Yep, even though the trip is really only 4 weeks old, it’s a measure of how large a step it is out of our normal routines that we have quickly forgotten what day it is. That’s not particularly useful in itself, especially if you are trying to avoid queues, rush hour, or even find some open shops in these self-professed “out of season resort towns,” but it at least indicates that we are settling in nicely to the right mindset and lifestyle..

In fact just the other day, after purchasing a lotto ticket for the Valentine’s Day $20m draw (sorry De and Caro but not sure you qualify for a share anymore!), I thought to myself – what would we do differently if we happened to win a lazy $5 Million?? The honest answer was I wouldn’t change anything at the moment and when I asked Hayley the same her response was identical! It’s not often in your life you can say that is it?…

The last post promised updates from Bermagui, which is a great little town and helped us in our ever growing assessment of what a good camp site should entail.. Although we are yet to go too far off the beaten track and as yet have not free camped (unless you count a complimentary night as part of that “out of season resort town” hospitality) the view from our campsite in Bermagui was so good it set a new standard for what the ultimate campsite would have. Other plusses were that it was close to the township, had great beaches and excellent seafood!

After settling into the site, getting some fresh seafood and a few waves at Horseshoe Bay (you can see the beach in the picture from our caravan window!) we took a day trip to Mogo and the Mogo Zoo.. Now this is a Zoo with a difference and one that for me has its priorities correct – it’s about the beauty of the wild animal, population sustainability and providing habitats that allows the animals to be nurtured but still remain wild. Sure the keepers feed the animals during the keeper talks, but they also assure us that if they wandered into the enclosure there is no doubt that they would be next on the menu… I’m not really a big fan of Zoo’s in general, but when they are set up for the benefit of the animals it’s easier to justify their place in the preservation and conservation world.

On the way to the Zoo we had our first encounter with a Kangaroo hopping out in front of the car. He was a big guy (escaped from the Zoo and on his way back according to April!) who just lazily hopped across the road in front of us.. There are people who have crossed the country multiple times who swear they have never even seen a “Roo” jump in front of them, so hopefully this is a good sign that we will only have innocuous run in’s for the duration of our trip (at least I am trying to convince myself of that). I don’t doubt I have the mettle to take one on if needed, but we could do without the damage and the hassle!

The Bermagui campsite was dog friendly and to top it off there was a dog show in town (probably on the weekend if we were able to work out the days!) so April and Denver were in dog walking heaven – if only they realised that people actually charge money for this we could fund our trip and then some! Max was the favourite dog, although there were a number of others also vying for the title!

The rest of the Bermagui stay (extended because we enjoyed it so much) was Denver (and Hayley) getting his first taste of school on the road, April and I finding some seals on the rocks when I was just driving to get her to have a nap, more beach fun when the weather allowed, April starting to ride her bike without training wheels and a quick trip back to Sydney for April and I to return some of the previously mentioned  80% and exchange it for some more useful items.. From a packing perspective we certainly would have benefited from a couple of weeks away in the van before we headed off, but at least this “side trip” allowed Denver and Hayley to get some valuable schooling done without the distractions of a younger sister and Dad (constantly finding seals and other cool things that our student doesn’t want to miss out on) and we got to free up some valuable space and lose some weight from the van. We are yet to do a weigh in, but I feel like we may still have a little middle age spread happening – and the van is probably slightly overweight too!

From Bermagui we headed up the mountains to Jindabyne (a good test for both Dolly and Kenny on the way up and back!) to a lakeside camp spot and the bustle of a ski town in the summertime…

Our campsite was another beautiful spot (I’m beginning to think that having a big van is a good thing, for some reason it seems like all the larger site have prime possies!) which has to have a big impact on how much you enjoy your stay. Our vista with the lake and islands in front of the ranges was just beautiful and a far cry from those people who just have a view of the amenity block! Long may our luck run because this was another picturesque spot, this time with heaps of activities around the town to keep everyone entertained!

After a couple of quiet days, doing some study, drawing, bike riding and sorting out our first issue with the van (the shower wasn’t draining properly – turns out me and the “committee”, made up of about 5 Grey Nomads all with a very useful opinion on how to fix it – were able to sort it out without too much committee member assistance in the end!) we were looking forward to our first Rodeo – yee ha or should that be a more passionate YEE HA!

Spending the morning at the Snowy Hydro discovery centre, which was simply fascinating for the adults (100,000 people worked on that project over 25 years between 1949 to 1974 – which gives you some idea of the visionary nature and scope) and interesting for the kids. Interactive displays and video presentations gave the kids things to learn about and do, giving them some insights into the days before mobile phones and the internet. After a bit of a workout related to energy production let’s just say we are all thankful we don’t have to pedal to get our toast in the morning!

With the town closing (I think just standard trading hours rather than a Rodeo-a-thon) around lunchtime, we headed to the showground for a festival of big hats and long shirts with “blinged-up” denim. There were stalls selling merchandise which was pretty tempting (I do need a new hat!), but in the end we kept our purchases to simple sausage sandwiches from the local Lions club.. The Rodeo was certainly an interesting spectacle – the kids were enthralled by the steer and bull riding (depending on the age of the rider) as well as the horses, in particular the barrel racing, which in truth was nowhere near as exciting as I had made out (who knew barrel racing was people riding around 3 barrels for the fastest time – I figured it was clowns inside barrels rolling and bumping their way to the finish line using whatever means possible!), but still managed to captivate them (perhaps it was the tiny under 8’s riding like they had been born in the saddle!)..

The following day we headed to Thredbo, where the weather cleared nicely to allow us to catch the chairlift up to the top and back down again (and again and again and again thanks to the kids enjoyment). Amazingly when we arrived at the base of the chairlift we found a downhill mountain biking competition happening – with all those trips up and down the mountain with the kids we saw some awesome riders taking on some big jumps and literally bombing down the mountain as fast as they could go. We’ve no idea who won but it was enjoyable to watch and reminded me of my only downhill experience, in Zermatt, where one of the blokes we went down the hill with cracked his head open around the first bend! Fortunately there was nothing as scary or gruesome to be seen this time around, which is probably not a bad thing, although the medivac would have been an interesting spectacle for the kids..

A few more days on the lake, riding around the lakeside on the bike track, yoga, hunting for gold on the lakes edge and allowing me the time to head solo up to the summit of Kosciusko (where I found I still have a small competitive bone as I overtook all others to be first up for the day) and it was time to pack up the Annex (which had made its debut) and make our way back down the mountains to Pambula Beach, near Merimbula..

But that’s enough for this update, now its off to check that lotto ticket – that lazy $5 Million could certainly extend the trip by a year or so!!

1^st Feb 2015

“Adventure before Dementia” is one of the more amusing caravan wheel covers we have seen along the way but it’s far from the only source of humour on the trip… The kids are seeing plenty of things they haven’t necessarily come across before and often come up with some beauties that have us in stitches! A couple of golden moments that come to mind are below:

• As we passed a large herd of cows on our way to Culburra, Denver is explaining to April that the male cows are called bulls – April “so they boss all the cows around and bully them?”
• At the Mogo Zoo we said that we were going to listen to the Gorilla talk at 11:30 – after listening patiently to the keeper explain about the Gorillas, April said “so we have heard the man talk, but when will the actual Gorillas talk?”

There is plenty more every day but as those of you who know me would testify, my memory is well on the way to dementia already! I will try to note them as they happen, both for the blog and for 21^st speeches!

Our second stop, Culburra Caravan Park (Crookhaven Heads), has a jumping pillow, mini golf, a swimming pool, a playground and plenty of open roads for the kids to ride bikes and scooters. Quickly meeting with new “friends” (although Aprils “special friend” Kyson from Narrabeen will take some beating for April on this trip – we still hear about him every day!) the kids are tearing around the open streets on bikes and scooters before we can even get the van set up! Of course the flip-side of these activities is there is only so much you can cram into your first afternoon, although try telling the kids that!

With the somewhat inclement weather (it is still summer right?) we have had plenty of practise with elements of the van, the awning especially which is susceptible to high winds – certainly before we got our “anti-flappers” (which I cheekily suggested to Hayley could be put to good use in a few other applications also!). Caravaners’ seem to love stories about how they have seen awnings fly right over the roof of vans, ripping them to shreds, so I am a bit paranoid about this element and even now err on the side of caution (you can never have too many guy ropes right!).

A few wet days have also given us opportunities to test the entertainment systems, reading lights, journal writing tables and the oven.. Although bakery hours don’t really appeal I must admit I was pretty chuffed with the first thing that came out of our oven, hence why there are so many photos of it and why I forced Hayley to take photos of me holding it like a celebrity baby!

In amongst the wind and rain we have managed to get to the beach a few times. I want to say “our” first effort, but really it was mine alone, left a bit to be desired – it saw the wind whipping sand into our faces, waves crashing on the shore break and the beach tent erected in the path of the oncoming tide – so after taking April back for a toilet break I was met by a not too amused Hayley in a tent she was sharing with a wave! No photos of that one I’m afraid (or at least I was at the time!)…

Fortunately things improved from there, for the catch-up and paddleboarding extravaganza with Hayley’s sister Kellie and the Kick family in Shoalhaven, as well as a trip to Hyams beach, which deservedly earns the title of one of the better beaches in the area, if not the country!

It’s hard to judge or rate things just yet, I feel like a judge on a reality show – you know it’s good, but you have to leave yourself some room to mark higher in case something better comes along! 8/10!

Culburra also saw evening cricket with other kids before dinner each afternoon (irrespective of rain or wind!), Denver and April both make their first catches (some puffer fish that April says are “poison and don’t taste very good” which I’m not quite sure how to interpret) as well as being our home for Australia Day! If you have never done Australia Day in a caravan park you really are missing out on a cultural spectacular – I encourage you to do it immediately or avoid it completely, depending on your level of cultural integration!

Now we have moved on from Culburra to Bermagui (36°25′S 150°04′E ) we have a couple of larger “tows” under our belts, one in some extreme winds also, so it’s all starting to get a bit more familiar and (dare I say) relaxed. For the first few hours with every bump and creak and groan from the rear I was anxiously looking in the rear view mirrors, expecting to see the van separated from the car and careening off on its own adventures, but now I am close to accepting that the ludicrously small and simple looking coupling that holds the two together actually does work! (although it still seems woefully inadequate to me!). Anyway Murphy – no need to intervene with one of your “law’s” here, let’s just keep things running as smoothly as they have been!

The next update will cover our time in Bermagui – I just want to get the second post up for now  – you know when your mother is hassling you for updates to your social media pages that things have been a little too long between drinks (although not here on holidays – cheers!!)