All great things come to an end…they say. I dont like this saying, its so pessimistic and grumpy, like a sour puss on top of a warm newborn kitten. Get off!

But our trip did have to come to an end, but not before we took a drive the long way home. We felt like sight seeing.

The forests in the beginning of the drive were so beautiful and a nice change from the dryness of the city.

And there was a lot of it. Green and luscious.

Until we came half way and stopped for a break. We were looking for a nice waterfront place or park to rest and let the kids run wild, instead we stumbled on a fancy waterfront new development. But it had coffee, ice drinks and water. We enjoyed..

Coffee…

The Caramel loved the decorations and the ceiling. I think he was still a bit woozy from the long trip and being strapped down like a madman. I think he was smelling freedom and air..

We waited for our refreshments..

And went outside and sat on the grass.

Where we drank.

We looked at the scenery.

And Caramel.

Caramel?

He lost it. He was running circles.

The poor boy had a bunch of energy to waste and he sure did.

Unfortunately for him, the car seat was not far away and after we had stretched some limbs and rubbed skin on the grass we were back in the vehicle, now rubbing tires on the road.

The views were now not that inspiring and I was getting bored.

Freeway.

A truck. A car. A truck. A car. A car. A car…

Yawn.

So did some playing with underexposing the sunny day for dramatic effect.

Hey, those clouds are not half bad.

Nah.

The low point was reached when I started intentionally taking out of focus pictures.

Yep.

But home felt good.

Its very important to clean and tidy your house before going on a trip. It makes coming back home so much better. Otherwise one feels like coming back to the everyday chores, instead of back to comfort and warmth.

And this is the end of this trip.

Now I want another.

And another.

Still alive, just managed to exceed our download limit for the month and we are now stuck with a sloooow connection. Which is kind of good, because my computer is gathering dust for real now, but so is my blog unfortunately. I still love you though, k!

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So, if you remember, we left this story of ours with me comfortably in bed, covered in soft sheets, hoping that the morning will bring a nice sunny day for us to enjoy the wonderful beach around the corner. The best beach, really.

In the morning we were cautious. The sky was looking clear, there was sun, the hope was alive. Usually we go to the beach in the afternoon and spend our time there until sunset. But today we scrambled our things and flew out trying to catch the nice weather.

Back on the road, with kids in the back…

All was looking fine.

We might just make it…

Fast down the stairs.

Gasp..

Cough…

AWE…

Its magnificent.

We made it. Its sunny, warm and we are here.

Feel it?

How about the soft fine sand between your toes?

Or between your bum cheeks?

Or both?

We have traveled, Mr.Blab and I. We have.

But there are very few other places like this one. And since we choose to come outside of the official holidays, we also have the place pretty much to our lovely selves.

It does not get any better.

Well, maybe if you have one of those nakid man with you and you rub his soft sandy bum from time to time…

The girls were happy too.

Off doing their thing, exploring, cartwheeling, jumping, splashing and so on.

They went off with dad to walk along the big rocks. Then I took Miss Fab and did the same.

We looked through some rock pools and people who were fishing amongst the waves.

And around lunch time it was time to get some food in our bellies, so we drove to town. There we saw the future, or what Caramel Popcorn will look like…or what Caramel Popcorn will look like according to Mr.Blab.

I dont know, I am not so sure.

We ordered some fresh Vietnamese rolls from this place, the one with the big round lamps.

Then we headed across the road to the park that was calling our names.

“Come to meeee…looook…me green…me good…me fresh…me have a bench…”

We had no option, so we went.

At first the man was mellow, but then he saw the birds.

Then we sent the big girl after to chase him chasing birds.

He liked it.

But if you thought this was cute (and you better, cause otherwise you will be thrown out of my blog!)
wait till you see the latest trick this little fella has come up with.

Ready?

“Are you cute, Dodman?”

Answer:

I have no idea where this came from, but we are lapping it up like thirsty camels in a dry spell desert.

Then some more driving around through the scenery and back roads.

And for dinner we used the bounty from our middle of the road unmanned farm shop from the day before.

Here is what happened to our kipfler potatoes, corn and cucumbers.

Lovely day really.

But just in case you forgot what it was all for, here is a picture for farewell.
(Sorry if you are in the northern hemisphere)

Love it, love it, love it.

Accomplished and snuggled up in the bed with the soft sheets
with  slightly tingling burned shoulders
- yours truly.

I slept really good, although our bed was just a queen and we didnt have much room to play with. On the other hand the sheets were soft, really soft, and the pillows were very comfortable. Or maybe it was the fact that the temperature was cool and after all those warm nights back home, just felt right.

We were awoken by the excited girls, one of them which was a birthday girl. The gifts were all brought out and ready for dismembering opening. Lots of jumping around, torn up paper and it was done in seconds. Then the new scooter was taken for a ride and the rest of the gifts up to the kids room and all around really.

Quick breakfast and some outside fun concluded the early morning.

This is where the lala land world ended up too.

The weather pretty much sucked.

There was not a single blue sky to be seen and it was raining.

But we had orders to go to the petting zoo and nothing was going to stop us. Nothing.
So we jumped in the car and took off.

Being in a rainy area has its advantages, like green surroundings and beautiful lush trees.

We had to come to a sudden stop at the sight of some fresh produce on the side of the road.

We turned and had a better look.

Right in the middle of the small side road, with not a soul in sight, was this little set up:

Produce – carrots, cucumbers, potatoes, corn et cetera, et cetera.

Prices – yep.

People to serve – none.

We grabbed some things and paid.

Yep.

Right where it said so.

Ok, dont you just love it?

But I couldnt stay and enjoy this example of human goodness. We had places to go.

Animals to pat.

The friendship bracelets Miss Fab made were in use and Little B was loving her new bag too.

I love taking “warm” shots when its cloudy and rainy.

And more road snaps (I warned you).

And then we were there.

The goats were sooo happy.

See, because the weather was crappy, people were not coming and the animals were hungry. Their usual parade of humans with bags of feed were somewhere else, keeping dry.

But not us.

They loved us – or wanted to eat us, I am not sure which.

That middle one is Lips. We named her last time because she does this funny thing with her mouth. It looks like a goat thing, but she does it more so than the other ones.

The Dod was into it straight away. He had no qualms putting his hands in just about any mouth.

This one was not hungry. Just wanted to sleep.

These ones were from the mob, I think. They were giving me the evil eye.

The ducks couldnt care any less who we were. They just walked around like they owned the place.

And kept on jumping in this little pan. Muahaha, and they think they are All That?! Snicker.

See, another animal has my sons’ hand in their mouth.

This one sucked on it too. You can see it in his eyes.

“I have sucked on the Caramel Popcorn! Have you?”

As a matter of fact…

Then the ducks walked by in their snobby way.  Or was it wobbly…
Dont judge, my English is not that good.

Miss Fab spent most of her time with the bunnies and guinea pigs.
She was stealing grass from the camel,
which was too busy parading around proud of its caramelized mouth.

And then Mr.Blab had the camera.

Which is not always good.

He documented me from beehind. In all my glory.

Lets dissect, shall we.
The boy is bare footed, cause we were not prepared for cold weather. So I had the pink scarf dug from the car to wrap him in it. That top and those pants were the only warmer clothes in my arsenal too. Too bad they didnt match, work together in any way. But at least he didnt capture the best part. My flip flops. My Birkis.  The look was wonderful, I tell you.

Even she was staring at me.

The best part for me was yet to come though.

A birth.

One of the goats gave birth while we were there.

It was beautiful.

She licked them so carefully and loving.

One of them was calling loudly and strong. But she was giving the other one more attention. I wondered if its because she feels it needed her help more.. Also the whole time she would what seemed to me, reassure them. They would call and she would make this deep noise, like a grunt. Every time.

We got to hold a joey too.
(joey is a baby kangaroo )

There were a few orphans in the place and they were rearing them.

And then on to other things.

You may say, where is this rain? I no see it!

Here

And here:

See, I told you.

But on pictures it looks nice, I think.

Too bad its not good for beach.

And this place has one of our favorite beaches ever.

We HAVE to go to it.

The weather reports are not good. We are getting worried.

And start thinking of plan B – extending the holiday to wait for the sunny day…

After pizza dinner, as ordered by the birthday girl, we go to bed and hope.

Hope against all hope that the weather is better tomorrow…

..

It better be.

It has been awhile since we have had a good road trip. Maybe two years or so. It was long overdue.

Our plans were quite simple,  nothing like that time when we drove across the  whole country. Still we were definitely excited and really looking forward to it. There was no snickering at our impending 5 hour trip, lets put it that way. And since it was also going to be a celebration of Miss B’s birthday…well, things were in a different dimension.

We piled an impressive amount of stuff for a quick 4 day trip. The boot was full. Not only that, but there were things under the back seats and under the front one too. The important part was that the girls had their own bags “on wheels” and they packed them themselves with great enthusiasm. I miss those times when things like that used to bring fizz in my day.

And we were off. Its a road trip, so be prepared for a few…road snaps.

The day was wonderful, not a cloud in the sky. Quite promising for us to enjoy one of our favorite beaches in the whole world.

The boy in the back was finding his own entertainment, while I was trying to find a spot for my head, so I can get a doze.
I always get sleepy in the car.

Since the school holidays were over and people had gone back to their jobs and daily lives, the roads were empty.

Except this guy:

4.5 hours and a stop for a snack and to stretch out the old limbs we were off the road and into the bush, on our way to the blueberry farm.

We love berries. But they are so incredibly, unreasonably expensive that we can mostly have them in small quantities.

Unless, that is,

we pick them ourselves.

And this is what we do down here. We pick a huge pile of blueberries and eat them by the handful.

While some were productive

Others just kept on digging in the dirt and not only that, but throwing it in my bucket!

I managed to clean it up a bit and fill it nicely with the blue fellas.

We were so fast! It was our fastest pick up ever.

On the way out of the area for picking, it happened.

It did.

I had started to hope it will never happen.

But it did.

I saw my first…

..wild snake.

Just like that, it scurried past, in front of us.

Miss Fab was with me, or I would have caused a scene. Ran around like a maniac or something.
But no, I had to be the responsible parent and be calm.

I dont know if that was the reason, or just there is nothing so freaky about the creatures, but I didnt really find it that scary. The snake just passed by, quite quickly. Maybe I didnt have time to react the way I always thought I would. Maybe I was just shocked. Who knows.

Anyway, I survived.  But I am definitely, absolutely positively not interested in repeating the experience.

After we loaded with berries we made our way to the place we rented.

The kids went wild.

Up and down the stairs, carefully placed all the contents of their bags around their room and in the wardrobe and drawers.

The place was nice and spacious.

We relaxed and I whipped up a quick pasta meal.

Which we enjoyed on the outside table.

Later on a shower and some impressively soft sheets ensured a lovely sleep, which prepared us for the next day.

(to be continued)