Kapunda - Barossa's dry spot

We had planned on spending this October long weekend at the Clare Caravan park for the last 3 months. The trouble with that plan is that SA has just experienced what has been reported as "the worst storm event in 50 years" for the last 2 days. And it hasn't stopped raining for what seems like 3 weeks.

I rang on Wednesday to check if we could have fires, only to be told they were cancelling our booking due to the campground resembling Shrek's mud swamp and a 70m tree falling down due to the floating soil around its roots. 

So I started ringing around looking for alternatives around the Barossa or Clare Valley, seemingly oblivious to the fact the creeks had water levels rising on an average of a metre per hour. We managed to find 3 available sites at Kapunda, and all seemed to be falling perfectly in place. 

Except that all the roads leading to Kapunda were flooded and detours were in place. I was determined however and found that if we took the scenic route through Mt Pleasant, Angaston and Nuriootpa, then the only place we may get stuck is the last 10km. Luckily, my amazing talent in planning and research found us getting to Kapunda without incident, and passing some amazing flowing creeks. 

Another preplanned event meant that Tracy had to turn around and head back home within an hour of arriving, to take Dylan to his specialist soccer training, so I continued to potter and set up the van, all the while trying to mask out this crap weather by drinking a bottle of Red. 

It didn't work. I was so cold, even with a fire going, so I hid in the van with a heater on and watched a Stephen Seagal 3rd time repeat movie topping up with another drink or 2. 

The wind picked up, the showers kept coming, and it was just horribly cold. Hoping the weekend is going to get a whole lot better. 

Meanwhile the rest of the Barossa and Clare Valleys are now 3m under water due to the region being hit with a years rainfall in less than a week. And I am complaining about being cold.

Just as well no-one is listening to me... again.

Great weather, Stupid fish

A new day arrives, and we surface just before 7am without too much of a hangover. The wind was mostly gone and the clouds were looking a bit threatening, but weren't producing any rain, so we packed our gear and headed off to see if these Kingfish really did exist.

We stopped in the shallows where we got a heap of salmon trout yesterday, but no luck this time. Who would have thought they would actually move on from this spot in the last 15 hours.... An hour had now passed, so we headed off past the power station to the squid grounds and spent the next 45 minutes stocking up the live bait tank.

The next 5 hours was spent dragging these poor squid around 20 metres below the surface, or letting them fight against the balloon bouncing in the wind along the surface, however, we still ended up with the same result we would have got if we were back in the local pub.... nothing caught...however, as they say, a bad day fishing is a better option than being at work...... apparently. We decided that we were just not going to get any of these elusive Kingfish today, so we grabbed our tackle and headed off to the shallows for a bit of fun.

At least we were successful with this. Salmon Trout by the hundreds. Once we had enough for a feed, and with rain clouds bearing down on us, we headed back to the upper reaches of the river to see if these bloody fish actually existed and were just hiding from us.

Another hour or more passed by with us dangling our tackle in seemingly empty waters, and the day was closing in fast, so the Trout were filleted, the squid were decapitated and the boat was cleaned.

Another year has passed without any Kingfish to be seen. It was mutually agreed that this was probably the last time we were going to come here and target these fish... time to start looking for snapper methinks.

I spent the first hour after getting back to the cabin re-hydrating with a half a bottle of Bacardi whilst skinning the fish and wrapping up to put in the freezer. A follow up with a quick shower and getting dressed up in our best Sneens outfit, then meant we were then ready to visit the local establishment for a brew or two, washed down with some Pub Grub for dinner.

There was a reasonable amount of tap beers to try, but on closer inspection., West End Draught, XXXX and a light beer just weren't going to cut it today, so I downed a few too many of my favourite Coopers Pale Ale, before retiring back to the cabin..... only to find The Rocky Horror Picture Show was playing on late night TV. Despite my body screaming at me to go to bed, I sat up finishing the bottle of Bacardi chuckling unnecessarily at a show that I am not even sure is funny and singing loudly to the handful of songs I knew the words to, and making up the words to the rest. Peter was lucky enough to have fallen asleep 2 minutes after laying down, so he didn't have to listen to me belting out multiple Aria worthy performances of songs that don't even begin to make sense... especially with the words I was making up. I ended up correcting this blog at least 3 times, such was the distraction of Frankenfurter - The Sweet Transvestite singing along with me

Home tomorrow.... no more fishing. Not here anyway.
Need to spend the next week or 2 piecing together the mountains of video and pictures I have taken in the hope of making my own short movie on how to spend 3 days boating, drinking and fishing, without catching our target fish.

Stupid Weather

After planning this trip for the last 6 weeks and then making the investment of getting here, paying for the cabin and basically running the fuel tank dry and having to limp our way into the closest fuel station in Pt Auguta, we were going fishing no matter what.
The boat was ready, the fishing rods were ready, we got here 4 hours earlier than expected and it was a mild 20 degrees. Everything was just as we planned it.

Except the wind. Bloody wind. Stupid wind.
You can put up with most elements in a boat, but not the stinking wind. So there was only one obvious alternate. Off to the pub. We did actually go down to the wharf first to check out if the wind  was any less gale force. It wasn't, but we got out our rods anyway and stuck them in the water for a bit to see if anything took a fancy and had a nibble. I did actually hook up to a Salmon Trout after a small while, but as i lifted it out of the water, Troutnado scooped it up and sent it into the wind God's handbag to deliver it to some poor unsuspecting grandma gardening on the other side of the peninsula.
That was enough for me, so we went a bought a few essential supplies such as a couple of blocks of chocolate, some biscuits and a head of lettuce for Peter and then came back to get cleaned up for dinner at the pub.
On arrival, I couldn't help notice that my choice of dressing up in Sneens wasn't actually out of place here, and spent the next hour admiring the new fashion trend, even spotting a couple of pairs of black Ripples with black stretch denim jeans..... Looks like I am off to K-Mart to get me some!

We both got stuck into an average schnitzel, with a drink to wash it down with, before heading back to the cabin to watch Jason Bourne act out my life.
The weather forecast for the next 2 days, which happens to be the limit of our stay here, doesn't get any better. We decided that out of the 3 different smart phone apps we are using, one of them (SeaBreeze) shows the wind dying down at around 3pm Monday, so we would hang around until lunch and then head out.
Monday arrived. Bloody apps. Bloody weather. We got out after lunch and caught ourselves a bucket load of Salmon Trout for live bait and dinner, figuring it was too hard to attempt squidding, before heading over to the renowned Power Station wall to try our luck. Thankfully, Peter has a live bait tank on the boat, so the trout were destined to be alive and well until we chose to jam a razor sharp hook through its back with a balloon tied to the line preventing it from doing anything but getting distressed enough to attract a hungry kingfish, like a bourbon being placed in front of an alcoholic.

Pity the Kingfish didn't see our enticement the way we had intended. Either that or they were in another state sheltering from the galeforce winds that were swinging the boat 140 degrees every 20 seconds, wrapping our lines around each other with the trout not too happy with the party balloons restricting their every movement.

Our plans to sit it out till nightfall were canned as the wind was driving the light rain horizontally into the back of hour heads, despite having the extra canopy on the boat, so we gave up and headed back to the boat ramp. At least we caught something.... not quite the 1 metre plus Kingfish we were hoping for, but a dozen trout is still ok, considering the conditions.

The weather is looking just as crap tomorrow... but we are going out regardless. Cant catch them sitting back here.

The elusive Kingfish

I remember back a few years when  I went on this same fishing jaunt with Peter and a few of his mates and their boats. We stayed in a shack that would have been better described as 4 walls and a roof. It did have electricity, but didn't have   running water, which wasn't overly helpful during night 2 with a belly full of booze and 20 partially cooked crabs that decided to want to exit my body at 2am. 

Anyway, it is Sunday and Peter and I are heading off again on trip 3 to see if we can get ourselves a Kingfish or 2. It is a very plain boring drive which meant we could actually talk about life for 4 hours. But apart from discussing the strategies we would be trying to catch these buggers, the rest was just bloke dribble - which will be translated into heaps of stories when Tracy asks "what did you talk about?"  

The weather forecast is not too bad if we were only looking at temperatures. Unfortunately the wind will be pushing 40km/hr so we are hoping that is the forecast for the open water. 

It's 12:00 nearly as I write this, and we are about 100k short of Pt Augusta. This afternoon is going to be about setting up, research and the odd drink or 3. Depending on the consumption of the aforementioned drink, we could potentially head out towards dusk for a quick session, and maybe a fish as well. 

Bring on the Kingfish. 

Wine. Food. Wine. Food.

The weather was fantastic this morning. Crisp, still, cool but magnificent clear sky's. Rob and I took the dogs for their morning battle and used it as an excuse to grab an Iced Coffee and exchanged manly man tales. The dogs went ballistic on the oval and were totally exhausted again. Taz was more than happy to recover by sitting  in my lap whilst I haggled my way through a crossword. 

And with the fire started by 10am, there really was no reason to move all day. 

Somehow the day soon turned into a food fest, with the odd drop of wine. It may have started when I got the 1st bottle out at lunch time.... And it didn't take much convincing for the others to follow up with half a dozen more. 

Another walk up to the shops for the worlds most expensive bread and milk, gave me a chance to absorb some of the sights around this little country town. 

The 3 campsites we were spreading ourselves across, were certainly in need of a tidy up, but thanks to the wine and copious amounts of cheese, salami and nuts, it just wasn't going to be today. 

Taz went for his afternoon walk with Rob and the kids (and Soda), when I suddenly got a call from Rob asking if Taz was with me - he had taken off! By the time I got up and crossed over to the park, I heard the others at the camp yelling out that Taz was there (looking for me!).

He was soaking wet and shivering, so we dried him off and wrapped him up. It took a good hour to get him to stop shaking, but he was obviously exhausted and didn't move apart from being shuffled between people fighting over who was going to hold him next. 

Tea time arrived, and as the new tradition commanded, we went up to the local takeaway for our last night. 

One more chance to snap a photo of the lake before settling around the fire with even more to eat and drink. 

Tomorrow is pack up day. That means it is either going to be fantastic weather, or raining. 

Wet, Windy and Glamping

It was a beautiful sunny morning and the perfect moment to cook bacon and eggs for breakfast. (Truth be told, it wouldn't matter - bacon and eggs is the staple breakfast whilst Glamping). 

I took the dogs out for a morning run and they went mental. I keep thinking how nice it would be if they just explored with each other, but as 4 & 5 month old puppies, they only want to chase each other and get filthy. 

Then the wind and showers started again. Followed by sunshine and calmness and then more showers and wind. Thankfully the good weather is pushing through for longer than the crap weather, allowing the kids to be out exploring and is responsible adults eating and drinking at the camp sites admiring the rainbows poking through the grey skies periodically. 

After lunch, there was only one thing to do ... Crack open the wine and cheese and biscuits and wine and nibbles. And wine. 

Daniel (now more commonly referred to as "Sex on a Stick" by Olivia) was being the husband of the year by getting a constant stream of wine for the girls and topping up any food that ran out. 

I am still trying to workout how he got his nickname, but I am sure there is a reason. 

A few too many glasses of wine and the odd bourbon later, it suddenly became tea time and we had to become adults again and cook tea for the kids. And us. 

The kids are off to bed early tonight, so I cleaned up the dinner dishes whilst they showered, had dessert and then crashed. 

We finished the night with the obligatory fire, and discussing how on earth Sex on a Stick could have got his name. 

Even the dogs are exhausted tonight and have crashed. Sitting around the fire with a good red wine, lots of crap to talk about, and the risqué subjects that a campfire and alcohol combine..... This is why we love glamping. 

Milang - June 2016

Finally a long weekend arrived. It is the June long weekend, 14 degrees and raining. Perfect time to head off to a caravan park. 

Back to Milang this year. It's only 45 minutes away from our place which makes it handy for these short getaways. I am relying heavily on the weather forecast being correct for once. A few showers clearing and a nice weekend ahead. 

Ummmmm. Wrong!

I am heading down on my own again this year as the kids have their school disco tonight and with Tracy being the volunteer of the year by starting to organise things from 1pm on. They are not finishing till 9pm, so I have headed up early to set up and drink. 

If only the opening of the caravan door was as uneventful as the trip down. It appears that wine bottles need to be wrapped in something when stored inside the overhead cupboards. Not pretty seeing the results of a smashed bottle of red dripping onto the mattress and curtains. And not the best way for me to slip into camping mode. 

A couple of hours later I had managed to get over the fact that I had unnecessarily lost a bottle of wine, and started contemplating the clean up. I eventually got everything dry, but far from clean. A few bourbons in, and the care factor subsided and I continued to set up. At least the rain stopped. Oh wait, here it goes again. 

I took Taz out for a run at sunset and he went mental for 10 minutes with Soda (Rob & Nicole's Groodle). The lake looked fantastic and despite the dogs getting saturated, it was a nice end to daylight. 

I went for the incredibly lazy option of getting take-away for tea, before settling down around a fire with The Hardy's and the Mardles and Taz on my lap. The rain showers have gone, the fire is going, the bourbon is flowing. 

This beats working, any day. 

My tackle isn't working

We didn't get up quite as early as anticipated thanks to the late night yesterday and the odd drop of Bourbon. But it didn't really matter, as today was going to be focussed on a bit of beach and/or rock fishing.
The local subway was our first stop after checking out of the caravan park, where a completely healthy bacon and semi-frozen egg roll was purchased with a Farmers Union Iced Coffee to wash it down. I was annoyed at myself for doing this after spending the last 3-4 months on a semi healthy sugar free, bread free, carbohydrate free, dairy free diet (except maybe for the odd alcoholic beverage)... guess I will just have to starve myself for the rest of the week to make up for it.
We stopped off at a local Tackle shop so Peter could get his gear looked at by a couple of strapping young lads that were running the store, and then made the decision to go straight to the Murray Mouth for a session, before the winds pick up later this afternoon. We expected the Mouth to be nice and flowing after the storms a week or so ago, but they were exactly the opposite. We could almost walk out to the middle, and we could most certainly have been able to cast our lines onto the sand dredging barges if we so desired. Quite clearly the sand pumping is just not keeping up, and we are getting very nervous that the mouth is once again going to be on the brink of closing and killing off SA's once mighty river system in the next 5-10 years.
As you may have guessed, this blog is about our surrounds because once again, the Barry/Peter curse of no fish has struck again.The wind started increasing from about 11am and gradually increased until we gave up late afternoon with it blowing 40+ knots.
No pictures, no fish today..... but it doesn't matter.

A bad day's fishing is 100x better than a good day at work.

Fishing - Victor Harbor

I took an impromptu leave pass to catch up with Peter and spend some time holding our rods. We left home a little after 2pm and headed down to Victor. We checked into the old caravan park into a cabin that got last maintained 30 years ago, and started playing with our tackle. It's been a while, so we were both done in record time.

Waitpinga Beach was our destination for some salmon and we got there with about 20 minutes to spare before darkness set in. 

The waves were crashing down on the other side of the gutters and conditions looked and felt fantastic. For standing knee deep in the ocean holding our rods. Waiting. Standing. Waiting. 

There seems to always be a by-product in life, and this session was crabs. The bloody things were pouncing on our tackle the moment it got wet and wouldn't go away. 

After what seemed an eternity, I finally hooked onto a salmon and dragged it kicking and screaming onto the beach and the excitement levels began to rise for a second time on this trip. It wasn't much longer before I washed the crabs away and landed victim number 2 - this time a reasonable size. 

The smiles were flowing now, knowing that we have finally caught something on a Barry/Peter fishing trip.... Those in the know, will know that actually catching anything other than a cold and a headache from too much alcohol on these trips is very rare. 

But that was it. Getting excited more than 3 times after such a drought was just the wrong thing to do. 

We admitted defeat at about 9pm and went home. The night wasn't over however, and after a shower we went back to the bluff in search for some squid. Going out at 10pm on a Sunday night looking for squid is an amazing rarity for me, but true to our usual form, it was 2 hours of cold dark nothing. 

Midnight arrived and the uninviting bed was inviting me to bed. Tomorrow is another day of playing with our rods and tackle, hopefully with a bit more luck. 

Lest we forget

The alarm went off at what seemed to be a ridiculously early time and we rolled out of bed. Unlike the diggers 101 years ago, we quickly warmed up in about 10 layers of clothes and beanies, and set off to the local Dawn Service.

There would have been 200-300 people there already, and was suddenly joined by what seemed another 500 people that had followed the band marching from the city centre 20 minutes earlier. 

The local rep from the RSL said his piece and introduced the local Pastor to remind us that we need to be remembering the soldiers and their families, not just the day and the memorial site. 

Interestingly enough, he was less that 5 minutes into the spiel, when about a 1000 Corellas decided to fly in and roost in the trees above us. Judging by the noise they were making, I suspect they had heard the speech before and had no intention of shutting up to let the rest of us listen. The Pastor soldiered on though and eventually we got to the bugle playing. There is something about this tune when played live that sends a shiver down my spine and just lets out an amazing flood of emotion as we remember those poor soldiers and what they had to endure in their quest to provide us with the Australia as we know it today. 

We finally got back to the Caravan Park and cooked up the last hot breakfast for a while, of sausages, bacon and eggs in the true Anzac spirit. 

Then it was time to pack up and go home. I don't like this part for a multitude of reasons - firstly because it symbolises my holiday is over, and secondly because it means my entire afternoon revolves around unpacking and cleaning. According to Tracy, the latter is apparently a chore that needs to be borne by all parties in our family, so complaining about how tired I am and trying to sneak off to lie down, isn't a wise idea. 

I did eventually get to lie down at 8:30, and was asleep at 8:35.

I blame it on the hay fever tablets and pain killers for my neck.... It definitely has nothing to do with my age and/or superior fitness levels. 

Another holiday over.... Until next time. 

A day of not much

We woke up to another magnificent sunny morning with lots of ideas for the day, but very little motivation. Some of the group weren't feeling overly well after yesterday's wine drinking and over-eating, which didn't really matter too much considering we were going to do absolutely nothing again today.

After cooking up another hot breakfast of bacon and eggs, I took Taz out to the big oval with Dylan for a bit of fun intermingled with a bit of puppy training. 

I then went for a walk with Taz to look for the local RSL as we were intending to go to the Dawn Service tomorrow morning, as we do every Anzac Day, regardless of where we are. I found it to be literally across the park on the other side of the road from the caravan park, so it was all set to walk here in the morning. It was about now that Taz sat down and refused to walk anymore. No amount of coaxing could get him to take more than 2 steps without sitting again for a few minutes, so I resigned myself to the fact I was carrying him from here back to the caravan. Carrying a black ball of fluff that size doesn't help promote any manly manliness look I may be trying to present, but it does have a lot of people stopping to talk, which isn't always a bad thing.

Funnily enough though, despite his complete exhaustion and inability to walk any further, when I got to the big oval and put him down without his lead on, he took off quicker than a 6 year old lad who had just eaten a bag full of sugar. 

He finally tired out and lay on the lush green grass like a big ball of fluff. He is an amazingly good puppy, and has certainly changed the attitudes of our family, with the kids (and maybe me just a little), enjoying every moment spent with him. 

We set about cooking up some lunch on the WeberQ (as this is where every meal of the day is produced), and then settled down to an afternoon of wine, cheese and mettwurst (becoming all too familiar methinks). 

Daniel, being the sensible non-drinker amongst us, spent the next hour checking out and fiddling with his erection until I finally got up and helped by holding his pole so he could sit back and see what it looked like. When he was finally satisfied and agreed that the awning was set up correctly, we headed over to the far oval to watch the men's division 5 soccer thrash if out for the next 90 minutes. 

We then headed back and set up the tv to watch the second semi final between western Sydney Wanderers and Brisbane Roar. What an amazing game of soccer. 4-4 at full time, with Sydney finally coming out on top with a 5th goal. Can't wait to see the final at Adelaide Oval next week. 

Getting ready for bed due to an early start in the morning, and with a chronic neck strain at the moment, I don't imagine there is going to be much sleep tonight. Maybe another glass of port may help. 

Winery day

Today was our day to visit the wineries. The kids had not been looking forward to this day, but they knew it was coming and were very gracious in defeat. 

In the end, we only visited two - Charles Melton and Grant Burge. We grabbed a couple of bottles from each and I also forked out for a bottle of 10 year old tawny, before heading back. To show the kids our appreciation of their patience, we stopped off for a hot chicken and chips for a late lunch. That was like giving them all their birthdays at once and we could feel the love flowing for at least 2 minutes. 

Not long after, Nicole and Rob and kids turned up and the cheese platters with metwurst and copious amounts of wine started flowing. And flowing. And flowing.  Once again, the law stepped in and reminded us that we had to actually feed the kids before sending them to bed, and I managed to cook up a storm of sausages and some fantastic marinaded pork steaks. 

The Hardy's took off at a stage when Rob was still hoping, and Nicole was ready to start telling the kids one of her infamous stories, and the Mardles and ourselves braced ourselves for the cold night with a bottle of Bailey' and a bottle of Tawny Port (not together!). 

Looking forward to another day tomorrow of doing not much (except maybe a cheese and Metwurst platter with a few bottles of wine. ). And maybe a few more bottles. 

Why we love camping

As predicted, yesterday was all about not much really. Taz slept through the night again (Yay!!!) and the kids even slept in till nearly 7am (when the *^%# did 7am become a sleep in???). After the mandatory bacon and eggs breakfast, I took Taz over to the soccer oval with the kids for a run around, and after about 15 minutes, I was knackered. Taz on the other hand, was still chasing the ball and generally doing what a puppy should be doing - having fun.

I recovered shortly after and went exploring the park with the kids, and before we knew it, lunch time arrived. A healthy dose of hot dogs later and it was time for a siesta. And a wine... Or 2 .... We are in The Barossa, so it is fully justified. Even though it is only just noon. 

Anyway, 4-5 bottles later and a great big cheese and metwurst platter later, the afternoon was suddenly gone. 

It was a beautiful sunset to end the day, but that also meant we had to be responsible parents for a moment. 

Tea was only made because apparently it is law to feed the kids, regardless of how much we have eaten or drunk. So after burning the marinade and serving half raw chicken with a token salad, we set about getting the tv sorted to watch the Adelaide United soccer semi final. It was a great game and even better to see them smash Melbourne City 4-1. Might even head to the game next week. The only bit that was difficult to deal with was the freezing cold weather - cold enough to freeze Taz's new bits, but Tyler took good care by wrapping him in his arms for most of the night. 

Taz goes on holiday - Anzac weekend

 We made a semi-last minute decision to head off on Thursday night instead of Friday morning (well I did anyway... And it feels kind of good to be a real man and make a decision of my own 😀). 

We picked Tyler up from soccer practice just after 6pm with the van firmly hitched on the back and set off on our great big adventure. The big trip this weekend was going to take us all the way to Nuriootpa- about a whole hour away. These short trips have become a bit of a favourite with us. Whilst I enjoy driving, I enjoy sitting around a caravan with a bourbon and coke a whole lot more. 

This was our first trip away with Taz, our little Spoodle, who is getting way too spoiled already in the 3 weeks we have had him. He had now passed the 12 week old mark, which is where I think we need to start ageing him in months, rather than weeks. He slept through the night last night, and I am sincerely hoping that is how it will be every night from now on, especially these next 4 nights when he will be less than 2 metres away from us all INSIDE the caravan. 

We got here about 7:30 and I was sitting down with a brew shortly after, with Taz comfortably curled up on my lap, also enjoying the glamping life. 

I have an annual leave day tomorrow and the weather is going to be around 20 degrees and sunny. Perfect weather to go to the wineries in this beautiful part of the Barossa Valley methinks. (Also perfect weather to sit around, eat some metwurst and cheeses and drink some wine. Tough choices ahead). 

As it was dark when we got here, I don't really know what this park has to offer although the kids were pretty chuffed with the playground they found earlier. Time to crash and dream about glamping life for the next 4 days. 

 

Easter Monday

After a rather cold night and even a semi decent sleep in, we had a slow start to the day. I cooked up some eggs and bacon for me and the kids whilst Tracy had another couple of hours sleep in, and then I went for an easy stroll into Naracoorte to get done supplies. Sitting around on the day that everyone else is packing up is always amusing, watching people's methodical packing to fill every last hole in their trailer or van ready for the trek back to reality. Stone stage I nearly got up to offer Rob some assistance when he was reversing the car up to his van, but I was saved at the final siren when Nicole realised she was about to get an earful if she wasn't standing at the towbar giving the loving left/right/keep coming/ STOOOPPPP/too far signals. 

We said our goodbyes to Rob, Nicole anc the Hardg kids and sat back down contemplating what was going to happen for the rest of the day. 

We had lunch then took the kids down to th mini golf at the front of the park, where they realised there was actually some skill required in getting a 30mm ball into a 100mm hole. After much arguing and a few amazingly lucky "hole-in-ones", the scores were added up and despite my efforts to rig the scores for an even finish, Tyler won by 4 hits..... But suddenly Dylan remembered he told me the wrong score at least twice meaning he actually won by 1 shot. Well done Dylan. 

The afternoon was spent much like the last few, with very little movement other than to get a new bottle of wine or refill  the cheese and meat platter. But even that slowed right down as we all realised that after 3 days of doing this, our bodies were telling us that enough was enough. 

Tomorrow is Tazday and we finally get our new Spoodle puppy. I think I am probably looking forward to that the most. Not sure why, but the reason doesn't matter. 

Didn't take a single photo today. Have been very self centred methinks. 

Easter Sunday - Chocolate for breakfast.

After a rather big night for some (surprisingly not me..), Easter Bunny turned up overnight. Dylan woke up at about 6am pretending he needed to go to the toilet, however I strongly suspect it was more to do with asking if he was allowed to start on his eggs for early breakfast. 

The camp had an egg hunt at 9:30 that seemed to attract well over 100 kids, but actually turned out ok as the owners took  all eggs found and distributed them fairly. 

We took off mid morning to the local playground for the kids and then to the Naracoorte Caves to recreate some photos from 2010. 

We got back to camp for lunch and despite the 20 degree overcast weather, I took the opportunity to go for a swim with the kids (it was my way of celebrating Easter I guess). 

The afternoon then quickly degenerated into a cheese and meat platter with a few too many bottles of wine. This is what glamping is all about. 

Easter Saturday - is that a holiday?

Today was a whole lot cooler - almost to the point of uncomfortably cold. The kids were full of energy, so someone made the stupid suggestion of doing a kids vs adult soccer game on the adjoining oval... So off we went. 4 kids who have spent their life playing soccer, vs 4 adults who have spent their life driving their kids to soccer and very rarely have run around a soccer pitch... If ever. 

We played close to 25 minutes of full on running and generally being hammered by these little sports superstars and it was only due tithe super human efforts of Rob in goals that saw us call half time at 0-0. After gasping in some much needed oxygen for the next 10 minutes, we stupidly agreed to start the next half. Nicole kindly agreed to go goalie for this half, which seemed like a good idea at the time. 

2 goals later by the boys and we were reassessing that decision. But we just called it quits instead. I felt like I had just exercised enough for the next few weeks and strolled back to the caravan for a well earned rest. 

After lunch, it got colder. And colder. We had the mandatory cheese and meats platter come out, with some wine, but I still couldn't get warm, so I did the only plausible thing I could do on a camping trip. I went to bed. 

3 hours later I emerged feeling much better to find the girls well and truly settled into about the 5th bottle of wine and an empty platter. The night was young... So young it was still afternoon. 

Time for me to join in. 

The kids were off to see Pan the movie at the camp movie screen which gave us another hour or two, then not long after they were in bed. 

We spent the night sitting around again recounting how awesome we were at soccer, drinking a few more wines and eating a huge mix of chocolate goodies. 

Easter bunny is coming overnight, so we need to keep enough sense about is to remember to hide the kids stash for the

morning. 

Naracoorte - Good Friday

It was cold this morning. *^%}€ cold. Although a quick check on the car thermometer said it was 11 degrees, so I am guessing we must have just been in a little pocket of freezing air in the van. We finally got up and cooked up a storm in the Weber for breakfast, before the kids took off to play while we cleaned up. 

10am arrived and the kids were ready for the huge public pool that was adjacent to the park. This pool would be about an acre in diameter, is fully chlorinated and starts with sand and ends up as 2m deep in the middle. And it is free!

We went back in the afternoon and I even ventured in, trying hard to not overflow the pool when I jumped in off the platforms in the middle. 

Upon returning to camp, finding the girls (Tracy, Nic and Livvy) well into their 3rd bottle of champagne, I decided to join in and have a drink or two myself. Between tending to the kids, cleaning up and just not doing much more, it was suddenly dinner time. The kids were off at the camp kitchen watching an outdoor movie  of "Oddball", I cooked up the kebabs and that was the day done. 

Getting cold again already, but nothing that a few more drinks can't help to disappear. 

Naracoorte - Easter 2016

It only seems like 2 months since we arrived back from our last caravan holiday ... It was actually exactly 2 months since returning from Tasmania and I have been so looking forward to getting away again. 

I was home at midday to pack the final few things in the van until the kids got home from school at 3:45. My thoughts of ambling along got a rude shock when I  was still packing when they got home. We finally set off only to be greeted with traffic stopped just up the road, and it took nearly 20 minutes to travel 1.5km. My temperature was rising by the second, the kids faces were buried in their iPads already, and Tracy was asleep. I am sure there is a reason I like going on caravan holidays. 

We got all the way to Tailem bend (about 65km) before the first child needed a toilet stop. I am sure Tracy was secretly glad also, but would never admit it. 

We managed to get to Keith to the kids favourite playground before the next toilet request and a quick leg stretch. And then set off for the final leg. Unfortunately this 100km section was completely roadworks ridden, meaning the speed limit was 80km/hr the whole way... Apparently.... Every car and truck roared past obviously very annoyed at me obeying the roadwork speed limits. Even though I would probably only be doing 85 if the works wasn't limiting me. 

Anyway, it was nearly 9pm when we did finally arrive, and then I had to enter the "let the wife direct while backing the van in" zone. Not sure whether it was because it was dark, or just because I was about to burst a kidney if I didn't get to the loo soon, but 4 attempts later I ended up just driving thru the site and stopping wherever it looked good. 

After setting up, we settled in with the Mardles and Hardy's having  a drink or 2 and talking sh%t, hoping for good weather for the rest of the weekend. 

Adelaide Shores - The calm after the storm

Waking up this morning to relatively calm weather and blue skies was a very welcome start to the day after yesterday's wind and sideways rain. The kids couldn't wait to get onto the jumping pillow and then into the pool. We all had breakfast and then off they went. When Tyler and his cousin Ned popped back for a drink an hour later, I took them down to the beach for a walk and to see what damage the pounding water and wind had done to the foreshore. The water was incredibly warm and if I had my bathers and there were a few less early morning walkers, I may have just about slipped my top off and rolled down the sand into the water. I reckon if I had though, the waves would have pretty well pushed me straight back onto the sand dunes and buried me into the sand head first to end up looking like a dis-used bike rack. 

The rest of the day was all about the kids and was spent swapping between the pool, jumping pillow and splash park. 

Finally it came out time to have some cheese and nibbles and a few well earned drinks with the kids playing a bit closer to camp. 

The sudden realisation that it was getting late made us jump up and start cooking tea, which was a huge BBQ spread across 3 cooks to serve 6 adults and 9 kids - 8 of them being 11 years or younger. After eating just about everything that was cooked and then somehow forcing in a cake, we sat back and contemplated the reason we were here .... Tracy's mum and dad have been married for 50 years. A remarkable effort and congratulations to them.