Sydney Trip Day 13

Wollomombi to Ebor

A very short day traveling today so we were in no hurry to leave. We eventually emerged from the van at 8.30 to enjoy pancakes, bacon and eggs cooked over the fire. After breakfast I followed the track leading in to the bush behind our campsite which ends at a lookout over the gorge. Way below was the nearly waterless Chandler River.  The gorge here looks quite different to the section further along where the Wollomombi and Chandler Falls usually flow. A lot less sharp and rugged and a lot more treed.

We still hadn't started moving by 9.30 as we were enjoying sitting around the campfire, listening to all the bird calls and soaking up the sun. The next campsite eventually called to us and we hit the road again around 10.30. We only drove half an hour as we wanted to spend these couple of days re-energising after the madness that was Sydney. We set up camp at Native Dog Creek campground in  Cathedral Rock National Park. The campgrounds in this area have been excellent. This one has a fireplace with BBQ plate and hooks for a billy as well as a picnic table at each site. After we had staked our claim, we drove in to the tiny town of Ebor to find some lunch (and a cache). The cafe was the only shop in town and doubled as the post office and the local meeting hall. There were small wooden boxes, tea cosies, second hand books, marmalades, knitted teddies and miscellaneous other granny craft things for sale as well. As we waited for lunch to be made, I snuck outside to find the cache. I was unsuccessful even though I apparently looked right at it as Emily found it later exactly where I had checked.

After lunch, Ebor Falls was our destination. We were not holding out much hope as the other two falls yesterday had been dry, so we were very excited to see a lovely cascade of water pouring over the rock from the lookout.

There are two lookouts at Ebor Falls. One to view both the lower and upper tier of the falls, and one at the upper tier. The lower tier was by far the more spectacular of the two so we were surprised to see the majority of people were at the upper tier.  The volcanic nature of the area was very clear at the face of the falls where the rock was the classic organ pipe formation.

After returning to the campground, Peter and I went for a walk along a 1.3km circuit through the sclerophyll forest that starts at one end of the camping area and ends just near our site. The variety of low ground cover type bushes was surprising and we found a number of orchids along the way. A number of balancing boulders and large swathes of moss covered granite call this area home. The wattle was just coming out in bloom and there were little wild flowers here and there if you looked closely. 

Back at camp we started a fire with the tiny number of off cuts we had managed to scavenge from the empty firewood pit provided by the ranger. We're not sure why this one was empty when the one last night had plenty. The fire lasted long enough to sit by as dinner was simmering away on the stove but not quite long enough to eat dinner in front of. Besides, the temperature had dropped and we retreated to the relative warmth of the van to eat.

Earlier in the day, on our way to Ebor Falls, we had driven past the Ebor cemetery and I had mentioned that there was a night cache there. Everyone had expressed a desire to go and find it after dinner and that's what we did. With jackets on ( the car thermometer told us it 9 degrees outside) and torches in hand we arrived at the cemetery to find a car parked there already and a man wandering about with a torch! We couldn't imagine what else he could have been doing there apart from caching so decided to begin our adventure. We walked across to the starting coordinates but couldn't see any fire tacks reflecting back so started to walk further in to the cemetery. The man with the torch came towards us and asked if we were looking for a geocache. He had been there for twenty minutes and had only found a small number of reflectors and was stuck. While Tim and I had a chat with him, the others headed across to the back fence where they thought they had seen something. It turns out they had, and the chase was on. From the right angle, a whole line of tacks showed up and we had the cache in hand less than a minute later. I didn't know whether to feel happy or sad for the guy. Apparently, it was his 960th find. We parted ways - we went back to try to find the start of the trail and he returned to his car. With the trail found, we also headed off, but pulled in to a rest stop a few kilometres up the road to find the only other cache in the area. We waited in the car as the man from the cemetery hunted here also and we felt we should give him a chance to find the cache. After about five minutes he had not found it so we decided to join him. We started at a large tree, which was the most likely spot, not even looking at the GPS. Emily bent down to use her torch in a hole and Sarah, who was with her, calls out, there it is! The poor guy. They'd been out of the car all of ten seconds. Emily offered for him to sign the log first, which he did, and then he made a very quick exit. I definitely felt sorry for him this time. 

With the kids still excited on our return to camp, Peter took each of them for a walk along the circuit. Hopefully, they'll sleep long and well after that. Tomorrow we go to Glen Innes.

Sydney Trip Day 11

Bretti to Armidale

Realising last night that we didn't have enough milk for breakfast, we decided to leave early and have breakfast on the road. The big kids are becoming more and more involved in setup and pack up of the van on this trip so it took about an hour from waking up to leaving as we stood back and let them attempt the whole process. More steep climbs and descents as we made our way towards Walcha. In one section they were doing guardrail work so we were stopped by a traffic controller on the uphill. Had we been in the old car, I wonder if we would have been able to start again!  So glad we bought this car.

After descending from the mountains we passed beautifully green undulating farmlands with new lambs and calves sprinkling the flocks and herds all the way to Walcha where we stopped for a bite to eat. The mountainous passage through from Bretti had taken longer than originally anticipated so our breakfast had turned into brunch. We had originally stopped at a park right in town but it had no BBQs (or cache) so I suggested we move to another park a little further along and cook some snags (but didn't mention the new park did have a cache). At the new park, everyone decided just to have sandwiches anyway so we could have stayed at the original park (but I'm glad we didn't). After eating, playing and caching we jumped back in the car for the last leg through to Armidale.

Our arrival in the early afternoon into Armidale allowed us to set up the van, let the girls have a dip in the pool and then head off to explore the town.  I decided the best way to explore was to find a couple of caches. One took us to St Peter's Cathedral

and by default, the even more stunning catholic cathedral further along the block.

The other took us to one of the many large parks in Armidale and a historic wool wagon. We had booked to go on the Armidale Heritage Tour the next morning so just finished with a general drive through the town and back to the caravan park. 

The kids went to explore the park and discovered a number of recreational activities were available. Emily wanted to have a go at mini golf so she and Tim went off with their hired equipment for a game. Tim returned to the van after a while to offer his club and ball to me. Apparently he had had enough of chasing his ball in the bushes! I had a lovely game with Emily. There was much hilarity as we attempted again and again to persuade the ball to go through the small tunnels. Another swim followed mini golf before we called it a day for dinner and bed. 

Sydney Trip Day 9

Blue Mountains

Today was our final day in Sydney so we decided to do something a little different and head up to the Blue Mountains for the day. We left nice and early and had an uneventful trip along the motorways out of Sydney arriving in the Blue Mountains an hour later. I hadn't recalled from previous visits there just how far the area stretches. Katoomba was still half an hour away as we passed through all the small towns along the way. We drove through the town centre of Katoomba and out to Echo Point where we found plenty of parking as it was still early in the day. However, breakfast was calling so we continued on to find a sunny park to enjoy our meal. The park we found had a small stream and seemed to be the top of a waterfall. We discovered later that it was the top of Katoomba Falls. 

As we ate, we discussed our options for the day and the kids were all keen to go on the scenic railway nearly straight down the cliff face! I was outnumbered so, after finishing breakfast, we drove straight to Scenic World. Even though it was only 9.30am there was quite a queue for tickets but once we were in, and decided to take the skyway first, we managed to not have to wait. 

On the skyway we chose to stand on the glass bottomed section (yes, even me!) and, although I was apprehensive, the journey over was calm and steady and I was quite happy to do it again. The view of the Katoomba Falls from the skyway was excellent but unfortunately, they had very little water coming over them. I imagine they would be spectacular in the wet.

After exiting the skyway, we chose to walk around to Echo Point Lookout to see the Three Sisters. We had two options. A 20 minutes walk via the road or a 30 minute walk via the cliff track. We chose the shorter walk but half way there found a series of steps down to join the clif walk and took them instead. Very glad we were going down the steps and not up them. 

The scenery here is, again, a vista I could never tire of. Sheer cliffs of grey, orange and yellow. Rugged rock formations. Valleys filled with tree ferns, coachwood, acacia. Just stunning.

We were met by the tourist hordes as we reached the main lookout and squeezed in to take the obligatory Three Sister photos and then joined the throngs walking down to the first sister. 

The kids were keen to take the Giant Stairway but, at 900 steps, they couldn't convince me it was a good idea so we returned via the cliff walk to the skyway station where I scored a cache with Emily's help. The next request was for the scenic railway but the queue was exceedingly long. For some reason the cableway queue was tiny so guess what we did? Cableway all the way down to the valley below. Again, I was surprisingly calm, considering my dislike of chairlifts. This one is glass enclosed and doesn't rock so I guess that makes the difference. At the base, there are a number of walks through the valley. We chose the one that goes to the old Katoomba Coal Mine, for which the original incline railway was built. There is boardwalk and interpretive signage all the way along the ten minute walk. 

The trip back up to the top of the cliff was via said railway. Once again, we got lucky with a tiny queue and got straight on the first train. This was the least enjoyable for me and was not dissimilar to a slow roller coaster but it just went up and up and up. I can't imagine what going down would be like. Ugh.

At the top, the kids wanted to go again. We had time and our passes were for unlimited rides so we checked the queue lengths and went once more down into the valley on the cableway. This time, there were a number of tour groups. They were very good at pushing in and at taking up the whole pathway once down here so we were very glad we had had a great experience the first time. One last ride back up on the incline railway (the steepest in the world!) and we called it a day.

On our return to the caravan park, Sarah again requested a swim, despite the temperature in the teens. She had a ball playing with two other crazy boys who were there too then headed for a nice hot shower. We put one last wash on before we sadly leave tomorrow. We've had a fantastic time here.

Sydney Trip Day 4

Sydney Exploration Day 1

The girls certainly realised we were camping in a national park last night as one nearly stood on a water dragon and the other literally ran into a possum on the way to the amenities block. We woke to a beautiful morning and decided to use the BBQ behind us to cook up a bacon and egg breakfast and sit at the picnic table enjoying the sun. A lovely way to start the day.

We headed to the train station about a kilometre away to catch the train into the city for our first day of exploration. On arrival, we were confronted by two scary choices to descend into the bowels of the earth to the platform. The first was a series of two escalators that were about 100 metres long each. 

The second option was a glass fronted elevator straight down. Hmmm. Holding the handrail and staring at the floor, I made it down alive. First stop was the ticket office where the customer service was excellent and we ended up purchasing a weekly ticket that we can use anywhere, anytime on anything. It might not turn out cheaper in the end but the convenience is worth it. After the novelty of posting the tickets through the gates and walking through, the kids nearly wet themselves when the train arrives and it's a DOUBLE DECKER!!! 

We chose the downstairs as it was less crowded and then discovered that the seats FLIP!! so they can face forward or backward. The start of our trip was through a very long tunnel but once we were out, the kids were glued to the windows. The harbour bridge crossing was not so exciting as we couldn't actually see the bridge while we were on it but OH MY GOODNESS MUM!!! THERE'S THE OPERA HOUSE!!! I'm pretty sure the entire carriage could tell we were tourists. At one stage I even considered moving myself to the upstairs area. At least a couple of the other passengers seemed to get some amusement from us so the embarrassment was all for a good cause.

The opera house was our focus today so we walked towards Circular Quay. As we approached, we saw the most humungous cruise ship docked at the terminal. The kids stared in awe and nearly forgot to look across at the opera house. 

We walked right up next to it marvelling at its size and the fact it had two waterslides right at the top and then spotted a visitor information centre up the street. A quick detour there saw us armed with maps and brochures, but best of all, right at the exit, was a shop called the Candymaker. So our first hour being tourists in Sydney was mostly spent watching boiled lollies being made! We finally persuaded the kids to move on and we entered the Rocks Discovery Museum. The kids were provided with a sheet of riddles that they had to answer using the information in the displays. It was a great way to encourage them to stop and really look at the information. The museum covered the history of the rocks area from before European settlement through to about the 1950s.

After the museum we wandered through a couple of streets before we came across a little square with a variety of eating places around it and tables and games in the middle. The kids played with the large chess set while we waited for our lunch and again afterwards. 

Much to our surprise, Sarah ran into a friend she had just made the previous week at a science workshop day at Aspley State School. What a small world! As we were leaving, the kids noticed a game of table soccer so we had a couple of games of that as well before continuing on our way. We followed more little laneways, reading the plaques in Greenway Lane, Nurses Walk and Suez Canal. I'm glad we live now and not back then. 

The Opera House was now our focus. Through Circular Quay we walked, pausing at each busker and reading many of the Writers of Reknown and 1788 shoreline marker plaques set in the ground. Before reaching the Opera House, we stopped to admire and take photos of the Sydney Harbour Bridge (with part of big cruise ship). 

The bridge and opera house are sights that I don't think I could ever tire of. Unfortunately, there was a lot of construction happening all around the opera house and the scaffolding somewhat detracted from the aesthetics of the building. We walked all the way around it and then headed inside to see the roof from a different perspective. Such a stunning building.

From the opera house we walked alongside the botanic gardens towards Mrs Macquarie's Chair. The walk was enjoyable with stunning eroded sandstone, 

beautifully laid out gardens and lovely views out over the water. The kids went for a little rock hop at the end of the point before reaching the Chair and discovered their own piece of history in the form of a broken clay bottle. After that, the actual reason for the walk was a bit of a let down for them but it gave me the chance to claim a cache and give them another history lesson. Mumblings were starting to be heard about sore feet so we headed across the gardens towards the city. We walked through the cottage garden, herb garden and begonia garden and eventually found our way out onto the streets. A welcomed downhill walk all the way across town back to the station before we flopped down onto the train seats (upstairs, this time). 

Not having had enough of the city, we decided to drive in after dinner. Navigation was a little exciting, especially as we were trying to avoid tolls, but we didn't actually get lost. We drove through Darling Harbour, back out to Mrs Macquarie's road for a fabulous view of the bridge and opera house by night, 

and then through Kings Cross (at the request of the kids!). Sadly, the Cross did not deliver and all we saw were a number of bouncers outside clubs. Back at the caravan park we all fell, tired, straight into bed. A great first day.

Sydney Trip Day 3

Coopernook State Forest to Sydney

We woke to a beautiful cold but sunny day so took our breakfast outside to enjoy. Peter was crazy enough to be in tshirt and shorts but the rest of us had jumpers on. We decided to be brave and take a different forest road out of the camping area than the one we had come in on hoping it would lead back to the highway and not have us stuck on a 4wd only track. As we discovered, our chosen route was actually a better road than the one we had come in. It took us to the tiny town of Coopernook and we were soon headed south once more. 

We didn't stop again until lunch time but passed many a spot we decided we needed to return to one day to explore. Having not found a supermarket anywhere for fresh lunch supplies, we splashed out on burgers at the servo at Freemans Waterhole, a little way off the highway south of Newcastle. They came with chips and were just too big for me to finish. The kids didn't seem to have any trouble though!

As we neared the northern edge of Sydney, we were greeted with awesome views of both water and rock. 

The cuttings were so tall and sheer. They were quite spectacular in themselves. 

Our arrival in Sydney was timed to avoid peak hour but towing the van through the traffic to the caravan park was still, um, exciting. This was our first view of the city. 

Our caravan park is part of the National Park and is a lovely setting. Our site sits right next to the playground, a BBQ area and the path to the amenities. Eerily similar to our position in Melbourne but with a lot more space behind us and a bit more space between the vans. The park is very treed and there is an access path to the rest of the National Park not far from our site. The train station is about a kilometre away so we plan to head into the city via train tomorrow. 

Sydney Trip Day 2

Grafton to Coopernook State Forest

We started the day with a stop at Apollo Eleven Park in Grafton, only a few blocks from the caravan park. Emily was quickly onto the cache hidden there while Peter and I read the plaque commemorating the moon landing. We were surprised and pleased to see Michael Collins get top billing. Those other two always get the recognition!

The journey through to our next stop, Coffs Harbour, was punctuated with sightings of old/vintage cars, several towing old/vintage and teardrop caravans. When they all get to wherever they are going, it would be quite a thing to see. The Big Banana was our planned stopping point for a stretch and, of course, a photo. The banana seems to have shrunk somewhat since I was a kid!

The whole complex, however, has grown, with toboggan rides, ice skating, lolly factory, laser tag, cafe, gift shop, banana show, water park and a nursery. Only the lolly factory and gift shop called and we got to watch the end of a lolly making demonstration, partake of a sample and purchase some product. The kids found the seconds box which gave them about double the amount of lolly for the same price, bought a bag each, and proceeded to feast on sugar for the rest of the day. 

Our camp for the night was in Coopernook State Forest. A clearing in the forest with a long drop loo, a couple of picnic tables and about 20 other caravans. There's plenty of space though so we spent the afternoon playing with a vortex ball, and watching Sarah practise handstands and cartwheels. Before dinner we went for a wander around the area, finding two caches and a couple of magnificent jacarandas covered in stag horns. I imagine they'd be amazing when in full bloom. 

We won't mention the results of the fridge being left unlocked for the entire trip. Let's just say, lucky it was mostly tinned food in there. 

Tomorrow we hit Sydney. 

Sydney Trip Day 1

Brisbane to Grafton

We didn't have a huge distance to travel today and didn't want to get caught in school holiday traffic so we took our time getting ready and finally left just after 11am. 

We trundled along happily (no complaints from the back seat!) congratulating ourselves on our late departure decision. Until we got to the Gold Coast, that is. It took us more time to get from one end of the Gold Coast to the other than it did to get there in the first place!

We pulled in to a lovely rest area at Sleepy Hollow to have a bite to eat. It had a number of picnic tables, a playground, lovely clean amenities, a pleasing view and a cache. All in all, a perfect spot for lunch. 

Grafton was our next and final stop for the day. The caravan park we are staying at is the same place we stayed last time. The kids exclaimed each time they recognised something from last time. Memories sprung forth as we drove through both the town and the caravan park. The caravan park didn't have a record of our unpowered site booking but they had a single powered site left which they offered to us. Bizarrely they charged us $16 less than the quote we had been given for the unpowered site! We were certainly happy to take that. 

Setting up the van was surprisingly quick.  We fell into the setup routine as if we'd just done it yesterday. After dinner we had our Freddo frog treats (thanks Janet and BMCB fundraising) before playing a maths game (sad, but true) and snuggling into bed. 

Tomorrow we head South with no plans and no accommodation booking. Could turn out to be an adventure!

Day Twenty-Two - Canberra to Gulgong

With the need to get home by Sunday night, we decided to leave as soon as we woke up this morning and have breakfast on the road. We left Cotter Campground around 7.30 and pointed our nose North. We caught one last view of the Telstra Tower and the aesthetically pleasing Parliament House flagpole.

We had no final destination for today with Cowra and Canowindra being our only planned stops. The town of Boorowa turned out to be our first stop as we reached there just as our tummies started rumbling and found a little park with a table in the sun for breakfast. 

Once we reached Cowra, we dropped in to the visitor information centre, then made our way to the Japanese garden. I had explained to the kids the significance of Cowra and read them the story of the Cowra Breakout before we arrived. We hadn't realised the garden had a $40 entry fee so, although we were disappointed to not be able to see the World Peace Bell inside, we decided not to enter. We will return to the Toowoomba Japanese garden next time we're up there instead. We drove from there, past the POW camp site and war cemetery and then continued on our way to Canowindra.

Where Cowra had been a little disappointing, Canowindra exceeded our expectations. We had had this town in our sights ever since our trip to the dinosaur fossil sites in western Queensland a couple of years ago when we had seen a flyer for the Age of Fishes Museum. The Age of Fishes predated the Age of Dinosaurs. The museum provides a very informative audio tour as you walk around the displays.

 About 50 years ago, a bulldozer operator had uncovered a slab of rock absolutely covered in ancient fish fossils whilst building a road in Canowindra. It then sat on the side of the road for years until noticed by an apiarist waiting for a lift who notified the Sydney Museum. Lack of interest and lack of funding meant no further investigation occurred until fairly recently when a new director at the museum took an interest. The museum has slab after slab of fish fossils and believes there are many more still to uncover when funding becomes available again. We would have spent a couple of hours there. It didn't disappoint. 

The museum ladies pointed us just down the street for a park to have our lunch at. The park was the site of the local war memorial and the many wreaths laid at its base gave us an appropriate place to reflect on ANZAC day. 

From Canowindra we pointed the car north and drove, taking back roads wherever they seemed the more direct route. That is, until we hit an extremely corrugated dirt road on our way to Dunedoo. The sign a couple of kilometres down the road stating that it was gravel for another 30km had us reassessing our route. We had the choice of heading for the Newell or New England highway. The distance home using either route was fairly similar. The kids learned that Stanthorpe (land of the apple pie, apple juice and apple cider) lay on the New England route and suddenly , east seemed the more appropriate direction to travel. Retracing our steps, we returned to the nearest majorish road and set off for Gulgong instead. 

The showgrounds at Gulgong became our home for the night and the hot showers they provided were a welcome surprise. The girls were happy to watch a number of horses taking part in a riding camp. We had a terrific storm towards dinner time, with lightning and thunder but it didn't last long. We took a drive around the town after it had finished and decided Gulgong should go on the ever increasing list of places to return to.

Homeward bound. Lets see how far we get tomorrow.

Day Twenty-One - Canberra

Our morning started with a visit to the Stromlo Observatory. The last time I had been there was 1998/9. Since then, the bush fires of 2003 swept through and wreaked havoc on the site. There are a number of burnt out telescope domes and residences remaining there. It was quite amazing to see the devastation. What a loss to the scientific community. 

Back down the hill, we stopped at the Royal Australian Mint, which has also changed somewhat since we were here last, having a total refurbishment in 2005. Our timing was perfect as we arrived 10 minutes before a guided tour was to start. The displays at the mint are very well laid out and very informative and having the guide share his knowledge added to the whole experience. Unfortunately, the minting process was not operating today so although we could look down at the factory floor, there was no action taking place. 

The National Museum of Australia was next but we didn't spend a lot of time there as, although the items were very well presented, there wasn't much there we hadn't already seen. 

We decided to return to the Australian War Memorial after being too late to enter yesterday. It was very busy, most likely from an influx of people coming for ANZAC Day tomorrow. It is a pity we will not be here for that but time is really running short for us to get home. The AWM is much more extensive than I remember with displays about every conflict Australians have participated in. We spent the most time in ANZAC Hall where they had a Japanese Midget Submarine and a number of aeroplanes on display as well as a presentation about the entry of the Japanese into Sydney Harbour. Tim was reluctant to leave this area. 

Towards the end of our time there, Peter found the little section where pictures and information about Cambodia was on display. He was pleased it hadn't been forgotten. After walking along past the honour rolls with all those names, I really can't understand why we still go to war. 

To pick up our spirits we stopped off at the Captain Cook Memorial Water Jet (after a slight navigational error putting us in the driveway of the Archbishop!). We had seen this spurting up into the air from Parliament House yesterday but it had stopped before we could head over to it. It really reaches quite an impressive height. 

To finish the day, Peter and I had a stroll along the bank of the river behind our campsite while the kids had fun rolling ( or possibly attempting to push each other) down the slope. 

We were thinking we might get away after lunch today to get a few miles under our belt but Canberra proved too interesting so we'll head off early in the morning. Three days left!

Day Twenty - Jugiong to Canberra

As we had arrived just on dark yesterday, we spent a little time this morning exploring the park we had camped behind. The girls played on the playground then we wandered over to look at a windmill placed as a memorial, before walking over an arched bridge to an old traction engine.

 Across the road was a little fruit and vegie shop so we picked up an assortment of fruit to have after dinner tonight. 

Our destination today was Canberra and we arrived just before lunchtime. On entering Canberra we spotted the National Dinosaur Museum and made a stop there. The front garden area was filled with dinosaurs so wandered through before going inside. After viewing the displays in the foyer, we decided that we had been spoiled during our previous dinosaur experiences and this one would be a little disappointing in comparison. The decision was made to just look at the displays in the shop area which was quite extensive. 

From there we headed straight to the campground to secure a spot and offload the van to make navigation through city streets easier. We are camped at Cotter Campground on the banks of the Murrumbidgee... again. We can't seem to stay away from this river! It is out of town about 15-20 minutes, a little past the Stromlo Observatory. Once again, we have a beautiful view from our van. Sadly, we can only stay tonight as our time away is quickly running out. 

Parliament House was our main attraction this afternoon. We walked up from Old Parliament House and the kids were most impressed with the view. Emily was excited to see the model she made for her Government project last year come alive in front of her. 

We had, by chance, arrived 15 minutes before the final guided tour of the day, which we joined. It was fortunate, as we were given access to parts of the House of Representatives and the Senate that were not open to the public. Our guide was very informative and the hour long tour went quickly. Unfortunately, we couldn't go in to the Great Hall as they were preparing for the royal visit tomorrow ( we weren't even aware they were heading this way). One door was open so we managed to sneak a peek at the massive tapestry from afar. After the tour, we caught the lift up to the roof to get the full effect of the view through to the Australian War Memorial. A truly beautiful part of the city. 

Sarah had a roll down the grassy slope and we all stood considering the size of the flagpole and flag. According to our guide, the flag is almost the same size as our house!

We left Parliament House just before it closed and found our way to the War Memorial. We knew we were too late in the day to go through but managed to explore the outside and look through the closed gates. The view back to Parliament House was popular for photos. 

The War Memorial forecourt had been set up with hundreds of chairs. We assume it was either for the Royal visit tomorrow or ANZAC day or both. We're hoping to visit a couple more places tomorrow morning before heading North for our home run. Fingers are crossed we don't have too much disruption from William and Kate's visit. 

Day Eighteen - Melbourne

In the grand plan, today was going to be leaving day but we hadn't yet managed to take the kids on a tram and the girls had only seen Melbourne through the car window. With a bit of a shuffle, the caravan park made our site available for us for one more day, so today we hit the city. 

It was very windy, and a little chilly so we rugged up and drove in to Docklands to catch the free City Circle tram. These trams are the older style ones and have a commentary running and basically do a continuous loop around the city. Unfortunately, they are also very popular! We got on at the second stop and had to stand up although I was lucky got a seat a few stops later when someone left. 

Our first stop was Melbourne Central where we showed the kids the shot tower in the middle of the shopping centre. 

From there we walked across to the State Library. Tim and Emily were keen to have a game of giant chess but the boards were all in use. We walked through to the silent reading room and Sarah was a bit disturbed that there were no bookshelves. She wondered what sort of library had no books! 

We spent some time looking at the displays throughout the library including some books carved into map shapes, some very old botanical books and the history of the state of Victoria. 

We had planned to take the tram around to the Fitzroy Gardens and were lucky one came just as we reached the team stop. We jumped on and trundled down the road to the next stop where the driver got out and swapped ends. There was then an announcement that this tram's next stop was the one we had just got on at! There was no explanation as to why the tram was suddenly turning around. Throughout the tram, everyone looked at each other with quizzical faces and then everyone got off. We didn't want to take our chances and wait for another tram so we walked instead. 

Our route took us through Chinatown which seemed smaller than I remember and had a surprising number of Japanese eateries along its length. After Chinatown, we walked past Parliament House where the pretty street lamps were much commented on. Down to Fitzroy Gardens and and into the conservatory first. 

It was lovely and warm in there and I could have stayed longer but I could hear fairies calling. 

From the conservatory we walked over to Captain Cook's Cottage for some photos and then to the Fairies Tree. We were surprised to find books tied all around the railing at the tree. They had been put there by a bookcrossing participant so we looked through them all and chose two to read on the trip. 

Sarah's imagination came alive at the Fairies Tree. It brought a whole new perspective to the carving. The Model Tudor Village next to the Fairies Tree is my favourite here. I love the detail in the buildings and the gardens and it appeals to the genealogist in me. When I'm old and rich I'm sure I'll spend some time creating my own model buildings. 

We headed (on foot) towards Flinders St Station after having a quick play on a large dragon shaped slide in the gardens. On the way, we stopped in at ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image) where they had a Dreamworks exhibit and a large history of video exhibit. 

Tim was particularly interested in the marquettes of the dragons from How to Train a Dragon. 

Flinders St Station was next with an obligatory photo at the clocks and then it was time to head home. We had just about given up on waiting for the tram in the cold and wind when it appeared down the street. This time it had even more people on it and we only just squeezed in. At least there was no chance of falling over each time it stopped and started as there was nowhere to fall to! The kids thought it was great to start with but decided Melbourne was just too noisy and busy for them. 

Arriving back at the car, Peter decided that he hadn't had enough of Melbourne so we drove the short distance back in to the city centre to have dinner. We wandered up Swanston St looking for a different dinner than our usual and decided on a Japanese cafe. The girls embraced it but Tim wasn't too sure so stuck with fried chicken (tori karaage). I was excited to see okinomiyaki on the menu but decided not to have it as there was no choice of filling and it was a small starter. I haven't seen that since I left Japan. 

The yakisoba I did have was yummy. 

On our return to the caravan park we decided the wind was just too strong. Our annexe was being blown in and out and the strain on the van was concerning. It was 8.30pm so we sent the kids for a shower and pulled the annexe down - a fun job in a gale!

The wind continued strongly through the night, buffeting the caravan so not much sleep was had. 

Day Sixteen - The Competition

Finally the day had arrived that had prompted this whole trip. Day one of Champion of Champions.  The morning started with a big breakfast to give us all the energy to get through the day. With hair done, we were on our way. Over the last couple of days we have been trying different routes into the city (mostly by accident) so had a pretty good idea which would be the best for today. Twenty minutes after leaving the van, we were at the venue. We left Peter and Tim to find seats while we headed downstairs to get Emily dressed. 
Sarah wasn't dancing until the afternoon so she spent the morning in the company of her dancing studio friends, Abbie and Lara. I hardly saw her!

Emily almost missed one of her dances because she didn't hear her section called to marshalling. The announcements are made in the competition hall and the costume/warm up area. If you're anywhere else, you can't hear them. Emily happened to be in the stairwell between the two. I noticed her missing from the order when it was her turn to dance so I raced down to the warm up area to find her and told her to run out to the hall. She made it just in time to join the last three dancers of her section. Unfortunately, the marshall told her to move from the correct judge to the incorrect judge so she ended up not being judged. The dance was one of the premiership dances so it meant she had no chance of being placed in the premiership. It was very disappointing but she seemed to take it well. I love her attitude, resilience and how she has really matured over time. In the end, Emily came home with a 4th placing in the Village Maid, which made us proud.

They ran the afternoon slightly differently to the morning and Sarah didn't have a chance to return to us or even have a run through before each dance. They went straight from the competition hall back to the marshalling area.
She had five dances in total and placed in all of them! Unfortunately, she had higher expectations of herself, mostly likely borne from  placing 1st, 2nd or 3rd in everything at home competitions. She was disappointed in the three sixth placings she achieved even when we pointed out that these were the best in the country she was competing against. The third and fourth placings were, thankfully, satisfactory to her. 

It was, as usual, a long and emotionally draining day. We finally made it to bed just before 10pm after showers and sorting out the costumes ready for another day tomorrow. We are not subjecting Tim to another whole day watching kids dance so he and Peter are dropping us off and going exploring. It will be interesting to see what they get up to.

Day Fifteen - Melbourne

Day Fifteen

The plan for today was to have a bit of a look around Melbourne, go on a tram, visit the botanical gardens, Captain Cook's cottage, Flinders St Station etc. and head to the competition venue to pick up the girls' competitor numbers. Well it didn't quite work out that way. It was an overcast, drizzly, windy day from start to finish today. Such a contrast to sunny yesterday when we wore t-shirts. So we let the kids stay snug in bed until 9am when we had a nice cooked breakfast to warm us up. 

We couldn't just stay in the caravan all day so we jumped in the car and headed back to the city for another drive around. 

I actually think the city is better at night! With crazy drivers increasing the excitement we headed to St Kilda beach, somewhere we hadn't gone last night. Despite the appalling weather, Sarah insisted on hopping out for a play on the beach. We let her run about, expending a tiny bit of the energy she possesses, for five minutes before calling her back to the warmth of the car. 

From there we headed over to Luna Park so the kids could be wowed by the entry. They were.

It was too early to go to pick up the girls' dancing numbers so we returned to the caravan park and had a run through of all their dances. About 2.30pm we returned once more to the city, found the venue, and happened to met up with three other Thistle families there. A quick catch up with them,  handing over of registration cards, collection of goody bags for participants, purchase of new dancing singlets and a look at the hall layout took us another hour. We took a different route back to the caravan park, trying to work out the best way to get there tomorrow. It wasn't. Mainly because we went straight where we should have turned right and ended up going in the wrong direction.

Once we found our way back, it was time to iron all the costumes. The job fell to me (yay! Not) while Peter organised dinner. We had picked up a marinated butterflied lamb at woolies yesterday and cook it on the grill plate on the gas stove. It was surprisingly good. It came vacuum packed so we'll look out for them at home for future camping trips.

In bed by 8.45 ready for the first big day tomorrow. Emily dances first, starting in the morning but Sarah doesn't start until late afternoon so it's going to be a long day.