Camping in April was a bit of a long shot as the weather is unpredictable this time of year. Somehow I managed to select the few days where we had wind and rain over the entire sunny school holidays!
We went to our favourite spot in the Royal National Park, the Bonivale Campground, an hour’s drive south of Coogee. A highlight for Mike and I was seeing one of the two monotremes living in Australia on our drive into the park – an echidna! The other monotreme is the platypus which we were lucky enough to see three years ago while we were in Tasmania. The echidna was looking for ants along the side of the road so we pulled over to have a closer look. It wasn’t afraid of us so we got pretty close. It was super cute! Too bad my camera phone doesn’t do it justice! Also too bad the kids missed seeing it as they were asleep in the car.
We camped with three of our favourite families and booked sites within a quadrant so that we could mark off areas for the tents and a communal eating or hang-out area at the centre. It all seemed so perfect on Thursday April 18th, the sun shone brightly – there was no sign of the storm to come. Then Friday a terrible wind blew but it was still sunny and the kids weren’t bothered. They swam and ran around on bikes for the most part, although Tomas and Benny (who was the oldest child there at 10 years of age) played “imagination DS”. As far as I could tell, it was an imagination video game with lots of decisions about which path to take and plenty of awards to be won. Tomas was the player while Ben was the game designer. Ben took careful notes about the levels Tomas accomplished and awards he’d won. It was the best video game I’ve ever seen! And it kept the kids occupied for endless hours!!
Friday night however, the terrible storm hit hard. It down-poured ALL night. I’m still not sure how ALL the kids managed to sleep through it, but i know most of the adults were awake throughout the night, especially Mike and I as we knew our tent leaked at the front. At one point in the night, Mike pulled out an ikea bag to collect water at the front of the tent and move the few remaining dry things to the back of the tent. Needless to say, we were ready to pack it in Saturday morning. The kids wanted to stay though. I swear they are not affected by crappy weather!
So, the families who were there are our surrogate family here in Australia. They are the people we spend Christmas and Easter with, ski with, and now we’ve expanded to camping adventures! Here’s the list of these wonderful people who have been so kind to us orphans in Oz!
Family1:
- Sam – Manager of government relations and who I swim train with2-3x per week
- Emma – Marine biologist at UNSW, film star, and Mike’s collegue
- Antonin – 4 years old, loves superheros and cars
- Amilia – 9 years old, loves theatre performances
Family 2:
- Rob – Evolutionary biologist at UNSW, author, and Mike’s collegue
- Jacquie – Ecologist, loves owls, and my market buddy
- Lily – 8 years old, loves theatre performances and crafts
- Benny – 10 years old, loves video games, aircraft, and telling stories
Family 3:
- Sean – Aboriginal rights social scientist at UNSW and author
- Kate – A human rights consultant for the government and my bronze medallion mate
- Darcy – 6 years old, likes a good run and exploring
- Lara – 9 years old, loves riding a bike and theatre performances
The kids also did a performance for us that the girls designed. I thought it would be something cute but it was a scary one. Guess they are going for a new style! Anyway, the kids enjoyed doing it and so I thought I’d include it here. Click on link to view.
It’s nice to know your friends and their kids. There’s a whole lotta love.