January 2012 - part 2

The beach escape!  Trying to tear Mark away for the farm in January is a lot like trying to exptract all his teeth with no anaesthetic.  It just ain't gunna happen.  But we did come to a compromise and we were very lucky on the booking side of things.

As a general rule, trying to book anywhere along the GOR in summer holidays is a nightmare and is something that needs to happen 6 months in advance.  We decided to try our luck at Apollo Bay, because this is technically sort of within Mark's CFA area and close enough to home to fly back if needed for CFA duties (oh, don't make the mistake in thinking he would fly back for FARM stuff!!! ha ha ha....he is 100%, totally wrapped in CFA stuff at this time of year).  But would we get in anywhere?

As luck had it, we were able to secure 4 nights (usual is 7 - 10) because of a cross over in bookings.  It also suited well for me because I had a class that I had just booked and needed to be back in Colac for on the weekend.  So it all worked out.  The kids got their beach holiday - although it wasn't all THAT warm in the water - and we got a mini break away.  Especially not knowing if we could get away in 1st term school holidays due to the baby.

Biddy in her brand spanking new wetsuit.....all of a size 3!  And her new boogy board.  The gear encouraged her to hit the waves.

Riding the waves

The obligatory sand burial.  This time....Biddy.

Bella and I.  Looking a touch cold.

On one of the days, we took the kids to the Lighthouse.  Despite living so close, neither Mark nor I had ever been there.  And the surprise was...locals get in for FREE!  Yay.  So that saved us about $30+.

Mark is not fond of heights.....he walked up poked his head out the door and walked straight down!

Biddy, on the other hand, is the complete opposite and I had to stop her climbing on the rails for a better look! 

A bonus of the stay was a night-time carnival on the foreshore.  We took the kids down on the last night.  There was enough for the bigger kids to do, but not a lot for littlies like Bella.

Biddy nearly drove us nuts wanting to have a go on the reverse bungy.  She loved it

Tom also wanted a go, but he is as scred of heights as is his old man....check out the face.  He was happy to come down after 5 minutes.

On the dodgems