and the kids

New Years eve 2011, was spent at Devonport by the river.  They had a lantern festival, was a lovely night.  Not anywhere near as special and beautiful as Lismores lantern festival, still pretty nice though.  We had dinner, listened to some music and watched the early fireworks.  Then took the kids home and put them to bed.  Ben, Megan, Mark and I then saw the New Year in on the deck watching the fireworks, sipping champagne!

We'd had such a busy crazy time before we left Queensland that it was nice just to stop and relax at home.  I spent a few afternoons 'reading' (falling asleep) on the couch.  We also got to spend heeps of time catching up and spending quality time with family.  Well I did anyway, Mark not so much.  He ended up working heaps while we were home, for money and on our Landcruiser.  He put in lots of hours and quite a few early mornings and late nights.  So unfortunately he did miss out on a fair bit while we were home, but that was just the way it worked out.

Auntie Meg teaching Charlotte to sew.

Jake explaining to Grumps the rules of his game, which he will also always win!!

Megan, Alex and Charlotte, having a dance off.

The singing star

One night when Auntie Jill was over, Charlotte insisted on dressing for dinner!!

Auntie Jill (Mum's sister) and the kids

Playing Cluedo.

Initially when we got home we thought we would only be in Tasmania for a few weeks, fast forward three months and then we left!  While we were home we wanted to see and do as much as possible in the days we had.  We decided to head out for the day to the Bluff, a popular playground, beach area in Devonport.  Recently been upgraded, much to the kids delight and a little sadness, Charlotte a little put out that things have changed!

 

Chrissie presents

He can't stand on it but he can lay on it!!

I'm a firm believer that having great friends makes for a fun and happy life.  I'm not one who likes being by myself that much.  We've missed many people while we have been away, but a special place in my heart is saved for Elsie, my friend Becs little girl.  Bec and I have been friends for years and its been pretty special that we have been able to watch our children grow up together.  But when we left Elsie was a little baby and when we came home she had grown up! (one of the sad things about travelling is that you miss a lot that happens at home). We spent a lot of time with these guys while we were home, was wonderful for the adults and the kids.  The boys were growing up so fast and the kids played so well together.  The boys are Charlotte's biggest fans I think! And she loves it!!  I got in trouble form Charlotte, apparently I hogged Elsie!! Ooops....  Hopefully the kids aren't teenagers by the time we get home!

Before we left Tassie we ran out of time to go to a few other 'must sees' of Tassie that we hadn't done in years.  One of them was 'The Nut' at Stanley, a rock that sits 150m high and is an old volcanic plug.  Its a short but very steep climb to the top then a lovely walk all around the top.  There is a chair lift but I was too tight and far to scared of those things to go on it.  So we walked, and saw the magic view.  Generally as a rule its windy on the Nut 90% of the time, so of course it was windy this day too.  We had a lot of fun and headed to the park for a picnic lunch after.

We then went back through Burnie to see Grandad, Auntie Trudy and Megan.  Grandad took us to the Makers Workshop and visitors information centre where he works.  He gave us a very detailed and organised tour, except that his 'visitors' kept getting side tracked, oops!  Its a wonderful centre and well worth a visit if your in the area.

Grandad and the great grand kids

We were so lucky when we got home basically all of January was lovely warm weather, well by Tassie standards anyway.  So we spent many an hour at either the pool or the beach with our family and friends.

These photos are taken at the Riverside Aquatic Centre, had a great time there with our old mates The Huetts, Johnny, Paula, Sam and Abbie, also had a couple of sleep overs there, a few wines and a lot of laughs.  Its people like these guys that we miss while we were away.  We used to spend many a weekend catching up, our children have spent a lot of time together.  So much so that Jake still states that Abbie is his girlfriend and he will be marrying her one day, not sure what her parents think!   Bit young yet...

Jake and Sam Huett

Jake and Sam Huett

Charlotte

The big kid!!

In my home town of Devonport there is a excellent outdoor aquatic centre.  We had quite a few days there while we were home.  I even managed a few times to swim laps and leave the kids at home. One such day we went with our friends the Ashcrofts, Dave, Victoria, Grace, Leo and Max.  Victoria is my friend who taught me to knit before I left and I have missed our cuppas, and knitting catch up.  I even got inspired again while I was home and have started knitting again.

Jake and Charlotte with Grace and Leo Ashcroft

Dave, Max, Leo, Grace, Jake and Charlotte.

The kids attacking the monster!!

 

We headed out for a swim at the Ulverstone beach and some fish and chips for lunch.  Was a lovely day, so nice to dive in the ocean and swim about.  With Bec, Di and the kids.  Probably a touch more relaxing for me as I don't have three small children.  Its weird to go to the beach now with my kids, they do what they are told (well mostly), don't run off and can swim well, means I get a good chance to relax and have fun too.

The girls

Had a great catch up with the Marshalls, Maria, Damo, Amelia and Ezra, and the Collins, Dan, Kram, Chels and Bella after Chrissie.  Kids swam in the pool and played while the parents chatted and caught up, so much so we ended up staying the night!

Charlotte's buddies Chelsea and Amelia

Chels and Bella,

Charlotte and Amelia

Jake in awe of Ez's skill on the DS...

We had a fabulous Australia Day this year.  Headed to the free water slide at Port Sorell, kids had a ball.  The local lions club sets it up on a steep grassy hill every year for the kids and some adults!  Then we went to one of my favourite places in the world, Freers Beach at Hawley with our friends Vicky, Craig, Zane, Zoe, Lilly, Ez and Bella.  Spent a beautiful sunny day laying in the sand and swimming, just magic.  Have missed these guys, which makes it even more exciting for us that they have bought a Landcruiser and a van, and are hitting the road in a few weeks.  Hopefully we can travel with them a bit along the way.  Then went to the Marshalls for an evening of chatting, drinking and good times.  They even made a good old fashioned water slide with bits of plastic and a few bricks holding it down.  Reminded me of my childhood!!

Zane, Ez, Jake and Mark

Bingo, Zoe Zoe and Charlotte

The team!

We had a few great catch ups with our friends the Bells, Leon, Tracey, Katelyn and Sam.  They have property at Wesley Vale.  Our kids had a wonderful time running around, checking out the horses and on the buggy, and bikes.

Jake and Katelyn

Charlotte and her bestie Katelyn

Sam

Before we left Tassie my sis introduced us to the music of Adam Cousens, a popular artist from Hobart.  We went to the Jackeys Marsh Forest Festival and saw him play.  Had a fabulous night.  It is a pretty alternative festival, but we loved it.  They had a great circus tent area set up for the kids, with hoops and diablo etc, kids thought it was great.  They even had a fairy house set up and on sunset they told fairy stories to the kids, you can imagine how enthralled Charlotte was!  Plus we got to listen to some awesome music, so a pretty memorable night for us.

Hoola hoop girl.

Music making

Watching Adam Cousen perform.

My parents, well probably my Dad, has a yacht in Hobart.  I have been on it a a few times, but never with the sail up.  So while we were home I was dead keen to have a sail.  Unfortunately Mark had to work, but he has had a sail before.

We left from Belrieve yacht club and sailed down towards Bruny Island.  Was a beautiful sunny day, was lovely sitting on the deck, watching the scenery go past.  The kids each had a turn at steering, Charlotte especially.  Jake got a little bored, and I kinda forgot toys etc to entertain him, oops.  We stopped and had a fish in the afternoon.  Charlotte was a little star she caught 4 flat head and a squid, yum for dinner. 

We then anchored in one of the bays for the night.  It had gotten pretty warm that afternoon, so Mum and Dad jumped in for a swim.  They told me it wasn't too cold so I did a big bomb of the deck, well I wont repeat what came out of my mouth, but jeepers it was cold cold cold!!  During the night a storm broke, I vaguely remember some thunder and lightening and my parents checking the yacht during the night.  Apparently it got pretty rough, nice to have slept the night through!!  We had a wonderful time on the Nimrodel, thanks Mum and Dad.

While we were in Townsville we meet our great mates the Beesons, Marty, Belinda, Charlotte and Meg.  They had already planned their trip to Tassie for after Chrissie and we were lucky enough to still be in Tassie and to be able to spend some time with them and show them our Island home.

The lighthouse at the Bluff Devonport

Charlotte, Charlotte, Jake and Meg

First we went to Tazmazia at Sheffield, a popular maze and pancake parlour.  Its always lots of fun and a great day out.  Me, I find mazes very frustrating and tend to get annoyed, so I thought I'd ask at the counter if they had a map, not sure why Belinda and the lady found this so hilarious!  We ended up spending almost the whole day there.  Only had one time when we couldn't get where we wanted, to the centre of the main maze, luckily an 8 year old came and showed us the way!

I found it hilarious to lock Marty in but poor Meg didn't, she cried oopss...

Mount Roland in the back ground

Story time after a busy day.

Launceston, about an hour away from my home town is a interesting city.  For me the nicest part is the Cataract Gorge, well worth a visit.  I hadn't been in years, so thought we should go, but poor Mark had to work again.  We had a BBQ lunch then went for a walk to the power station and then the chairlift.  Now I'm not afraid of heights as such, but have a massive fear of being dangled in the air, e.g. chair lifts.  Well I got convinced I had to do it, especially as the kids were mad keen to have a go.  Well I think I made it about 1/8th of the way across before I started panicking, I froze and couldn't move.  Charlotte was bending over and having a great look around, and found me rather silly I think.  We made it across safely, I have a few more grey hairs, but I survived, crazy thing is I bought a return ticket and didn't want to waste my money so I even got back on the thing!

We used to live in Shearwater, near to this is Narawantapu National Park, and we've had many a visit here.  Great place for a walk, BBQ and to watch the animals on dusk.  The Ashcrofts joined us and the Beesons for dinner and the kids raced around looking for critters.  Its one of those places that on dusk there is literally a paddock full of native animals, Wallabies, Wombat etc.  Great fun for kids and adults alike.

Now for Cradle Mountain, one of the best places in the world.  We have been here so often, yet have barely seen any of the park, so much available.  We had to take our visitors there for the day, its one of those iconic places that almost everybody who visits Tassie goes to.  We met the guys up there for a quick lunch before we walked around Dove Lake.  And we were lucky, it was a coldish but clear day, its a pretty special place.

The little hikers needed a smidge of encouragement

St Helens, on the East Coast of Tassie is another place that is special to me.  This is where we had a shack growing up as kids and I have spent a lot of time there.  We decided to go and meet the Beesons for the weekend to camp at Dora Point.  The weather forecast was pretty crappy but we went anyway.  Had a great weekend, drizzled on and off most of the time.  But we still had plenty of time for hanging out around the camp fire.  We even cooked in their cast iron pot on the fire, that was pretty cool.  Marks been going on about getting one for ages, well now I suppose he will get one!

We also went for a drive to Eddystone Lighthouse, a long a corrugated dirt road but a spectacular lighthouse at the end of it.  Must say I particularly love the east coast of Tassie.

'cooking' the dinner

Dinner and a show!

The beach in front of where we were camping.

This is one of my favourite snaps.  Mark and I at the lookout at Beer Barrel Beach, St Helens.

You always hope that when you go to a beach as pristine and beautiful as Binnalong Bay that the weather fines up for a swim.  Well in between showers it actually did that day.  But of course we hadn't bought any bather, towels, etc.  Didn't stop us, in we went in our clothes, was heeps of fun, not too cold until we got out though.

Wheres our legs??

We said a sad farewell to the Beeson family.  Not sure when we will see them again.  Its hard for the adults and kids to say goodbye when we have spent so much time together.  But we all have our own adventures to lead.  Am sure we will work it out that we will meet again somewhere on the road.

Kids were lucky to spend a bit more time with their cousin Caleb, they only have one cousin, while we were home.  We went out for a lovely meal at the Gorge and also had a farewell, family dinner at Marks Mum's, even managed to grab a snap of the whole group.

The kids do their education through Distance Education Tasmania while we are travelling.  While we were home we started back with them and the kids got to go on two excursions.  Marks mum came to the first one at Campbell Town, a sports day and swim in the pool.  Mark came with us to the next excursion which was to the Inveresk Museum and illustrator exhibition.  It was really wonderful for the kids to spend time with their teacher Kelly and the other children in their class.

egg and spoon race, with a tennis ball!

three legged race

Two very happy proud kids

Marks mum and sis wanted to babysit the kids for the weekend, just before we left.  So Mark and I decided to go to Coles Bay camping for the weekend.  We had a magic weekend, was so nice to just be together in such a beautiful location.  Not sure when we will get any child free time for a while!

Mark enjoying his lunch on the beach

The iconic view of Wineglass bay.

We walked up to the look out at Wineglass, a lot of steps!  Then decided to keep walking down to the actual beach, we were wearing our bathers in the hope we might have had a swim. Unfortunately it was too rough when we got there to swim.  So we suffered and sat drinking wine and nibbling on cheese and bread! As we were sitting there a family of dolphins swam in and played right in front of us, pretty special!

We went out for dinner that night to the Tavern, then went for a walk to the lighthouse the next day before driving home.  We had a fabulous weekend.

One of the hardest things about this trip was leaving our dog Jazz behind.  She's eleven and not so adaptable, so we thought it wouldn't work.  Luckily Mum and Dad love her and are happy to have her live with them.  She gets lots of attention and is very happy thank goodness.

 

Well after many stressful weeks and lots of sorting out the Landcruiser passed all three inspections. Yah Yah!!!! And is now re registered and good to go. And now that means so are we. Feels weird to be leaving Tassie again, almost like dejavu. Like we are starting the trip again, just with more knowledge and less money! Its harder for us all to say goodbye this time, I guess we spent a bit to much time at home, settled in a bit much! After looking back over this blog entry I realise just how much we did while we were home. We are so lucky to have such a wonderful group of friends and family, coming home wouldn't have been the same without you all. So its farewell again, for who knows. We realise we love our island home but are not ready to settle back down just yet. More adventure awaits, Travelling Long is on the road again.......