Pambula January 2014

We were very excited to be going to Pambula for the second time. The trip had been planned since we were there in September. We planned to have the same drive and stay as last time, leaving early and spending the first night in Lake Tyres. Friday January 10^th we left home at 10am. We drove to Bairnsdale for our first stop, at Apex Park. The kids enjoyed the slide and the flying fox while Cate and I enjoyed a hot chocolate and coffee. The drive to Lake Tyres from Bairnsdale is fairly short and we arrived at mid-afternoon.

Cate and the kids headed to 90 mile beach while I set up and I joined them once I finished. We spent another hour at the beach before I left to cook dinner. It was perfect beach weather, 25 degrees and not a breath of wind. It was very pleasant sitting at the beach.

The following morning we pulled out at 9:30. We stopped several times along the way to let the kids stretch their legs. We arrived in Pambula at around 2pm to discover a procession of cars, caravans and campers all checking in. We packed the beach bag so it was easily accessible, so Cate took Ethan and Aisha to the beach while I waited in the queue to get into the park and then set up. I was incredibly impressed with the organisation of the park with such a large number of people arriving at the same time.

We had a very relaxed afternoon and evening and settled in for what we hoped was going to be a great week.

Ethan and Aisha woke at around 6:30 and had raisin toast and weetbix for a change. At around 9am we rode to the craft activity only to realise it was I fact Sunday and that is the only day they don't do that this week. We decided to head to the water park, a new facility since we were here last. The kids had a ball. The water park is quite impressive. There are water slides and fountains and water spraying from all points of the play equipment. The kids played in the pools for hours, right up until lunch time.

After lunch it was off to the beach. We swam and dug in the sand again for hours. Aisha was intrigued with the fact that if you dig a hole on the sand and fill it with water the water seeps into the sand and disappears. She continuously filled a bucket with water and emptied it into a hole she had dug.
The kids became reacquainted with the local kangaroos. Ethan and Aisha were very keen to pat the roos and let them smell their fingers. The roos were very accommodating for the kids; an experience I'm sure they will remember for quite a while.

A rather late-ish dinner, and we took the kids to an outdoor movie, Return to the Sea, in the hope that a later bed time would lead to a later wake up. We shall cross our fingers and see. It was a stunning windless day of 27 degrees.

Monday January 13^th 6:30am Ethan is awake, needs the toilet and breakfast. Exiting the tent I realised a major crime had been committed. We were the victims of camp site theft! Someone had stolen all the weetbix!! There were crumbs all over the floor and an empty weetbix bag. My detective skills were put to the test, although made easier by the thieves calling card. Case closed. Note to self: don't leave food out for the very friendly kangaroos.

Another glorious morning, no breeze to talk about and cloudless blue sky. I headed into Eden for the daily groceries while Ethan and Aisha went with Cate to the beach. After lunch we had a very lazy early afternoon, consisting of quiet play in the tent, a snooze and reading the paper. Late afternoon was spent at the pool, lazing and playing in the kids water play area. Aisha and I got drenched by the massive water bucket while we were trying to pass underneath - funny now, not exactly funny at that moment. Another BBQ dinner before 8:30 bed for the kids. It got a little windy mid afternoon but a brilliant 24 degrees.

I always thought I was a little slow, today proves it. Lesson from yesterday was not heeded and overnight we lost and entire loaf of raisin bread, much to the disgust of the kids and the roos are probably delighted.
Yesterday I bought an 8 X 8 shade cloth for the front of the awning and this morning it proved to be a great purchase. Another glorious morning in paradise, calm and sunny, calm until around 11am when the wind settled in for the day.

We headed off for a bike ride, towards the Pambula township along the bike path. We got to the top of the first climb, which was reasonably steep for little legs and headed on the flat to the first decent before heading back to camp, around a 5km ride. That was definitely the longest Ethan has riden. It was a great ride and Ethan managed to negotiate the decent well enough to avoid crashing. When we got back we hired some 3 wheeled bikes and continued peddling around the park before lunch.

After lunch we headed to the beach. Ethan and I went for a swim, I took him out further than he had been before and several times the waves were above our heads. He had a ball clinging on to me like a koala to its mother.

Cate and Aisha were digging in the sand when Ethan and I joined them. We dug holes and more holes before building a giant wall to enclose our creations. To say we moved 1000 cubic meters of sand would be close to the mark. The wall was at least 4m X 4m and probably 20 cm high.

A lesson in the rising tide eventuated when a giant tsunami destroyed our creation in seconds. I don't know who nearly cried first Ethan or dad!

From there we went straight to the showers then headed out for a Chinese dinner. A great meal to end a great day. Aisha seemed determined not to leave until every scrap of food was demolished from every plate. I never thought a 2 year old could eat that much.

The restaurant was on the first level, on top of a fish and chip shop. There was a chap I shall describe as not the sharpest tool in the shed (but a tool none the less) throwing chips onto the road to attract the local seagulls. For his own amusement he waited until cars were coming before launching a handful of chips. The inevitable happened and we were forced to have a discussion with Ethan and Aisha about the perils of getting hit by a car, kick kick flap flap mmmmmm "flat line". At least our tool had the decency to place the dead bird in the bin. "Daddy, why is he putting the boordy (sic) in the bin?" Lesson 2 for the day complete.

Oh, speaking of lessons! Check on all the bread and other food items put away. Let's see what our hopping friends get into tonight.

 Wednesday January 15^th. If I could choose a groundhog morning this would be it. Ethan was the first to wake up at a very civil 7:30; Aisha woke at around 8am. After breaky and getting ready for the day we all rode into Pambula township for brunch.We found a delightful cafe, Toucan Coffee Lounge, which has a retro theme throughout. The decor was perfect, bright and colorful with fantastic light and lamp shades, including the toilets, and the music fit perfectly, plenty of Beatles. It was very well thought through.

It would be very hard to top the ambiance of the place until the food arrived. I had the best egg and bacon roll I have ever tasted. Homemade bread and tomato relish to die for; in fact I had to buy a jar. Cate and the kids shared muffins which came with a salad and some fruit toast, not just store bought bread, with hot chocolate and a latte to match. Friendly staff, beautiful ambiance and perfect food, brilliant. Then back on the bikes for the ride to camp a 10km round trip. Ethan handled the ride well and we were quite hot by the time we arrived; it was noon and the temperature was around 27 degrees with not a hint of wind.

 

The rest of the day was very relaxed. We spent it chilling out at the camper before Cate and the kids went to the beach at around 4:30. During that time I rebooked our camp site for next year. Again the park is really well organised considering its size and volume of guests. I spent some time doing a general clean up; not terribly exciting but with yesterday's wind it was definitely.

 

Thursday was another awesome day. The kids again slept in, 7:30 wake up, and we just pottered around the trailer after breaky reading and playing in the tent.
We headed to the beach around 11am and spent the entire day there, leaving at 5:30. Into the shower and chicken for dinner.

The beach was terrific. There was no wind to speak of all day and a perfect 30 degree maximum. We dug in the sand again and I took both the kids out a fair distance into the waves. They both really enjoyed it. At low tide we went to explore the nearby rock pools and discovered the sand had been washed away behind the rocks leaving pools around a meter in diameter and mid torso high for Aisha. They had a ball jumping in the pools and thought the waves were a real treat.

Cate and Aisha went out in the waves at one stage today and Cate lost her footing and both my girls got dumped. Aisha came up smiling and thought it was terrific. Spending so much time in the sun today we are all a little pink; nothing major as the kids only exposed areas are their legs but it seem no matter how much sunscreen is applied it wasn't quite enough.

Just before bed time we went to the karaoke night held at the park. The kids were amused at other people singing and I would estimate 150 people to watch and participate. The park really does a great job at entertaining the campers while they are here.

Friday January 17^th. We have definitely been blessed with the weather. Another calm morning greeted us and perfect temperature. Today is to be our last at Pambula this year we are leaving at 7pm. Hopefully the kids sleep all the way home.

We took the kids to the craft this morning. It was very well organised and run by Betty who had around 105 kids making kaleidoscopes. We drew and contacted the kaleidoscopes for a great memento of our week. With the late night at karaoke last night and the kids not sleeping in they are a little tired this morning.

After craft we headed to the beach again. The wind really picked up around lunch time so we left the beach after lunch and headed to the pool. During our lazy day I found time to begin packing.

We spent nearly 2 hour at the pool before I ordered fish and chips for tea, then the final pack.

The forecast was for extreme temperatures and wind for Victoria, it was to be their fourth day of over 40 degrees, so while waiting for dinner I checked the CFA website and found out the highway was closed at Cann River due to bush fires in the area. After some investigation on alternative routes home we decided to spend another night here at Pambula. Fingers crossed that the highway is open in the morning.

There were several people packing and heading home on Saturday morning. Information about the roads was a little slow coming through and we heard the highway was to open at 10am. Cate took the kids back to the beach while I packed the trailer and car. We had the opportunity to stay again on Saturday night but needed to move camp sites so we decided to head home. We left right on midday.

The trip home was great and the kids travelled really well. They were happy to sit and listen to music, play eye spy and ask a million questions about the things they saw. Considering the time of day we left it was a very pleasant drive. We ate dinner in Sale, stopped several times, including Apex Park in Bairnsdale arriving home just after 7pm.

It was a truly awesome week. Perfect weather throughout, everyone in a relaxed and cheerful mood and time for us to spend together doing what we wanted when we wanted.

The irony of this trip is that in our September trip we missed cold rainy weather at home while we experienced perfect high 20’s low 30’s weather. This time we missed the hottest heatwave in Victoria for 100 years, while we enjoyed perfect high 20’s low 30’s weather.
 

 

Anglesea January 2014

The trip to Anglesea we originally going to be a boys few days away while Cate and Aisha went to a wedding in New Zealand. As fortune would have it, Cate became sick about a week before they travelled and decided to cancel her and Aisha's NZ trip and accompany Ethan and I to Anglesea, so the 4 of us headed off on January 2^nd.

We packed and left home at 10:30. On the way we called in to see Gramps and Krissy at their work in Hoppers Crossing. It was great to catch up with them for half an hour or so and give the kids a little time to run around. We also stopped at Anaconda and purchased an inside light for the trailer and a kids sleeping bag for Aisha, pink of course, arriving in Anglesea at 2:30. Cate and the kids headed off to the playground while I set up.

The caravan park was relatively small, only 70 or so sites, and the site we were on was small. There was only enough room for our trailer and tent. The awning reached the back of the site and the draw bar of the trailer was nearly on the path. The people in the site behind us benefited from the shade of our awning in the afternoon, and the car was parked on the path. Luckily there were only 2 sites further down the path and traffic was nearly non-existent. There were hedges separating the sites giving us our own space and overall the park was very picturesque. The feeling around the park was very pleasant, with plenty of kids roaming around, the playground was perfect for the kids.

With the set up complete we wandered around the park before dinner, saw the jumping pillow and indoor heated pool. The indoor pool was perfect for the kids. The little pool had water spouting out and mini fountains the kids could operate by pressing a button when the timer finished, and the big pool had a huge water fall the kids thought was amazing.

The following day we were lucky enough to have Laytten and
Emma join us. We had originally planned for Laytten to come up for a couple of days and pitch a tent next to the trailer, however there was no room at all even for a small tent, so they made a day trip of it.

We hired a few paddle boats on the river and paddled around for half an hour or so. It was quite tiring considering Ethan and Aisha couldn’t help with the peddling, but heaps of fun. After the paddle we ordered fish and chips and ate lunch in the park by the river. During lunch the cloud cover increased and the wind picked up making it quite cool for the afternoon, so we headed back to the caravan park. Laytten and I went swimming with Ethan and Aisha, I was glad the pool was heated. We swam for ages then went outside and played on the jumping pillow for a while before a BBQ for dinner. Laytten and Emma headed home as the kids were ready for bed

January 4^th we spent in Torquay. Leaving Anglesea we saw a Sunday market taking place on the bank of the river. The traffic entering Anglesea has horrendous, around a 10km procession going into town, thankfully we were going in the opposite direction. The weather was a little cool so we toured Torquay for some time. The beaches were busy without being overcrowded. We then headed to the Rip Curl shop for a spot of shopping. The Oakley shop was next door and I investigated a pair of new sunnies.

We ate lunch at a quaint little Japanese restaurant, the first time Ethan and Aisha had tasted the cuisine. The food was delicious although it did take quite some time to come out. After lunch Cate purchased a couple of new hats and a wallet from Rip Curl and I want in to buy sunnies but by that time the kids were ready to leave, so back to Anglesea. The market had finished and there was no traffic going back to the trailer.

The afternoon hours were spent at the pool again. Ethan and Aisha were not only entertaining   pressing their chests for the button to release his wings (then putting their arms/wings out) and shouting “to infinity and beyond” before jumping into the pool. They became very confident in the pool with their back floats on and were happy to be in the big pool without clinging on to anyone.
themselves but the other swimmers. Standing on the edge of the pool they were imitating Buzz Lightyear,

The following day was both the best and worst day of the trip. With perfect beach weather, I dropped Cate and the kids off at the beach. It wasn’t really close enough for the kids to walk. There were cars and people everywhere and when we landed on the beach there was a surf lifesaving competition. Thousands of people stretching as far as we could see were at the beach, the surf boats were in front of us. We found a spot and set up the shade tent.

I headed back to Torquay to buy the sunglasses I needed. As I pulled into the car park, around 11:15, I received a phone call from the caravan park asking what time we were leaving. I was under the impression we were leaving the following day, but we were only booked until the 5^th. That gave us 2 options. Pack and go home or pack and move site, and they wanted us off the site by noon.

We decided to move site. I bought sunnies then headed back to pack, while Cate and the kids remained at the beach. We had not packed anything so I began with the clothes etc in the tent. It was a 45 minute pack up then move and reset up.

I then went and picked up Cate and the kids, they had a terrific day at the beach. It was low tide when they arrived and there were rock pools in the vicinity. The kids enjoyed playing in the pools and towels were placed on the rocks for a picnic lunch and then making up stories about fire monsters, Ethan used the sand to put out the fires. It was their first real rock pool experience. As the tide came in the kids helped Cate move the sun shade and they sat in the sand burying their legs, then the waves to clean themselves. Fun was had by all.

The afternoon became quite dark and gloomy as a storm passed by. We received quite a bit of rain but we were fortunate enough to be back at the caravan park and in the indoor pool as the storm passed. Luckily we made it back just in time to close the windows of the trailer to prevent everything getting wet.

Once the storm passed we decided the Anglesea Pub would be a good idea for dinner. The pub was quite busy with only 2 tables not reserved. By the time our meals arrived most of the tables were full. We were given a carafe of water to share and while trying to fill up Ethan’s glass the carafe slipped from my hand and shattered the bowl my risotto was in. The noise was deafening and luckily no food went flying. What a day.

The final morning was spent packing. In packing the previous day I had thrown things all over the place making some things tricky to find. While I packed Cate and the kids went to the park and showered. I was drizzling so they waited near the shower area. Ethan and Aisha were singing the wiggles and the tunnelling effect of the block meant the entire caravan park could hear their singing. We pulled out at around 10:30 and headed for home.

We all had a great time and considering Cate and Aisha were not supposed to be with us I’m glad they missed the NZ trip and joined us. The holiday was brilliant, everyone was happy, very laid back and relaxed. The perfect entrée for our following weeks trip to Pambula.