RnR

08/01/2024

Some fun stats…..

💰 $90,000 ($1670per week)

🚙 41118kms

2x split hot water pipes (day 3 I think 🤣we lost all our water and very thankful we had our bladder to go and get water with the car instead of packing up the van)

1 Snapped Ubolt (GRR)

1 broken jockey wheel

2 flat tyres

1 Broken tail light

1 lost UHF

1 broken drawer latch

1 caravan vent rattled loose and broke (GRR)

2 spotlights came loose in Karijini (got rid of them)

1 faulty Honda generator (under warranty but too hard to fix on the road because we couldn’t stop for an extended period)

1 cracked windscreen

1 bent awning from bad weather Xmas day

2 new ball joints (recall)

1 broken washing machine (died in our last week)

1 set of new tyres

3 car services

3 dead Nannas 🪽

Approximately 300 cassette empties and we’re home!

Countless memories and some dead set stunning surroundings.

Favs….

Mum: free camps when it was just the four of us under the stars.

Ruby: Penguin at September Beach in the first week

Riley: her first 4D theatre experience at the Big Banana

Dad: free camping on the Pentecost River with a fire 🔥

To be honest we all have so many which is why I tried to keep this going so I can turn it into a journel for the children.

Some of us are happier to be home than others but the reality is we need to top up the bank account before we consider our next adventure and where better place to do it than surrounded by family and the beautiful North Beach.

08/01/2024

We left Glenormiston and spent 2 nights on the road before reaching Christie’s Beach on the 5th.

While we had some sh*tty weather we did catch Christie’s beach and Port Noarlunga on a cracker day and it reminded me that SA does have some very lovely beaches just not the amazing weather to always enjoy them.

We had a great time catching up with friends and family this week. We got some average weather but still managed a surf at Middleton, coffees, beers etc

It’s been good, but she’s all over for now! It’s time to top up the bank account 🤣

🍺 Willalooka Tavern
🌳 Callington
🏖️ Christies Beach
🏠 Wallaroo Tourist Park (Home)

03/01/2024

$1200
100kms

⛺️ Warrnambool
⛺️ Glenormiston

This week we continued our Christmas celebrations by cooking up our Xmas food as none of it got eaten on Christmas Day.

Mum, Rose and I went to the Deep Blue In Warrnambool. Beautiful Baths fed by hot springs followed by a buffet breakfast to celebrate Christmas and well lots of things actually.

We waved goodbye to Nanny (again) which was fine because this time we knew we would be seeing her really soon anyway!!

Nanna spoilt us to a beautiful dinner at Pippies and then a few rides at the fair where I had a better time than the children. Turns out the harness trampolines are awesome for people with Pelvic floor issues. You should have seen the flips I was doing 🤣 👊💪

Warrnambool was never really on the list as a ‘go to’ but it really impressed us. We didn’t get amazing weather but still managed to sneak in some lovely walks, a couple of freezing surfs, and enjoyed the foreshore which has been done up and has excellent play areas and tracks for the kids. The markets were crazy and if you were smart you would get there early, settle in with a chair and drink and watch the live music. We weren’t 🤣.

We celebrated New Years with some of our favs (minus one because he has an important job 🙏) and throughly enjoyed our week with friends. We got to visit their beautiful property in Glenormiston and reminisce about the year that was. The girls are going to miss these guys and so are we. Heavy hearts saying our goodbyes again but this time felt harder because we know there’s no accidental run ins coming up.

28/12/2023

1400kms
$1000

🏕️ Yass
🏠 Ballarat
🏕️ Warrnambool

With some sadness we pulled out of One Mile Beach and away from the coast. We drove down the Hume highway and passed a sign that said Adelaide and we all started to Yell ‘Nooooooo!’ 🤣

Everyone has some things to look forward to as we get closer to home but overall none of us like the reality of leaving the travelling life.

We did a couple of big car days to get to Warrnambool. First stop Yass. Turned out to be a ripper day to be there. Markets for Xmas and quiz night at the pub. We ran into Santa at a restaurant and he gifted the girls a beautiful little bag with a $10 voucher in it. We wine tasted our way down the street and then scored free cupcakes just for having a great quiz night host, $20 Maccas voucher and 3 drink vouchers thanks to Riley. A garlic crusher thanks to Brodi and a bottle of wine for coming 2nd to last 🏆 this is my type of quiz night!

After another big day in the car we stopped at Ballarat for the night and apart from some washing a quick play at the playground we all went nonight 💤💤

We excitedly arrived in Warrnambool where the weather was average to say the least. We spent time getting food organised for Christmas day which was pointless because we didn’t cook a thing it was so bad 🤣 we got the annex up, got some more pegs and spent 2 days trying to make sure everything was going to hold up to the weather that was coming. We are literally 12 months in and Christmas Day was going to be the worst weather we were going to encounter 🤣💨💨💨💨 after looking at the forecast Brodi decided Christmas was being moved 😬

One of our favourite travel families rocked up Christmas Eve, awesome to see a familiar face and have someone to spend Christmas with. We had a couple of cocktails. Exchanged some gifts, played a bit of soccer, the girls put on a bit of makeup and had an absolute ball and couldn’t have cared less about the weather. It’s wasn’t our traditional Christmas but we thoroughly enjoyed it.

21/12/2023

$2600
300kms

Big week….

From Elizabeth Beach we did

🏖️ Elizabeth Beach
🌊 Boomerang Beach (voted 2nd best beach in 2023)
🌊 Blueys Beach
🏊 Forster tidal pool
(•)(•) Shelly Beach (nudist beach)
🌊 Seal Rocks
🏖️ Sandbar (exactly what the name says and with water on both sides how could it not be a winner)

All the places we visited from here were incredible, nowhere near enough time to explore the region but we did our best

Sandbar is a drive on beach but it’s $60 for a permit and if you were there for an extended period that would be well worth it. We only had one day but still paid the money because we love a drive on beach and saw its value for what we were after.

We teamed up with our caravan neighbours and participated in Trivia night at the The Reccy (top spot) and took out the win 🥇

We moved onto One Mile Beach which is close to Port Stephens. Hired some surf boards and purchased some the same day 🤣. Merry Xmas to us. Due to our poor planning we hadn’t had the chance to do surf lessons which was something we have wanted to do since Margaret River (approx 45 weeks ago 🤣) but we finally scored a good beginner surf day and somewhere you could hire boards 🤙

We had some average weather at one mile so took to some cleaning, reorganising and getting into the Christmas spirit 🎄

14/12/2023

$2500
400kms

⛺️ Scott’s Head
⛺️ Port Macquarie
🏖️ South West Rocks (day trip)
🏖️ Crescent Head (day trip)

More stunning coastline, more stunning days.

Recovered injuries 🙌

9km Coastal walks 🏃‍♀️

Koala Hospital 🐨

Christmas markets 🎄

Christmas lights 💡

Shenanigans while mum and dad had a sleep in 🧦

Quiz nights ✅

Drinking, eating, swimming etc etc 🌊

All of these were great but South West rocks comes out on top for me here. 4 places you can choose to swim at from the caravan park. Stunning clear water. We all loved it.

This coast line is still impressing 😎☀️

07/12/2023

$1260
1000km

🏕️ Urunga
🏠 Narrabri
🏕️ Scotts Head

Gosh that week went quick 😬 we spent the rest of our time at Urunga spending time with friends, jetty jumping at the lido and enjoying some excellent live music from McKenzie at the local watering hole. We really had a tonne of fun in this little town. It’s definitely a top spot for young children and I fell in love with the place a little bit.

From Urunga we took a day trip to Sawtell which is stunning and has a ripper tidal pool. The water was freezing but Ruby was not having it that day and mum wasn’t letting anyone miss out so in I went 🥶

We took a trip inland to Narrabri for a few nights to visit my late Nans sister who I haven’t seen in many many years. The drive from Urunga to Dorrigo was stunning. It was a big couple of days driving but well worth it to see our beautiful Auntie Norma.

We moved down the road to Scott’s head which was another fabulous little town that we all loved and we ran into some old school friends and the children enjoyed having some kids around! Four nights here was perfect to chill out and enjoy the beach. However….11 months in we made our first trip to the hospital when Riley fell off a brick wall 😔 I don’t know how she didn’t shatter her knee cap or split her head open. She did a great job of saving herself. Macksville hospital were great and after a once over by the doc and an icy pole we were sent on our way.

We popped to the local bowls club for a little barefoot bowls competition. I managed to sneak in the win 🥇 after a few gutter balls I got my form back and finished off with a resting toucher. Brodi now likes to apply this word to our morning cuddle (thank you Hayden 🤣)

Oh yeah and Dad nailed some scones

That is all!

29/11/2023

$1100
750kms

**Enter NSW**

🏕️ Sandstone Point
🏝️Suffolk Park
🏝️ Emerald Beach
🏝️ Urunga

We heard this next stretch of coast down to Sydney is lovely but none of us had high expectations as we generally think of the east coast being a bit busy for us but the last 3 towns we have pulled into have been really lovely.

We collected mother from the airport Tuesday and we needed somewhere close to Maroochydore airport and heard on good authority that we were onto a winner with Sandstone Point (Not financially 🤣 but a great place to stay)

We discussed having a holiday from our travels this year. We even brought our passports along, but it just wasn’t meant to be so this is as close as we could come to it. Swim up bar for the adults and plenty to do for the kids (movies, pools, water park, playgrounds, jumping pillow, pump track) there’s mini golf and go carts for extra charge. At Sandstone Point there’s the caravan park, the pub (which also has a play area and jumping pillow and stacks of grass) and the Oyster Shed. We of course checked them all out and couldn’t fault any of it.

Suffolk Park was a great little spot right on the beach. We enjoyed some awesome weather and checked out the most easterly point in Australia. Into Byron for a swim and beer and then down to Suffolk beach for some more bodyboarding.

Emerald beach caravan park was also right on the beach. The children enjoyed some bodyboarding and we had some storms come through which produced a beautiful 🌈 and brought all the kangaroos out. The Look at me Now walking track along the coast links beautiful beaches and has an incredibly picturesque coastline.

Urunga (caravan park on the beach again 🙌) has a magnificent boardwalk all the way to the beach as it’s situated slightly inland on the Kalang River. The inlet provides a beautiful safe swimming area and the pub is right across the road. One of my dear friends also lives here which makes it even better and they own a ripper cafe in Bellingen called Black Bear which has a beautiful menu and ripper customer service.

We tried our hand at Efoiling this week with Ozfoil. If you’re ever around these parts this was an excellent way to spend an arvo! Tynon was very helpful and stayed with me until I was comfortable and it wasnt long before we were flying 🙌

26/11/2023

22/11/2023

$1500
400km

⛺️ Coolum
⛺️ Noosa Habitat

📍 Noosa
📍 Boreen Point
📍 Australia Zoo

A few more catch ups in Coolum this week which was lovely. It won’t be the last time we see these guys I’m sure but it was big hugs and goodbye for now.

Australia Zoo was always on my hit list for this trip but we managed to be in Coolum on Steve Irwin Day so we made the effort to get there specifically on the Wednesday. It opened earlier than normal which is a bonus because the place is massive and they had extra stuff happening. We all enjoyed ourselves thoroughly , just the zoo and the grounds are awesome but chuck in discounted entry, free breakfast and a performance by John Williamson and you have had yourself a very good day 👌 The place really reminds you of Steve’s passion for wildlife and conservation so if you’re ever in the area it’s definitely worth a visit. They have done a wonderful job of it. We spent the day educating our children on who Steve Irwin actually was because you forget how old we are and how he hasn’t been yelling ‘crikey’ on tv in their lifetime.

We spent 4 nights at Noosa Habitat. If the weather was good I might have felt differently about this place but we had storms and rain most of the time. It is set on Lake Cootharaba which is the gateway to one of only two Everglades in the world. But for all its potential beauty it’s incredibly overpriced, overcrowded on the weekends and lacking enough facilities. They send messages to your phone to keep the noise down but do nothing about the noise that people make. We had our solar panel urinated on and some drunk people take our kids netball which I politely asked for back the next day. It’s got a brewery onsite and they have quiz nights, live music and comedy which was awesome and we throughly enjoyed that but overall we were happy to get out of there it just wasn’t our thing.

While at Noosa Habitat we briefly popped into Noosa and Boreen Point. Walked a little, drank a little. We don’t mind Noosa but it’s not really our style. It has lovely beaches and a Port Douglas feel. I understand why people flock there but dodging people like your in Sydney and sitting in an overcrowded cafe with dogs isn’t our thing.

Boreen point was, well a little bit Boreen 🤣 cute little town on the same lake we were camped on but it did have a lovely pub!

The week also came with some jockey wheel warranty complications a generator that sh*t itself when we really needed it for the 3rd time on the trip (and then couldn’t be fixed) and an unexpected awning drop that scared the sh*t out of us. So there was a bit of running around a very wet camp.

Overall the week ‘wasn’t really our thing’ 🤣 but that’s ok, you have to get out there and do it to find that out. We had plenty to look forward to as Mumma bear arrives. A couple of very excited kids!

15/11/2023

$1350

📍 Maryborough
📍 Tin Can Bay
📍 Rainbow beach
📍 Coolum

On our way to Tin Can Bay we stopped in at Maryborough. The birth place of Mary Poppins Author PL Travers. It was a quaint little town. We found Mary and snapped a pic and were delighted to see her as the pedestrian crossing light! We purchased Ruby a copy of the novel as we have never actually sat and watched it. We also found out by word of mouth that Maryborough was home to the famous cistern chapel. I wasn’t sure what to expect but they are definitely the nicest public toilets you will ever see with some beautiful artwork.

Tin Can Bay. We got word from the locals about the Dolphin feeding and that there was an open mic at the fish and chip shop which was BYO. How could you not go and have dinner there and listen to some tunes? We had a ball, the music was great. They had people on the sax and piano accordion (which reminded me so much of my late Nan who was buried this week 🪽) Just brilliant, one of the best nights of the trip. The children were so patient with us because we weren’t keen on leaving as you can imagine and they were tired after an early rise for the dolphins.
We tried to convince them to get up and sing but they weren’t interested, we did consider duo of spoon playing but weren’t quite drunk enough 🤣

From Tin Can Bay we took a drive to Rainbow Beach. Awesome spot. Amazing lagoon. Don’t think I took many photos of the ocean but when the tide goes out the lagoon forms and it’s a sensational spot for swimming and body boarding. The cliffs were sensational and it’s definitely a place I would visit again.

We finally got the sheets washed 😳 everyone’s feeling clean for a good 3 minutes.

Arrived in Coolum excited to see some familiar faces! The children have been enjoying some ocean time now we are out of croc and stinger territory and getting to do it with friends is even better! I also got to see one of my old school favs and her beautiful children and like no time had passed we had a beer and chinwagged the day away.

It’s been a cracking week.

10/11/2023

Kms…unsure 😬
$1800

📍 Kinka Beach Discovery Park
📍 1770 Camping Ground
📍 Bundaberg CMCA
📍 Burrum Shores Beachfront

Yeppoon/Kinka Beach - lots of washing and swimming. We don’t often stay in big caravan parks but when we are going to be busy with chores we often splash out so the kids have plenty to do. The kids are never sad when there’s water around! Between the caravan park and the lagoon we all had a ball. Mum and dad even went on the slides.

We also visited the Shell shop which was pretty amazing. Three local families started it many years ago and have collected, swapped and purchased from around the world. Lots of shells we had seen on our travels but not in pristine condition and that large. Definitely worth the gold coin donation. Awesome ladies there volunteering. Didn’t really get any photos but we were all more than impressed with it.

We tried our luck getting out to Byfield but I pulled the pin half way up the big sand dune. We were in crawl control and while we would have got up there once we had all had another birthday I didn’t want to hold people up on the track and I wasn’t well enough prepared to be gone all day which is what it would have been by the time we got to the end of the track and explored the beaches etc. if your going to Byfield, go early! Also the track isn’t chopped up if you go first thing.

Quick stop in Rockhampton to shop and play at Kershaw Gardens before moving along to 1770. Unfortunately a wave across the highway to an old mate was all we could manage this trip due to our poor organisation but it’s not the first or last time that’s going to happen 😬

We visited 1770 on our last trip but stayed in Agnes Waters as we couldn’t get into the beach front park. This time we did 🙌 its location is awesome and we might have got wind that people we knew would be staying there so that was a bonus. Lots of beach time and morning walks. A few too many midge bites but that’s the first time we have been slaughtered so I guess that’s pretty lucky.

Quick overnight stop in Bundaberg to check out the Bundy factory and we were on our way to Burrum Heads.

Another awesome beach front location. The children were kept busy by protecting there massive hole from the incoming tide and the next morning was beautiful with no wind. Always lovely to catch up with mates but I didn’t really take any photos.

Getting a bit slack, end of trip. No kms, not many photos 🤣