A time for reflection

Well it's time to share my thoughts on this trip. It started as a far fetched dream of seeing more in life. It's been two years and 60,000 kms and we're still going.  Some days are fabulous, like we are living the dream, exploring this great country and growing as individuals and as a family.  Some days it's hard, we live in a caravan!! It's confining and small and everywhere is different. Which is amazing, the different part but for a home body, I sometimes crave stability and a normal settled life.

The kids are amazing, they are thriving with this life. I love seeing the little personalities and characters they are becoming. It's been a blessing to be able to spend so much time with our kids. As we tell people, we will never get these years back. Other days I just want them to go to school, 24/7 is sometimes a little much quality time.

For Mark and I we seem to be doing ok, our relationship works for some crazy reason! We love, we fight, we annoy the hell out if each other but we are stronger!

I have at times questioned the time frame/length of this trip. Some days I do want to go home but then Mark reminds me we have too much more to see. Not sure he will ever settle back to a normal life!!

So we reached the two year milestone, had a talk and I agreed to keep going until next year. A trip to Bali and going home for Chrissie were pretty good bribery!  One of the main factors to continuing was reflection on where we have come from and what we have experienced in the last two years.

We had a lovely new house, good jobs, and great friends and family. In essence we had a wonderful suburban life but it wasn't enough. We never left Tassie because we hated it, it's a truly beautiful place!! We had kids young and we'll never regret that but we did regret not seeing enough of the world. So our answer, pack up buy a caravan and see Australia!

People often ask what's been our favourite place. I never know where to start..... The beginning maybe!! The highlights for us are....

Tocumwall, a lovely little town and a fabulous free camp by the river. This was special because it was our first real camp since leaving home.
Canberra for the weather, just kidding it was bloody freezing!! We really enjoyed Canberra for Parliament House, Questacon, the Mint just to name a few things. Plus we met our mates the Ellis's here!
Port Macquirie, a great seaside tourist town. We had warmth and sunshine. Plus Mark went on a fishing charter and caught a lot of fish!
Lismore for the magic lantern festival. Byron, Mullumbimby and Brunswick Heads and of course Nimbin ( an experience for sure!)
Gold Coast, for the kids and the entertainment plus we were lucky enough to catch up with friends from home, the Bell family.
Mount Barney for the epic bush walk were we tested ourselves and the kids. Got lost but found our way home.
Maleny for being a quaint crafty small town in the lush hinterland. We had a great week here exploring.
Fraser Island, what a beautiful place. We had an absolutely fantastic time camping there. The nature, the dingoes and fishing. And of course the grin on Marks face as he drove along the sand at 80kms!! Trip highlight for sure.  Then camping at Inskip point with the Ellis family, a great spot.
Hervey Bay for the whale watching. They are just the most giant majestic creatures and we saw so many and right up close too! And for the best Chinese we've ever had!
Townsville and Maggie island with my parents. The scuba diving off Maggie Island for Mark was fabulous. Then as a work spot and where we met the Hambrooks and the Beesons. And a place that changed our trip plans when we had the car crash.
Palm Beach for being able to spend so much quality time with my Sis Megan. I love you a lot honey :)
Carnarvon Gorge for the epically scarey drive in. The mud, the sliding and the caravan kinda floating a bit through one river crossing. The fabulous bush walk, the beautiful places we saw and the people we met around the campfire each night. Another trip highlight.
Cape York, I mean CAPE YORK!! What a trip of ups and downs but what an experience. And we met the Cronans too!! For the river crossings, the kids playing with the local indigenous kids on the beach, the 4wding and the beautiful beautiful waterfalls, magic!! Trip highlight.
The Great Barrier Reef was so special. The snorkelling and the squealing of excitement from the kids. Trip highlight.
Central QLD what a place. The magic of the outback from singing Waltzing Matilda by the billabong as the billy boiled at Winton, to the rodeo in Longreach and to the stay at Michael and Helen's farm. We love the country!! Oh and the dinosaur trail was awesome too!!
The Devils Marbles so spectacular, a very unique place. Plus we ran into Tom Lisa and Mily who we met at Carnarvon.
Alice Springs what a place so interesting. We worked here with lots of other families. We met the Furmigages and the Richards here. Working at the hospital was a really positive experience for me. The amazing rugged beauty of the McDonalds Ranges, especially Ellery Creek for the swim.
Uluru and Kings Canyon with my Mum. Such beautiful natural wonders. A pretty spiritual place. The beauty of the territory both surprised us and amazed us. We never thought we'd love it as much as we did. A definite trip highlight.
Rapid Bay for a week of relaxing and swimming at the beach.  A really great place and we caught up with Joel, Megan, Khai and Eden.

Wow when I list it like that. We have certainly seen so many truly wonderful places. We are fitting in a few decades of holidays in a couple of years. So no regrets, no what ifs and is what it is. The most amazingly special adventure with my family. May we have many more memorable times as we continue on this road.....

Adelaide the end 2013

Ahh Adelaide the final stages.  I spent a lot of time out on the track along the Torrens River, so I took a couple of shots of the city from the cycle track. It really is such a lovely area. It's been so nice to exercise here.

Marks mum Beth and sister Ruth arrived for a visit.  Much excitement from both parties.  Think the kids have been missed!! The kids were at school some of the time, so Beth and Ruth often walked them to school, before they went off exploring Adelaide for the day.  We went and fed the local ducks, as a lot of people do, they are very well fed! 

We took the kids to the Adelaide Zoo.  A nice small zoo, the panda was pretty cute.  Felt sorry for the lions, they have pretty small cages and paced around in circles a lot. I loved the monkeys, they were awesome and very entertaining.  They also had a really good kids interactive show.  All in all a really great day.

 

It was Marks birthday while they were visiting so the kids had the day off school and we had pizza and cake at lunch time before Mark went to work.  Another year over and another year older for Mark!  We gave him a card and as a family we have purchased tickets to Bali in June, so that is both our birthday presents.  Beth and Ruth also took us out on the weekend for a smorgasbord dinner, for our birthdays.

 

 

Mark took his Mum, sis and Charlotte to the footy to see Essendon and Adelaide play.  The bombers won, of course Mark loved it and thought it was a great game!! They also took the kids into the city for the afternoon and took them on the Popeye boat for a ride on the Torrens river.

It was lovely to see them both again.  They did a lot of sightseeing and saw a good amount of Adelaide too. A few tears of course when we said goodbye, but everyone is getting better at it!

Next visitors were my parents.  They drove their new car across from Tassie, mainly I think so Dad could fill it up with wine to take home!! They walked around with me and collected the kids from school.  Lots of happiness and smiles. I cooked a curry and we had dinner together the first night. 

Then my sis flew in on Good Friday from the Gold Coast.  But Mark says there is nothing good about Good Friday, not for religious reasons but for another reason.  Mum and I took the kids to get Megan from the airport, Mark and Dad headed to the pub for a few drinks.  Turns out no pubs in Adelaide are open on Good Friday, much to their disgust.  They ended up at the pub at the airport!!!

What did we get up to, well we went to the Aquatic centre, for bike rides, and generally explored Adelaide.  We went to the Barossa for the day, and to spend a few dollars.  Mark found a brewery he liked, had a few, unfortunately he was a bit of a light weight, hence his new nick name 'Pickles'.  He was very happy and had a lovely time.  I'm just not sure everyone else around him did.  Ended with me almost confiscating his wallet when he was arguing over buying a $85 bottle of tawny port!!  Apparently it was delicious and worth every cent!!!  The Barossa is such a beautiful part of South Australia.  It was interesting to go back after 12 years, not much has changed!!
We also went to Maggie Beer's shop.  I love a lot of her produce, but mostly her choc orange ice cream.  The kids picked their ice creams out then I wanted mine and they didn't have any choc orange!!!  I was devastated and took the kids out, without their ice creams!! I know once again I'm not getting mother of the year!! 

Mr Pickles at the Barossa Brewing Company.  They had jobs going, Mark was very keen.  He went on  a tour of the brewery but knew more about brewing than the guy taking, smarty pants (arse).  hence I think he received a few freebies, stout!

And of course along came Easter Sunday.  What an exciting morning, the kids loved it and we loved seeing the happiness on their faces.  It sometimes seems like its all about the chocolate.  But I asked the kids and they also thought it's about family and appreciating everyone and yummy food.  I had tried earlier in the week to explain the religious side to them.  They have a basic understanding.... Jake ended up deciding that Jesus is like Captain America (the superhero) apparently they both rose again!!!

Then I went with Megan on a bike ride to Glenelg and had some sister time and some yummy Japanese.

When we lived in Adelaide one of Marks favourite things to show our visitors was the view form Mt Lofty at night.  We couldn't come to Adelaide and not do this!!  It's very pretty seeing all the lights, was cut a little short when Jake proclaimed to need a Pooo!!!

My darling sis and older brother Ben gave Mark and I a fabulous joint birthday pressie.  A night in a hotel on the foreshore at Glenelg and Megan babysat the kids.  She must have heard me whingeing about the confines of the caravan.  It was so so nice to spend some time with Mark.   We had a wonderful time!!

We arranged to have a family bush walk with my Auntie Trudy, and cousins Simon and Courtney.  Was a great morning out in the fresh air at Morialta Falls.  Took a couple of hours, very pretty up their.  Mark even found time to hide in a tree pretending to be a koala and scared Megan and Charlotte.  My Auntie offered a prize to the first person to see a koala bear, unfortunately she got so excited when she spotted one, she won!!!!  We went out for morning tea after, well deserved coffees and cake.

 

 I think that pretty much covers all of my families visit.  I love my family and miss them dreadfully.  Once again it was hard to say goodbye, at least we know we will see them at Christmas.

 

Our friends the Richards family, who we met in Alice Springs came to visit.  We had dinner with them most nights, well the kids and I did, Mark was at work of course.  Spent a fun day at Hahndorf with them tasting and purchasing some of the produce! Was great seeing them again.  Including Mark getting to go to the Lobethal Brewery...... without getting Pickled this time!

 

 

Whilst at school the kids have been lucky enough to do a weeks learn to swim and the school athletics carnival.  They were both in yellow team and  got a fourth place ribbon.  Lots of fun was had with long jump, hurdles etc.  Mark came to watch both too.  So nice for him to be able to, as he has missed most of these school activities in the past with work commitments. 

Courtney my cousin arranged for the kids to go to a hip hop dance class at her dance studio.  Unfortunately when we got there it had been cancelled.  So we went out for dinner instead.  We still had a great time watching Courtney training for ballroom dance, she looked beautiful and graceful.

Next major event, our birthday! We had one very excited little boy, or not so little now that he is 7!!  Our baby is growing up so quick, the years are flying past! He loved all his pressies, Power Ranger toys and Skylanders, plus lots more. Mark had the day off work and we went to the circus for the morning.  What a laugh, I hate clowns, but I coped.  We had front row seats and much to our delight Mark got to be part of the show, with a man/lady clown running and jumping in his lap, very very funny!! Jake's friend Archer was also their, they had a great time running around during intermission.

Then we had a tasty picnic lunch at the playground.  Olives, dip, sun dried tomatoes.... you get the picture.  So yummy for someone who's been on a diet!

That night we headed out for a Thai meal with my Auntie Trudy.  She gave me a beautiful bunch of red roses. I can't remember the last time I got flowers, Mark insisted he has bought me some on this trip, I think he is right.  She also gave the kids some 'Bali' money to spend in June, such a great idea, kids loved it.  The meal was delicious..... I think I better not eat tomorrow!!!  We said goodbye to Auntie Trudy, it has been great reconnecting with her again during our time in Adelaide.  So good to have family around :)

We also went to the Bolzon's for a farewell dinner.  Its been great spending time with Leanne while we were here.  I think we would be fabulous friends if we had ended up living here permanently, sorry Leanne!!! 

The kids had their last day at school.  Was pretty emotional for them.  They have had such a wonderful term.  Made some great friends and had some great times.  The kids and teachers made fair well cards and Charlotte's teacher even arranged a morning tea.

We went with Charlotte's friend Oriana, her mother and brother to the movies to see the Croods.  A funny movie about cavemen, then out for lunch.  Kids had a great day.  We also got to have a play date at the playground with Jake's friend Archer, and then they came back to have a play at the van.  The kids have hated saying goodbye to Archer and Oriana, but the bribe of Bali seemed to ease their pain!!!

Mark finished up at work, yah yah yah he says.  Its was interesting and challenging for him, but he was ready to leave.  He's got plenty of stories to tell about the boys.  His favourite line is from his friend Ariel (from the Philippines) 'You need to got to the Philippines and live like a king".  Mark says it about everything now!!  He enjoyed working with his friend Steve again, he's a top guy.

We ended up staying an extra day in Adelaide due to the rain.  Its not easy to pack up after 3 months with everything getting wet.  It basically hasn't rained since we have been here, so of course it rained on pack up day.  So we decided to sit it out and await the sunshine.  We finally packed up and left Adelaide to head to the Eyre Peninsular.  Our time here went so quick...... if we were to ever live in a city it would be Adelaide, but I am still not a big city girl.  Mark had a good time at work and earned some $$, the kids loved school and I reached my goals with exercise.  So all in all a productive and enjoyable time. 

Bye for now Adelaide, its been fun.....

Adelaide the beginning

Time for us to stop again and refill the bank accounts.  We had a bit of trouble agreeing on where to stop this time.  And Mark won..... happens occasionally.  We lived in Adelaide 12 years ago and Mark loved it, me not as much. Its a great city, for a city, but I am just not a big city girl I guess.  Mark lined up a job through his old work colleague and is on afternoon shift Mon - Fri and morning shift on Saturday.  Then the plan is for Sunday to be family day.  We are not sure how long we will stay depends how much we like it here.
We are staying near North Adelaide at Levi Caravan Park.  Its a really nice bushy green and quiet park.  Right on the banks of the Torrens river, which has great bike tracks and parks.  Everything is nice and close and handy which helps.

Home sweet home

kids favourite playground

Our friends Leanne, Ronnie, and there twins Chelsea and Alesha live in Adelaide.  We met them in 2011 at Mission Beach when they had almost finished their trip around Australia.  Its been great to see these guys again.  We went down to their family shack at Moana for Australia day, which was a beautiful sunny day. 

And of course the most important thing.  The kids are back at school!!! Yah yah I needed a break after teaching them all of last year.  But mostly they needed to go to real school again to socialise and to remember what its all about.  They have settled in wonderfully well.  Its now week 6 and they are loving it.  Charlotte has two good friends Oriana and Charli.  Jake started off with a friend called Logan, but that soon ended when he accidentally head butted Jake and made his nose bleed, little bugger can be a little unforgiving!!  He now has his new best friend Archer and that seems to be going smoothly.  This week the kids have learn to swim, which they can already thanks to swimming so much in Townsville and Alice but will be good to train them a bit more.

We are trying to still see as much as we can while we are in Adelaide.  We went to the Santos Tour Down under bike race.  Had a great afternoon watching the race.  The highlight for the kids was at the ended when they were handing our free drink bottles to the crowd!!  Of course we got a couple.  I think Mark almost threw Jake over the crowd in his excitement to get one!!!

I took this photo one nights, its pretty typical of what happens sometimes.  We don't have a lounge or anything so our bed ends up being the play area.  I love this photo :)

 

 

We've been lucky to have met some fabulous families on this trip.  And even luckier they have all basically travelled the same path as us.  But they are all heading west, but we are stopping for a while.  But that also meant we got a visit from them all.  So the Beesons, the Cronans and the Ellis families all spent a couple of days with us, at different times.  We had a great time catching up and enjoying Adelaide.  These guys have all headed across the Nullabor, and I am hating all the beautiful photos they keep posting on Face book, great for them, we will be there soon hopefully!! 

 

 

Out for the day at Harndorf with the Beesons



Cronan kids walking Jake and Charlotte to school

Enjoying a afternoon at the beach with the Ellis family.

 

Umm what else have we done.... Mark went to Clipsal car race and had a ball.  Saw the Angels, Kiss and Motley Crew.  The kids and I stayed home, I'd rather have my teeth pulled than go!!  We have caught up with my Auntie Trudy and cousin Courtney again, which was lovely.  Auntie Trudy even dragged me on a 20km bike ride.  I made it just, but then today I got stubborn and rode 28km.  Which for me is pretty huge!  We went to the night markets and have spent a couple of lovely days at the beach.

 

So we are now about half way thought our time here.  We have settled into a pretty good routine now.  I was a little worried about being here and Mark wanting to stay forever, but I have put my foot down and emphatically stated I do not want to live in the city.  Marks job is OK, but he's not loving it.  He gets on really well with is boss, but some of the other guys leave a bit to be desired!  He's pretty much on the count down now until we leave.

But the exciting thing is that next week Beth and Ruth arrive (Marks Mum and sister) then a week after they leave my parents and sister arrive.  So our last bit of time here should also be fun.

Yorke Penninsular

After Mark fixed the Landcruiser we left Adelaide for the Yorke Peninsular. We had about a week before we needed to be back for work and school. We drove straight down to the tip of the Peninsular to Innes National Park.
We set up camp at Pandolowie Camp Ground for the next three nights. Pretty quiet down there, considering it was mid January, barely anyone else camping at all.

We went for a walk that arvo to the beach just near us. Too cold to swim but had a lovely walk. There was even a cool looking boat wreck on the beach. And lots of surfers, it's supposed a top spot for that. Not that we'd know, having never done it, but that's what we heard!

The next day we got up early and headed to the Stenhouse Bay Jetty for a bit of fishing. No luck though. I left Mark and the kids too it and headed for a walk around the headland. Such beautiful rugged coast line here, the views were amazing. If a little cold and windy!! We also had a drive around the area, checking out the sights. Then back to the van for some quiet time.

The next day was fabulous, my favourite by far. It was a beautiful sunny warm day and we basically spent it at the beach. We went to a few different beaches,Browns beach, Shell beach and Marion Bay. And they were all pretty beautiful.  The ocean got a little rough in a couple of spots. It was just one of those great days. Exactly why we did this trip, to have fun in nature as a family.

pretty nice heh!

The next day and the beautiful warm weather had gone, back was the wind!  We went and checked out the scenery and lighthouse.  Then went to an old town called Inneston and had a look around.  We enjoyed that, kids liked running and checking out the old buildings.  Until we stumbled into one that had been rented out as a holiday hut, but we didn't realise, oops.  Charlotte was not impressed!

We also went to Ethel beach as Mark wanted to see the ship wreck.  It was a beautiful experience, (not).  It blew a gale, there were a thousand stairs (well maybe not that many) then the wreck was basically all washed away!!  Someone was a little disappointed.  The windy kept up so we drove to Marion Bay and had a drink at the pub.

beautiful coast line

Inneston old town

old tennis courts

the ship wreck, or lack there of....

So we finished our time at Innes and planned to gradually head back to Adelaide.  We were hoping for some nice beaches and a decrease in the wind.  We basically wanted to chill out for a few days.  So we decided to go to Edithburg, not sure why but we thought it would be sheltered.  Well when we arrived the caravan park was right next to the biggest wind farm in South Australia.  What did that tell us, yep it was windy, the whole time we were there.  We stayed two nights, not sure why but we did.  We went out for lunch, did some fishing, kids did some ceramic craft and had a look at the museum.  Its a nice enough little town, but more suited to fisher people with boats.  There is a really cool looking ocean pool, but alas the weather gods did not look favourably on us! The museum was very cute and old.  It had all these had written signs about the area, and cost a whole $6 to go!  Umm not sure what else to say, other than I was glad to leave.

We decided to go to Moonta for a few days.  So we stopped to look at Ardrossan for lunch.

Charlotte's the horse!

We had been told by some friends about a cheap camp in Moonta.  So we rang the number and arranged to stay on this old guys property.  Well we assumed it was acreage or something, but alas no.  He had a town block, internal though.  And we ended up parked in front of his shed...... we can laugh about it now.  It was cheap $5....... Ummmmm at least old Graeme was a nice bloke.  The first night Mark got stuck talking to him for ages, we even got a tour of his shed.  Then the next morning at 7am he was calling in our window to see if we wanted to hook up water.  Heart of gold but weird when we were strangers.  Add that to the list of strange things we have done on this trip.

We ended up having a smashing time in Moonta.  We spent a lot of time fishing, didn't catch fish or squid  but we did net some blue swimmer crab.  The sound of absolute delight and excitement from the kids was priceless!  We went late one night and caught a couple of beauties.  I have this vision of mark moaning in delight as he inhaled the tasty crabs!  We managed to score one warm, and not windy morning and had a swim in the ocean swim enclosure.  We all had fun jumping of the pontoon.

Yah this blog is done!!!!! I left it too late, its now months since we were at the Yorke Peninsular and I was a little lack lustre writing this one sorry.  Will hope to improve next time.  Overall the Peninsular was good, but we made a poor choice on where to stay and the wind drove us batty.  Now we are back in Adelaide, bring on school and work.