The drive was really nice and easy, certainly not as hilly
as I thought it would be. We arrived at
the caravan park in Bridgetown at 9:30 and of course believe it or not our site
was not ready as the people who had stayed the previous night were taking their
time packing up. Obviously they were
entitled to stay until 10am so we were more than happy to go for a walk and
check out the river at the back of the caravan park. It is so nice and still so we have decided
that we have to get the kayak off and take it out for a paddle whilst we are here. The caravan park is so empty it is hard to
believe that tonight it will be pretty much full with only a few more people
arriving tomorrow.
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| Waiting for our site to become available. |
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| All set up and ready for the rest to arrive. |
So once we were finally in our site and set up we had a
quick bite to eat whilst doing up the shopping list and headed back to Manjimup
which was 34km away to get some food. We
had originally planned to just shop in Bridgetown but saw that Manjimup had a
Woolworths so after paying a lot of money for food in Pemberton IGA we decided
it was worth driving 34km for cheaper food and fuel. Whilst we were there we also got Kayla’s
fringe trimmed up a bit so now she can see where she is going. I would rather just put a hair clip in her
hair but she rips that out on me.
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| Kayla getting her fringe trimmed. |
I was half expecting to find the caravan park half full by
the time we got home but only two people had moved in. So I quickly unpacked the groceries and had a
bite to eat before going to the doctors in town. I had made the appointment two days ago when
my ankle was still sore and my ear was getting worse. Since making the appointment my ear has
gotten all but better and my ankle has been improving with the bruising is
going down. So yep I knew it was
probably pointless but I thought I should keep it all the same. Obviously my ear looked all good but the
doctor was surprised with the bruising I had around my ankle.
He doesn’t think I have broken it but did say that if it was
still sore next week to come back and see him again and he will send me for an
x-ray, as obviously it was too late to get one this week. I said that I didn’t think I had broken it as
I could still walk on it fine, but he said that you can break it and still walk
on it – whoops. So I guess I will just
see how it is next week. I think it
would have probably healed a lot faster if I hadn’t been doing so much walking
and steps so my fingers are crossed the pain keeps going away. I am very careful now when stepping out of
the caravan.
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| Kayla having fun at the doctors surgery. |
By the time Kayla and I arrived back at the caravan park the
chaos was starting with people rolling in.
Not just caravans, but people who were camping in their tents or camper trailers. I think I was shocked at the amount of stuff
some of the people in tents brought along with them. Now I know we aren’t roughing it in our
caravan, but a mini bar fridge and portable outdoor heater for a weekend
away! Is that really necessary is my
question? Oh well it was still
entertaining for us to watch them all set up.
One lady didn’t even help her husband and sons. Instead she cracked open a beer and sat back
and watched. I don’t know yet whether
she is lazy or just really smart. Or
based on past performance it is better for her not to be involved!
Still it was a relaxing afternoon as lots of kids had
arrived so we pretty much lost our kids.
Well Hamish was off playing with kids, and Kayla was playing with their
dog, but then started playing with another little girl. Jason ducked into town to the post office and
also managed to grab a few things from the information centre. I am just hoping it isn’t as cold here at
night as Pemberton. I mean we are lucky
as we are in a caravan, but still it would be nice to have it a little bit
warmer.
Well I got my wish and it looks like we are in for a nice
day. Our plan today was to check out the
town of Bridgetown and just relax around the caravan park. Oh and finish school for the term. So the school part was easy as we only had
two little sessions and one involved caring for the environment, so off the boys
went picking up rubbish from around the river.
Then I could compile it all up and email it off, so now we get to relax
for two weeks and just make sure Hamish doesn’t forget his sight words and letters
that he has learnt.
So with that all done and the washing hanging out we
ventured into town to check the place out.
Half the shops were closed which is really to be expected on Good
Friday, but we did manage to find a few open and a really nice coffee shop. I loved their quote near the entrance; a yawn
is a silent scream for coffee! So yes we
popped in and indulged in a very nice coffee and cake. It was one of those places that had quite a
few cakes in their display cabinet and each and every one of them looked
delicious. Maybe coffee shops need to do
tasting plates of their cakes, so I can try a little bit of everything!
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| Cool little coffee shop. |
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| Yep, going to have to walk this one off. |
After that we browsed the streets and checked out the local
real estate prices. It is something we
like to do, just to compare prices to all the different places we are
visiting. We managed to find a lolly
shop and of course the kids picked out lollies that they could buy anywhere!
Then it was to the bakery for a fresh French stick before making our way back
to the car and back to the caravan park.
Now this is where the relaxation part was due to start but the kids seem
to have different ideas. Okay well
Hamish was easy as he just played with the little boy next door but Kayla just
kept wandering off in the search of dogs.
So we were constantly up and chasing after her.
We did manage to get the kayak down and walk it down to the
river. I left Jason there to go off and
enjoy a paddle in the river whilst Kayla and I returned to the van. Gosh that was an effort trying to prepare
lunch and watch a little two year old who would just not sit still. It is amazing how fast she can get somewhere
when she wants to be and I was just worried she would be annoying other campers,
especially when she is trying to feed their dogs sticks and leaves. Eventually I managed to get both kids inside
and eating their lunch – massive win, just as Jason returned back all refreshed
from his peaceful paddle, only to walk into a harassed Mum.
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| Enjoying a paddle in the river. |
Honestly we are not use to the crowds that have moved in for
Easter and whilst most are good, you feel on your toes all the time as some
people don’t obey the walking pace speed limit and zip by. Then there are the kids climbing the hill
which leads straight up to the highway so my kids start to follow. A simple yell and my two hot foot it out of
there and it is then followed with a lecture that ended in my telling them they
would go splat and I would have to scrape them off the road. They didn’t go back up there so I think I got
my point across.
Jason was on a roll that afternoon; he managed to clean the
car, bake a cake and was starting on dinner.
I on the other hand took the opportunity to go out and kayak down the
river. It was such a nice way to end the
afternoon in peace and quiet with only my thoughts and the ducks paddling
by. Mind you I knew that after a while I
had to face reality and get back to help Jason out and start the night time
routine. Not long after I got back we
couldn’t find Kayla, Jason went out to check on her but couldn’t find her, so
obviously I joined in on the search.
I honestly wasn’t too worried as she seemed to be just
tagging along with friends and I found her scooter out the front of a cabin, so
called out and a little girl called back that Kayla was inside with them. They were all sitting down colouring in so I
left them be, and we had met their parents as they were sitting across from our
van in front of another cabin that their friends or relatives were staying
in. These girls had taken Kayla under
their wing for most of the day which was lovely and at the end of the day they
came over and dropped off a beautiful Easter card for her. It was so sweet, so Kayla and I are making
one back for them. Jason finds it quite
amazing that she makes friends at her age, given her limited vocabulary! Maybe it
is her ‘poor me’ face that sucks them in!
At the moment we are in two minds, we really loved the
Christmas school holidays for the kids in caravan parks for Hamish and Kayla to
play with, but we were also lucky and never really had any crowded places. This place is really nice but it is just
soooo packed with people and it seems there are some who don’t seem to care
their music is quite loud at 8:30pm. So
I can’t say we are enjoying all these extra people around. Don’t get me wrong, most of the ones we have
met are very friendly, but some just seem to have come here to sit around,
drink and play loud music. I don’t know
if they realise it, but they can do that from the comfort of their own home. I am really feeling sorry for the Mum camping
with her two kid’s right next to them. At
least our caravan buffers some of the noise.
Well after a nice peaceful morning as the kids slept in a
bit, along with Jason, I managed to get up and do a few things like update the
budget and backup all the documents and photos before the day started. I was very spoilt and when Jason did get up
he made me a coffee and then proceeded to cook us all a cooked breakfast. Such a nice way to start the day I
think. I then got into cleaning the van
out a bit as it has been a while since I have just gone over and wiped
everything so I swept out the floor and gave it a mop and that was the longest
half hour of my life. I might get around
to cleaning the toilet and shower tomorrow and really that it is all done.
By now everyone else was leaving the park to go out
exploring, so Jason decided to take Hamish for a ride on the kayak and I went
for a walk with Kayla. It seemed to be
that Kayla was dictating the direction of our walk based on what way she
thought some dogs had gone. So here I
was having to push her stroller up some hills in the bid that she might get to
pat some dogs. In her defence it worked
and we came across some dogs and she happily jumped out of the stroller and
gave them a pat. Then she proceeded to
jump back in and give me more directions.
We even got to wave to the boys a few times from different spots along
the river.
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| Hamish on log watch. |
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| Off they go. |
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| Little bit of traffic. |
Back to the van and then we just chilled for a while. Kind of taking in the quietness of the park
since everyone was out for the day. It
wasn’t long though until everyone slowly started to return and the kids were
off again. We did venture out late in
the afternoon to watch some of the local tennis competition going on which was
held on real grass tennis courts. It was
my kind of tennis competition as they even had wine tastings and food for those
who had obviously been knocked out of the competition, as well as massages. Jason and I both agreed that this is the kind
of town we could live in. A nice size,
but not too big, everyone seems very friendly, prices are good, it is very
pretty and for April not too cold.
So back to the van we returned to have the showers and
dinner that I had prepared earlier and left in the Dreampot (slow cooker). Then it was a matter of trying to get the
kids to sleep so that the Easter Bunny would come and visit them. They left their baskets by the door to the
caravan as that just seemed like the most logical spot. Mind you I did have to tell them that Easter
Bunny won’t come until they are asleep.
Just as the kids were nearly asleep, of course the
neighbours started to make some noise, and it only got louder and the language
worse. She even started to sing at one
stage and it wasn’t a nice sound.
Thankfully it didn’t affect the kids falling asleep but it certainly
provided us with some entertainment. In
the end they packed up and left around 10pm.
I don’t know if they were sober enough to drive or not but I was
grateful that they didn’t hit our caravan as they drove out. What is it with us attracting bogan
neighbours! Have we done something bad in a previous life?
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| All ready for the kids. |
Easter morning was exciting seeing Hamish and Kayla go
through their baskets and discover their goodies. I was a little disappointed though as we
didn’t get to do a good easter egg hunt outside properly as there were just too
many kids around and really not much space.
That is the first time I have felt really limited in options, and I
would say it is mainly because of our location.
We have celebrated Easter before in Bourke, NSW and that was fantastic.
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| Hamish was pretty excited. |
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| Kayla was happy to be handed hers. |
The kids actually got to eat some chocolate before
breakfast, but we had to put a cap on it only being one. Mind you I think Kayla snuck in a few more
there under Jason’s supervision. We
didn’t have much planned at all for the day.
We went out for a drive to check out a local park area but there really
wasn’t much there at all. So we just
enjoyed our lunch that we had packed and off we went.
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| Chocolate, not I haven't eaten chocolate. |
I then took the kids out for a bit of a paddle in the kayak
and thankfully Jason was just walking along the river bank as Kayla bailed on
Hamish and I pretty early. I think she
decided that three were just too many for the kayak. So off Hamish and I went. We went right down under the two bridges
before turning around and coming back.
Then it was time to pack up the kayak and lug it back up the hill and
give it a wash down before putting it back on the car.
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| Off we go. |
After a nice relaxing win in the afternoon we started the
ritual of packing away the outdoor area.
People wondered why we were packing it up but we just said that we
aren’t going to use it that night so we might as well pack it all away. It just saves us time the next day and it
isn’t so rushed trying to get everything done and hit the road. Bridgetown has been a great place to stay but
we must admit it was a bit crowed (like everywhere else for this long weekend)
so we are looking forward to hopefully the majority of people going home. Though I think we have given some people a
lot of food for thought in regards to travelling for a long time with kids.
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| Kayla making friends. |
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| No shoes in the national park. |
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| Enjoying a bite to eat at the markets. |
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| Lunch in the national park. |
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