And we're off...!!

Friday 25^th April

Anzac Day

An early start..... ahem, well, we were on the road by 10:15am which I felt was pretty good. Poor old Charlie was truly upset, desperate to get out of the front door and sneak into the camper trailer but we left him in the safe hands of Duncan who has now received every little detail on how to keep him in the manner to which he is accustomed!

It wasn’t long before we heard the time-honoured phrase, ‘Are we nearly there yet?’ and some lack of oversight in the planning led to an early toilet stop but all that aside it was a relief to finally be on the road. Anything that was forgotten or not done would have to stay that way.

Paul took the wheel and I was chief map-reader – not a tricky job today because everything is well signposted and very straightforward. The girls are outraged that the DVD stopped working a week before we left. I wasn’t able to check it out until yesterday – it really is knackered! I, on the other hand, am relieved. There may be times where they are bored out of their minds but at least they may then take in some of their surroundings.

We were headed for Green Head which is just north of Jurien Bay and south of Geraldton but made a stop at the Pinnacle Desert to check out these strange limestone edifices. By this stage Holly had commandeered the ipod and was reading Harry Potter but she deigned to put them aside to have her photo taken with some jagged rocks.

Then onward, to meet up with the Percics who had rented a holiday house and invited us to camp in their backyard. When we arrived (hours after they had expected us – did they really think we’d be off at the crack of dawn – this is US we’re talking about) Jess greeted us with an invitation to abandon our camper trailer and enjoy the comforts of a real bed for one last time – and who were we to refuse that kind offer?! They also laid on our dinner (okay, so they wanted to offload excess food that didn’t need ferrying back to Perth the next day, but we certainly appreciated it).

The girls were in heaven – leaping off a pylon into the (not warm enough for me) water with Gabby and Matt, checking out the squid who inked all over its bucket, the freedom to wander off to the jetty with a lantern after dark. This is the stuff that memories are made of.

Paul and I have equally good memories of excellent company and some stargazing mingled with fine wine and happy conversation. I was slightly annoyed not to see any of the SEVEN shooting stars that Andrej claims to have spotted, but we do have another 90 or so nights to work on rectifying that!

According to my calculations we travelled about 350km today – a small, but significant, dent in the upcoming vastness we have ahead of us.

Holly's version of events:

Friday 25^th April 2008 – Anzac Day

And we were setting off. It took a while to get packed but we still took to the road on time. We drove for two and a half hours and stoped to see the pinnacles and then drove on we saw two emus on the way back to the main road when we finally got to greenhead we met the percic family we started to unpack the camper trailer but jess told us that we could stay in the house. After that me gabby and matt went down to the jetty to jump off the pylon after about seven jumps each matt got bored and wanted to go back but was too tired to swim back alone so I had to pull him all the way back (it was hard) gabby did another jump and got stung by a jellyfish and swam back too. Then we went back to the holiday house and got changed and then we had some afternoon tea a while after that me and gabby wanted to do some boogie boarding and more jumping off the pylon. So me and gabby got ready to go with our boogie boards and then set off with Andrej down to the jetty we paddled to the pylon on our boards. That night the stars were excellent you could see the Milky Way and the Southern Cross.

Down to Denmark

Paul wasn't initially keen to do this trip because we were supposed to be heading in the opposite direction right around now. However, the double attractions of good company and the chance of eating and drinking plenty were powerful and won the day...!

We also wanted to catch up with my godfather, Robin, who is hitting our shores next week and who I haven't seen for too long a time. It seemed a bit rude to bugger off just before he got here.

So, Denmark it was. With us, Christine, Madison and Jacob staying in their holiday house where Scott, Anna, Zoe and Tim now live. And Mardi, Michael, Caleb and Lucas, Andrej, Jess, Gabbi and Matt, Debra with big son Tom and Phoebe, Chey and Mimi and Jodie with Tiaan and Rhett and staying at the Cove.

At the Williams roadhouse we had our first taste of finding somewhere to park the van while not blocking all other vehicles. We bumped into the Percic/Yins there and an hour later were passed by Andrej with Jess hanging a cup of coffee out of the window - it was Paul's that had been left behind. He finally got to drink it about four hours later - a well-travelled coffee!

Setting up the van at Scott/Christine's place was fun - lots of willing little helpers all desperate to get inside for a better look! The big bonus was that so many of the kids wanted to sleep in there that Scott's bed was offered as an alternative to us - YES!

On the first night Madison, Holly, Anna and Zoe all slept up the kid's end (so we could've slept in there anyway but it might have cramped their style!). The next night was Katie and Tim's turn with Holly and Anna at the other end (Zoe was sick and Madison and Jacob were on a sleepover at the Cove with the other half of the party). And on the last night it was Holly and Tim who slept through a big thunderstorm and heavy rain.

We had delicious pizzas around the campfire - thanks Chris - on the first night, spag bol for kids (excellent work, Andrej) and curries (courtesy of Boa, Deb and Andrej/Jess) for adults on the second night and bbq (big pat on the back for Michael - that was a smoky job but you did well) on the third night. I think everyone got at least one turn at cooking and washing up - it was never ending with 17 kids and 10 adults! For morning tea on one day we used three loaves of bread just to keep the kids satisfied. Paul did some fab pancakes at the Cass-Ryall/Robinson house while Deb did some cooked breakfasts at the Cove.

We hit Ocean Beach - it's gorgeous with some beautiful little waves - perfect for Holly to practise some more on Scott's board - she was standing up well but didn't quite have the ability to steer and landed up in Zoe's chest at one stage. Anna and Zoe impressed us all with their skills - up there with the big people! The boogie boarders spent a long time in the waves, too, with Mardi, Deb, Jodie and Jess leading the way.

Andrej's vegemite sandwiches kept hunger at bay while rocks were climbed, pools investigated and sandhills run down and slid down - Madison and Tiaan had a couple of great runs down on some boogie boards.

Back at the Cove with more food taken on board the kids were ready to explore the delights of the inlet and Honeymoon Island with a kayak, a canoe and a rowboat. There was barely a wind, the sun was hidden by weird clouds creating moody lighting and the kids rampaged through the rocks and bushes.

More weird weather the next day so, after more exploration of the Cove, we headed out to Greens Pool - it's gorgeous - stunning rocks set in an almost still bay of glistening water. Paul and Andrej saw some amazing fish life but were beaten in the end by the cold. A walk over the rocks took us to Elephant Rocks where more rock climbing and snorkelling/swimming/rock jumping took place. The younger kids developed a 'gold factory' (yellow sand in the white sand) while some adults 'supervised' (chatted amongst themselves).

We bumped into Deb with Tom and Zoe - she recognised Paul's voice before she saw him!

And then it was time to get an ice-cream - with choice of ingredient swirled in - they were enormous and Tiaan was very sorry about his decision to have some toffee instead! By this time we were dealing with some very tired and probably undernourished children so a bit of quiet time followed.

The cooking of food was easier tonight with hot stuff on the bbq and salad preparation and washing up filling the kitchen but the kids were still feral - up, down, round, over, under, into, onto - so many of them it was incredible - wherever we looked. While the adults ate, the kids with beds were supposed to be sleeping - amazingly, despite all the noise, some of them did! Some of the 'rooms' were just curtained off areas right next to the enormous table but I guess they were so zonked that nothing would have kept them awake.

And on the third day.... we awoke to rain - lots of it. Chris and Jodie set off back to Perth, and when the rain slowed up we went with Scott and his kids to check out the beach at Nullaki - the peninsula opposite Ocean Beach with some v. exclusive residences on it. I got some very moody photos with the grey skies and the kids climbed rocks and sand hills and made the most of each other's company.

After a speedy pack-up of the van (less than 15 minutes, I reckon) we checked the Cove to say goodbye but no-one was home so we hit the big road and covered the 423km in about 5 hours with one stop.

The Cruiser and van both worked well - we're gonna be using a lot of fuel, but it should be a lot of fun. Just hope we can wean the girls off the dvds - maybe the machine will mysteriously break?!

Testing, one, two....

The first overnighter for the camper trailer was up to Gidgegannup for a night (15th Feb) - the kids slept in it with no power because the lights fuse blew when more than two were turned on!


The real test was taking it down to Hamelin Bay for a long weekend. (29th Feb - 3rd March) It all worked like a dream, apart from arriving v late and having to get Mum to do the reversing into our allotted site. Even putting up the awnings wasn't too much of a drama considering we'd never got them out of their bags before!


It was lucky we'd gone with friends - we needed Glen's mallet for the tent pegs holding up the awnings and Mum's tent (a hammer really didn't cut it!) and we borrowed Dave and Jude's gas bottle to cook on our stove when the only spanner we had on board was too small to undo the caravan's gas bottle. Oh, and we had no sharp knives 'cos I'd forgotten to take the one from home.
We were delighted with our matting that greatly reduced the amount of sand that found its way into the camper.

We put Mum in her own tent due to snoring issues (at one stage I had Paul in one ear, Mum in the other and Glen competing in the background - I dread to think what it was like once I went to sleep!) but she could have fitted into the van easily. There seemed to be so much room in there when it was opened up.

The girls played a lot in the playground and both of them made new friends (Katie's friend had a tv in her cabin!). We bumped into Sally and Clinton who had come down to check out the surf/fishing.

We had our first go at 4WD following Dave onto Hamelin Bay - we didn't swim cos it was a bit chilly but Holly and Katie had fun sitting on my knee to steer through the sand. Deflating the tyres took no time at all but we were sitting around for ages while putting the air back in.

We did well on our bbqs and Mands made some great salads but we also really enjoyed our vist to Watershed for some excellent lunchtime fare.

Packing up didn't take too long - except for the awnings - that is not going to be a fun part of the trip - even with three of us we struggled to squeeze them back into their seemingly shrunken bags! The rest was straightforward and we had an easy trip back listening to The Thief Lord (Cornelia Funke) which Holly, Mum and I really enjoyed (Katie was watching Cat in a Hat several times over!).

When we got back and were unhitching I was a bit alarmed by the heat in the electrical connection - so hot that some of the plastic had melted - will need to investigate that.