back from the outback

I have always wanted to visit the flinders ranges after hearing about the awesome light and escarpement so when Lach mentioned he needed to take 3 weeks leave before the end of Oct, my vote was for the outback.

Well I had never really considered the flinders the outback, and I bet alot of people who live in Central Australia may not consider it either, but geez it can be pretty remote. For nearly 3 weeks we jammed out gear into our trusty Jackaroo(aptly named hungry jack)and camped in some of the most amazing country this golden land of ours has to offer. Amazing light has greeted us, along with equally amazing dust storms so thick we couldn't see beyond the bonnet of poor jack. We've hiked till the little miss could hike no more (which in many cases was further than many adults!) , explored and investigated trees, gorges, ruins and sacred sites.



The little people have developed an afinity with "olden day houses" as the land abounds with so many ruins from broken dreams and river red gums which abound and astound us with their girth. We've nestled in their shade, cautious of their limbs which creaked and swayed. We climbed some beautiful giants and marvelled at the old "fairy trees" and their hidden treasures within their burnt out trunks.



We tried our hardest to find the stories of the original inhabitants, but sadly they were hard to come by, although we were very lucky to visit Sacred Canyon in which engravings can be found. It's a truly amazing site and my favourite place from the whole trip.



We drove for hours into a land where there was nothing to see but dirt and tufts of dry grass. A barren and remote land littered with ruins and an occasional oasis. Mazzive wedges gazed at us from alongside the road (awesome!), kangaroos of at least 3 different types; my first siting of a red in the wild, emu's abounded everywhere often with a tribe of youngsters and we were so lucky to come across a group of yellowfooted rock wallabies, awesome indeed!



3 weeks of dirt, dust and lots of flies, but it was great! Now for the washing *sigh*

beside the seaside.....

We're squeezing in as much as we can before the bubba arrives at the moment. Figuring it may be some time before we can go bushcamping again we set off for the long weekend down to a pretty little spot near Port Macdonald. We'd been told there was quite a bit of a drive off-road to get to the spot, no worries, we have a 4wd and are used to having to travel a bit off road. ummm not when I'm 37 weeks pregnant!!! By gosh I thought that baby was going to make an early arrival! All's good though and we're back home with everyone still in their right places...might have to give it another go in a few more weeks though.

Anyway it was a lovely spot. Great camp sites, nice calm sheltered beach, pity about the young hoons who decided to camp there as well and celebrate aus day with much hooning around sand dunes, playing very loud music and partying all night and most of the next day. Sheesh! ahhh the serenity of bush camping. This is just why we usually avoid camping over public holidays. Better remember it next time....

We did have a lovely time beside the sleeplessness. The weather was perfect. The kids had a bit of a fish on the jetty with Lach. Both got to wind in their first fish. Tully caught three different species, which is apparently very impressive.



She also spent a bit of time chasing Mr.Percival around and wondering where "Thunder boy" was.



Whilst the little rednut avoids the water and particularly seaweed as much as possible. Loves the beach, the waves and weed freak him out though.



So there's a bit of bushcamping crossed off the list for the moment. I wonder how old the little one need be before we go again. I keep thinking maybe easter but the thought of the crowds/hoons out camping sure doesn't inspire much of a want to get back into nature.

oh and watch out for Clara over the next day or so. She'll be up in the shop soon:)

life's a beach

Well it was for one day of our holiday. South west vic sure knows how to dish up some crazy summer weather some times.

Having just started a new job lach managed to scrape together a week of leave so we could have a little holiday. So a camping we went over to Port Fairy home of freezing winds, rain and noisy noisy shearwaters aka mutton birds. I've had many wonderful camping trips in Port Fairy but this one was definitley marred by the weather. Don't get me wrong it was stil a great holiday but only one day of summer and time at the beach the whole week and only on the day we were leaving just sucked. Oh well...one must learn not to mess with the weather especially in the great south west.

The kids loved camping though, they're great little campers. Once the strange noises of mutton birds returning to their nests in the middle of the night were sorted and Tully had deciced they were ok and could actually come to her birthday party (even though the only ones we actually saw were carcasses)we did enjoy ourselves to a degree. Lots of kite flying, sand digging, horse and carriage rides and visits over to Granny Annie and a new little cousin brought many smiles to little faces. The next camping trip before bub arrives and whilst the sun is shining is in the plans. Here's hoping for some sun:D



Apart from wet and windy camping trips i have also finished off a great batch of trades but was a bit of a silly duffa and accidentally erased all the pics from my camera. i'd even done some t-shirt painting which is a uber rarity nowdays. Now my plate is pretty much clear so on to some making for my kiddies and a bit of prep for the bub. Sweet Granny Annie gave me Amy Butler's new book for Chrissy and I have quite a few projects added to my list. Together with some gift making for two little additons to the family, it's all go go here.

Innes National Park

We escaped for a belated long weekend away at Innes National Park on the York Peninsula this weekend. We hadn't seen any of this side of SA so it was an interesting camping experience. The National Park is really lovely with some amazing views of islands off the coast (where are my shots of these???) and awesome waves. The campsites weren't so great though. We bush cmap when we can so have a pretty basic expectation of a campsite. Sadly the site we stayed at was a bit disappointing. Fenced off sites which were completely bare, heaps and heaps of broken glass, no shade and introduced bees everywhere. In hindsight we should have paid the extra $10 a night to stay at pondolowie rather than surfers beach but hey...it's all experience. Anyway, the beaches were awesome, the water refreshing and a good time was had most of the time :)
We did a bit of sight seeing...


paddling


driving :)



and splashing about.



Back at home it was soooo nice to have a good wash and start thinking about the next trip away. I'm thinking the Flinders ranges. awesome :)