Home Sweet Home

We have finally made it home after 39 days on the road.  Once we started heading for home we were all very pleased to get there.  Barney was very excited when we got home for the first 5 minutes or so then she went and sulked and cried in her kennel for about an hour - she soon came round when there was food involved.  Thanks heaps to Britt for looking after our house and animals - it made everything easier not having to worry about what was going on at home.  With 6 weeks of washing to get through, Powercor pick their moment perfectly and turned the power off Monday and Tuesday for pole replacement in our street. Justin and I have also both returned to dramas at work.  Proper beds, real showers, baths and curried pasta (Kai's favorite but needs to bake in an oven) were some of the creature comforts that we enjoyed on return.  The only question that remains is where to next....

Coming Home!

Today we packed up in the rain and returned home. The fist thing I did was lay on the couch. It is sooooo good to be home. We left our pillows at Oma's and Pa's house but we found substitutes. We're going to school tomorrow.

Getting home

Today we packed up in the rain. Then we went to Tooradin for lunch. We had chips and potato cakes. Then we drove for another 1.5 hours to get home. For the whole time we spent 6000 kms. Barney was happy to see us for about 2 minutes and then she went off to her kennel sulking. We saw Oma and Pa, Nanny and Pa and Kathryn and Dan.

Home

It was wet when it rained when we were packing up. We had fish and chips and went back home. Barney was pleased to see me. I had a nice bath at home. kai

Last full day away

Today was pretty easy going, spending the morning out and the afternoon back at camp doing camp things.

We checked out the Toora market in the morning, which was the crappiest thing i have ever seen. Think trash and treasure at the Belmont Common with the stuff ten times worse. Even with that we still ended out buying some books each, some vegies and a sausage. Ange thought they were the worst sausage she has ever had (lucky for me i didn't have one).

We drove up to Agnes falls which is a nice waterfall. We packed sandwiches for lunch and ate them by the river. On the way back to Toora we stopped into the wind turbines that sit on top of the hill. They are approx 5kms away from our campground, and they can be heard in the still of night. I haven't heard them during the day, but there is a fair bit of noise around here all through the day.

We copped a sprinkling of rain in the middle of the afternoon, which had the kids wanting to have a swim in the enclosed heated pool. They call it heated, but it was still not enough for me to jump into.

You know how sometimes you find a hat that fits your head just right, well my hat accidentally made its way into the wash, and after 15 years it was holding on by a thread anyway, well it finally gave way. It's much more now like a visor. Kai and i have made a deal that he will throw his shoes out when we get home, and i will throw out my hat.

Cooked some chicken and vegies for tea, and had pancakes for desert.

Will probably head to bed soon as we pack up tomorrow and head home!

I need a full week of detox when we get home, give up the beer, chocolate and chips!

Agnes falls and the echidna

We went to the market. We bought a book. My book was called 101 Dalmations. It is very good so far.

Today we went to Agnes falls. IT was a beautiful view over the mountains. the mountains were so big you could see the animals and they were so small. Then we went to Agnes falls. It had a span of 59 metres.

On the way home we saw an echidna. It was going towards us and we started to tell it not to because we didn't want to drive over it.

When we got home we started playing on the jumping pillow. Then we played at the park and played basketball. We then had tea and then had pancakes. They were really nice. Some were them were little and some of them were big and Mum did a great job of cooking them.

Toora

Today we went to the market. I bought a book and we bought some vegetables. Then we went to Agnes Falls. It was a very pretty view. It was good because we brought our binoculars. On the way home we saw an echidna crossing the road. When we got home we played at the playground, the jumping pillow and had a swim.

Waterfall

Today we went for a walk to the waterfall, and i took a photo of Sasha and Ethan. I jumped in the photo but i was too quick. kai

Toora

After a lazy start this morning we packed up from Corringle and moved to Toora near Foster in the Wilsons Prom area.  We know we are getting closer to home because melbourne now features on the green signs telling us about the up coming towns. 

For our last stay before home we have splurged on a bit of luxury and got ourselves an ensuite bathroom.  We have a shower, basin and toilet in a little room on our site.  We have never done that before it is a whole lot different to the drop toilets and no showers we have had the past 3 days.

The place were we are staying has and indoor pool which the children enjoyed and Justin and I had a short spa but it was too hot to stay in for long.  There are many things for the children to do with in the park so we will just potter here for our last day before heading for home. 

I can't believe it is nearly over.  We spent so long planning and waiting for this trip and it has gone so fast.  We are all looking forward to coming home - we miss our family and Barney, but most of all we are now missing real beds.

No photos today as the camera battery was dead, it hyad recharged enough this afternoon to get a couple of the children but will have to take more tomorrow.

Toora

Today we traveled from Corringle to Toora. It is very nice here. I played on the jumping pillow, playground and pool. The spa is really warm. The pool is a nice temperature. At the playground there is a fun swing where you put your foot in a loop at the end of a single rope and swing on it.

The fire

Today we made our own fire using sticks, wood and paper. We only put paper in it because it was smoldering all night. Then we travelled about 3.5 hours to go to Toora. There is a pool undercover, a playground, a tennis court with a basketball ring and a big checkers game. We went to the playground first, the pool and then the jumping pillow. We had snags for tea. We had microwave popcorn for desert, it was really yummy even though it was a little bit burnt.

Toora

We left Corringle and i really liked it there. There were drop toilets that i didn't like, but i just had to get used to it. At Toora there is a trampoline and a jumping pillow. I coudn't stand up in the big pool but i could stand up in the spa. kai

Rest day

Yesterday we had initially planned to move on from our national park campsite at Corringle, but decided to spend another night.

We ducked into Orbost to get supplies, and other than that we spent the day at the campsite. We didn't blog because the laptop battery had run out.

We found some wood on the way back to camp from shopping, which kept us going for most of the night. We copped light rain once it got dark which had us going to bed a bit earlier than expected.

The kids seemed to really enjoy a campfire, and its pretty easy to waste away the afternoon sitting at the fire with beer in hand.

The rip in my pants

Yesterday we went climbing trees in the morning. I climbed a really hard tree that was really big and jumped off it. Then we went for a bike ride with our friends. We had races all around the track. It was awesome fun. The hard part was that everybody was going as fast as they can to win. Then we went climbing trees again. I ripped my pants. There was a really big hole in them. Then i went for another bike ride through lots and lots of puddles. I got really really filthy. Then we had a fire and toasted marshmallows. They were vanilla and caramel swirled flavor.

Corringle

I made some new friends called Caleb and Shanika. We rode our bikes through the mud and i got wet. We made damper because we wanted to make damper. It was nice. kia

Corringle

Yesterday we woke up in Corringle and strait away went to climbing trees and bike riding.I found the perfect tree for climbing and I stayed up there for half the time. We had races with another family on our bikes.Ethan riped his pants

Corringle Slips

Yesterday we traveled from Merimbula to Corringle via Eden.  We visited the killer Whale museum in Eden and it was facinating to find out how the killer whales used to heard other whales like sheep dogs helping the human whalers back in the day when Australia was a whaling country. 

We picked a National Park  camp ground out of our Camp 6 book and set up for a couple of nights.  It was Corringle Slips where the Snowy River meets the Tasman Sea.   It took us a little while to get there because the GPS directed us down the Marlo side of the river and then instructed us to "Navigate off road to destination" which involved crossing the Snowy River with no bridge.

Once setup, we got some wood and the kids setup the fire. Marshmallows were cooked, Sasha having trouble with overcooking and having them fall off the stick before eating.

The killer whale museum

Yesterday we left Merimbula and went to Eden to see the Killer Whale Museum. We saw lots of sculptures and bones of whales. I got a book from there and it was called 'Whales and Dolphins'. Then we went to Caringle for tea. We had a fire and toasted marshmallows on the fire.

Killer Whale Museum

Yesterday we travelled from Merimbula to Carringle. On the way we stopped at Eden and went to the Killer Whale museum. I learned a lot about Killer Whales and whaling. We went outside and looked in the lighthouse. We had a beautiful view. When we got to Caringal we made a fire and toasted marshmallows.

The whale museum

Today we went to the whale museum. I like camping in the bush. I don't like drop toilets, but we have one here. I like having a campfire.kai

We all woke up late today, still not used to the change of daylight savings. We had a slow breakfast of bacon, eggs and pancakes. After eating so much we could burst, the kids decided that we should kick the footy at the park. Lately a game of two on two has developed, Sasha and Ethan vs Kai and myself. It makes for a lot of hard work for me as Kai is not big on getting on a lead just yet.

We got back at about 1pm and while Ange and Kai had an afternoon snooze, Sasha and I did some reading and Ethan rode his bike around the caravan park. It was nice to have a sunny day without much wind to sit out in, the last couple of days have been pretty ordinary weather wise.

On our last shopping trip, Ange picked up some bird seed for the kids to feed the birds with. There are plenty of galahs and rainbow lorikeets in the park.

Ethan and Kai had a swim this afternoon, this pool having a couple of waterslides. Even though they were both shivering, they told me it wasn't cold!

Had probably the worst shower today, i know we are all trying to save water and all, but having to run around in the shower to get wet is not my idea of fun.

Anyway, packing up tomorrow and heading towards Lakes Enterance. Meant to be out of the park by 9:30am... but that's just not going to happen!

Rainbow Lorikeets.

Today we went feeding the Rainbow Lorikeets with our bird seed. At first they'd lean over from the branch they were sitting on and eat out of our hands. Then they would fly over to our hands and sit on the edge of our hands while they were eating the seed out of the middle of our hands. If I walked slow enough and didn't scare the birds I could take them home to where the packet of bird seed was. When I was feeding 2 birds at once another bird flew and landed on my head. I really liked it but I was a bit scared.