Last full day on the road

Nothing like waking up early to make the most of your last full day on the road.  Well I think that is what Kayla had in mind; however the rest of us had other ideas.  Luckily it was at least 6 am so I just opened up the canvas window and sat her up there to sticky beak at all the traffic going past.  This managed to keep her entertained for a good hour before I decided it was time we should all get up and moving.  I think it was because I could see all the people across the road having a nice cooked breakfast and I was hungry.

Such a nosey parker.

So up we got and off we toddled across the road for a massive breakfast for only $7 each.  I think we are really going to have to work hard to work off all the excess holiday luggage we seem to be carrying.  We obviously felt guilty after eating all that food as we then went and did a lap around the showground arena and checked out all the different vans and setups.  Next we headed down to the main street for the parade.  It was a really lovely parade and I never tire of hearing bagpipes.  Hamish doesn’t seem to share my passion as he covered his ears every time a band marched by.

Love the traditional clothes.

 

The knight led the parade.

 

So serious.

Luckily Jason took the photo before they got too close...

 

 

After the parade was over we caught the bus up to the main location of the Celtic festival.  I am certainly glad we decided to catch the bus as it would have been a fair ole walk and it was all uphill with a steep bit at the end.  We had a great time looking at all the bands playing, stalls, eating more food, watching sheepdog trials and of course in the kids’ corner.  It cost $30 an adult to get in (both the kids were free) and I was impressed at the kids area as they had a little jumping castle, face paint and crafts all for free.  Hamish had to of course get the Spiderman one.  Later we came back and he made me a magpie bird for the garden.  Okay honestly most of it was done but the kids got to do a little bit of painting on them.  There was also candle making but I thought that might end in disaster, and the face mask decorating table was extremely busy.

Serious Spiderman pose.

 

Playing on top of the hill.

Love older couples holding hands, I hope when we are

the same age we still hold hands.

 

 

We have a pram for a baby, others for their dogs.

Jason couldn’t help himself and had to buy one of the Scottish hats/wigs.  So then of course we had to put it on the kids for a laugh.  By mid-afternoon we were all getting a bit tired and so we made the call to leave before Hamish and Kayla started to crack it.  We walked home as it was a very easy walk down hill back to the caravan park.  We had a little rest before heading out to driver around Glen Innes to see what the town was like.  Hamish decided was obviously wrecked from the big day and fell asleep, so of course now he is still awake as I am typing this.  So much for packing up whilst the kids slept!  At least Jason has made a good start on it for us. 

My three clowns.

A mix between Scottish and Spiderman.

Look Grandma, I have hair.

We have now accepted the fact that our holiday is coming to an end so we are sort of in, ‘let’s just get home and get organised’ mode.  The drive tomorrow (doing our 90km/hr) is still going to be about 4 hours and 15 minutes without any stops.  I can here you say that at least we don’t have to set up at the other end.  True, we have our beds all made, however we need to still put up the van, strip the sheets, wash it out, take out all clean clothes, pull out all the food, remake the beds and then do all the washing. 

Even the mini scott had to use the loo.

View over Glen Innes

I must admit now that I have accepted that we are going home, I am looking forward to having a nice long hot bath.  Though that is subject of course to Vince remember to turn on our power and hot water system today!  I might even go and get a pedicure on Monday so I can feel half human again.  Though Monday we are straight back into it all with Hamish’s soccer lesson and re-stocking the fridge/ pantry with a food shop.  Also we can only guess how tall our lawn must be and that it will need to be mowed (we are the bogan neighbours).

Hamish of course is looking forward to seeing Connor and Yulim and we no doubt will share a bottle of wine from our van cellar with Vince and Jacki on Monday as they will be away tomorrow.

We hope you have all enjoyed reading about our travels.  To anyone who is thinking about doing it, stop thinking and start putting it into action.  It truly is possible, you just need to keep it realistic to your situation (kids or no kids etc) and be open to change and the fact things don’t always go to plan.  We have really enjoyed this holiday and the time we have spent together as a family.  Hopefully it won’t be too long until we get to do it again.  Until then, you will have to find another blog to read! 

The youngest in the crowd.

Today we are really proud of ourselves as we managed to pack up quite fast and kept up with all the people with full sized vans.  Though we were caught out having to wait whilst another couple hooked up their van, however we eventually hit the road at 9:30am.  It was a really short, but scenic drive today.  Lots of hills for the poor car, but it managed it well and I am sure it is looking forward to having a break from towing when we get home.  We even stopped at a roadside stall and bought some delicious fruit and veg.

Entering colder country.

 

We arrived in Glen Innes and headed straight to the showgrounds as it is only $25 a night for power and hot showers.  Seems like a bargain after what we paid for the previous two nights.   We scored a great spot under one of the sheds and just across from the toilets, showers and where dinner and breakfast are served if we want to pay for it.

Jason and Hamish had the best seat in the shop.

 

Hamish has become so much like us in regards to checking out others vans, however he has taken it to the next level and seems to make friend friends with the owners and gets invited in!  At least he takes his boots off before entering.  I swear he was in the van next to us for a good half an hour this afternoon.  When the lovely lady asked if she could give him a biscuit I did warn her that she had to be careful otherwise he would eat her out of house and home.

We ended the day with a Celtic dinner with live entertainment.  It was a bit of a shamble as they didn’t expect everyone to turn up all at once and was planning to do more of a progressive dinner.  Well I hate to break it, but with the average people are around 70 it seems, most of them have dinner at 6pm.  I even saw them lining up at 5 pm all rugged up.  I was still walking around in a singlet so I started to wonder if I was getting sick as I thought it was a beautiful afternoon. 

Watching some of the locals do traditional dances.

 

Anyway we eventually got a seat and I can say that it was well worth the wait as the roast was delicious.  The ladies were very nice and even bought out a special dessert for Hamish.  We then moved outside and watch a few of the dances and had races with Hamish before getting a bottle of port and returning to the van so the kids could go to sleep.  Eventually we managed to get them to go to sleep.  It took a while with the load music but eventually we got there, got to pour our port and whilst Jason tried to watch the Broncos game (bad reception) I could do the blog.

One cranky little man

Well we think Hamish got up on the wrong side of the bed today as gee he was cranky most of the day.  Getting him to leave Harry to come and see the sights of Tamworth saw a massive hissy fit and anything we suggested or wanted him to do just because a massive drama and we seemed to be the worst parents in the world.  Needless to say we didn’t go out and see too much as we decided to focus more on trying to get him to have a sleep, however we failed at that also.

Checking out the big guitar.

 

Hamish doesn't look to amused.

 

Jason and Hamish playing at the local park.

We did manage to get out and see the Big Golden Guitar, and of course pop into the Big McDonalds next door for a very much needed coffee, which I think was trying to outdo the Golden Guitar in size.  We then went into the museum/gift shop next to it.  Jason and Hamish went off to go through the wax museum and Sir Donald Bradman history museum.  The lookout over Tamworth is also very much worth the drive up as it really puts the city’s size into perspective and it is a lovely outlook.

The view over Tamworth

 

Family happy snap

 

There wasn’t too much else that we were really interested in and we just spent the afternoon browsing the main street.  It is really a beautiful main street and tree lined.  Hamish also tried to make a few new friends when he just walked up to two late teenage/early 20’s girls and said hello.  They invited him to join their tea party, but he said he was on his way home.

She loves her yoghurt.

 

One of the wax displays.

 

Another wax exhibit.

 

There was a beautiful sunset to end the day; however you could certainly feel the sudden temperature drop.  We had the heater going all night keeping the van nice and warm.  Don’t know what we would do without our little heater.

Nice way to end the day.

 

Not much outdoor dinning happening today.

 

Beautiful sunset.

 

Not much happening today

Well today was a very uneventful day.  We packed up nice and early and hit the road to Tamworth.  It wasn’t too far but it really just dragged on and on.  I mean the fact where were even talking about politics tells you how uneventful it was.  We stopped in Coonabarabran for morning tea.  We managed to find a lovey park on a creek.  It was full of leaves changing colour with the season and starting to fall off.  Hamish befriended one of the local kids and he was in heaven sharing his cars and playing with him.

Kayla just happily played on her little rug whilst we had our coffee and cake.  We thought it was going to be hard to get Hamish away but we did manage to get him back into the car after a chat with the people who were looking after the other boy.  They were kind enough however drinking in a park at 11am isn’t really my cup of tea. 

She starts with a clean outfit at the start of the day, honest.

 

Making sure the goose doesn't come and get her biscuit.

 

Gunnedah was our stop for lunch before heading off on the final leg.  Finding our way to the caravan park in Tamworth was a little harder than expected when the navigator took us to the opposite end of the street to where we needed to be.  We eventually made it there however after Jason paid for the two nights he was informed there was no toddler bathroom or kids playground as advertised.  They had decided to do them up and we were two days early for their re-opening.  Fine I thought at first until I discovered that they charged us for Hamish for the night.  Seriously if you aren’t offering everything you advertise you need to drop your rates.  It really wasn’t worth it in my opinion.

Hamish trying to feed the goose.

 

I tried to take a picture of the falling leaves...

but they just blended in.

 

Setting up beside us was a couple with their son (who was nearly 2 years old) from Perth.  They have been travelling since August last year.  It was great chatting to them and hearing about their travels and experiences.  They let us check out their van which was nice but it isn’t one I would like layout wise.  We then set about the usual routine and I had to bath Kayla in the laundry tub as that seemed the easiest option.

Coming over a range.

 

What were we thinking?

 The domestic duties took priority with me doing the washing whilst Jason swept out the van.  Another words we spent about 10 minutes and we were done.  I think it is going to be a big shock when we get home and I have to do the entire house again.  We were in no great rush so I sat down and read a magazine whilst waiting for the washing to finish.  Hamish was happy to play around the van park and I think he is starting to be more like us in that he seemed to be checking out everyone else’s setup.

Gee some people do it tough - it was huge.

Finally we headed off to the Dubbo Zoo and somewhere on the way there we obviously lost all common sense as when we got there we decided to walk it.  I mean it is only 5km, really how bad can it be and it will work off some of the happy hours we have had.  Now add a pram, a three year old, and the fact that the 5km is just the loop road.  We forgot you have to go in and out to all the enclosures and that half of it is up hill.

No Hamish these aren't real.

 

Just starting out.

 

They look so cute.

It wasn’t all bad and we really did enjoy checking out all the wildlife and quizzing Hamish on all the different animals.  We were bitterly disappointed that the kiosk at the half way mark was closed.  Luckily that was also the turning point of the uphill and the rest was downhill.  By the end we were placing animals in priority order of what we needed to see and what we could potentially skip (i.e. Kangaroos).  Mind you when we mentioned them Hamish got excited to see them so we had to tell a little lie and say they don’t have any.  I mean if he looks out the window when we are driving he will see them for free!

Hamish being cheeky.

 

Kayla and I checking out the hippos.

 

Climbing on the not so real wildlife.

 

Once we had rested our feet and enjoyed a guilt free lunch we headed back to the van for a lazy afternoon.  It was nice to be able to put our feet up and relax whilst Kayla slept and Hamish played with his new car from the zoo (trust our son to pick out the biggest toy).  I ducked out to the shops to grab a few things and then the normal nightly routine started.  One thing we have found annoying about this van park is that you have to have keys to the toilet blocks.  That isn’t so bad, but you also need a key to the baby and toddler bathrooms which they won’t give you for your entire stay.  Instead every evening you have to walk to reception and get it.  That is painful enough, and as Jason found out, if you get the wrong one it is even more painful when you then have to run and grab the right one.

Getting it a bit over it and we weren't even half way.

 

You need to read up and learn things.

 

Hamish loved her.

Last night we worked really well as a team to get everything done to enable an early start this morning.  Once the kids were down, I was in charge of preparing snacks for drive and topping up all water bottles, nappy bag etc. whilst Jason cooked the chicken and beetroot for our lunch. Makes the stops a lot easier and cheaper when you have your own food and drinks and all you are looking for is a park for the kids.

Hamish being a lion.

 

Kayla had a go at being a Koala.

 

Nope, not keen on the lion.

We were just watching the news about kids rioting in West Dubbo and how the posties are threatening to not deliver the mail there.  Jason pipes up and says ‘Note to self, don’t drive through West Dubbo’.  I crack up laughing and quickly inform him we are staying in West Dubbo (I only know as that is what the sign said when I came back from the shops).  Tonight we decided to watch Packed to the Rafters outside and the owner of the van park came up and commented on the life we have.  I mean someone has to do it, be it only for the next few days L

 

She was showing off her leg.

 

Cute little baby one.

 

See still smiling.

 

Best of friends.