My appologies for my lack of enthusiasm for my blog recently i know its been shocking and ill try updates you on the more exciting of our adventures so far. One reason i didnt post this one earlier was because i have lost all the photos for it except the ones at the bottom and i know some people dont like big chucks of reading but this should be an amusing post anyway!
We had a short
holiday when the cherry trees were not ready for us and you can't rush nature
in all things, so we headed on a new adventure! We had heard that Wilson's Promontory
National Park was a highlight of Victoria so that was high on the places to go.
We convinced 2 other back packers to join us and the 4 of us headed off in our
car to the coast. I was excited because I wanted to tick off my list having
been to the lowest point on the Australian mainland.
Lesson one on this trip: never trust the GPS and shortest
distance is a bad setting to have it on. We found ourselves taking what could
be considered a scenic route but on a day where the mist prevented any good
views. Nervous comments from the backseat became progressively more frequent
and the hills have eyes joke at the start of our forest drive started to feel
more real the deeper we got. We couldn't have chosen a route with a more bends
and fewer settlements which made us uneasy due to our recent tyre issues but
that is what memories are made of right.
All is well that ends well and we arrived safely at our
destination if not as early as we had hoped. James and I were sleeping in the
car again and the 2 boys had decided to share the world's smallest tent. It was
humour watching them fit the larger than tent blow up mattress in complete with
ooh and aahs when the seam looked like it was going to rip. With camp set up we
decided a short walk was in order before dark and we set off on a lovely boardwalk
with carefully concealed beers. We were rather glad for previously mentioned
beers when half way around the boardwalk the skies opened and we almost had to
swim through the mangroves to get back to camp (please keep in mind at this
stage that we are heading into winter). On the very high upside the showers
there were amazing and though I should be able to say it didn't take me long to
get clean and warm, I ignored all save the planet signs in the bathroom and had
the longest shower in recorded history.
Dinner was another story since it took about an hour to cook
courtesy of the wind that made our little gas cooker fairly useless but as
always my husband produced us a lovely meal and we decided to retreat to the
only wind free zone we had access to... the car. Now set up for James and I to
sleep in the seats were down and by some miracle we squeezed 4 people into the
back all in the name of playing Settlers of Catan (potentially the most fragile
board game set up) and secretly hoping someone won really quick so we could get
out and stretch our legs. Some cheap plonk later and with a winner of our game
we called it a night.
Claiming that we deserved a sleep in we didn't start at the
crack of dawn the next day. The last thing I thought I would have to deal with
first thing in the morning was a parrot attack! I was peacefully eating my
raisin toast when this beautiful parrot reckoned it looked good and jumped on
me to get a piece. At this point I shouted and proclaimed loudly that the
stupid parrot could have my breakfast which was by now half way across the park
on the floor and my sulks were greeted as humour to the others who were trying
to get the flocks of parrots to land on their arms and eat out their hands! It
is because of people like my friends that innocent bystanders get attacked by
savage birds!
The main plan for the day was to climb mount Oberon and
though I doubted whether it was worth it at points the view from the top was
incredible and we spent ages up there with a mini picnic. We met some ex south Africans
on the hike and spent a long time talking to them that night back at the camp
which was nice. It's great to hear people talk in an accent even if it had to
be an Afrikaans one!
The afternoon was dedicated to "Squeaky beach"
where I read a book and the boys took turns playing chess which was really nice
and relaxing. There was no sign of rain and we were once again blessed with
fantastic weather.
The boys cooked a good diner that night and we played the
Jumanji board game which was fairly entertaining especially since I am fairly
sure it is aimed at 10 year olds but we shouted and threw the dice, got eaten
by crocodiles and poisoned by mythical plants while warming our insides with
some cheap port :)
A short mission to a lookout on our way out was the only
thing we did the next day when we took the shortest possible route back to the
farm to start back at work :)
