Camping 2008

What a great time we had at South West Rocks this year! 18 days went quickly as we enjoyed beach, beach, beach and more beach! We thoroughly enjoyed our new camper trailer set up - adding on an extra room to fit all our boys!

The journey began when we drove out of our driveway around 6.30am on Sunday 29th November heading for our first overnight stay in Rockhampton. Matt and I always enjoy getting in the car for a road trip. Loaded up more than the trip before, we always reminisce on the days with our little suzuki, two man tent, two camping chairs and a camping stove... to now... camper trailer, booster seat, bunks, inner spring queen mattress, two porta-cots and the list goes on!!

So, by the time we arrive in Bowen (only 2hours down the road!) we have already stopped 3 times: once for an emergency toilet stop, once for a "find the medicine bag and dose Harry up on nurofen", and once for a fruit stop. We couldn't believe that we had only made it to Bowen! In that two hours, I did the typical idiot check and thought about all the things I did and did not have! I realised that I packed well for the boys but realised I didn't pack enough warm clothes for myself.
Before we left Matt and I had a conversation... it went a bit like this:
R: Are you taking your polar fleece?
M: No
R: Are you crazy? We always need our polar fleece... don't you remember how cold it can get at night?
M: I'll be right. I won't need it. It won't be that cold.
R: OK

In the car we talk about our polar fleece jackets. I was kicking myself for taking Matt's advice and NOT packing my jacket while Matt says to me... "I packed mine!". Feeling worse that I definitely DID NOT have enough warm clothes for camping I continued to think about the weeks ahead... Brisbane, dinner with friends, shopping at DFO, dropping the camper off to get the extra room fitted, specialist appointment for Jethro, camping, warm clothes, Caloundra... OH NO! I forgot the Caloundra keys... and the sheets for the beds. Oh No! Do I have the keys to grandma's in Brisbane ??
Luckily I decided to grab my set of keys just as I was walking out the door otherwise we would be looking at spending a night in great grandma's backyard in the camper!

We had a great time catching up with friends for dinner in Brisbane on the Monday night after I managed (not sure how!) to grab an hour walking the shops at Chermside Shopping centre. First stop was coffee followed by a brisk walk through a few of my favouriote shops: Kookai, Gripp, Myer, Esprit etc.

The next morning was spent with Matt driving the camper to the south side of Brisbane so we could get the extra room fitted along with a quick trip to DFO for a 2 hour shopping trip before a specialist appointment for Jethro. I was amazed at how efficiently Matt and I could shop together! We had a list of all the 'must-have' items and all the shops we don't get in Townsville. With all four children in tow we managed to conquer DFO in 2 hours, fitting in a feed for Jethro (lucky he's a quick feeder!) The only mishap involved a last minute dash for me to another shop, deciding to take the pram and 3 kids with me, not actually realising that I had a whole bunch of clothes on top of the pram! I walked straight out of the store without noticing the clothes until I was in another shop placing clothes on top of the pram!! OOOPS! Very embarrassed, Matt found me with all the items and went back to purchase them!

That afternoon was spent at the specialist to tell me that the boil on Jethro's bottom was fairly common and nothing to worry about and definitely no need for antibiotics. With that taken care of we happily went to pick up our camper before heading down to the Gold Coast for the night to spend with good friends Peter and Anabell (they sold us their camper!). We had a great night with them and were disappointed they weren't coming camping with us this year.

The next day was drive, drive, drive until we arrived at South West Rocks. The set up was easy... Entertaining 4 boys who had been stuck in a car for four days was not so much! A traditional dinner of Fish and Chips was enjoyed by all and for the first time Matt even managed to set up without getting grumpy (it was me this time who was grumpy!).

The camping trip was very relaxing. Thomas found a new interest in fishing and the boys enjoyed riding their new scooters. Thomas and Zach both grew in their confidence at the beach with Thomas catching waves on his boogie board. Little Harry tried hard to keep up with the big boys but was always ready for his lunch time sleep! Jethro was a little trooper who slept well at night - and sometimes ok during the day! He was doing 8-10 hour stretches over night so who could complain?!
We all enjoyed catching up with our wonderful friends at South West Rocks and loved organising big group dinners - especially our traditional seafood night with fresh fish (thanks to Josh and Darren who spent the day deep sea fishing), prawns and oysters... yum yum! Matt enjoyed his annual 4WD drive trip along the beach and I was happy reading my book - although I didn't manage to finish even one!

You can check out the photos here.

We also had the traditional rainy days where we ended up spending one day at Port Macquarie to see Madagascar2. We lost power for a few hours one night and had strong winds that ripped the tarp pegs from out of the ground! We also managed to get the boys onto the TODAY show during the weather segment! There was never a dull moment at South West Rocks! Of course we are already looking forward to our camping trip in 2009!