Christmas Fun

Wodonga to Thredbo

We camped in wodonga in a basic camp ground, the owner was very nice. Early the next morning we headed for Thredbo. Helen decided to leave her caravan and come back for it tomorrow, it was great to have her coming along and crossing a border was a fun idea.

The only problem was somewhere along the way the campervan decided it was not going to play fair anymore and started overheating. :(

If it had been as cold as the sign suggested why may not have had an engine problem.

So with some rearranging of kids and stopping and waiting, we made it across the border.

Our first casualty occured at the ranger's hut. B1's ipod was knocked out of the car, we realised after we had gone through some road works after a long wait we got back through the road works I said a little prayer that we would find it, we did!! but it had been run over buy a car. :(

Should have stipulated that we would find it ok in my prayer, huh!

I was hot, frustrated and didn't think I could make it over the Snowy range with the camper the way it was, but there was no mechanic for miles. So, we stopped at the pub had cold drinks a little breather and then headed out again. Helen was very patient and followed at 20km an hour for possible 2 hours. It was awful, but it made arriving at Thredbo a relief. Then we drove round the little streets with no carparks wondering how we'd find somewhere to stay. Fortunately, there was a lady out walking with her children who directed us to the Thredbo Alpine Hotel where we booked their biggest room and all slept soundly in real beds, well actually Helen said her caravan bed was more comfy, but me gee it was nice to just sleep with one child rather than between the two.

Prior to bed we had a very relaxing spa, which was fun.

And the room came with a buffet breakfast, which was all I had wanted for my birthday, but we couldn't find one that anyone would recommend in Melbourne (can you believe that?). Anyway, we had one here in Thredbo, which was decent enough. But it was just so nice to be in a nice place.

It rained during the night and when we woke up it was raining. We decided to go up the mountain anyway. We donned wet weather gear and rode the charilift up. It was pouring at the top of crakenback, we started hiking up but them I decided to call it off. There would be no view, it was freezing, we were wet despite our rain gear and I had visions of either Helen or I slipping and doing an ankle and both having long drives ahead, didn't think it was a go. And now we have a more compelling reason to go back, beacuase I want my kids to climb Australia's tallest mountain while they are still young.

Nikki did a picture for Paul (Pole) and Helen so they wouldn't miss her too much when we separated. Isn't she too cute!

When we got to the bottom (Thredbo) we separated with Helen and Paul heading back to Melbourne and us off to Canberra. It was sad to see them go. It has been great to have another enthusiastic road trip virgin navigating along our first journey.

I hope we'll do more in the future.

Coffs Harbour

Mum liked it here, she said finally she was starting to feel relaxed, boy it took her long enough!!

We walked along the beach and went to the bowls club for dinner, Mum wanted to go to the warf, but we didn't want to get back in the van.

The carvan park was nice it had the best pool with slides and spouts and clams and things to play on. We stayed in until we were wuite pruney. We woke up nice and early and walked to the beach and surfed and played in the sand.

B1 purchased his prized back scratcher here.

After we packed up camp we headed onto the Clog Barn for a lunch of pancakes, then to the Big Banana, it was raining and so mum said we weren't staying long. We found some cool coolers.

Under duress B1 ate a frozen choc dipped banana (he hates bananas) and well he ate as much as he could cope with - he did a good job really.

The kids most favourite of all caravan parks!

It seemed like a super long trip to Forster, and then mum took the wrong turn and took us right into Forster when we were supposed to go to a little bay near it.

When we finally made it to Happy Hallidays park we could hardly believe our eyes. A fantastic pool, coytes while you waited for your parents, who are in the office, a train ride, jumping pillow, mingold, playground, basketball court, movie theatre, and indoor playroom with one of those great ball pits!! We were in heaven. Straight up, we made Mum promise to bring us back here if we came back this way. It was beautiful and sunny, but extremely hot and Mum made us walk down the road to the shops. we needed some groceries and she treated us to a bakery lunch. We went swimming as soon as we got back. We played all sorts of games and could have stayed a whole week if Mum had let us.

This was the first caravan park we put the tent up. We made mum sleep in it. We had so much more room. we hired a couple of DVDs and had a movie night. the day we left the big storms clouds which have followed us from Melbourne caught up, so it was good we were leaving.

Newcastle

We arrived in Newcastle late!! Too late for anything really. Mum drove round and round very frustrated and we ended up falling asleep.

It turns out she couldn't find anywhere so she stops outside a caravan park in a place called Tamago, she thought "I'll use their facilities and then pay them in the morning". No! they were all locked up. So she parked in the carpark popped the top and pulled out the bed. In the morning she woke us up really early and we left before anyone even knew we were there.

We stopped at a rest stop and had a delicious breaky of pancakes. There was another mum with her two boys stopping for breakfast, too. So, it seems like a good travel tactic.

Sydney

Our departure from canberra was quite a bit later than we had planned, so our arrival in Sydney was a bit traumatic for Mum. She had booked into a little caravan park on the south, but the managers were from Melbourne and couldn't or wouldn't give any directions for fear of getting us more lost. After Mum drove round and round Redfern she didn't think it could get any worse.

She called 5 minutes before the office closed and they said don't worry just drive in and find a spot and come pay us in the morning.

We finally made it at bout 9:30pm but made ourselves comfortable. We got up early and headed to the beach looking over Botany bay, we had a little play but then saw a bab's nappy on the beach and felt a bit off, so decided to head for the city.

Then the fun began!! We parked right under the Opera House where they were setting up for the big Oprah Winfrey show. Crazy people were lined up all da trying to get tickets, meanwhile we went on a jetboat ride. What a hoot!!

It was fantastic to be out on the harbour on such a beautiful day and see everything from a different perspective.

There was a very entertaining street performer who rode the tallest unicycle in the world. He said he was the world champion. He really was good.

After some yummy Robin and Baskin icecreams we headed north, out of the city.

The Nation's capital

We arrived in Canberra, tired after the very slow trip from Thredbo. The viscose hub was not locking the fan in so the engine was over-heating, making the trip very tedious, however the kids were very good about it. We would read stories at each stop we made to cool the engine. And finally we arrived, weary and desperate to get out of the van. We booked into the South Canberra caravan park - I wouldn't recommend it as a tourist destination.


After driving around in the rain and a couple of tries we stumbled across a mechanic that could fit the van in. Meanwhile, we visited the library and the Dickson shops and went Banana's at the fruit shop.











Canberra has so many things to see; we started with the War Memorial, where the children were extremely well behaved and soaked up the was histories. B1 was particularly interested in trench foot. youch!

We climbed to the top of Parliament House (well actually you can't climb all the way up anymore- so we took the lift and walked across the top) and rolled down the grass. Did you know the flag on top is as big as a double decker bus!!

Next we made our won money at the Australian mint, and saw one of the strongest robots in the world. Mum particularly liked the cascading staircase made of 5c pieces and blanks.

Questicon was very impressive, there is so much to do we actually got worn out in there. they have an amazing pendulum that shows you the revolution of the earth, fascinating. B1 had another turn, or 3, of the vertical slide, not quite as high as Bendigo's but just as fun.

Mum bought freeze dried icecream, which we gobbled up in no time. Yummo!! Bizareo!!

From Mt Ainslie lookout we were ablt to see the remarkable town planning of Canberra with the view showing the Memorial across to Parliament House.

Rain stopped us from going to the planetarium and Black Mountain Tower. But.....

We met the queen







and Nikki lost ... another tooth!

The flood waters started encrouching from Queenbean, so we took leave, after driving down the street mum used to live on - Kinleyside Cres and going to her favourite bakery - although long since changed hands, however we found an equally nice baker who filled our arms with free goods and sent us on our way. (He was sad he couldn't deliver the delicous long jam and cream filled doughnuts mum remembered.)

Mum suggested she liked Canberra much better as a tourist, but that it hadn't been bad living there as a nanny.