McCulloch Family Giant Leap: Seventeen Seventy = Heaven

A beautiful piece of paradise where you go to relax is probably the best way to describe my feelings of Seventeen Seventy. On the recommendation of one of Jason’s past work colleagues we headed straight to the Seventeen Seventy Camping Ground. We were very lucky as there were only three powered sites left that could fit our van. I was smarter this time and sent Jason out to check out the sites. We nailed it first time, even with the added pressure of another van waiting behind us to get out.

Making some morning tea.

eKindy time

Maybe it was just the instant feeling of relaxation, but we set up in record time. I even put the awning out all by myself. Certainly a massive change from the first few weeks when we had to have the paper instructions out. Reading each step and trying to understand what they were talking about. The kids also helped by putting down the legs and setting up their chairs. It is great how they get involved and want to help.

Whilst our site wasn’t right on the water like we had at Cotton Tree, I actually liked it better. Firstly it was a better site but more importantly being up the back of the park meant that you didn’t have the traffic of everyone walking past to get to the beach, instead we formed part of that traffic. Mind you the spots along the water were stunning and really only available to tents, camper trailers and small vans (like our old dove).

Listening to the instructions.

Jason had a go on a SUP board.

Helping Kayla fish.

Jason has his work cut out with the growing number of passengers.

The boys going out together.

Not having as much luck here.

So what was our plan for our stay in Seventeen Seventy – relax. When we went to the information centre on the second day this was pretty much what they said there was to do in town. Lots of walks and lookouts but really it is a place you come to unwind, and that we did. First though I had to quickly fill in Hamish’s enrolment forms for LSODE as I had forgotten too (whoops) and caught up on the washing. That was the only thing that I was caught off guard with and even though we had a powered site they had a rule you couldn’t use your washing machine, but they charged $5 a load.

The board walk along the waters front and across from the pub.

Worth the walk.

At one of the lookouts.

We did venture out to do the swamp bush walk. It was a relatively short and flat walk with just a few stepping stones. Sounded simple enough to do with kids, we could just carry Kayla across the stepping stones. I highly recommend it to anyone who is staying in the area. My only tip is, don’t try and take a photo of your son whilst he is trying to cross the stepping stones. Needless to say Hamish fell in, but Jason has a great action shot of him falling! Jason just fished him back out of the swamp and of course had to save his toy gun that he was more worried about.

Kayla over walking already and coming back to be carried.

All super excited for the walk ahead.

And the action shot of Hamish falling in.

Carrying Hamish across the stepping stones.

Now of course we didn’t want to not do the walk, so I carried Hamish over the stepping stones and for half the walk before he decided he was happy enough to walk again. It really is a great walk with lots of things for the kids to spot and look at closely. We even had to do a second lap as Hamish liked it so much, but not enough that he was willing to the stepping stones on his own. It certainly made sitting back for happy hour a lot more rewarding.

The best part was each afternoon where you would drag your chairs down to the beach and watch the sunset. You would just sit and chat to other travellers whilst all the kids played around. The water was nice and shallow so really it was just perfect for them. Though like all good things, it came time to leave and return to Bundaberg to get the Caravan serviced.