Sun, sand, shells and the sea

The rain started within minutes of packing up at Boynedale and driving off the dirt road onto the tarseal. We were lucky we left when we did! We headed to Kinka Beach, just south of Yeppoon, to visit some Scouting friends of the boys. Cath and her son Stu were genuinely lovely and so welcoming of us into their home! The first weekend was a blur as it rained steadily and we discovered and fixed several new leaks in the vans roof. Sigh. The kids got on like a house on fire and were busy gaming, building Lego, watching movies and playing with Stu's many toys!

One great bonding experience was when we helped Stu make a piñata for his upcoming birthday party. It will become a Pokemon piñata, apparently! We made glue out of flour and water, and it worked really well. Despite Will having a few sensory issues with the glue on his hands, it was a lot of fun especially with a spur of the moment glue fight. 

Will is finding the constant change in travelling a bit overwhelming at times, and honestly, it's been a real struggle trying to help him cope. It's been quite difficult for all of us and his Asperger's quirks are much more pronounced than ever before. It could be the constant change, it could be burgeoning puberty hormones or even just the next stage in his psychological development. We've all had to adjust accordingly, and it will be hard for a while as we figure out what reduces his stress and our frustration levels. But I'm confident that the experience itself is worthwhile and he will gain more from travelling and learn more than he would from just staring at a school book or computer screen. We just have to acknowledge the challenge and take time when we can to calm things down for him, and for us. 

It helped that Cath's place was so full of things to see and do.  We all fell in love with Snoopy the rescue dog. Miro the little Shetland pony was a lovely distraction too, as were the neighbours chooks! 

I miss my chooks.

The bird life at Cath's was amazing! I tried several times to get a photo of the rainbow kingfishers that hung out around our van but they were just too quick! The little honeyeaters and finches were just gorgeous and fulfilled my Nature TV requirements. Give me a window to the Natural world over a TV show any day.

 When the weather cleared we were able to do a bit of exploring, and the kids got to have a go on the sea kayak and we took the dogs to the beach to look for shells and build sancastles.

We had a bit of an explore around Yeppoon, and took the kids scootering  along the boardwalk there.its a really quiet, quaint little spot, and we all want to come back for a holiday and do more touristy things. You could easily spend a month here, exploring Mt Morgan, the Caves, the National Parks and the islands. It's just a hop skip and a jump to Great Keppel, too.  Yeppoon still has a chilled and relaxed beachy vibe, and the shallow water that goes for miles is really beautiful.

The evenings were spent sharing meals and drinking wine. Cath spent many years travelling the world on a sail boat ( in fact Stu was brought up on one) and her stories of life on the boat were really interesting! She was full of tips and solutions for living in small spaces, and packing and storing food for long periods of time. She even taught me how to use her pressure cooker, and it is definitely on my wish list as an awesome piece of kitchen equipment! So simple and so fast!

In fact we were having such a good time, and we all enjoying each other's company so much, that we decided to stay a few extra nights, so we could do a little more exploring. 

Lake Awoonga

Here at Boynedale Bush camp there is little to no phone service or 3G. I'm finding it very freeing. Geof is too, I think, although it's a lot harder for him to be disconnected from the web! A few times he commented that he felt naked without his phone or iPad nearby!

When we've needed to connect for work or for information ( for eg. Bureau of Meteorology weather reports) we drive up to the lookout where there is phone reception. It's a beautiful spot, and only looks out over a small portion of the southern branch of the Lake!! 

Guerrilla Gardeners are Great!

I was delighted to find that we had set up camp right next to Boynedale Bush Camp's very own herb and veggie gardens!

And just as I had marvelled at them, and gladly watered them with my washing up suds, then a couple pulled up in their van and we quickly recognised like minds! Turns out Pam and Pirate Pete (he had a mechanical arm and had lost half of the other arm)  were the ones who started the gardens! They come back each season to bring new soil, seedlings and start new gardens!

 Geo and Pete struck up a friendship and Pam shared her knowledge of herbs with me and I shared stories of our adventures in Jenkins Court! While we were getting our solar system up and running, Pete had offered for us to connect to his generator to charge our batteries. So Lily and I decided to use the kale and spring onions growing in the communal gardens to make cheese and greens muffins, and we shared them with Pam and Pete to say thanks.

They were yum, as always, and cooked in our little gas oven in the van! 

They invited us to visit their property when next we travelled the North Qld Coast. I'm really enjoying meeting different people so far. Especially when you find new friends with lots in common!

Full Moon over Lake Awoonga

We have just met a friendly retired couple who shared with us their Red Claw catch. They were impressed with the children's manners and interest in their catch and were happy to show them how to handle the crayfish, cook them humanely and then gave us a whole plate to enjoy! We learnt that Red Claw are decapods, as they have ten legs!

We were lucky enough to be camped here for the full moon, and Geof played with his camera to try and get a really good pic. You can see his post here. My iPhone pics aren't that great, but it gives you an idea of how beautiful it was. 

Our first real bush camp at Boynedale on Lake Awoonga

After spending a brief night with Mum and Alan at Gin Gin (thanks for the Red Claw, yum!) Geof developed a bit of a tummy virus (a present from the Robertson girls I'm sure LOL) so we decided to head to Lake Awoonga for a week to rest and recuperate and get used to living off the grid in the van. We had just picked up a new solar system with 3 x 80watt panels and a new battery so Geo was looking forward to getting them active and working out the kinks.

We managed to pull in right next to the Lake, in a beautiful campsite with shade trees and a track down to the lake. As Lake Awoonga is Gladstone's main water supply we are pretty sure it is safe to use for boiling water, dishes, washing up and washing hands etc, and even drinking, though we are not yet that brave!

The outlook over the water is so peaceful, and the bird life is a constant source of amusement! The lake is full of cormorants, moorhens and other water birds. Their behaviour was very interesting, especially when the flock of shags would move from one end of the lake to the other. The first few hundred would come to rest on the trees, and then the flock ( of thousands) would pass by. After the last ones had flown past the first group who had been resting then took up the rear! Fascinating. Just as amazing to observe was when they herded the fish and crayfish as a group and then fed as a seething mass of black feathers. The free camp we stayed in was on a southern tip of the lake, in fact the majority of Lake Awoonga was completely hidden from our view. Most people who stayed there had tinnies or kayaks. Next time it would be great to take kayaks and explore it further! Maybe even put out a crab pot for the Red Claw! Apparently the conditions in the Lake are perfect. For marron, too perfect in fact. There is no limit on how many you can catch. They are literally covering the lake floor. 

The people we have met here are interesting and varied. The Grey Nomads with their boutique resort wear and satellite dishes and near new vans are nice enough,they come around to sticky beak at around 4ish, just before happy hour. At 5 everyone is out around their campfires, having a drink and sharing stories. There seems to be lots of groups, people that know each other and travel the same route often. 

Of course Lily made friends within the first five minutes, and we barely saw her the whole first weekend. There were a few other travelling families who were camped here but they left on Sunday and it has been quiet during the week. 

William struggled to make a friend as he finds social situations difficult, but eventually decided it was better to ride bikes with kids younger than him than to spend all weekend on his own. LOL!

I really love looking out over the water. I find it so mesmerising. My favourite kind of TV.

Heading North

Heading North at last!

The excitement of the last few days has kept our minds busy and finally it sinks in - we are heading North and don't really know where we'll end up! Scary but also very freeing. So we packed up again and are now headed North, hoping to meet Mum and Allan at the Gin Gin rest stop. They are heading south from their long holiday up in Hideaway Bay, and we are looking forward to seeing Grandma after so long away!

Robertson birthdays, 2 for the price of one!

We left Naomi and Marks on Tuesday morning and headed to Jodi's for Anekah's 7th birthday. 

We were so excited to be catching up with the Robbos, as Jodi was 8 1/2 weeks pregnant, and we knew we will miss them terribly while we are away. 

Despite Anekah being a bit unwell (on her birthday, poor thing) we had a wonderful dinner with lots of laughter and much love and warmth spread around. Jodi will probably kill me for posting this pic but I do so love it! Baby number three and still gorgeous Jodes!

The next day we celebrated Neeks birthday properly with a cake and a visit from the Tynes. Mel and Jodes are my two bestest friends since forever and we all consider ourselves sisters at heart. It was so wonderful to see them all together before we headed off.

The fun didn't stop here, though! Jodi wasn't feeling great that morning and by the afternoon we realised she might be in labour, so I ran her up to the hospital to see the midwife. Sure enough, she was in labour!

 We put off plans to leave the next day so we could help out with the girls while Jodi and Bill brought their newest bundle of joy into the world!

Siarah Joy was born in the early hours on Thursday and she was so gorgeous and perfect and lovely! Congratulations to the Robbos on their newest family addition!