Days 14 & 15

With sadness we left Broulee on Saturday morning....it is such a great spot and the kids have had a great time.  Tom has really taken to the beach and asks all the time whether he can go down with his boogie board.  Biddy was happy to scoot around the park and play with other kids.  But it was time to go.

Back in Victoria

As I mentioned in the last post, we headed out not knowing where we were going to stay as finding accommodation for just one night - Easter Saturday - was proving very tricky.  We backtracked along the Princes Hwy and eventually found a caravan park at Cann River which was basic and allowed open fires.  It wasn't freezing but considering the weather we have recently had, it was on the cool side.  So the open fire was very welcome.

I found this function on my camera that allowed me to photograph people AND the fire and these were the results!  Biddy looks like a devil girl. 

Easter Sunday and the Easter Bunny found us.  Mark and I had a chuckle at the complete reversal of conditions we find ourselves in this year compared to the same time last Easter.  On Easter Sunday last year, we were sweltering in Katherine, NT and took the kids for a cruise down the Nitmaluk Gorge.  We had to rush the chockies back in the fridge for fear of them melting everywhere even in the a/c comfort of the caravan!  No such issue this time round though!

Bella's first Easter

We headed for the Butler's place today (family in Beaconsfield) with the promise of a roast dinner (yum!).  Bernie, Emma and Monica arranged for an Easter egg hunt for the kids which they enjoyed.  I enjoyed the roast pork belly for dinner!

Home tomorrow........ :(

Days 12 & 13

We have spent every afternoon at the beach, but I have been reluctant to take my camera down there again as getting sand in the lens is a bit of a risk.  We really should have bought one of the other cameras we have with us for just such a purpose, however, we have made do with snapping the odd pic on one of our phone cameras.

Biddy with 2 of the snakes we bought the kids from Mogo Zoo

Tom has taken to the beach like a duck to water (no pun intended) and is proving himself to be the right little boogie boarder.  We have even had a few comments from other beachgoers and surfers that we might have a young surfer on our hands.  I brushed those comments off until today when he wanted to STAND on his boogie board because he had been watching the surfers doing it!  Their comments may just pan out!

After being dumped by a couple of waves on the first day, Biddy has taken until today (our last beach day) to warm up to getting in the water.  She cried when we told the kids to say goodbye to the beach!  So typical.  Yesterday, Bella had a decent nap at the beach in the tent we bought which was great after the horrid day on Wednesday (after not having a nap).  It was not the case today though.....but she was quite happy to play in the shallows with Mark for a while.  The water really is quite cold for her and it isn't long before she is shivering.

Enjoying the waves...from the safety of daddy's arms!

Today being Good Friday, there is not a lot open so we just bummed around the park all morning, doing our last loads of washing and the kids hooned around on their scooters.  There have been quite a few people check into the park both last night and this morning due to Easter and the fact that Canberra school holidays are still on next week.  This seems to be a favourite place for Canberrians (Canberrites?) given that it is only a couple of hours away.  Probably a bit like Lorne for Melbournians.  So our quaint little retreat has become a hive of activity.  There are also groups of families that are holidaying together and have booked sites that all join onto one another.  There are some amazing setups here, let me tell you.  One lot came in last night and this morning I got a look at what they have and there is a full size fridge, an electric wok, a microwave, a rice cooker, an electric grill, about 3 trestle tables all under 2 marquees.  Their vans and tents surround this setup.  They could be setup for a couple of months, but I guess it is only for the Easter break!

Lunchtime

Playing Angry Birds on the iPhone (Tom is addicted!)

Biddy on Tom's scooter  Note the helmet and bare feet!  Sigh....

The second tooth that Bella cut while away - it is well and truly up now!

As for us, we are headed out tomorrow.  We are still toying with where to stay tomorrow night as we haven't secured any accommodation at all!  This is because Easter has fallen at the end of the school holidays and no caravan parks have any vacancies for just one night from Good Friday through to Easter Monday.  but we want to be home by Easter Monday and in Beaconsfield on Sunday.  All we need is one night's stay for tomorrow night (Saturday).  Argghhhh.  I completely understand the booking policy, but surely the van parks would know by now whether they had a site free for tomorrow night.  I know of 2 that do have vacancies, but are not taking one night bookings.  Grrrrrr.  I guess if we have to, we'll just stop at an overnight rest stop.  We've got a generator, so we can manage ok.

Days 10 & 11

Before we left on this holiday, we booked Tom in for a holiday programme at Mogo Zoo - hence why we came up here. Yesterday, he participated in the 'slither & hop" Zookidz programme. It was only for 3 hours and I dropped him off and picked him up...hence no photos. In the afternoon we took the kids back down to the beach which has proven to be a real hit. We will really have to consider more beach holidays in the future. Actually, we have been toying with the idea of coming over here again this time next year as it is such a great spot.

Today, we all went to the zoo. It doesn't take forever to get around and we had seen everything in about 3.5 hours and that included lunch, so the kids don't loose interest or start banging on about how tired they are etc.. The highlights for the kids were the reptile house which housed some HUGE pythons and a rhinoceros iguana, the ring tailed lemurs which reminded the kids of King Julian out of "the Penguins of Madagascar", and the feeding the deer.

This is the frog that Tom held at the Zookidz programme yesterday

However special mention has to go to this particular lioness who was quite placidly lounging on a deck until some tasty morsel of a child (not ours) happened by. Let me just let the picture sequence tell the story - but thank God for the fence between them!

Yes, I know that Tom is cute, but keep you eye on the lioness

And this lioness DID NOT take her eyes off the child in question for the entire time the kid was around.

Returning back to the van, Mark and Tom took off down the beach to boogie board again while I stayed back with the girls to do washing (sigh!) and try to relax, although Bella was not having any of it and screamed for about 4 hours straight until bedtime. Grrrrrrrrr.

Days 6 to 9

Wow...the days are just slipping by. We have moved towns and are now in Broulee which is just south of Bateman's Bay. A really lovely little seaside place with a delightful beach (actually, a few delightful beaches) which are great for the kids and the kids at heart. This place sort of reminds me of Seaford or Inverloch in the 70's before they were either commercialised or overrun by the masses. No doubt it is bedlam here during the summer period, but for now, it is just bliss.

But let me recap the days we have lived through....

After experiencing Magic Mountain, we looked for a quieter day and travelled to Eden to visit the Killer Whale Museum (day 6). Both Mark and I had been here before on our way back from the Sydney Olympics and nothing much has changed in the ensuing 10 years or so. But both Tom and Biddy liked it and it got them out and about.

Day 7 and we took the kids to a place called Oaklands which is sort of a mish-mash of a number of things. It is first and foremost a nursery, but there is a cafe, an antique/old wares store, a animal nursery and a function centre. It was very much like the place we visited in Darwin that had the huge dinosaur statues. It is hugely popular; there were always heaps of cars in the carpark every time we drove past. We had a poke around the sales areas and had a spot of lunch. We then took the kids down to the animal nursery for a look. Whilst it was a bit hobbled together with haytwine and boards and looked rather worse for wear, I think it was one of the best animal nurseries I have ever been to. Why? Because the kids could touch the animals, the chooks and ducks were just wandering around, there were pony rides for the kids (which of course Biddy spotted in a flash!) and there was a great array of animals to looks at. Funnily enough, there were no cows or calves, only some crossbred longhorn steers that wouldn't look at you! But there were puppies (a big hit with everyone), cats, the aforementioned chooks and ducks, rabbits (and I think there was a rogue wild one in there), a goat, alpacas, a pig, horses, guinea pigs, a Shetland pony with a foal and I'm sure there were more but I can't think.

After the obligatory pony ride (yes.....I am 99% sure Biddy will get one soon), we then took the kids to a place called Top Fun back in Merimbula. It is sort of a pinball/video arcade but there is also laser games, mini golf and ten pin bowling. We all had a go at mini golf and bowling before throwing our money away on the arcade games. The twist with this place was that when you played the arcade games, depending on your score, you received tickets (this was also true for getting strikes and spares in bowling). The tickets could then be redeemed for prizes at the end of your session depending on how many tickets you had. We didn't get nearly enough for anything good, but the kids (and us) had a great time.

Now this next bit might sound like a true fisherman's tale, but I assure you, it is TRUE. Looking to waste a bit of time before dinner, I persuaded Mark to join Tom and I on the jetty for a quick fish. Mark was a bit reluctant and the girls got bored very quickly. However there were plenty of nibbles and that kept both Mark and Tom interested. Biddy needed to go to the toilet (not sure whether it is a novelty to go in strange place or whether she really needs to go), so off I went with her. On my way back, I spy Mark FRANTICALLY waving at me to come quickly. I suspected he had caught something. When I got there, it turns out he had caught a flathead, ably assisted by Tom, but the 2 of them had no idea what it was or what to do with it, so it was just flopping about the place. I took out the hook and put it in the bucket with the intention of keeping it. But, we had just decided on having takeaway for our last night in Merimbula and it would have meant gutting and filleting it and that meant WORK for ME. So I returned it. At once, Biddy burst into tears as she wanted to keep it. I don't think she realised that it would be dead though if we did. At any rate, it was a common flatty and was about 35cm, which is probably on the smallish side, but a decent fish for Mark's FIRST EVER CATCH. The only catch....we didn't have a camera so we didn't record the occasion. Of course, the size of the fish will grow with the retelling of the story by Mark, but what I have said is the truth!

Packing up the next day (now day 8), we headed to Broulee, about 150kms north. We stopped at Bega just before lunch to show the kids the Bega Historical Centre. They we just happy to get out of the car and run amok, but Biddy was particularly interested in milking the statue cows on display!

Maybe this is how you get higher production?!

We then stopped in Narooma for lunch down at the foreshore. We were just getting ready to pack up when Tom spots what he thinks was an invasion of bugs on the low tide sand. What it actually was, was crabs. Tiny little blue crabs. I don't know exactly what they were but there were THOUSANDS of them. The pictures we took do no justice to them, hopefully the video we took will be better. But there were just so many that you could hear the sand moving with them. The kids thought they were great.

Now in Broulee (day 9), we have a beach entrance from the caravan park and the water is about 22 degrees. Once you are in, it is quite ok. Nonetheless, we bought a wetsuit for both Mark and Tom and some boogie boards as well. We figured that Tom's wetsuit will be passed down to the girls in time so the expense was worth it. And Mark's....well, without it there was little chance of him getting wet, so again, a good purchase!

Biddy was having a fine time until she got dumped by a huge wave and that ended her day in the water, although she was happy to play in the sand. Bella was happy to eat the sand! I'm sure I'm going to see that come out the other end in the next day or so!

Of course, you have to have the obligatory sand burial pictures!

Days 4 & 5

Ever since we told Tom about this holiday, he has been hankering to go fishing. Mark only ever went fishing once as a child. I, on the other hand, used to go fishing all the time. It is one thing from my younger days that I miss as I no longer do it. So we bought some rods, tackle and what not and got organised. Mind you it has been a while since I have held onto a rod, so it did take me a few moments to get re-orientated!

Earlier in the day we took the kids to Wheelers Oyster Farm where they saw the grading of some oysters, heard a talk about growing oysters and mummy and daddy got to eat some!

Afterwards Tom and I went in search of a good fishing spot, and after a false start on a beach at Merimbula, we ended up on a pier in Eden where we had a number of decent bites - including one which took Tom's line and hook - but no fish. But he had a good time and that was the main thing.

Today we took the kids to Magic Mountain which is a fun park located in Merimbula. There is tobogganing, water slides (too cold for us today), mini golf, a dinosaur park, a roller coaster, a carpet slide, a toddler play area and go karts. It was on the pricey side, but the kids had a ball and Biddy was only too small for the roller coaster which was the only thing she was stopped on.

When we got back to the caravan, Tom banged on about wanting to go to the pool at the caravan park. We let the kids go even though it was all that warm, but the pool is heated. Yeah right! Tom lasted about 15 minutes and then sat on the side shivering. Biddy was better lasting about half an hour, however the fact she was in the pool meant I had to get in too! Brrrrrrr.

our van site

Tired kids tonight which shouldn't give us too much grief about going to sleep!