And the heat goes on

We actually got a sleep in today. It was almost 9am before I started stirring, at which time I was immediately pounced upon by the kids because they are “starving”. It was also very hot already. I hadn’t taken much notice of today’s forecast, however I quickly realised that it was going to hit the maximum of 35 very early.
Perfect weather for spending the day out on the kayaks on Lake Albert. 
It is less than a metre deep for as far as you can walk out, so we have told the kids they are allowed out on their own as long as they don't drown. (trying for the parent of the year award with that one...) 

The real worry with it being so shallow was if there was enough water under the kayak to allow me to sit in it without become stuck in the mud below....... Luckily, the science of buoyancy allows even me to float on a kayak, so I also ventured out a couple of times
The poor kayak was turned into a green iceberg where 90% of it was under water leaving a 5mm lip above the sinking line as I paddled around trying my best to use my awesome core muscles and stay upright (it is not as easy as it looks...... especially with the kayak wanting to come up for a breath of air every couple of minutes !)
I finally mastered it, at which time i stopped so that i could finish on a positive note.
Tracy and her dad went out later on looking the part with their synchronised rowing as they vanished through the reeds.

It was a beautiful night with the weather hovering in the high 20's late into the evening. The mandatory Weber BBQ produced some awesome hamburgers from a mix i made during the week at home, and of course were cooked perfectly.
I was exhausted from a full day in the sun, and trying to stay afloat. A few drinks, some TV and general chit chat rounded up the day.
Looking forward to another day of the same tomorrow.

Meningie - a not so short trip

Yet again, despite all my best intentions, it was after 5pm before we were motoring down the road for our next adventure. 

I had got the car and van packed in record time and even got my special 1st Aid pack sorted, ready for the following 3 days. 

We got an impressive 50m before I noticed how heavy the van was and realised I forgot to plug in the lights and brakes.  Luckily we live on a series of no through roads so I could stop where I was and plug it all in without worrying about other traffic. 

I had heard the the freeway was closed due to a serious car accident near Tailem Bend, so we (ok.... I ) decided to head through Wistow, Langhorne Creek, across the ferry at Wellington and then down to Meningie. Much nicer option than sitting in traffic in 34 degree heat for what could be hours while they clean up   It was a pleasant drive, listening to the kids argue about anything and everything whilst Tracy pretended to be asleep next to me and the dog continuously climbed over us all looking for the best vantage spot. 

We had just reached Wistow when I heard on the radio that the freeway was cleared, but decided to push on anyway as ithis route was only about 5km longer and a much more pleasant drive. 

Before I knew it, we were at Wellington, waiting for the ferry.

Along with about 60 other cars in front of us.

The ferry takes about 10 cars at a time, with a 12 minute round trip. It was at this time I was visited by Grumpy Barry which resulted in the family going for a walk with the dog to the river, leaving me to boil in my own steam knowing that we were here for the next hour to travel 300m. Thankfully there was a breeze blowing which kept me cool as it dissipated the steam coming from my ears, and a few old buildings to stare at and allow me to remember it is the journey, and not the destination that makes the best holidays.

Almost exactly an hour later, I was at the front of the queue and driving onto the ferry. Thankfully the remainder of the trip was less than 30 minutes more. We did have to pull over with about 5km to go, thanks to the sound of a Kayak about to fall off the roof racks. They were still tied on tight, and the sudden realisation that I was standing in the worlds biggest bull ant nest with my best camping thongs, got me back in the car quicker than the million flies buzzing around my head and we were off again. 

We got to camp right on sunset, at which time I could start experiencing the joys of Tracy making me adjust the level-ness of the caravan 1mm at a time until a marble wouldn’t roll off the inside table. (Luckily I am excellent at doing this, so I just smiled and rocked the car back and forth until she was happy.)

A couple of hours later it was all done. The boys swags were up, tea had been microwaved and eaten, a bourbon went missing out of the fridge - time to sit and relax. 

Going to be a hot one tomorrow - perfect for the kayaks. 

Driving in circles

After half the crew packed up and went home, we decided to go for a drive with the Hardy’s to Corny Point and then another few km further on to a place called Pine Point. It was reported to have great hot chips, despite it being a small general store selling everything to the 40 shacks in the town, including fuel, groceries and of course hot chips.

The rumour was true - the best hot chips I have had for many  months. 

Back to Corny Point, we took off down the dirt track to the lighthouse and amazing rugged coastline. 

The kids were getting restless, wanting to get into the water and go swimming. There was nowhere nearby suitable, so we ventured down to Gleeson’s Landing, only to discover later on that I should have turned right and not left if we wanted a sandy beach. By this time, the restlessness was turning into grumpiness, and the kids weren’t overly happy either, so we decided to go back to the surf area next to the Caravan Park. Which we could have walked to if we hadn’t chosen to drive around the peninsula for the last 3 hours. 

The boys surfed, Kayla buried herself in the sand and I watched a group of seals out beyond the breakers. 

After tea, we joined the remaining families and went for a final walk down the beach, snapping some photos and reminiscing. 

Tomorrow we leave, which is timely considering the forecast for rain from midnight tonight and generally horrible weather. 

A day on the boat

From about 4pm yesterday afternoon, the wind was howling and the possibility of getting out in the boat was looking pretty slim. Even at 7am this morning the wind was still rattling the van, but I took off anyway with Tyler and Dylan hoping the forecast was correct and that it would be calm in another hour or two.

Sure enough, by the time we arrived st Coobowie the wind had slowed right down and by the time we got out on the water, it was perfect conditions. 

Dylan was bursting out of his skin to do anything that would make his mum’s stress levels rise, so he was beaming when Peter got him to stand in the edge of the boat to put the roads in the top holders, followed by sitting up the front of the boat 

We stopped at the first location and both Tyler and Dylan managed to get o pull in a couple of whiting before Peter and I had even put bait on ours. A few more and then as quickly as it started, they stopped biting. We tried a few mor spots with limited success, before heading off to Marion Reef. We hooked up on a big variety of fish such as Trevally, Sweep, God and Leather Jackets as well as a small undersized Rugger Snapper. 

Time was slipping away so we shifted to one last spot in slightly deeper water on the reef and hit the jackpot. 3 big snapper, a snook and a dog shark caught by Dylan finished off a great day. 

The trip back, the cleanup, the filleting, and the 1 hour trip back to camp, meant we didn’t get home till 9pm where 2 very tired but happy kids crashed, soon followed by their very tired dad. 

A whale of a time

The combined thought for today was that we would split the young ones onto the sheltered shallows with the Kayak (proudly donated by Darren Wasley)  whilst the older kids, some responsible parents and mysel climbed over the dunes to try and catch some waves on the not so sheltered side.

We agreed that would be after lunch so we (Tracy, the kids and myself) went to a he shallows on our own for an hour, throwing the Wahu ball around and me generally creating mini Tsunamis each tme I dived into the 1/2m deep water playing around with Tyler. 

As planned, after lunch we headed over the dunes where the kids had a whale of a time body boarding with the mid sized waves. 

Speaking of whales, I couldn’t just stand by and watch, so I stripped down and went in with them all, showing how gracefully a 1/2 ton carcass could ride the waves in until the sand started ripping the skin off my belly well before the rest of me started getting close to coming ashore. And no..... you are not getting to see pictures of that. (Do I hear sighs of relief???)

It was a great fun afternoon that ended with some very over cooked ham steaks on the Weber, thanks to the 50 knot winds that picked up and tried its best to blow out the Weber. 

I decided it was going to be too late uncomfortable to sit up tonight, so I put a movie on until I couldn’t stay awake any longer. 

Tomorrow the boys and I are heading to Coobowie to catch up with Peter for a hopeful day in the boat. I am seriously doubting it at the moment with this wind trying to blow every last bit of sand off the beach and into the Sahara Desert. Let’s see what the morning brings. 

On our own

The reality of camping with a dog set in today. Marion Bay is on the edge of the Innes National Park, which has a total ban on dogs entering. So when the group of 9 families with their collection of 26 kids decided today would be spent exploring the coastline, it became very apparent that someone had to stay behind with Taz. As Tracy drove away with the kids, I quickly realised that someone was me. 

I spent the first hour walking him up the beach trying to get him used to water more than an inch deep, but he wouldn’t go near it.  I did find a spot under the jetty where he nearly got his legs wet, but the rolling waves were just too much for him. 

When we got back, I had lunch and was sitting lifeless in my camping chair, when Taz suddenly got interested in something behind me. Turns out a 1.5m brown snake decided to slip past the rear feet of my chair as if he owned the park. (Right at that moment, he did, by the way). 

I flew out of my chair, changed my undies and followed it to make sure it went into someone else’s van so that I could sleep tonight. I watched it slip under the neighbours annex and after poking my head in and seeing all the bedding and mattresse, I raised the alarm with them. When it finally decided to poke its head out again, we managed to steer it away from all vans and into the bushland between us and the beach. 

That was my signal to settle in for the afternoon with a strong drink. I now had the second biggest fright of the day when I couldn’t find my bottle of Bacardi. After 10 or so frantic panic-stricken minutes, I came to the conclusion that it was in the boot of the car with Tracy and the kids (hopefully the kids don’t find it first). So guess who not only syed back at camp, but also had a dry afternoon.?

More walks wothTaz on the beach and talking to Marty who had come back early thanks to a faulty car alternator passed the afternoon away until the family arrived looking very pleased with themselves and having good memories from the day. 

The Weber was fired up for tea, then we all gathered for the communal drinks and “talk shit” sessions until we couldn’t stay up any longer. 

I managed to get a few more photos of a very tired Taz who was loving the additional attention. 

It seems we are going fishing at 6am in the morning. That’s the plan anyway (is it wrong I am secretly hoping Dylan will sleep in?)

Joining the gang

Despite all my best intentions, we didn’t quite leave as early as planned. I was going to wake myself up at 6:15 and be on the road by 7:30. Kayla comes into the bedroom at 7:20 and calmly wakes us up asking if we were still going on holiday. Whoops. 

We were finally all done and on our way at 8:45. Not bad really 

Taz was relegated to his bed in the boot of the car and was not allowed to climb over us all thinking he owns the place. That was the plan anyway. Once again, he proved that even the best laid plans are made to be broken and soon made his way to his favourite observation post between the two of us sitting up on the centre console. Tracy tried her hardest to ignore him and read her book, but he eventually made his way onto her lap for the last hour of the trip to Marion Bay. 

We got to the park at about 1pm and were greeted by a good spread of other families who we were joining for the week and what seemed an entire gaggle of kids. After setting up the van and telling Dylan no to his 15 requests to go fishing, we joined the group for a walk to the beach and to let the kids have some time in the very kid friendly surf. 

This was very different from the water in the bay directly in front of the park where it was about 30cm deep at the most and probably a temperature of 30 degrees. 

Just before 5, we made our way back to camp and had a late beer o’clock gathering, before becoming responsible parents again and cooking some tea for the kids. 

It was at about this time again that Dylan started pestering me to go fishing again. I reluctantly agreed, regardless of the thunder and distant lightning and ever increasing wind. Against my better judgement, I got to the jetty with Tyler and Dylan eager to catch anything, however with the wind gaining enough strength to blows the freckles off Dylan’s face, and the impressive lightning show threatening to turn  all 3 of us into a charcoaled chowder, we called it quits and headed back, put the kids to bed then wandered over to the group for another social bevvy or two before calling it a night. 

Not sure I am looking forward to a week of 25 kids running crazy throughout the vans, but I think they are. 

Not working today.

It’s Monday today.
I am not working.
The end.

Seriously though, it seems like forever since we were last in the caravan. Counting back, it was 19 Monday’s ago, or just over 4 months. That seems like 3 months too long to not have some days off work and have a weekend way in the van.
The weather was forecast for cool, cloudy but generally ok, so we headed off for a walk into town to just look around and stop me from opening a bottle of wine before lunch.....
the kids took the opportunity to just be kids for a while and stopped to play whenever they could. Swings, trees, bridges.... anything that could be climbed on, was climbed on. And that meant photos.

Despite the forecast of only 18 degrees, the kids ran off to the pool and stayed there for the next 3 hours while I exercised. Exercised my right to sit and drink and sleep and eat and drink and rest.
Tomorrow we say goodbye to another short but fun holiday. Time to start planning the next one.

Bathurst in Nuriootpa

I decided that today was going to be about me and my desire to sit on my A and watch Bathurst. I am not overly a car racing fan and I couldn’t tell you the names of any of the drivers or who drives what make/model or numbered car. But it doesn’t matter. At 10:45 I get to sit in the sun with a beer in my hand and watch the TV for the entire day. Not sure if I missed something, but this race was actually pretty boring, probably because of the extra care the drivers were taking due to the wet weather. I decided to turn it off for lunch, going to the pool with the kids for a while and coming back for the last hour or two of the race. That turned out to be a good decision as the final 20 laps was great to watch. (Not that I could tell you who won...)
Tea was a roast butterflied chook on the Weber, along with some carefully blackened vegetables that had to be masterfully sliced out of the foil and placed strategically on the kids plates to hide their true colours.
It was a big day of nothing, and I was exhausted from it. It didn’t stop me however, from sitting up all night and watching tv till midnight. Tomorrow is Monday and I get to sleep in and do nothing all - I can’t wait.

Wine day

We were hanging out for today as it gives us a real excuse to drink wine before lunch time. 1st stop was Saltram and some samples of their magnificent wines including one of my favourites - Pepperjack.

With a couple of bottles under my arm, and the clock ticking towards 11am, we headed down the road to the Farmers Market. Turns out the guys from Steiny’s Mettwurst were here so that saved me another trip that was only going to delay cracking open one of the fine bottles of wine I had just purchased. We also stumbled across our local cheese maker from Hahndorf- Udder Delights. Naturally, that meant I had to get a couple of Double Brie to go with my mettwurst and fine wine later this afternoon.
Next stop was another of my favourites - Grant Burge. The main reason I like this place is for their bulk port which magically gets purchased whenever I am up this way,  thanks to what can only be evaporation out of my barrel at home. There is a good chance that not all of it will make it home and into the barrel,

We stopped off at Mieglers Hill lookout on the way back which was a great view of the Barossa Valley and the perfect spot for some photos of us all


The rest of the day was spent sampling a handful of the wines and nibbles, mixed with some watching of Race 1 at Bathurst.
We got the fire cranking tonight (well, the mozzie candle...), but still not enough to provide the heat and smoke in our eyes and clothes that a real fire 🔥 produces. After knocking off a substantial amount of home made Baileys, it was time for bed to dream about another day of nothing ahead.

10,000 steps and The Blue Line

Apparently some people like going for walks and other silly things to keep them healthy and active. Personally I try to avoid it as I keep seeing people get hurt when exercising and I don’t want to get hurt. 
It appeared, however, that if I stood my ground I was going to be stuck on my own for the next two hours (which actually sounded very appealing but the look from Tracy was suggesting a family walk would be a better choice for our relationship.

It was only 9am and probably a tad too early to have a glass of wine, so I eagerly put on my runners and set off with everyone. The wives had been given a pamphlet outlining a 10,000 step walk around Nuriootpa that would showcase some of the backstreets and older historic homes, so off we went. Dylan decided he would be the holder of the map and lead us, following the big blue line on the map. I was naive enough to think this was a good idea and secretly hoping he would take a wrong turn, get frustrated, give up and head back to the caravan park. A fair enough assumption for a 10 year old I thought. I should have known better than to assume anything with Dylan. There was a blue line on the map that needed to be followed, and regardless of how many blisters or available shortcuts, we were following that blue line goddammit. There were 5 kids followed by 4 adults traipsing through the streets of Nuri, where I learnt that this town had houses on streets, just like any other town I had ever passed through. Not quite the historic walk I had been coaxed into doing. We had got about half way through when Liv, Daniel Tracy, Teddy and Kayla decided they couldn’t do any more, and they headed for the van. That left me supervising Dylan, Tyler and Darcy (albeit from 300 steps behind them). Despite my efforts to get Dylan to take a detour or two, we had to stop and make sure we were still on track with the blue line every ten minutes. Tyler and Darcy took the easy option when we hit the Main Street, heading for the park, but not Dylan..... the blue line said we needed to turn right, so right turn we did. I nearly got him to cross the main road at the end, but there was no way since the map indicated we had to take a path that went under the road (the blue line went missing under the road, so therefore that is where we had to go.). We could see the van park straight ahead, and my legs were speeding up sensing a seat with a cold  bourbon 🥃 calling my name.  But noooooo. The blue line said we had to go around another block, so that is where we went. Finally- we popped out at the bush land across from the van park and the blue line said we had made it. At this point Dylan ran ahead, leaving me and Taz to ourselves, ignoring the fact I was the only one out of 9 people that stuck it out and suffered through the entire walk with him. I hobbled back and slumped into a chair with a cold drink, immediately feeling every muscle starting to seize up.
We cooked some Yiros meat on the Weber before settling around “the fire” which was a mozzie candle that Liv had stashed away, laughing about Dylan and his blue line.

It was quite cold with the breeze picking up ahead of the predicted overnight showers and after today’s marathon efforts, I was buggered and crashed early. Looking forward to the winery visits tomorrow.