Checking out NSW inland roads that we haven’t travelled!

We all felt better after a better night’s sleep.  I wouldn’t call it brilliant but anything is an improvement.  Now if we can just have some warmer mornings so that Hamish isn’t waking up at 5am cold.  Realistically if we just set the timer on the air-con/heater then that would probably solve the problem!  At least with the early wake up we are hitting the road at a reasonable time without even trying.  The destination for today is Tamworth which is a place we wouldn’t have stopped in but it is time for my next ultrasound so we needed to find a place big enough to do it and Tamworth was close enough. 

Another narrow bridge.

The drive from Bingara to Tamworth was really scenic and none of the photos I took do it justice.  I think we will be making this trip another time, to come and check out some more of the towns along the Fossickers Highway.  We arrived in Tamworth around 10am and check in was a breeze at the City Lights Caravan Park.  They are a bit out of town but they were so much cheaper than the others in closer who seemed to want a ridiculous amount considering it isn’t school holidays.  Again they didn’t allocate us a site and again we did three laps trying to pick a good one.   Maybe in future I should just tell them to give us a site as we take too long to pick!  They said that we could just make any site a drive through one as they aren’t that busy so that made it a lot easier to park and set up. 

Another pretty little NSW town.

The bright yellow fields were cool to see.

We then chilled for a bit, did some school, chilled for a bit more, more school then lunch and so on.  Eventually though we did head out into town but with no intention to really see anything as we have done it all before.  So we found a really beautiful coffee shop (yes surprise, surprise) and enjoyed an ice-coffee and cake outside in their garden area.  Such a beautiful little spot and we would recommend this place to anyone.  Then it was back home to finish of school, but of course we didn’t as we didn’t have white paint.  Yes lame excuse really but neither Jason nor I were really in the mood for doing more. 

Enjoying our treats.

Beautiful outdoor garden setting.

The front of the coffee shop.

That night we hired two DVDs and had a movie night with something new.  We really are getting into a lazy little routine, but it seems to be suiting us well and it saves us from rushing around everywhere.  I wish I could say Monday was a lazy day but it was quite the opposite as we had a fair bit to get through and I had my 18-20 ultrasound too.  The day started out so beautifully though with Hamish waking up (not so early) and calling out for Dad and saying they had to make me breakfast in bed.  It was so sweet but of course as I was awake I could hear everything but Jason did get up and help him and when Hamish saw my eyes were open he informed me that I was meant to be asleep. 

Once we were all up and had finished breakfast I sat down and did some school with Hamish whilst Jason took Kayla outside so she wasn’t distracting us.  Hamish even wanted to go and help hang out the washing rather than sit down and do school.  Really I think he just wanted to go outside on his scooter.  I then took Kayla to do the food shopping whilst Jason and Hamish did the on-air lesson and I was so happy to see them both smiling when I got home.  Jason said that Hamish did really awesome and did everything that was expected of him so we were both extremely proud of him and that it is all starting to click. 

I then had to duck off to my ultrasound in town which I was a bit nervous about after the issues with the 12 week one.  However I did not need to worry as it was all good and apart from thinking that I thought my baby looked more like an alien than anything (which I have always thought of with the pictures of the faces) I was relieved to hear that all was looking good.  So back off to the caravan I went and Jason said he was getting worried that I was gone for so long but of course they had been running late and I had text messaged him but he had my phone on silent so he didn’t hear.  Yes we had swapped phones as he is out of data download for the month and so I leant him mine so he could watch the US men’s final in tennis.  Total raw end of the deal for me as I was then stuck in a waiting room with nothing to do!

We all had some lunch before heading out to take the kids to a playground.  What we did find was part of the botanical gardens that had a free marsupial park which was way better than a playground.  The kids had fun checking out all the birds, hamsters, rabbits and kangaroos.  There were even chess boards and a large sandpit.  At the moment it looks like they are building an adventure playground so once that has been opened the place would really be a hot spot for families to come and spend a morning or afternoon at.

Chatting to the local wildlife.

Having a game of chess with Dad.

Kayla enjoying the sandpit.

From there we ducked into the shops to get some stuff we needed for school and more pregnancy vitamins, and then it was home to the caravan to do the last school session of painting and then some relaxing.  Of course relaxing is always disturbed by the kids wanting something or Hamish’s being scared in the van when left alone.  Then it was a matter of preparing for dinner and packing up to move on tomorrow.  We want to get about 3 hours down the road which is about 3 ½ in caravan speed but we will have to stop for Hamish’s on-air lesson and then his reading assessment so it is going to take us a long time to actually make our destination.  It will be nice to have the two weeks school holidays to not having to plan our travel around the on-air lessons and just get from A to B but really it just takes a bit of thought process to make sure you are going to be in mobile reception in time.

More beautiful drives.

The view from our campsite in Tamworth

Jason and Kayla enjoying happy hour.

Well we were on a roll getting going from Tamworth and managed to get away just after 7am.  From there it felt like the morning went downhill really.  Of course the navigator in the car wanted to take us the long way to Mudgee, which was two hours longer then what I knew google maps would take us.  Then of course google maps isn’t working on my phone at the moment so we went with Jason’s but his data usage is already maxed out again.  I had a map in the car but it was obviously not very detailed and has a few roads missing, so we took a scenic route through a town that we really didn’t need to and obviously that ate up all the extra time we had from leaving early.

Still we didn’t get lost and we made it to Premer in time to do Hamish’s on-air lesson.  Kayla actually fell asleep on the way there so she slept for the first half of the lesson and then in the second half I took her out to the playground.  It was at least safe from the swooping magpie as it was under a shade cloth.  As soon as the lesson was over we were back in the car and had to make it to Coolah for Hamish to have a reading lesson.  That was a disaster as we had a harder, higher level book to try but he just wasn’t interested in even trying and kept looking for me to read it to him rather than attempt to sound it out and use the pictures as a clue.  Hopefully if we keep working on it we can get him reading better before his next assessment.  It will help if we make the assessment earlier and we pick a day that we are not travelling and rushing around on to try and have him focused and ready to at least try.  Still I was quite disheartened about it all for a while but I know with lots of practice and patience like the sight words we will get there.

Now as for the scenery whilst we have been driving today, pretty much all of it hasn’t been on the smaller roads and we have just been in awe of how beautiful the country side has been through here.  Then there are all the little towns that have so much character.  I really think you could spend a long time driving through the countryside in western NSW and by mainly taking the costal route you are missing out on all these hidden little beauties.  I tried to take photos, but none of them did it any justice at all.

From there we continued our drive down to Mudgee where we planned to stay for two nights.  I hadn’t made a booking but thankfully they could fit us in.  By now we were exhausted from the travelling and school and just wanted to unhitch and relax but of course it took us a while to reverse into our site mainly because the kids were over being in the car and just wanted out.  So Jason couldn’t hear my instructions over the radio, but then when we did finally get it right but realised it had a bit of a slope at the front that meant we would have to jack it right up and we weren’t that keen on that idea.  So Jason went back to the reception and checked to see if there was another site we could take and they gave us the one behind us.  The gentleman said it would be harder to get into but with eleven months under our sleeve we nailed it so I was proud of Jason and his efforts and we could finally unhitch and get setup.

We had some afternoon tea before I tackled a school session with Hamish before we went and checked out the playground in the park.  Then we decided to go for a walk along the river and into town.  I must admit I was falling in love with this town, it is so beautiful, everyone seems happy and friendly and it also just happens to be in the third largest wine region of NSW (funny that).  The coffee shops and little homeware and gift shops looked awesome (but most were closed by then) and the wines on display and breweries made me jealous of Jason as he can do all the sampling.  It was good to get out for a family walk again, even if we had to deal with a swooping magpie right near the exit of the caravan park.

Around the Mudgee town centre.

Looking out over the river.

Of course we need to stop and do our exercises.

We then got out the kids toy box and they were happy playing whilst we sat down and relaxed outside before moving inside for the normal routine.  The next day was filled with a little bit of excitement as it was the last on-air lesson for the term and we just have to finish the unit of work and we can be in holiday mode.  Well as much as we will let ourselves be in holiday mode anyway as of course we will probably still do some school so that we are a little be ahead for next term and when we stop travelling and Jason goes back to work which means I have to do it all on my own then I have a bit of a contingency plan in place until I work out how to do school whilst also looking after Kayla.

After Hamish’s on-air lesson I took the kids out for a scooter ride.  Of course it meant passing under the magpie that was protecting its nest.  It did swoop and get Kayla twice but she didn’t seem too worried at all just a bit more shocked wondering what on earth it was.  We went right along the river until we reached a playground which I thought would be nice and relaxing but it seemed that the scooters are a popular thing and we had kids just wanting to borrow them and ride them.  I don’t mind but then one little boy wouldn’t share and of course my rule is only if a person is supervising you and you wear the helmet.  But then one parent says their child doesn’t wear a helmet and so other kids don’t want to and Hamish was trying to enforce my rule!

The park along the river.

So in the end I decided it was just going to be easier for all if we left and went for morning tea.  Finding a place that look child friendly as the next step and walking down the street trying to make sure Kayla didn’t go too far ahead was also keeping me on my toes.  Eventually we found a nice little place with heaps of room to sit outside.  The kids enjoyed our little treats and I loved the time with them.  I get to spend some quality time with Kayla whilst Hamish does his lesson but I really need to also make some time for Hamish that doesn’t involve school.  We then headed over to Big W to get some harder reading books for Hamish as I find the ones the school sends out are not really teaching him to learn to sound out the words and also a maths revision book for the school holidays.  As we were shopping Jason gave me a call and came down to pick us up.

After lunch we headed out for a drive to check out the childhood home of Henry Lawson.  There really isn’t much left at all, actually to be honest it is only a chimney but still it served its purpose and Kayla fell asleep on the drive.  She had obviously woken up on the wrong side of the bed that day and was in one of those moods which meant nothing made her happy and she was determined to ruin anything her brother was happily playing with.  So we enjoyed the peace and quiet for a while but she woke up before she was ready so that was fun!  We decided to go out for another long walk along the river and down to the playground. 

The sign out the front.

All that is left of the old house.

We love these nice long walks just taking in the scenery and serenity.  This is what we are going to miss the most at the end of this trip, having all this family time, even on the bad days.  I think it will be hard on the kids the most and they will really miss having their dad around and then when the baby comes along I will be spread quite thinly across the three of them.  Still we will make the most of it whilst we can.  Eventually we had to head home before it got dark and start to pack away everything for when we move on the next day.  The caravan park we have stayed in is really pretty but a bit tight and it seems like a lot of vans arrived yesterday.  The road in and out of the van park is really only wide enough for two cars to just pass each other, so we need to get out before any vans start rolling in as I can see there can be some bad congestion with two caravans coming face to face and someone having to reverse!

Which way shall we go.

Hiding from the magpie.