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

Cricket, Surf and a Road Trip – Summer in Australia

This summer saw us head north on our adventures not with Terry and Matilda, but rather our little Subaru packed to the rafters, complete with Oztent and fishing rods on the roof, not for a camping holiday, rather the quintessential Australian relatives travelling road show.

And a road show it was.

Byron Bay - Ocean Beach

Get out there - travelling with a medical condition

About three years ago our eldest son (aged just over three at the time) was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.  It was a bit of a watershed moment in our family, causing a readjustment of priorities in our lives.  We embarked on a strict diet regime, overcame our fear of needles, and learnt how to administer insulin to our young son.  We were (and still are) determined to give him every opportunity to live a normal life, and don't make a big deal of his diabetes.

As such, the aim of this blog entry is to share some techniques we have found helpful in getting the most out of going camping and exploring with someone who does have a medical condition that requires constant vigilance.

Our philosophy is simple.  One of our sons has a pancreas that doesn't work properly - in the same way that people who wear glasses have eyes that don't work properly.  We all have little quirks and ailments, and we consider diabetes to be just one of these things.  We, as parents, just need to be a bit more organised that we would normally have been and a little more selective in what equipment we use.

In a way his diagnosis galvanised us into action.  At the time, Project 2014, our year long camping trip around Australia was but a distant half conceived dream. We took a long hard look at where we were, and committed to our dream.   We have been since been slowly refining our travelling and camping in order to ensure we are ready for our trip to give both our boys the opportunity of a lifetime.

So how do we do it?

A shiny Terry returns - but it isn't long before I break something!

It seems that everything happens in the lead up to Christmas, and of course we don't seem to do things by halves in our family.

With a busy schedule of school concerts, assemblies, swimming lessons, BBQ's, community breakfasts and the rest in the last few weeks of school, Jo and I have been having nightly planning meetings to make sure we get everything both of the little helpers to their assigned activities.  How families with more than two kids do this is completely beyond my comprehension and my sincere admiration goes out to you.

Somewhere in the middle of this, Terry was booked in for repairs, following our little mishap a few weeks ago.  With careful examination of the calender, we chose a week and a half block where living with one car would have the least impact on our family.  So on Monday 5th of December we dropped Terry off to get a new bumper, to be picked up on the 14th.