Novice Campers Travelling Oz

We tried for nearly 2 hours to book some accommodation this weekend.  First we tried Philip Island (discovered there was a race on so zip, zero, zilch available), then tried anywhere within 1 ½ hours drive.  By the time we found something, booked it on the internet and left, it was after 6pm.  We rang and left a message trying to find out how we could get the house key, and of course they had to ring us back.  Long story short, no mobile network as we travelled, so after about 1 hour on the road, we got a message that the accommodation wasn?t available!  What?  I?d just booked it!   Anyway after a few calls and having arrived at Sandy Point Beach (ie in the middle of nowhere) they finally processed our credit card and gave us an access code, whew!  The code worked, the key fitted and we were ecstatic to be sleeping in a real house!  Architecturally designed don?t you know ? fancy.

One reason we needed to get away was that rain was forecast for the entire weekend and we just couldn?t face a whole weekend of sitting in the tent in the rain and gloom.  The previous 2 weeks both Brad and I helped facilitate 2 X fantastic 3-day family retreats here so were feeling emotionally and physically dead.  Was great just to lie in bed and have a clean bathroom that is close to the bedroom.  The shower at Delhuntie is gas run and temperamental, sometimes it?s boiling other times its cold.  It was so good to be under a real roof and have a real kitchen (I so miss an oven).  It was nice to have windows to look out of and a door to close.  It was great to go to the beach even if we were in 2 jumpers and a jacket and long pants.  Couldn?t believe it when some people turned up in a halter neck shirt and shorts and their kids are in their swimmers!!!

We built sandcastles, dug up purple crabs (Nat made a crab sanctuary for them), slept-in, watched videos, ate chocolate, had long showers, played extreme hide and seek with the kids while all the lights off, ate chips at the park, read books and talked.  So good to reconnect as a couple and family after a couple of intense weeks.  For the school holidays while Brad and I worked, the kids spent a lot of time tagging along with us.  Their favourite thing was when their friend Andy (se Alice Springs blogs) stayed for a few days and they built cubbies in the bush, made tyre swings, found a Huntsman?s nest complete with baby Huntsman spiders.  (?Hey Leah, do you like spiders?? turns out she doesn?t!)  Andy also spent time on his quad bike and after hitching a specially designed trailer to it, seats 2 and one on behind, he spent days just zooming around, taking them for rides.  As Ryan the new owner is renovating, lots of stuff ends up in the dump pile.  The kids found some wooden chairs, a small lounge and an old combustion heater.  Guess who now has a luxury cubby set up just near our tent?  They ate tea out there, in front of their fire and sitting on their chairs they?d transported via quad trailer.  Cool huh?

R