Not far from home

We have travelled around the entire country and found wonderful places. It's lovely to think that sometimes, you don't need to travel very far to find special places and have special times.

Myall Lakes - one of Suzy Q's last camping spots

Myall Lakes was one of those places for us. A stunning National Park not far from Sydney, where we were able to relax, have fun and enjoy the natural surroundings. Camping next to the lake was lovely as there was only us and two others, plus plenty of pelicans, kookaburras and brilliant sunsets. I still can't work out why more people weren't up here to soak in the winter sun at the start of the school holidays.

We did a 2km walk through the littoral rainforest and the kids spent a whole afternoon playing imaginative games around the lake and climbing trees while I got to sit and have a cuppa and read.

Another morning was spent climbing the massive sand dunes on the ocean side of the park and sliding down them on bottoms, bellies, boogie boards, heads and anything else that got in the way.  Lukas really wanted a 'cool' surfing video like Dylan, so here's a future super star in action (turn the sound up loud!):

We made our way out of the national park for the serious business of the Super Rugby semi-finals and Hawks Nest provided us with a perfect location. A pub with delicious food and Foxtel right next to a caravan park, right next to a a playground, right next to a beach. Unfortunately, as those of you who watched it will know, the rugby was less serious business and more seriously disappointing. Rugby aside, we all really want to spend lots more time in this part of the world.

A night in gaol

Well almost, no need to send out the legal team just yet. Tonight we're camped in the grounds of the Trial Bay Gaol at Arakoon. After nearly seven months on the road, there's still new things to be had. We've camped at a drive-in cinema, at showgrounds, beside rivers, along the Nullabor but this is our first gaol.

A site with a fascinating history including convicts and WWI internees and spectacular coastal scenery that encompasses beaches and clifftop views for whale watching, it's a pretty special one to find. And apparently it's lucky that we found it in the middle of winter, because people book months ahead to camp here at other times of the year.

Lovely discoveries pretty much sums up what we've been doing for the last five days as we casually cruise down the north coast of NSW. I haven't been planning ahead as I've wanted us to be able to feel like we are still exploring and finding new things, even at the tail-end of our journey in a State that feels somewhat more familiar than other parts of the country.

We found a gorgeous lookout to warm ourselves in the winter sun at Lennox Head and the cutest lighthouse in Ballina, which Max decided was his because it was so small!

Maclean provided us with tartan-painted power poles which we possibly should have predicted after driving past the sign declaring we were entering "Australia's Scottish Town". And Yamba generously gave us a super-relaxed Sunday where we walked on the beach, browsed through vintage and surf shops, and enjoyed morning tea while reading books and magazines in an old house slash gallery.

Not to be outshone by the smaller towns, Coffs Harbour provided us with our first glimpse of whales from the top of Muttonbird Island and a cartoon gallery in an old WWII bunker. Oh yeah, and I'm sure not many people know about it (!), but we discovered an overly large piece of fruit left lying on the road. For the record it's trying to reinvent itself and, in our opinion, doing a better job than the big pineapple!

The Gondwana world heritage rainforests of Dorrigo National Park provided a stunning inland detour and a genuinely new discovery on the skywalk: a post that you attach your camera to, set the self-timer and it takes a perfect photo of you and the view, at just the right height - brilliant!













Yep, I think there's still a few more discoveries and a bit more adventuring left yet.

Surfing in Byron

Our first destination back in NSW was, of course, Byron Bay. We had trouble finding the 'trendy' cafe in this town because there are so many, but we did pretty well while on a bike ride to find a cute little laneway stop that had bright coloured stools and rich, strong coffee.

Apart from a drive up to Cape Byron to reach the most easterly point of the Australian mainland, the focus was all on the beach.....going for walks, building awesome sand castles and for one young man, surfing his very first wave.

Dylan has a couple of birthday 'experiences' owing and chose to cash one in by having a surfing lesson at Byron Bay - how cool is that! He was in a class with four adults and showed them all up with his skill and energy.

As with most things active that Dylan undertakes, he is apparently a natural, according to his coach  and the coach of the other surf school on the beach who ran over to me after Dylan stood up and caught a wave all the way in to shore on just his second try. Here's how the conversation went:

"Wow, is that your young fella that just did that?"
"Yep"
"I can't believe he's never done it before, you've got to keep him at it. Where are you from?"
"Canberra"
"Oh"

I think my pitch to move somewhere warmer and closer to the beach may have just gained a vote!

I missed filming his best one, but this ride in was pretty good too!

Thrills in the rain

I know lots of you have been wondering whether I came good on my promise of a theme park on the Gold Coast. Well the answer is sh******************t yes. I've used the drawn out expletive as that's the noise I made as Dylan and I dropped 119 metres at 135km/hour when we rode the 'Giant Drop'! Dylan umm-ed and aah-ed about doing it for three days but I made a deal with him that if he wanted to do it, I'd do it with him (the others didn't meet the height restrictions).

Yes, the paragraph above does say three days, that's how long we spent at Dreamworld. I bought a three-day ticket as the weather was still pretty dodgy and if I was going to spend hundreds of dollars to get in, I wanted to make sure everyone was able to do everything they wanted. It's a good thing too, I don't think there is any way we would have got through it all in a single day.

I have to say that we all enjoyed it much more than I thought we would (actually than I thought I would - Dylan and Lukas were so excited to arrive they wanted their photo taken in the car park!). We had one fine day and two with rain, but managed to do all that we wanted without getting too wet.

The very first ride we went on was the old classic, the log ride. I slightly over-estimated Evie and Max's thrill desire as there were tears on the final drop but they both recovered and were happy to go on other slightly-less-thrilling rides.













The all round favourite was the vintage cars, closely followed by the flying donkeys and teacups for the littlies and the water slides at the included water park for the big boys.


Dreamworld's real highlight was the huge variety on offer, meaning there was plenty of choice for everyone at all their different ages and stages.

We watched movies, did dogems and merry-go-rounds, had photos with movie characters, saw performing tigers and the Australian shearing show presented by a shearer with a suspiciously New Zealand-sounding accent.

The water park almost looked out of reach at one stage thanks to the weather. Dylan was determined to ride the slides while the rest of us watched from under umbrellas one afternoon but thankfully the rain cleared for a couple of hours the next day and everyone was happy to get wet.


















Also included in our ticket was a trip to the top of Skypoint at Surfers Paradise, 77 levels up, so we took the opportunity to stop in there and appreciate the views of the tourist strip. Lukas was impressed to count 54 pools in the surrounding hotels and houses!

The Gold Coast lived up to its expensive reputation and cost an absolute fortune. I pretty much blew the budget for the rest of the journey in a few short days. So it's lotto tickets and eggs-on-toast from here on in!

The weather hasn't been our friend since the Sunshine Coast, but we finally got a beautiful day for our last day in Queensland. We spent it at the lovely Burleigh Heads walking along the beach and National Park, watching the surfers and basking in the sun sipping 'superfood' smoothies (what is maca anyway?) A nice way to finish up in the sunshine state.

So what about school?

It's the question I've been asked by almost everyone we meet along the way, and one that I always reply to in the same kind of way.

The simple answer is Life Lessons: meeting new people, seeing new places both man-made and natural, pushing individual boundaries by trying new experiences, witnessing the different ways that people live their lives and embracing it all to enrich our lives now and into the future. And I'm talking about me as well as the children!

There is no doubt that we've all expanded our knowledge and had the most unique and lasting education over the last seven months. Here's some examples:

Gravity Discovery Centre,
Gin Gin - WA

Engineering and physics - hours spent creating sand cities at beaches and building dam walls and rock pools in the rivers. Learning the laws of physics by dropping water balloons off a tower and making balls float.

Nature studies - marvelling at the diversity of landscapes and scenery that this huge country has to offer. Having an opinion on the best waterfall in Australia after seeing so many. Comparing the cliffs at the Great Australian Bight with those at Ningaloo Reef and learning why they are different colours and shapes.  Learning where pearls come from. Loving the outdoors and appreciating the significance of walking and swimming through world heritage listed environments. Climbing trees!

Evie taking in the
Daintree Rainforest - Qld

Spot the two boys. Rockhampton Botanic Gardens - Qld

Mataranka - NT

Spending hours reading the favourite books of the trip (the four reference books on mammals, reptiles, fish and birds of Australia) and then seeing animals up close. Holding baby turtles a fellow camper found and shared. Figuring out whether a whale shark is a mammal or a fish. Learning about magnetic termite mounds and and learning to deal with green tree frogs in toilets! Knowing whether you're looking at a saltwater or freshwater crocodile and respecting the domain of these animals in the wild.

Gross motor - climbing steps in Tasmania and running along the bottom of Australia yelling 'wheee'. Climbing waterfalls and lookouts and piggy backing your little siblings when the going gets tough. Devouring each new playground discovered. Pushing individual limits of physical comfort, understanding how a suspension bridge can hold you up and then walking over its wobbly frame.

Meteorology - sheltering through a cyclone and understanding its movement and the colours of the warning system. Researching why Alice Springs is so cold at night and why it's felt like summer for most of our trip. Learning that the top end of Australia has two seasons, the 'wet' and the 'dry' and questioning whether the children that live there still learn about autumn.

Imagination central - finding new and innovative ways to stay entertained while on the road.

Creating with corn husks
from dinner and the tent
pegs - Busselton, WA

Rock tower on Gorge Rock,
Corrigin - WA

A bush game of scrabble
Tcharkuldu Rock, Minnipa - SA

Writing - postcards, emails to friends and helping with the blog. Creating journals full of memories and experiences, as a keep sake and as a means of sharing our journey with others.

Reading - all of the books we packed have been read many times, but there's also maps, road signs, and tourist brochures. Not to mention camp reviews to figure out where to stay and information signs at every museum, visitor centre and attraction we visit.

Port Hedland, WA

Transport and industry - gaining a sense of the immense transport networks across the country and in the ports. Wondering at the machinery and vehicles involved in supporting industry, from canefields in Queensland to mining in Western Australia to dairy in Tasmania.

Navigational studies - learning how to read maps and how a compass works. Looking at the stars at night to figure out the constellations and learning how to find south by using the Southern Cross. Understanding why sometimes we've seen the sun set over ocean and sometimes over land but always in the west.

Avocadoes from the
Atherton Tablelands, Qld

Culinary awareness - tasting our way around the country. Learning about fresh food and what's in season from farmers markets in small towns. Stopping at roadside stalls to buy bags of avocadoes, passionfruit, coconuts and tomatoes. Gaining a better sense of how food is produced and the beauty of local fresh produce: cheese factories, bakeries and even a handcrafted chocolate or two. Learning what a truffle is and tasting its unique flavour, savouring the sweetness of buckets of strawberries you've picked yourself.

Bread and cheese from Bruny Island
Tasmania

Strawberry picking at
Beechworth, Victoria

Maths - calculating distances between stops or towns or states or roadhouses. Learning why we can get to places faster in the Northern Territory where there are long straight roads and no speed limits but the speed in Tasmania is a constant 'slow and steady' thanks to the winding roads. Adding up how much we've spent on fuel in a day and why the dollars on the pump go up so quickly when diesel costs $2 a litre! Playing snakes and ladders and cards and uno and adding up the scores as we go along. Counting and sorting discoveries of the day: shells, brochures, seed pods, icecream spoons.

Communities and socialisation - understanding the different ways people live in various parts of the country - mining communities, indigenous communities, farming communities, city communities. Pitching in and helping a community clean up after a cyclone. Learning to make friends wherever we are and finding kids at a caravan park to kick the footy with.

Lukas' favourite painting 'ever'
Alice Springs - NT

Emu egg sculptures
Geraldton, WA

Art - viewing art across the country and having an opinion. Seeing different mediums and different styles, from regional galleries to ancient aboriginal rock art to murals on walls to dot paintings and carved boab nuts. Learning that 'art' is a word that seems too small to encompass the variety of creativity that exists across the country.

History- of people, places and things. Touching and engaging with history in a tangible way. Understanding the history and culture of indigenous peoples in this country.

Rock art at Ubirr, Kakadu - NT

Learning about pearl diving
in Broome, WA

In the dock with Ned Kelly
Beechworth, Victoria

Evacuation centre bed, Denham - WA

Catching up on sleep while
driving in Suzy Q

Adaptability - learning to live in a small space and be able to sleep anywhere. Getting used to and then embracing the idea that sometimes you wake up and don't remember where you are.

Campfire at Undara Lava Tubes - Qld

Reflection - taking time to sit and appreciate wherever we are. Watching the waves roll into the cliffs, listening to the wind whispering through the trees, seeing the full moon slowly rise up in the night sky. Appreciating sunsets and sitting around a campfire watching the stars and talking about our day. Stopping and breathing and taking in the journey.

Great Australian Bight lookout,
Nullarbor - South Australia

Looking for the sunshine

Since hitting the Sunshine Coast a few days ago the sunshine has disappeared! Our last glimpses were in a beautiful spot - along the coastal national park walk at Noosa where we watched the waves and surfers and saw a koala way up high in the treetops.

Noosa, beautiful Noosa

And its basically been drizzling since that shot. The big pineapple was wet when we visited (and leaking inside, it really is an icon whose glory days are pretty much over!) but we managed a quick bushwalk in the Glasshouse Mountains before diving back into Suzy Q just as the next shower arrived.

The umbrellas made another photo appearance at the lagoon at Southbank after we caught the River Cat down an overcast Brisbane River. Luckily babycinos are available no matter what the weather and these ones helped to brighten our day!

We've enjoyed Brisbane despite the rain. Mt Coot-tha was a highlight with a great lookout, Botanic Gardens and the bonus of a planetarium where we watched a movie semi-reclined on a dome ceiling about the planets and night sky.  

We've conquered Brisbane - our last capital city

 What next? Well I've made a promise about a theme park and the Gold Coast ... (in what was perhaps a poorly-thought-out strategy to ease the pain of driving straight past Australia Zoo because I refused to spend the day there in the pouring rain) .... let the fun begin!

Frolicking on Fraser Island

The world's largest sand island was the sight of today's frivolities for the adventurous crew. After dropping into the Hervey Bay visitor centre yesterday afternoon and asking for the most family-friendly-with-four-kids way to visit Fraser Island, I booked us on a half day beach & barbecue cruise aboard the Whale Song MV.

We cruised over to Fraser Island with six other people, spotting a few turtles along the way,  and spent a blissful few hours on a deserted stretch of beach. And frivolity really was the name of the game, the cruise provided so many activities for us to do:

Beachcombing - our best shell collection so far!

Fishing - Lukas caught a bream and a whiting and Dylan caught a sparrow tail, our most successful fishing in all of Australia!

Kayaking - the big boys did laps up and down the beach.

Sandcastles - in beautifully soft white sand.

Footy - with a supplied ball and a rugby-fan skipper who was happy to talk about the Super XV all day.

Followed by a yummy barbecue and salads for lunch. And then the kids each had a turn driving the boat back to Hervey Bay.

It was a quick trip to Fraser Island, but a super fun one!