Lightening Online

One of our favourite memories from our trip was a visit to Hartley’s Crocodile Adventures.

Farmboy and the kids had fun mucking around with the resident crocodile:

My approach was more “Rex Hunt” than “Steve Irwin”:

We did see some “real” crocodiles as well:

Even tasted some:

I can’t say that I particularly liked it.  Not that there was anything wrong with the taste as such but it was a little on the chewy side for him.  Lleyton really liked it and had a second serving.

Then there were the crocodiles we actually saw in the wild:

I took this photo from the bridge we were fishing from.  As you can imagine, we were keeping a very tight leash on the kids while we were there.  Didn’t want them to fall into the water!!!

All fun aside, I don’t care what the crocodile lovers say, we were kind of relieved to leave “crocodile territory” behind when we headed south.

It was fascinating to see them (from a distance) and to learn more about them.  I can’t see myself becoming a “crocodile lover” any day soon.

Well folks, the time has come.  We have spent our 100th night in the caravan and as I type this, we are driving through Adelaide on our way home!

We won’t get home until evening though as we have to stop and see my parents and collect our cat as well as do some grocery shopping along the way (a big shop given I emptied the fridge and freezer and most of the cupboard before we left).

We have mixed feelings about heading home.  I’m not sure how we’ll feel once we get there.  In one sense, there’s a sense of relief to be heading home to more space and more convenience (like an inside toilet for instance!).  In another, there’s the dread of getting back to “real life” and having to do with real life stuff (like 14 weeks worth of mail!!!!).

Plus, of course, the sadness that the trip is now offically “over”.

BUT…

We have some exciting plans for our house over the next couple of years.  Completing our pergola, building a back decking and verandah and building an outdoor games room (a lined shed is the plan).

AND…

No doubt there will be more trips in the future.  Only short ones for a while (probably until the kids leave home) but nevertheless, lots of great places we can visit in 2-3 week blocks.

Overall, I’m mostly just feeling proud of ourselves that we had a dream and we made it happen. It makes me excited about the possibilities the future has to offer.  There is nothing like seeing a dream come to reality to inspire you to dream more and chase those dreams!

Anyway, I had best publish this while we still have coverage (and I still have battery power).  See you when we get home!!! 

Hello everyone!  As I compose this, we are at Hallidays Point where we are spending a day or so R&R before heading into Sydney.  Farmboys back is still not great and I have a cold so we’re a bit of a sorry bunch.  Happy Hallidays caravan park has heaps for the kids to do though so it’s not all bad.

Here are a few theme park photo’s to give you a glimpse into our time there.

Lover of the “big thrill” rides:

The Sea World Polar Bears were a favourite!!!!

My little helicopter pilot:

Our very first theme park activity was to watch the Stunt Drivers performance at movie world.  I enjoyed it so much that I could have gone home that moment a very satisfied customer.  We ended up watching the show 3 times over the course of our visits - I think it was Trailer Boys favourite part of the theme parks.

I am SO in LOVE with this dress….

Singstar Princess was chosen to go on stage at the Sesame Street show.  A great memory for her I’m sure!

This was the first ride we went on.  It was in the Looney Tunes section so I figured it was a kids ride and “how scary could it be”?  Well, it was more scary than I expected!!!!

I was quite surprised at the scary rides I did go on.  Usually that’s just not my thing.  But my favourite ride of all time still hasn’t changed…..

The great thing about a 14 day superpass is that you can relax and enjoy each theme park instead of trying to cram it all into a single day.

The not so great thing about a 14 day superpass is that in an attempt to squeeze the absolute BEST value out of it it IS possible to get absolutely SICK of the sight of theme parks!!!!  LOL.

Not the kids though.

I think they could go there every day for a year and never get bored or sick of it. 

The 3 parks we’ve been visiting are Sea World, Wet n Wild and Movie World.  Of the 3, Movie World has definitely been my favourite.  It has such a great atmosphere.

But to be honest, I’ll be somewhat relieved I think when our 14 days are up and I don’t feel “compelled” to go to another theme park just because we can.

On the other hand, I guess there will also be some sadness that our “mega fun” is over.

I wonder if my kids will ever appreciate what an amazing childhood they are having.  I never went to anything like this as a kid.  In fact, our holidays generally consisted of going to stay with family members because we couldn’t afford anything else.

I know I’ve been really slack on the photo front.  It’s busy here and getting computer time is getting harder and harder.  I might have to do a big catch up on trip photo’s when we finally get home at this rate.  Sorry.

I really shouldn’t be blogging tonight.  Not after a couple of glasses of pink champagne.  I might say anything and then regret it!!!  Or I might just fall asleep (a common occurence when I drink).

I’m one of those “glass and a half” kind of girls.  Only it’s really just 1/2 a glass with me.

I guess because I don’t drink on a regular basis.

So it’s taking me a LOT of effort to write this blog post through my fuzzy head.

I hope you appreciate it!!!  LOL.

We are having a great time on the Gold Coast.  I don’t have many photo’s because, let’s face it, who has time for taking photo’s when you’re at a theme park?  A camera becomes a kind of nuisance really.  Especially at wet n wild!!!!

On Wednesday we went to Movie World in the afternoon (kids wanted to do a tennis thing at the park in the morning).  It. Was. AWESOME!!!!  More awesome than I expected.  Not that I knew what to expect.  We packed a fair bit into the 4 hours we were there.

On Thursday we started the day at Wet n Wild then went to Movie World (very close by) for a couple of hours later in the day when we got sick of being wet.  It’s really only just warm enough for Wet n Wild here at the moment but we won’t let a little bit of coldness hold us back.  Well, not too much anyway.  I even surprised myself by going down 2 different water slides!!!!  I am so NOT a water slide person.

In fact, I’m not really a “thrill seeker” AT.  ALL.  So I’ve been surprising myself with the rides I’ve been going on.

Of course, I have had 2 turns on the Merry-Go-Round as well.  That’s my kind of ride!!!! 

Today (Friday) we spent the day at the park.  The kids did a mini golf tournament this morning and made fathers day gifts this afternoon.  I got to do some shopping at Harbour Town this morning too which was fun. 

Tomorrow we’re off to Sea World.  I think I’ll try to take the camera this time to get at least a few photographs.  I’ve taken over 1000 photo’s so far this trip.  That’s a LOT for me who isn’t really the worlds best photographer.

*sigh*

We’re feeling a bit like we can’t win a trick right now.

I mean, who gets robbed twice in the space of a week????  Less than a week actually.

So many places have had warnings about theft and we’ve managed to avoid it.  The last few places have had nothing and they’re the places we’ve been hit.

The first was our cash that was taken out of my purse at Hervey Bay.  Okay, we had a very slight lapse in security (like, the first time we’ve left our caravan unlocked - and we were still in the caravan park).  So, you accept that.  We got a little complacent.  Makes you wonder how many other times we might have had attempts made on entering our van.

This second time was our kids scooters. :(  This time we were actually IN the caravan and the scooters were UNDER the caravan.

We discovered they were missing just before going to underwater world Saturday morning.  Princess Singstar found out by accident Saturday night and boy did we have tears.

Trailer Boy was asking to go to the skate park (next to the caravan park and likely where the culprits came from) this afternoon (Sunday) and we managed to put him off.  However, we knew he would be the most upset as he LOVES his scooter (and misses his bike).  Thankfully, we managed to find a Kmart and get there today while it was still open.  He didn’t find out until we were in the process of buying him a new one.

That softened the blow a little.

We softened it even more by allowing him to buy a Ben 10 one.  About $10 dearer than replacing it with exactly the same one but worth it if you ask me.

I guess I figure that in some small way we’ve been able to put into practise the saying “when life throws you a lemon, make lemonade”. 

In the meantime, is it wrong to hope the kids that stole the scooters stub their toes while riding them????

Next Post: Hopefully some photo’s from our time on the Sunshine Coast. 

I’m tired.

Soooooo  tired.

If anyone thinks you come back from a trip like this all refreshed and rested… WRONG.

Not me anyway.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s great fun.  AWESOME in fact.

But it is tiring.  Especially with 3 kids!

I think perhaps we’ve been overdoing the whole “sight-seeing” thing.  So much to do, so little time.

Of the 4 days we were in Hervey Bay we had 3 full, action-packed days.

It was great and I’m glad we did it but now we all need a couple of days to recover.

You just can’t keep up that pace for as many weeks as we’re away.

As we were leaving Hervey Bay, I discovered that my purse had been completely cleared out of cash.  Even the hidden pockets.

Thankfully they left the cards behind so I’m not having to go through the whole rigamarole of replacing them all.

It still leaves you feeling so violated though.

And annoyed that we let our guard down even for a bit.

Anyway, such is life.  I just hope they needed the money more than we did.

But I think the whole experience has taken it out of me a bit.

So, we’re now on the Sunshine Coast.  So many things to see and do here.  But I think we’ll concentrate on the Sunshine and the Coast for now.  We’re in a lovely caravan park very close to the beach.  I don’t think it’ll hurt any of us to just “chill” for a few days.  That’s if I can last a few days.

I don’t do “chill” very well I’m afraid.

After much deliberation, we decided to go on our whale watching tour with Freedom III, a reasonably new vessel that is already fast gaining a reputation as the best in the fleet of whale watching tours on offer.

We were attracted by the extra time they offered out with the whales, the more personalised, smaller group they take and the great reviews we’d heard about the food!

And we were not disappointed.

I’ve always wanted to go whale watching so this was quite an exciting day for me.  And to think that we almost didn’t do it!  Some had told us that we’d see whales on the way to fraser island and I had wondered if it was a waste of money paying to go on a specific whale watching tour.  That was another reason for selecting this particular boat.  We figured at the very least we’d have a lovely day out on a boat with nice food.

The whale watching experience was absolutely AMAZING.  Every single one of us LOVED it.  We didn’t just see a whale or 2 in the distance like I expected.  They were swimming under the boat and many got quite close.  The hours we spent out there just sped by!!!

Different whales did different things and we were lucky enough to see a mother with her baby, along with an escort that didn’t want them getting too close to the boat.  We also had a couple of males come along and start performing in an effort to get the attention of the female.  It was all very interesting and fun to watch!

The hardest thing was trying to capture any of it on the camera.  They’re so fast and unpredictable.  We did better with the video but I can’t upload that here.

Anyway, here are a few that I did get.  They don’t really do it justice though.

Three whales swimming together.  They moved between our boat and this smaller vessel for a while.

It created quite a bit of suspense when they would dive down into the water, everyone trying to guess where they would come up again.  Sometimes they went under the boat and other times they’d come up on the same side again.  There was certainly a lot of movement from one side of the boat to the other as people spotted them and called out.

Tail Slap:

Singstar Princess looking at a nearby whale:

Whale poking it’s head out of the water.

Later in the day we had one that kept opening and closing it’s mouth at us.

The baby did a lot of showing off for us but was almost impossible to get on camera.  I have a lot of photographs of splash trying to get the baby.  It was a much paler colour than the adult whales.

I happened to be in the right place at afternoon tea to get a snapshot of the food.  It was a wonderful feed and felt like we were eating most of the day!  :)  Tea, coffee, hot chocolate, water and soft drink was also available throughout the day whenever you wanted it.

The day wasn’t limited to what spotting either.  In fact, our first visitors of the day were a couple of dolphins who swam right to the front of the boat where we were standing.

And as you can see, the ride out there and back was such a hardship!!!!  :)  When we first arrived, the owner told us about this padded area at the front of the boat which was a great area for the kids.  We could kneel up at the rail and watch as the boat cruised along or lie down and enjoy the warm sunshine.

It was a truly great day and one we’ll remember for many years to come.  Trailer Boy found a boat on a playground while we were out today and was playing “whale watching”.  He was the captain and telling all his passengers about the whales they could see.  It was SO cute (if only you could video that kind of thing without them getting self conscious).

Today we had an early start to go and see (and feed) some wild dolphins at Tin Can Bay.  I haven’t downloaded the photo’s to the computer yet but it was another unforgettable experience.

Tomorrow (Sunday) will hopefully be a quieter day.  We’ll go out to church in the morning and then expect to be joined here by some friends we made in Port Douglas (a family from Adelaide that we’ve enjoyed meeting up with a couple of times).  On Monday we’re heading over to Fraser Island together which should be great.  Farmboy can’t wait to do some 4WD-ing over there!

Last night was night 50 out of our 100 nights away.

The half way point!

As expected, it’s going fast.

Although, when I look back over all that we’ve done in the past 50 days, we’ve done a lot of things.  Created a lot of memories.  Made some new friends.  Learnt heaps.  Laughed together.

There have been plenty of moments of frustration with one another.  But the benefits of the trip have been growing with each week that we’re away.

The other day, Farmboy and I started discussing future trips we might take.

Getting away from the farm isn’t an easy task so it’s not looking good for us to do another trip longer than about the 3 weeks we’ve done before.

I’m sad because it took us about 4 weeks to really get in the “groove” this trip.

I’m worried we won’t ever get in the “groove” again.

Well, at least not until the kids leave home and we semi-retire (which is coming up quicker than I can blink anyway).

Oops, this post wasn’t meant to be doom and gloom and whinging.

It’s supposed to be reflective and celebratory.

This trip is achieving even more than I expected it to.  Which I guess makes me a little sadder at the thought of it ending.  But also makes me so much gladder that we made it happen.  Thankful that we’ve had this opportunity and this time with our kids.

We might be 50 days into our trip but we still have 50 days to go (well, almost 49 given today is almost over as well).

We packed a lot into the first 50 days and I think we have as much to come.

I do think though, that all this trip has really done is whet my appetite for more travel.   What an amazing and beautiful country we live in!

Today we arrived in Hervey Bay and tomorrow we’re off on a whale watching cruise.  Something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.  Hopefully it’s good.  I’m sure it will be (they pretty much guarantee you’ll see a whale or you get another trip free).

Did you know that the whales here can be the size of 11 elephants?  I didn’t until I read the brochure.  That’s big isn’t it?  Hopefully it doesn’t decide to attack the boat!

Mission Beach has by far been my favourite place we’ve stopped so far on this trip. I did enjoy Cairns but Mission Beach well and truly topped it. So far, it’s top of list of places to return to one day (for a much longer stay next time!).

As promised to River, here are some pictures I took while we were at Mission Beach.

It is a coconut/palm lined beach - just like in the “movies”:

And has the bluest water I have ever seen!!!!!  This picture doesn’t really do it justice.

The kids had a wonderful time playing in the water.  It wasn’t very deep but was nice and warm!  Here are the boys playing skimball:

And Singstar Princess enjoying some sand play (after seeing many beaches that just weren’t sand in Northern Queensland!):

Farmboy couldn’t help himself.  He really wanted to drive on the beach.  We couldn’t seen any signs saying you couldn’t (and people had to launch their boats), so we took a little drive.  Slowly of course as there were people on some parts of the beach.

And you feel like you could just about swim to Dunk Island.  We didn’t go out there.  You have to pick and choose your islands when you’re paying for 5 people!

Distances can be a little deceiving I think.  It is close but not sure how many people could actually swim out there.  I went for a run on the beach and misjudged distances too.  Think I must have ran almost twice as far as I usually run.  Boy was I exhausted by the time I made it back (and a little bit heat affected too I think).

Anyway, that’s just a little glimpse into our stay at Mission Beach.  We do hope we’ll get the chance to visit again one day but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.