Around Australia

I thought about saving this for a Humpday Holiday post but I couldn’t wait till Wednesday. And besides, I already have an idea for this Wednesday’s holiday and it’s a good one.

Kate from Fox’s Lane has taken off with her farmer boy and three daughters to travel around Australia in a caravan. She recently wrote this post about everything she wants to remember about their trip so far and it got me reminiscing about a similar trip (from Cairns to Bowral the long way) that my family took in 1988. I was nine (almost ten) at the time and I remember a lot, mostly due to the many many photos we took and our journals. I dug out my journal yesterday along with the family journal/scrapbook we kept.

Leaving Cairns:

My first diary entry:

I suppose I’ll get used to boring car rides. So grateful for this experience! And it seems Ingham was a highlight.

From the family scrapbook:

I can clearly remember the keys getting locked in the car. I guess I was worried we’d be stuck there.

From my diary again:

They were great. I took a photo.

One more from the family scrapbook:

I remember this day too. Driving through rivers that had big warning signs about crocodiles and watching European tourists wading through the water to find the best route. Yikes. We preferred the wait for another car and follow it method. And the dust. It covered everything.

In case I didn’t say it at the time, thanks Dad, it was a great experience!

I was lucky enough to return to the outback in 1995 on a school trip. I kept a journal then too, we all did, but it’s more a collection of letters from friends. I found it yesterday too:

This handy map, drawn by a friend, shows “the idiots who stayed home” and “us now. Cool!”

An actual entry from me:

Still on the Oodnadatta Track. Still dusty.

I found other travel journals in the box too – India, SE Asia, Morocco – perhaps I’ll share some pages from these for future Humpday Holiday entries. It’s pretty funny comparing mine to Dave’s. Mine are very factual, where we went, what we ate, where we stayed, how we got there. Dave can write pages about how he felt visiting a temple. I’m glad we have both.

So I wish Kate and her family well on their adventure and look forward to following along on the now travel blog. Nine year old me would have loved to skip with her girls at a caravan park.

Humpday Holiday – Blue Mountains

This week’s Humpday Holiday is a little closer to home and a little more likely to be repeated sometime soon. I love the Blue Mountains in winter.

Dave was there a few weeks ago walking and camping but my style of Blue Mountains holiday is a little…cosier. Give me a nice warm cottage and a hot water bottle in bed please. There will be excursions out into the cold, perhaps some short walks and sight seeing, but also plenty of time for browsing in stores and stopping for coffee or hot chocolate and yummy things.

My grandparents honeymooned in Katoomba (from Sydney.) I remember a trip with lots of cousins when I was little and a ride on the zig-zag railway. A teenage visit to Jenolan Caves. Dave and I spent a weekend in Katoomba long before kids. We stayed right across from the Three Sisters lookout and it was so foggy we didn’t see them all weekend. The photo above was taken in 2008 on a long weekend trip staying with a group of friends and lots of kids in a big house. That was fun. Let’s do that again.

Happy days

Dave and I had such a lovely time in Brisbane. As soon as we had checked into the hotel we headed out and caught a ferry to New Farm to visit New Farm Deli. We got takeaway and ate it in the park and it was every bit as delicious as we had remembered. And the weather was lovely and sunny and we lay in the park and watched other families playing and missed Lillian a little bit.

On Sunday morning we walked up the hill and round under the bridge to another part of New Farm where we used to live. I used to do that walk every day to work but was obviously fitter (and less pregnant) back then! We were headed for The Little Larder, a neighbourhood cafe just around the corner from our old flat. We had to queue for half an hour or so but it was worth it and we had a yummy breakfast and missed living there a little bit.

We spent the rest of Sunday just wandering around, down to Fortitude Valley and then around South Bank. It was really fabulous weather and there were even people swimming at the beach/pool at South Bank. We had dinner at a restaurant by the river with a view of the bridge and were back in the hotel by 9 watching tv in bed. Such a novelty!

We were both excited to see Lillian again on Monday and I think she was pleased to see us too, even though she didn’t want to leave Nonna’s house.

Dave flew off again on Tuesday and spent the week on the Gold Coast for work. He got back late last night and it’s good to be all home together again. We spent this morning having coffee and a muffin at Roladoor, a little op-shop browsing and a trip to the park. Dave and Lil are off having a swim now (back to lessons tomorrow) and I have been cleaning out the playroom which has looked like a disaster zone since Lil’s birthday. Much better now.

Hope you are having a nice weekend too!

Last weekend, this weekend

Last weekend we attended the Calmbirth course in Bowral. It was well worth going to, even as second timers, and we now feel more confident in our ability to have the sort of birth we’re aiming for. Which is pretty much the sort of birth we aimed for last time (except this time we’re aiming for home instead of a birth centre) but due to various turns of events didn’t get. Lillian had two whole days of fun with Pa and Nanna Pam while we were at the course. Can you see her?

Tomorrow Dave and I are off to Brisbane for two nights while Lillian stays with Nonna. I’ve been looking up the cafes we used to enjoy as well as some newer ones that sound worth trying. I think the weekend’s activities will revolve around where to eat next, which sounds good to me. We lived in Brisbane for 20 months in 2003/2004, moving there just after we got engaged and leaving eight months after we got married, having decided on our honeymoon to try out living overseas for a while. And so this blog was born! It’ll be good to go back.

Road trip

According to google it takes 6.5 hrs to drive to Parkes but it took us about 9 with stops along the way. First stop was Merriwa where we discovered the Festival of the Fleeces taking place. Sheep galore! We had lunch at the RSL and watched the parade and running of the sheep (wearing leg warmers) before heading on our way.

Next stop (not including the two roadside toilet stops and one jacket removal stop for Lil) was Dubbo where we visited with Emma and Shane who were in town for the weekend from Sydney. I got to snuggle their very cute five week old baby.

Back in the car, we made it to Parkes just before 6pm and headed out for dinner at Bella’s. Yummo! This restaurant  is owned by friends of Tim and Zoe’s and the food was absolutely delicious. You must visit next time you find yourself in Parkes.

Sunday was zoo day so we drove the hour and a half back to Dubbo. The zoo was fun but Lillian was way more excited by the playground than the actual animals.

On the way back to Parkes, at sunset, we stopped at The Dish and Tim gave us a behind the scenes tour. Zoe kept Lil amused in the office below while Tim led Dave and I up into the inner workings of the telescope. This was a pretty impressive place to watch the sunset from. When asked what the best part of the weekend was Lillian said it was The Dish so Zoe must have done a good job too.

I was a little apprehensive about the drive home on Monday, thinking Lil would be way over car trips by this point. But she did great and despite not napping (at ALL all weekend) was mostly pleasant company. We had a coffee/petrol stop in Dubbo, lunch in Dunedoo with a play in the park, and ice-cream at Sandy Hollow. We made it home about 6.30pm and were all in bed as soon as possible after.