Play with the Kids day

After 3 days of complete over-indulgence, we decided to expel some energy and play a few games  with the kids ....... well... with Dylan anyway. He is forever seeking our input and participation in playing a game with him - any game. I was already in my way into Keith to get some essential supplies from the local IGA, only to find it was closed. The bakery appeared to be doing a roaring trade so I joined the queue. What a great way to rip off the tourists. I understand that it is a public holiday and that wages are being paid, but after I parted with $18 for 2 iced coffees and 2 loaves of half stale bread, I made the decision that they won't be getting my custom again. 
I discovered the main tourist attraction of Keith. A Landrover on a pole. And they must have had a whole of town competition to put a name to this jaw dropping attraction. If only we could all meet the genius who chose the name - Landrover on a Pole.

The rest of the day was serpent playing softball with Dylan (and Taz), as well as being fascinated with the two dogs chasing each other in the newly found open space as most of the patrons packed up and headed home for the short week of work.



A bit of an interesting diversion during the afternoon was when a semi turned up to collect 30 or so sheep that were off to the butchers after ageing gracefully in the paddock.
The remaining kids in the park all crowded round and watched in fascination as the truck was loaded and the working-dogs did their stuff rounding up the sheep but it wasn't long before the truck was on the move again, and gone.

As usual, the night was rounded up with a mini bonfire 🔥 as we sat around and drank the remaining wine and reminisced about the weekend. Home tomorrow. I have the next few days off work before heading off to Coobowie with the two boys, where we are meeting up with Peter for a fishing jaunt.

Easter Bunny arrives

Despite the non believers in the Weyland campsite, the Easter Bunny still made a visit to our van  and Tyler's tent overnight. And true to form, the kids expected it and were up at 6:30 looking for some flavoursome droppings. Which meant we were all up. 

The beaming smile from Kayla gave us enough reason to try and continue the fairy tale for another year

It was a terrible day - for our bodies. We ate too much, we drank too much and we ate too much again. Amongst all this, My hay fever/ Man Flu was driving me crazy and I scoured the car and medicine box for some antihistamine. All I could find was some Sudafed, so that became the next best choice. 

Less than an hour later, I snuck into bed and was out like a comatose bear. Everyone was in and out of the van making lunch as well as cooking right outside the window, but I had no idea. What a great tablet 😜. But note to myself - don't have one of them if in a situation where a bed can't be found. 

The afternoon was literally a super unhealthy food and wine affair that resulted in a very rapid and unhealthy dinner of sausages and chicken schnitzels with a token green salad to satisfy the child welfare officers lurking behind the bushes. 

The weather has been amazing and today was no different. Mid to high 20's, beautiful clear skies and finishing off with another fire. The kids were entertained with a hosted disco that finished at 9pm, which happened to be exactly the same time we were all in bed completely exhausted from a huge day of nothing. 

Eating, Drinking, Sleeping.

We now have 14 adults with 19 kids terrorising the park. After breakfast had been cooked and cleaned up, the kids were entertained with a visit to the archery and the hay maze. Tracy took Kayla to the morning animal feeding frenzy along with another 50 or more camp kids whose parents took the opportunity to have their ferals supervised by someone else for an hour or so. 

We have decided that after 12 years of taking the kids camping and supervising them for every minute of their camping life, it is time for them to entertain themselves so we can be lazy bums and eat and drink all day. Pity the kids don't realise that. 

As night crept in and the volume level of the chit chat increased, all 34 of us migrated over to the fire and sat around some more, drinking some more, and talking about nothing some more. 

This is why we go camping. Easter Sunday tomorrow. Kayla has already told every child in the park that Easter bunny doesn't really exist, so right at this moment non believers are non receivers. 

Good Friday

I stumbled out of bed at some ridiculous time of approximately 7 o'clock and was witness to an incredible fog that cast an amazing blanket over the morning sunrise. 

As the fog lifted and the morning started, breakfast was started (on the Weber of course) and the day began. The owner has a morning ritual of blaring the truck horn signalling to all the kids and any adults wanting to be kids, that it was time to feed the animals. I was walking Taz nearby as Dylan, Tyler, Ned, Patrick, Darcy and Teddy climbed onto the hay bales on the back of the trailer and got involved in the feeding process. 

There were chooks, camels, Kangaroos,emus, Carmella the camel, goats, sheep, cows, water buffalo, reindeer....... and everyone of them had the kids involved in one way or the other giving them their breakfast 

What I thought was going to be a 20 minute exercise turned into closer to an hour and a half. (Which all my exercise did that!). But it was a very interesting tour with an amazingly friendly owner who sounded like he really did enjoy his work. 

The kids were entertained for the rest of the morning by trying their skills st archery into some painted hay bales and a few laps in the rather putrid lake in some canoes. Thankfully they agreed it was stinking and horrible and won't be asking to do that again. 

Getting back from the canoes, we discovered an ambulance tending to a poor little girl who had walked through the remains of last nights fire ashes which weren't as cold as she thought 🔥. The worrying part about this was that it was Gracie and she very quickly got raced off to the local hospital before being flown to Women's and Children's in Adelaide. Turns out it was only the top of her foot but was still a very nasty burn. 

With Nicole and Gracie in safe hands, and Rob supporting them, before we knew it, it was wine o'clock 🍷. The other 5 or so families had started turning up, the kids were multiplying every time I looked around. 

Tea was a basic meal of snags in bread with some steakettes and a token bowl of salad before we migrated to the fire. 

With the mood a little more somber as we were wondering how Gracie was, we went to bed early(ish) ready to tackle a new day. 

Keith Farmstay

Last night it dawned on me that I needed to pack. We are off for Easter with The Hardy's and The Mardle's to a place called Cockatoo Downs Farmstay about 7km East of Keith . I threw in as many clothes as I could, got all the accessories together such as chairs and tables, the went to bed. 

The plan is that I will get home from work early, have most of the car and van sorted before the kids get home from school and we will be on our way by 4..... ok, maybe 4:30. 

So I arrive home at 10 to 5. Completely not how I thought my day was going to turn out, but probably a little nicer for the boss who is not only paying for a full days work, but possibly also reading this. 

We managed to get moving at 5:35. Pretty good considering. We got all the way to Tailem Bend before the 1st stop. That's about 40 minutes drive😳

Thankfully this was also a food stop and we spent a small fortune at the local takeaway shop on chips, burgers and Yiros. 

I am guessing nearly 30 minutes  passed whilst they grew the potatoes, killed the chicken and cooked it all up for our extremely unhealthy, but very delicious, dinner in the car, and we were on our way again. We got to camp at about 8:30 and launched straight into setting up. The others were already here, and onto the second bottle of red, sitting around a large camp fire that the park has set up for anyone to gather around and dribble sh*t. 

We joined in for a few drinks around the fire and chatted about anything until finally collapsing ready for a big weekend of glamping, starting with a good fry up in the morning for breakfast.