Spent a wonderdul night out bush on the Nullabor. We set up an outside bed with balnkets and sleeping bags to star gaze, mum even made hot chocolate with marshmallows.
With not a soul around for 100km it was pure bliss.
This will be my last post for 2016 we will be at Harry's Camp a free csmp bu thr besch off the Nullabor.
To everyone who has made our 2016 awesome, loving, fun, happy, huggy and a great ride thank you.
Love and hugs to everyone for a fantastic 2017.
Thw Greens had a fantastic christmas, super relaxed. We planned that everyone would eat whatever they wanted. So Miles had brie and ham, he asked me to get a baguette but on the day decided it was juat taking up vital brie space. So in the end he had brie wrapped in ham.
He also made it through the whole day in his pjs. Angus ate a huge container of smarties from his santa sack. Eloise joined Miles in his ham brie extravaganza and quietly comsumed a whole lot of sugar. He favourite the xmas pudding home made that we bought in the farmers markets in Margaret River.
The adults managed a more balanced offering of tomato flan and salads.
We played cricket in the afternoon with Miles' new cricket bat.
It was a wonderful christmas all together very relaxed and kids happy that santa found us in Bessie.
Hope everyone had a wonderful day. For those of you who find christmas difficult for many reasons my thoughts were with you.
Lots.of love
The Greens xx
Arrived safe and sound and getting ready to celebrate xmas in Esperance.
The beaches are spectacular.
Denmark, no not the country but the beautiful town on the West Australian trail south. Such a gorgeous town reminded me of a cross between the Blue Mountains and Byron on a tiny scale.
The highlight of our time here was our day at Green Pools and Elephant Rock (looks.like an elephant).
The water was so clear it took my breath away and seemed almost too perfect to be real. We spent a wonderful day swimming and playing until the sun finally slipped away and a perfect day ended.
We have just spent five glorious days in Albany. The beaches here are so divine, a day at Little Beach, I can report that the claim its the whitest sand and clearest water ever is true.
Equally gorgeous was Salmon Rocks a desserted paradise but with a roaring ocean that we braved only up to our waists.
The only thing missing from the perfect south west coast is a bit of heat. The average summer temperature a mere 28 degrees, cold for us sydneyites. If we could just turn up the temp a tad!
Onwards now to our xmas destination of Esperance with a brief two day sojourn to Bremer Bay.
Love to all xx
Finally after carrying around the max tracks (thank you so much to Tim and Hayley for the lend) we got bogged in the sand. The kids roared with excitment Miles in particular who has become quite the 4WD expert, studiously studying all the discarded 4WD magazines at the caravan parks.
No matter that the tyre pressure was way down and we were in 4 WD mode we were going nowhere. We all jumped out to survey the predicament. We had to even get the shovel out to dig out enough sand to lay the tracks. Then with a roar of the engine the car successfully shot forward over the ramps. Hooray. Miles was hoping i think that we would be bogged to the point of creating the ultimate escape- you dig a huge hole bury your spare tyre and attach your winch bury the tyre and winch yourself out. Sounds fun yeah? Steve was relieved we only had to put the tracks down.
4WD legends are we!!!
Into the Forest go the Greens and Miles and steve braved the climb of the Gloucester tree. Just to paint a picture of how brave they were i cant believe its legal to have a 53 metre tree that has juat metal pegs hammered into a tree. It warns that those with a fear of heights should not attempt it-that was me out of the game and Angus was too young and Eloise was not sure so the boys went.
Mega brave check out the photos.
We stayed in the beautiful town of Pemberton set amongst the karri forests of the west, so stunning. These trees are the third largest in the world and are magnificent. We enjoyed walks in the forest, a tram ride along the old train line (guess who liked that)? And made friends with the baby ducks that live amongst the caravans.
The weather has been a strange mix of hot and cold and over night we had a low of 9 degress bring out the sleeping bags!
We even had a fire in the caravan park with hot chocolate to keep warm.
35 degrees today and off to a tiny coastal town of Peaceful Bay
Love to all
Xx
The fuuny side to life in a van.
Just had to share after the latest incidence. From time to time no matter how much checking and double checking invariably something in the van gets left out and chaos rains.
I'm mostly the first person in the van so its usually me that clears it up and as 90% of the time its my fault so i quickly and quietly clear up. Today was the open packet of chi seeds (tiny pin prick in size) it looked like the aftermarrh of confetti war.
Early on I left a pineapple on the bench and it was like hurtling bullet of mayhem and destruction as it ricoched around the van spraying pineapple juice around.
Equally destructive the coffee pot, one can only imagine what took place as we turned each corner it took flight and the crash landing on the floor rolled up and done rhe aisle spewing coffee until it was empty.
The maple syrup was equally devastating and unbelievably sticky.
I've become pretty vigilant but every now again you become complacent and .....ahhhhhhh.
Having consumed our body weight in chocolate and wine its time for some action and adventure. The Greens went caving, even more adventurous then I anticipated I had to literally lie on my tummy and squeeze through a tiny opening-maybe should have been a bit more restrained at the farmers market. Then ladders and tight squeezing again through very narrow rock openings. So far this has been noos favourite activity on the while trip. We had to say he was six so he could go and he was like a pro with his too big hard hat and miners torch.
Next the hedge maze which i managed even though I can get lost in the supermarket, and have no sense of direction. It felt a bit like life; much confusing twisting and turning, dead ends and finally you make it but you have no idea how or how you get out now!
Finally an afternoon bike riding along the old rail tracks out the back of our camp ground. Angus hasn't quite clocked biking without training wheels so we hired a tag along. He had the biggest smile I have ever seen. Sitting up behind Steve who was peddling for all he was worth. Angus looked like the king of the road. Everytime we stopped for a break Angus would emplore come on lets keep going.
Ps eat your heart out Bear Grylls I'm rocking the advdnture survival world!!
Too much fun I tell you, happy days.
Off today heading steadly south as the xmas countdown continues.
We may be in a caravan but Christmas time is here. The Greens take xmas very seriously and so the same traditions continue. We put up our tree on the 1st with the xmas album of crooning xmas songs blaring from the stereo.
The tree this year is hand made from drift wood we collected and the decorations are from miss Eloise gum nuts and shell delights.
This year as a special treat i got a lego advent calendar and the kids just about jumped through the roof with excitement.
Having no christmas cards from anyone else the kids all made cards for each other yesterday so sweet and for us. So its definately beginning to feel a lot like Christmas, especially given the recent drop in temperature it was 10 degrees last night freezing. We are staying in a bush eco caravan park which is just a quick walk to town.
What do you do in the Margaret River why you drink wine and eat the best chocolate.
We started with desert first visiting Gabriels chocolate the only nut to bar chocolate maker in WA. So they source the beans and then process them onsite OMG amazing.
We taste tested everything bought bounty for.home (for adults not sharing with little people who equally enjoy chocolate from two dollar shop).
Then onto gorgeous little vineyard where they hand press their grapes family owned and run it was so lovely. Bought more supplies for the road (some gorgeous reds).
Love wine people who educate and don't judge those who do enjoy a red from the bottle shop that doesnt come from the dimly let expensive section. The kids learnt all about wine making and sampled lots of sky wine (rain water if you cant work thay out).
Off to farmers market this morning-food glorious food wonderful food.
I have had some complaints at my laziness and i apologise that it's been so long since my last blog, this is beginning to sound like a confession.
So after Horrocks we went to Geralton where the kids fell in love with the playground, steve made up for years of playground avoidance in 48 hours. Apart from that it was the dentist to fix steves tooth.
We spent a fantastic day at the gravity centre, a superb science centre that kept the kids captivated and enthralled for a whole day. Not to brag but oh hell why not during our tour the guide asked a group of kids what thd closest planet to earth was and yes it was noo who answered we were dumb struck and tried not to look to pleased with ourselves.
The Pinnacles were another highlight on the journey, thousands upon thousands of sand sculptures made from the most mustard yellow sand each one its own artistic statement.
Then we spent four glorious days in Perth. I have finally found my place! It's like Sydney 20 years ago. I worried I would look out of place in my dowdy travel clothes but oh how wrong was I. The city is devoid of Sydney chic and style i was with my people.
The beaches are divine and we spent loads of time in the sun.
We caught up with an old friend who i haven't seen for 12 years. So nice to see him again.
Currently we are in Yulingup (hilarious name) divine sleepy coastal holiday village. on our first day we braved the most serious waves i have ever seen. I waded in with the kids whilst noo played on the shore. Then from nowhere this wall of water emerged in front of us as the water from the shore receeded. The big kids and i ran and just in time as the wave crashed literally over noo who was only knee deep and whipped him off his feet. I have never seen a wave so big near the shore in all my beach going years.
The kids spent the entire afternoon wrestling with the waves and steve and i kept vigilant watch over noo who loved being picked up and swept off his feet.
Lorenza Claudio would love it here as would Ashely (Catherine).
Apologies again for my tardiness
Love to all xx
Just spent 2 nights in a tiny beach side town of Horrock,with just a general store and rows of tiny fibro shacks. It was the beach holiday that everyone would remember so quaint.
Bunny had her first proper burger the ones they use to make everywhere with fried onions, a massive bun that you have to momentarily dislocate your jaw to eat!
Oh the joy.
Unfortunately on the west coast its blowvember the wind was so crazy when we walked onto the jetty we had to hold our hats and sunglasses least they fly off.
We also had a bettle infestation the likes of which i have never experienced. These tiny little critters seems to like hiding in anything and everything. So we added half an hour to pack up time whilst bunny and steve flicked, batted and swept thousands of bugs from shoes and camp chairs beach towels and hats. Very scary, oh lovely nature.
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We came to Monkey Mia thinking that we would hopefully see some dolphins from the shore. But we were wrong what we had was an awesone experience interacting with dolphins. There were 3 feeding sessions in the morning where you could be chosen for feeding. The first session was so packed there was no hope, the second session still quite busy and then at the last session i got picked to feed Kiya. I held the fish on the surface, Kiya came up and plucked it from my hand whilst mum went crazy taking photos.
It was an excellent experience, the dolphins feeding programme is a lot more controlled then it use to be which makes it much safer for the dolphins.
Blog by Miles
Since I spend so much time posting amazing photos that don't give mich of an insight into caravan life, I thought it might be interesting to share some of the insights and funny moments.
I've been really good at following a pilates regime and its more inventive then I've ever had to be in any studio or mat class. The space limitations and kids make for an interesting work out. The minute I'm on my mat they all come crashing about, Angus wants to be my instructor and adopts this very quiet tone and becomes very serious.
As he shares his pearls of wisdom on human movement.
Bunny decides she has to open the fridge on my head and miles who has no regard for personal space at the best of times just wades in over me.
But it's been interesting realising that pilates is not just amazing moves in cool lycra (but i do love lycra) its like flossing, its the everyday routine, the dedication of doing what your body needs and i wouldn't have survived this trip without it.
Everyday tasks like food preparation have now become a perfected seamless dance as steve and i move around each other in a tango of pots and plates and glasses. The darling children ever loving seem to constantly create a road block to our seamless oneness, legs sticking out at odd angels threatening to cause life long maiming.
Suddenly the curtain I laughed about in the show room-the "privacy curtain" come into their own but not for the exciting things you might all be thinking! More to have a peaceful meal if we can't sit outside whilst the kids watch tv from our bed.
That brings me onto our bed the only.large soft open space its used more for wrestling and general kids games then sleep and every night i have to remake my bed and desand it!
So thata a bit of life in a box and you know wouldn't trade it for any other!!
