Do Terracans Float?

It has been a long time coming, but it was with unbridled joy that we headed out of town last Friday with the camper in tow, destination Shoalhaven River.  We were aiming for a camp we had spotted on our last adventure to the coast, and we now had it on good authority that there was an all weather access road from the west that would get us there.

With all the rain recently, we had heard that Oallen Ford had been up to 1.6 metres underwater.  Our camp was a little further upstream, and we weren't sure what to expect.  It was evident however that some large amounts of water had been over the road in places... and a few kilometres short of our destination we came across our first crossing.  It turned out that this was the easy one!

Thankfully a wade across confirmed there was a concrete base, and even more importantly the approaches were still in place.  The boy's were excited and I had to make a second trip with The Little Fisherman on my shoulders to take photos of our splash.

The two boys provided plenty of advice...

Before we sailed through... Mr Six and a Half taking the photo

We then ambled along into our camp... and what a camp we found.

Games for a rainy day

It is inevitable that if you do enough camping, sooner or later you will get caught trying to entertain kids in a tent while the rain comes down outside.  The recent run of wet weather got me thinking about how we manage to entertain our kids in the rain and I thought I would share some of our favourite games with you.

Our kids love playing in the mud, love splashing in puddles and generally staying outside as long as they can.  Of course this is to be encouraged whenever possible - after all why go camping in the great outdoors if you're afraid of a little mud or dirt?

But of course these activities cannot go on forever.  After a while the little bodies get cold. When the shivering starts and the lips go blue, the fun starts to leave really quickly and it is time to get them warm and dry.

Currarong and a New Campsite?

With the world revolving in seemingly ever decreasing circles, it is rare that we are able to catch up with friends for a weekend away.  Occasionally the stars align, even if it takes nine months of planning, and moving the date once or twice.

It was thus with much anticipation that we picked the kids up from school on Friday and pointed Terry's bonnet east, destination Currarong.



Looking north from Currarong

 Currarong is located on the Beecroft Peninsular, the northern headland of Jervis Bay.  In a former life I had spent many hours looking to Currarong and the headland south to Point Perpendicular from the sea.  It is a beautiful seaside village, slowly being thrust into the 21st century as the old fibro cottages give way to million dollar houses.  At least fishing is still one of the main activities in the area, as nearly every other house had an old tractor out the front to haul large boats to and from the boat-ramp.

A movie night under the stars

A good friend told me recently that once your kids start school, you will shun all your old friends as your social activities revolve around the kids and their engagements for the next 13 years.  Three weeks into our youngest starting school, my friend's wise words resonated when we tried to catch up for lunch.  We moved the date several times as birthday parties and important play dates seemed to pop up until finally we were able to pin down a date to catch up.

With the new year has come a new role at work, and a break from shiftwork for a while.  For the first time in my working career I am now in the spectrum of a Monday to Friday 9-5 job... and that means weekends!!!  And weekends means camping, lots of camping!!!

Of course I need to now caveat that claim with the observations of my friend - our calendar seems to fill up very quickly with swimming lessons / birthday parties / weekend play dates.  So we have made a challenge to ourselves to get out at least once a month for a weekend away.  It is of course difficult as we have a few other projects keeping things really busy - like trying to sell our house and build another - just minor things really, so it was a real surprise that Jo gave me a leave pass to go to a movie night organised by Pete and the crew from Australia4wd forum.

The occasional disadvantage of the road less travelled

We managed a good week at home getting everything in order before heading off again for the last week of the school holidays.  This time I couldn’t get the grin off my face as I pointed Terry, this time with Matilda the camper in tow, on a southerly heading.  Our destination was near Cann River, Victoria, at the end of the Monaro Highway. By the end of the trip the grin was gone and a very very dark cloud was hanging over the passenger seat.

We enjoyed a leg stretch at Nimmitabel , a good half way point.  The bakery was popular with the kids – who enjoyed the outdoor playground and the Elephant.

We were staying with friends on their 40 hectare (100 acre) slice of paradise.  Their property backs onto the state forest down that way – so it felt a lot bigger.  We took the kids for a bush walk around the block – a good slog indeed rewarded with some great views.

The boys enjoy the walk