Storytime in the tent

Stormtrooper

Sometimes, well quite often recently, I feel like we have been 'on the road' for a long time (for the record its 9 weeks today), but this guy, he HAS been on the road a long time.  He left Perth in July 2011 and is walking to Sydney in the Stormtrooper outfit to raise money for the Starlight Foundation.

We saw him today on the road to Batemans Bay, he is now under 300km from his final destination - he is so close now he could almost smell Sydney.

Broulee

We have just spent the last couple of days in beautiful Broulee, which is just south of Batemans Bay.  A great spot, lovely small towns right on the beach and mountains in the distance, with the convenience of Batemans Bay just down the road.  Very nice.

Ulladulla and Mollymook

Our next stop was Ulladulla, camping on the headland.  Ulladulla is a relatively large town although sits on the Princes Highway so is quite busy, Mollymook (only 1km from Ulladulla) is smaller, off the highway and on the beach.  Very pretty.  Rich had a great surf at Mollymook and Jack, Josie, Dad and I had a play at the local park followed by a drink at the local cafe.  We head off again tomorrow, further south past Batemans Bay somewhere.

Mollymook Beach

Kiama

After spending a great week and a bit in Canberra we are now back in the tent in Kiama.  Dad has flown over from Perth to spend some time with us all, so he has joined us for a couple of weeks.  Luckily we have had some great weather in lovely Kiama. We have spent our time wandering around the town of Kiama and checking out the coastline and great beaches, we saw the famous Kiama blowhole and the lighthouse, we went out to the countryside around Jamberoo, took in the view from Saddleback Mountain, and did a walk in the Minnamurra Rainforest.

Our trip, whilst still about 'sightseeing', has also become more and more about 'where do we want to live' - so in addition to seeing the local sights we have also started to check out the more practical areas of the towns we are visiting and keep asking ourselves the question 'could we live here?'.  The answer for Kiama was a yes from me, although Rich is still not completely sure if Kiama is for him - thankfully we have more of the South Coast of NSW to explore yet.

One of the Kiama beaches

Minnamurra Rainforest

Rock Pool in Kiama

Playground chat

The other day at a playground in Kiama....

Me to Jackson "Come on Jack, its time to go now"
Boy at park to Jackson "It's time for you to go home"
Jack to boy at park "I don't have a home, I have a tent" !!

Canberra - the Nations Capital

We have now been in Canberra for a week, having a fabulous time staying with my brother and his family, as well as Dad (Grandad) who has flown over to Canberra for a few weeks.  Its a full house - 5 adults and 6 kids!!  Jack and Josie have loved hanging out with their cousins and will miss them when we leave.

Canberra has shown us some amazing weather so we have been able to get out and about every day.  We have been to the War Memorial, Parliament House, Questacon, 10 pin bowling and an open house day at Government House.  Also the car has had a much needed service, as well as fixing a big leak in the cooling system. We head to Kiama in a couple of days, with Grandad coming along for a week or so, so its back to tent life for a while.  Lets hope the weather stays nice.

 The view across to Parliament House from the War Memorial

The great interactive displays at the War Memorial, here is Jackson flying a helicopter and below is Josie in a submarine

 We had a fantastic time at Questacon

 Off to Parliament House

 All ready for some ten-pin bowling action

 Making spiderwebs at the Government House Open Day

Grandad and all his grandkids

My mad husband

One morning when we were in Bright we decided we were going to drive up to Hotham to have a look.  Its 50km from Bright, 30km of which is uphill.  Richard decided he wanted to ride up there and we would meet them there.  We left an hour and a bit after him, we passed him on the way up, further up trees had fallen over the road due to 'damaging winds', I then turned a corner and it was very strong cross winds, cold and drizzling as you were now in the clouds.  I called Rich and explained the situation, he said "I'll meet you in Hotham", I said "No really Rich, its not nice up here", he said "I'll meet you in Hotham", and he did!  My mad husband....

Bright

We had a lovely time in beautiful Bright.  The flooding did not stop us getting there at all, although it was obvious that the Ovens River (which runs through Bright) was very full.  We spent our time there checking out the town, we went to Mytleford (another town close by), went to check out a waterfall near Falls Creek and drove up (Richard rode up) to Hotham.  A lovely time and a lovely town.  We are now enjoying some much needed tent free time in Canberra with my brother and his family.

 The view across Mount Beauty

 Half the road was missing!

 The waterfall

 The drive up to Hotham

 It was cold in Hotham ( -10oc wind chill!)

 Bright - the Ovens River

Troopers

We have now been 'on the road' for 6 weeks.  Apart from 3 nights just recently, we have spent every single night in the tent.  Jackson and Josephine have been absolute troopers, they have really relaxed into camping/traveling life.  They have endured many days spent in the car, hot temperatures, wind, rain, dust, cold temperatures, and they have both just taken it in their stride.  They both enjoy checking out the campsite when we arrive, having a look around the town, going to the information place, and of course finding the local park.  This trip has also brought them closer together, we often hear them having a chat just before they drop off to sleep, or pointing out things from their car seats to each other. I love you very much Jack and Jo, my two little troopers.

Bendigo and Maldon

When we arrived in Bendigo it was raining, we drove around Bendigo and it kept raining, we came back to the campsite (we booked into a cabin) still raining!  Hence no photos of Bendigo.  But the next day the sun came out and it was 25oc, so we went out to a small town called Maldon.  Lovely town, old buildings, cool shops etc.   The plan is to head to Bright tomorrow, but that still depends on the state of the roads and the rain.  We will check the news again tomorrow.

Ballarat and Soverign Hill

We are now in Ballarat and summer has left us. It is windy, cold and raining.  If anyone has seen the weather for NSW/Victoria, they are predicting huge rainfalls and widespread flooding.  Not the best camping weather!  We have spent 3 nights in Ballarat, 2 of those have been in the tent - the 40 to 50 km/hr gusts of winds on the second night meant I got about 2 hours sleep (everyone else slept well!) so on the 3rd night we upgraded to the luxury of a cabin.

Yesterday we went to Soverign Hill - which is a town that has been reconstructed to look like a town from the gold mining days.  It was fantastic, really made you feel like you were back in the 1850's.  We tried our luck at gold panning - and found a TINY flake of gold.

The weather forecast is not good, more rain to come in particular the areas we are heading.  So we are going to keep our eyes and ears on the news and see what happens.  The plan is to head to Bendigo today, but well, that will depend on the rain.

 Getting blown around in the wind

 Soverign Hill

 Panning for gold (...Josie's technique was particularly interesting!)

 The tiny fleck of gold we found is in the very centre of this picture

Jackson having a go at bowling in the 1850's bowling alley

Mr Rice!

Dad and Andrew, this ones for you...... !!