Victor Harbor - not as cool as you think

This morning was once again great weather, cloudy, coolish with a hint of warmth poking through the clouds. It was forecast to be hot and windy today, and judging by the current weather I was ready to bet a bottle of bourbon that it was a wrong prediction.
Luckily for me I am not a betting man... by lunch time it was stinking hot and blowing 40km/hr winds. The Mardles had decided today wasn't going to be pleasant enough for them, and took off early this morning to spend the day back in their air-conditioned house. The only disadvantage to this was that they couldn't stay and see their camper trailer annex being blown apart with tent poles smashing down into their gear every time a gust ripped through and turned their annex inside out. After the second time of trying to repair it, Rob and I dismantled the annex and poles and left it packed up so that it didn't end up on Granite Island by the end of the day.
And then the stay vs go discussions started.
Being the Easy-to-get-along-with and non-opinionated bloke that I am, I dug my heels in and said NO!!. We were booked in for another night and I didn't care that the forecast was for 25 degrees minimum overnight and that we didn't have power so therefore no cooling / fans. And besides, the wind was forecast to stop 3 hours ago, so it wont be long now before it actually does stop. We are staying, Goddammit.
Less than an hour later, I was in the middle of packing up the van despite the 36 degree temperature and gentle breeze that made it feel an extra 5 degrees hotter. I also wasn't speaking to anyone, nor were certain people speaking to me. I love camping.

At one stage I felt hotter than a rhino in the middle of the African desert ( and quite possibly looked about as appealing), so i stormed over to the pool and jumped in to cool down. About 10 minutes later I had cooled down (on the outside anyway) and managed to get out just before the Whale Watch Centre staff came to see if I was going to make it onto their list.
Not long after we were all packed up and in the car, soaking up the air conditioning and the journey home began.

The balmy night proved pretty difficult to sleep in, even with the ceiling fans roaring overhead. There was no way in this lifetime I was going to say that out loud though.

I had Tuesday booked off work on the assumption that I wasn't a fair-weather camper and would be still away, so I spent the day doing stuff around the house, spending more money at Bunnings on stuff, and just generally keeping busy doing stuff. By the end of the day I was stuffed.
Another Holiday done.... time to get ready for work tomorrow to pay for the last 4 days... (which should have been 5 days, but I am not starting that again!)

Victor Harbor - another day of nothing

'Twas a glorious morning when we stumbled out of the van at some ungodly hour this morning. Apparently the kids didn't understand that winding the clocks forward an hour for Daylight Savings meant it was still too early to get up.

Just trying to get Dylan to slow down enough to eat breakfast was an exercise in itself, because at 8:30 the jumping pillow was opened. And sure enough, at 8:27 he was gone. Which is one of the many reasons why we love our caravan holidays.... When the kids are so excited about being outside having fun, I have no intention of getting in their way. 

Tracy's long time friend Eva (who lives nearby in Victor) turned up just after 10:30 with her 3 kids and we all headed off to the pool. It was still only in the very low 20's and overcast, but it didn't worry the kids... For 1/2 an hour or so anyway. 

Soon they were back on the jumping pillow and I took off into Victor as it seems I ran out of alcohol yesterday...(a good 3/4 bottle just seemed to vanish...) and got some supplies that we were running short of. And yes, it was Woolworths that received my money... A now mandatory stop when on holidays it seems. 

When I got back, the champagne was already flowing, and I joined in with my newly purchased bottle of bourbon. It was probably a good half dozen empty bottles later when Kayla wanted some attention, so I took her and Gracie to the beach to cool down a bit. We took Banjo (the Hardy's 10 year old Labrador that is looking closer to 20) and spent a little while paddling and watching the girls and their enjoyment of jumping one foot waves. 

We waddled back (literally with Kayla complaining of having half the sand from the beach still in her bikinis) and Banjo stopping every two steps pretending to smell the ground when he was really stopping for a rest due to the cracking pace of 10 metres an hour we were walking. 

The kids did manage to find a funny moment of dressing Banjo in the floaty starfish, and like the good responsible adults we are, we cracked up laughing and took as many photos as we could before Banjo moved... Only to realise that moving after a 100m walk wasn't one of Banjo's immediate thoughts!

We got back to a huge plate of cheeses, biscuits and dips, and my fleeting thoughts of dieting took another 3 day reprieve as I got stuck into the Udder Delights Camembert. 

Before we knew it, the clock had ticked passed 5:30 and the kids were starting to  do the usual "I'm hungry" complaints, so I became a contender for father of the year by abandoning my bourbon and Coke, and the not so sober trio of girls,  and started cooking up tea for us all. We were having Yiros tonight, so I do need to give credit to Tracy who actually thought of that at 9am this morning and got the chicken out to defrost, rather than having me staring at the fridge complaining that we had nothing to eat. 

The weather is supposed to be 35 degrees & windy tomorrow with a low of 23 tonight. It is currently about 14 so someone has got it wrong again. 

We have just managed to devour about 4  family sized blocks of chocolate and another few bottles, so the temperature isn't the foremost issue right now... Rather it is the thought of needing to go to bed even tho it is just 9pm and then how many times we will have to get up and go to the loo. 

Either way, it is too cold, and there was a faint hint of a promise with an early bed time, so I am gone.... (The I remembered the "we are camping - bigger off" rule, 

Much warmer in bed anyway. 

Over and out. 

Victor Harbor - Grand Final day

Woke up this morning to the sound of the kids whispering to each other whil playing a game on their beds big it wasn't 6:15am, I would have thought it was cute... However my inner niceness helped me to appreciate that they were at least trying to be quiet so I rolled over and went back to sleep for an hour. 

When I did finally roll out of bed and give the suspension on the van a bit of a rest, I momentarily thought about going for a run, but then chose to cook a bacon and egg sandwich instead. 

We then set off with the Hardy's and Mardles for a walk around Granite Island, which quickly turned into Rob, Ned, Tyler and myself walking round the track , whilst the others took all the other kids back to check out the Clydesdale horses and surrounds. 

The boys took it upon themselves to climb every rock that they could find, with Ned tripping on top of the tallest rock and Rob screaming profanities in the hope that Ned will stop himself falling and look up to see and hear what is being said.... Yeah right...  Ned did manage to get down in one piece and promised not to fall over again.... Yeah right😜. 

The Northerly winds were blowing a good 30 knots at this stage, so we pushed on along the trail, stopping momentarily to check out a stumpy tailed lizard before heading back along the bridge and catching up with the girls...

I was suffering big time at this stage from hay fever, so promptly lay down and fell asleep. 

I woke up about 10 minutes before the Hawks took on West Coast in the grand Final and set up the TV, but then decided the environment was a little less stressful sitting at the pool with the Rob and the kids, leaving Nic and Tracy watching the footy, and with the breeze blowing across the water, was also a hell of a lot cooler. 

Dinner tonight was a shared curry, which was a fantastic way of trying different meals, until I ended up chewing on a chilli that was part of Nicole's offering and set my mouth on fire, Still... It was a great selection of curries and enjoyed by all. 

Tomorrow is going to be slightly cooler, but no wind - I interpret that as hotter

Victor Harbor - a good decision

After what turned out to be a fairly freezing evening, we all crashed after a few drinks and lots of chocolate and had a good nights sleep. Well..... I did and wouldn't really have any idea what anyone else slept like......  

Morning broke and it was still a little cool but quickly watmed up into a perfect shorts and singlet type of camping day. 

I shot into Victor to get some supplies, including the toothbrushes that at least 2 of us had forgotten to pack, then sat lazing in the sun pondering over my "That's Life" puzzle book whilst the others watched the kids at the pool for a while. Whilst I was there on my own, I started pondering over my erection skills and tried to figure out how to make it bigger and better... Cos that's what blokes do. It soon came to me that I needed to head back into Victor, and before I knew it, I had my hands on some poles that would do perfectly. 

Getting back to campsite, I started banging and securing until my poles were as tight as they could get, and finally had an extra 6 square metres of shade that would be perfect for filtering the afternoon sun. I had to actually add even more during late arvo as the sun got lower, but i was happy to keep extending my erection to satisfy everyone around me. 

We may have then got stuck into the drinks a little too hard too early, do I pulled out and took the kids to the pool so they could cool down whilst I followed the world in Facebook. 

Getting back to the caravan a little while later, I discovered Tracy and Liv had now seen their way thru 3 bottles of champers and I could tell I was on the cusp of either sending everyone away for 30 minutes ( OK , 2, but 30 sounds better....) or give up hope and have another drink myself. Seeing as it wasn't quite 4pm yet, I chose the latter and joined in with the merriment until Tea time arrived. We had a perfectly cooked BBQ for tea, thanks to my Weber skills, then set the kids loose again for an hour to expel the last of their energy. 

Early to bed for the kids, then out with the wine and more chocolate.... And more wine. 

A huge improvement on the temperature tonight.... Still in shorts and singlet at 10 pm.... But it is time to call it a day,

I love my camping - and drinking. Or should I have said I love my drinking - and camping. 

Victor Harbor - Cooler than Melrose apparently

So for the last 3 months we have been planning our October long weekend holiday to Melrose with Dylan getting more excited than a flock of circling eagles waiting for a rabbit to die on the track , and to actually climb to the top of Mt Remarkable past the plane wreck milestone of a few years ago. This winter has been long, cold and miserable so I was itching to go North where it was going to be warm and dry........ And then the plans got changed. The forecast was for 31-34 degrees for the 5 days, which now is described as too hot after enduring 13 degrees or less for the last 5 months, and the decision was made to go down South with a pool and/or beach.... Or in our case, both.

So Victor Harbor becomes the new Melrose.......

What I did like about it was the 1 hour drive from home, the 30 minutes setup and the ensuing "relax with a drink" moments that followed. 

The kids took off to an outdoor screening of Paddington, while we chatted to the Hardy's, listening to Rob's detailed account of his Jayco Swan and its 2 1/2 hour setup procedure, with Rob's love of their van diminishing quicker than his patience. 

Not long after, Olivia and Daniel turned up with Livvy immediately getting out and demanding a quick erection so she can sit down and have a wine.... And a drink. So Daniel diligently got it up as quick as he could, without making too much mess, and fulfilled Liv with her desire to have a deserved stiff drink. Their camper trailer really is a breeze to set up. 

We are back in the our van... And we love it. Ahhhhhh

Not too many people here yet... Nice and quiet. Suspect it is going to get rowdy over the weekend tho.