An Air of Adventure

Since being back on mainland Australia we have explored the Great Ocean Rd, stayed at a beautiful beach in the Great Otaways National Park.  It has all been very beautiful, but our eyes were set on getting to Mount Arapalies. I don't think we were going to be settled anywhere until got there. So, with a service stop at a cheap little caravan park with free washing machines, we set off a few days early for Mount Arapalies.


You drive through the great expanse of the Wimmera Plains. They are completely flat, broken up into squares of green wheat and brilliant yellow canola. Rising out of the flat in front of you is a mammoth rock mountain, like an enormous beetle sitting on the horizon.

This is a size comparison.
When the correct way up you
should be able to see 4 climbers on the  'pipe'
2nd in from the right :)

The camp ground is right at the foot of the cliffs. The camp is littered with tiny 'extreme' tents and I'm surprised just how many people are here. As I said before, we have come accustom to not having many others at our campsites so this is quite a change! As you are so close to the cliffs, you can hear climbers on the rocks. You can sit at camp with a cup of tea and watch them like tiny ants working their way up a 130m cliff face. It's quite spectacular.

Most of the campers are sleek bodied, muscled, risk takers. I find myself envying their toned bodies and their ability to physically and mentally push them selves to the extreme. There are just as many women here as men which is great and really inspiring.  I thought that most people would have been uni age through to late 20's but there is such an age range. Ollie and Tilly are by far the youngest :) but there are families with older kids and even an old grey couple who climb with the best of them.

The whole campsite seems to follow the same routine. Everyone wakes early, not a lot of noise until the rattle of the racks begins. Climbing gear has a very distinct rattle. Then after a little discussion about who's rack is the best, they start the pilgrimage to the cliffs. Climb all morning, back to camp for lunch and off to the cliffs for an afternoon climb. At dusk climbers come out of the wood work and the campsite fills with jovial discussions and reminiscent recounts on the days adventures. Most are early to bed as they have both physically an mentally challenged them selves through out the day.

I am in great awe of rock climbers. It is something I would like to be a lot better at. As I said before, the whole process of climbing is a physical challenge, testing their bodies to their limit. I go to the gym for an hour and shake my booty and feel good about it, but these guys put physical demands and stress on their bodies all day and then go back the next day to do it all again. Climbers challenge themselves, but they also do it in the throws of nature, beautiful locations. They need to be really trusting, they are allowing another person to be in charge of their safety/life.

Having my other half as a rock climber, it is something I have always wanted to put time into getting good at. Being able to climb as a couple is very convenient. In all previous attempts, my fear of my own physicality got in the way of me getting very far at all. It was hard, it hurt and I didn't really believe I could do it, so I didn't.

I think rock climbing is half the mental will and determination to do it.

Before we begun this holiday I made the decision to give it a really good go. Over the past 12 months I have learnt to push my body to do hard things. I have got a lot fitter and am more aware about how my body works and it's abilities. I have realised that I am stronger than I think I am.

Ollie's confidence and ability to climb has sky rocketed. We are having to put limits on what is okay to climb un-roped. Nath and Ollie are adoring climbing together. So when I heard Tilly say to me quietly "When I get bigger maybe I can be a boy and be a rock climber like Daddy and Ollie". It was the clincher that I needed. Tilly needed to see that girls can be climbers to. That girls can physically and mentally push them selves to the limit to. Not just boys.

So in being amongst all of these climbers, what better time get to it and challenge myself...

Nath and I agreed that we would start with baby steps. Do some easy ones to build my confidence. We did and I got to the top!!!! Twice!!! I didn't feel scared at all, in fact I trusted my ability to do it and I did it. Nath choose well. I trust him completely and this makes the whole process easier. I know he loves me and he isn't going to let me fall.

I think through my climbing today I have realized that trust is the biggest mental  challenge I needed to overcome. Trust in my ability, my safety, trust in Nath, in the rope, in the shoes gripping and in the fact that the world isn't out to get me, rip me of the rock and throw me down.


I still have a whole lot of practice to do and need to gain a lot more confidence but I'm getting there and hopefully after the next week of practice I can feel empowered to take more physical challenges, and then I can rock it with all these extreme cool people and not feel like such an imposter :)

Catch Up Take 2!

Well in my last posting I said that at Mt Field the sun came out... Well it has stayed out ever since, so I have been out busy enjoying our holiday and not had a lot of time for blogging or much Internet connection (good old Tassie!). We have some mega catching up to do! More than 2 weeks worth actually!!! So it will be brief but I'll elaborate when we get home :)

Following Mt Field we went to:

Bruny Island
This was a wonderful stop. We rode the ferry (or Fairy as the kids are convinced it is) over. Orlando was in heaven! Yet another form of transport to add to the repertoire! Or camp site was on one end of "The Neck" which is the famous isthmus the joins north and south islands together. Our campsite was merely meters from the BEAUTIFUL beach and we very much enjoyed sleeping to the beating of the waves (have actually had this for 3 weeks now and will miss it as we move inland).
We could have stayed here for weeks! The island has a small population but it has a beautiful relaxed atmosphere. There are little factories and farms like the cheese factory, the smoke house, the berry farm and fudge shop. We did the tour and went back to our beach with a hamper full of goodies to enrich our camping pantry. We had sunshine and no wind YAY!!

We saw the Fairy Penguins waddle in from the beach at night time and squark around their nests (the part of the holiday Matilda has been waiting for.... I think she is still a little surprised they didn't look like the fairies she was imagining :))

Dover

Our dear friend Kathryn and her daughter Jasmine live in the little fishing village of Dover. It is always good to spend some time with old friends. Particularly ones you were very close to and then don't see for ages. It was nice being in a house for a few nights but a bit of a culture shock also. The kids were in heaven! Another kid to play with! And TOYS!!!!!!!! After an awkward start, Orlando and Jasmine hit it off and quickly made friends. Orlando found it rather tricky to say good bye to Jasmine, she made quite an impression on him. He sobbed for a good half an hour when we left, upset he wasn't going to see her again for a long time. This was also a clear indication for us that he is REALLY missing all of his friends and the social community he has around him at home.

Hobart
Well Hobart nearly blew us away!! LITERALLY! This was when the gale force winds hit Tasmania and Victoria and Oh MY!! We were in a horrible little Caravan Park on the outskirts of Hobart and were in a wind tunnel next to a bay so we had 3 sleepless nights just trying to hold the van down so that it didn't take off! Nathan's wonderful rope skills meant that he was able to tie the roof of the van to the ground to hold it down. This wind scared me a bit and I didn't feel settled or safe.

But on the touristy side of things we went to the Cadbury Factory and learnt all about chocolate. The kids were in heaven! We also brought a good lot of it from the very very cheap retail shop (I was also GOB SMACKED buy the amount of chocolate some people we buying OMG why are they not the size of houses!)


We also spent a very windy day in Hobart at the Salamanca markets which is always a nice day out. Got some delicious produce to nibble and found a FANTASTIC little book shop in Salamanca square. Could of spent days in there. It was my idea of a beautiful little tucked away treasure. Even the kids were happy for a full hour looking at all the kids books.

We had our Belated Fathers Day. We went to see MONA (Museum of Old and New Art) This is a great gallery and a real asset to the Art world. We really enjoyed our visit here, the museum has been well done. We also agreed that much of it, is not the sort of art we really like to look at! A bit too much exhibitionism for my liking. We then went over to the Royal Tasmanian Botanic Gardens. These are beautiful but it was really interesting to been in a 'constructed' natural space after spending so much time in wild natural spaces.

Tasman Peninsular

I always marvel at how old foot stones
wear down over hundreds of years
 and millions of uses.

We were pleased and relieved to be going bush again and this is a beautiful part of Tasmania. We camped at Fortescue Bay which is a stunning beach with white sands and picture perfect blue water. We had quite an adventure getting in to our campsite as it was raining, just a little, but enough! The road was dirt and the hill was long and VERY steep and started to go straight up, straight after a sharp corner, so you didn't even know it was coming to get a good run up.... well with this and a whole lot of loose, wet slippery gravel on the road.... we couldn't get up the hill... Bugger... we had 3 attempts, each time Nath had to reverse the car and van down the ridiculous hill that was so slippery we were sliding even when stopped and trying to be still. Just when we were discussing other camping options in the area an 'old cobber' came out of no where in his little suzuki and said "Common cobber, hook this to your bus, we need to get those kiddies to the beach!" and he hooked a tow rope to the front of the car and his little box of a 4WD pulled us, the car and the van up the hill. Thank goodness! And bless the little bush yokel fairy that saved our asses!

 
Once here we really enjoyed a day at Port Arthur. Ollie really loved the stories about how people used to live and we only included a few of the horrible bits :) Tilly didn't understand much of it but loved the old houses. We also went on an epic bush walk that was meant to be "flat 3 hr coastal walk". Well it took us at least 4 1/2 hrs and was VERY hilly. Like we walked over the top of 3 mountainous headlands. By the end we all felt exhausted but satisfied. Ollie walked the whole lot of it and Tilly helped me build back and shoulder strength with her luxury back pack ride.







Freycinet
Being the "Gold Coast of Tasmania" and Tasmanian school holidays, it was a lot busier here than we have had anywhere (saying that we have come accustomed to having campgrounds to our selves :)) So we felt a little crowded. We are also starting to get a bit tired and need to remember to schedule in some slow days, other wise we are going to need a holiday from our holiday!

We had a meander along some little pebble beaches, one with some amazing granite boulders and caves. The bouldering/rock climbing bug has bitten Ollie and Nath and Ollie are having some FANTASTIC boy time going off and rock scrambling. Matilda on the other hand sits in the sand or pebbles and has a little sensory massage, rubbing and rolling her whole body in the sand. She gets in quite a zone!


We also did the iconic Wineglass Bay walk. Up to the lookout and over the mountain to possibly one of the world's most beautiful beaches. I am so pleased they haven't put a road through nature to get easy access here but instead you have to walk, a decent walk, to enjoy and appreciate its beauty. We continued on an extended bush walk, totaling 5 hrs of walking. Ollie has developed into a champion walker and only complains a little near the end of 5 hrs, which in all honesty we all feel like doing :) I found it interesting to reflect on the beauty of the beach and then to discover why it is called wineglass bay. Partly it is to do with it's shape, but mainly, due to how deep it is and the fact that it is very protected, it was an area of great protection for whales and it had an enormous migrating whaler population.  During early settlement of the area it was discovered how many whales were here, and low an behold man started to slaughter them at great speed. First all the Sperm Whales and then the Humpbacks, so much so that the bay was continuously full of blood, so much that it looked like a glass full of red wine.... :(


Mole Creek
For our last stop in Tasmania we have decided to stop at the sleepy little town of Mole Creek. Today we went and explored the caves which was one of the most beautiful and well preserved limestone tour caves I've seen. It also houses one of the largest populations of Glow Worms. The kids have become quite the glow worm fans! Ollie expressed today that they were like beautiful stars and he and Nath are hatching a plan to construct a glow worm haven on his roof at home. Tomorrow we bush walk some more and go and visit the honey shop and other gourmet delights.

On Wednesday evening we embark on our return voyage on the Spirit (as you could of guessed Ollie has been talking about for a week already!) and then we have just over 2 weeks of this journey left! Time is flying for us!

5 Weeks in we have settled into a nice hum together as a family. The kids have made great friends and are really enjoying each others company. We are thankful for the bonding we have the opportunity to be doing and I think it will stay with us for a long time following this journey. All of our internal communication has improved out of sight and we are appreciating each other everyday. Parts of us are longing for home, we miss our friends, family and lives. We miss our chickens and garden, which should be blossoming just beautifully about now. But that will all be there waiting for us on our return.

Coming to the end of the Tassie leg it is hard not to feel like we're going home. In a part we are but we still have 2 1/2 week in Victoria. It's hard to get there mentally right now so we are just being and will explore Vic when we arrive on Thursday! (Which is also my BEAUTIFUL little sister's Birthday... HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENNA!!)

Until then...

Caio!

Mt Buffalo

 The first region we are staying at on our camping holiday is the Mt Buffalo region in Victoria.




What a delightful relief it was to get here! We had a long day in the car through the rather boring highway from Canberra towards Melbourne. You pass a million paddocks.... and that is about it!

So as we pulled in past Beechworth,  Myrtelford and Bright we were delighted to see the towering Mt Buffalo, mountain ranges, green hills, forests, and productive land pass us by.

This seems to be a very productive area, we have passed many vineyards, nut farms, berry farms, vegetable farms, garlic farms, apple orchards, stone fruit orchards, olive groves, all sorts! Also a lot of dairy cows!

As we had just left home, we decided to opt for a free campsite a little out of the way. We found a spot called AH Youngs Campsite which is in the Buckland Valley. It is beautiful! We are in a valley between 2 beautiful mountain ranges with a large river running past the camp ground. It all feels very lush and green. We are sharing the camp site with a large group of dirt bike riders and their dogs. They are gone all day on their bikes, and then with a roaring return they come back and sit on huge couches around the campfire. Apparently they have been here for a week and a half but it looks like they moved in a year ago! Nath isn't so keen on them, but I think they are harmless enough.



We spent the day up at Mt Buffalo. What a beautiful island in the sky that is!



It was scattered with snow, but was a sunny and glorious day. (As you can see we took just a few photos which for some reason Blogger in NOT allowing me to rotate!)

The two places we enjoyed most, was the Old Galleries, which for children, was fantastic. It was even better that to was covered in snow! The Old Galleries are a enormous cluster of granite boulders all piled on and around each other like a pile of marbles. This gives you ally ways, caves, tunnels, bouldering opportunities, all sorts! If anyone knows Lego Land in Namadji National Park, this is like that, but 10 times bigger.

My personal favourite was also the Eurobin Cascades. These are right by the road, on the lower section on the mountain. This mixture of cascades, rocks to scrambles on, mountain forest and ferns, is my idea of paradise!






Although we only had a day to spend on the mountain, I can see that this is a wonderland that you could explore for a life time. I can see why it was the first place in Victoria to be declared as a National Park!

Caving with Kids

Before the cold weather sets in to strongly, we decided to get one more camping trip in. Boy was it COLD!! But as always we had a wonderful time and now feel re-connected as a family and rejuvenated by the gifts nature always provides us. 

Nathan and I have a long tradition of caving and camping at Wee Jasper. It was where we first started to eye each other off and think - gee I like the look of him.... 15 years later we still love going.

We have walked the kids into the mouth of a few natural limestone caves before, but as Matilda was either not walking or not yet climbing, we had not yet taken them deep into the caves. This time, to much excitement of the kids, we spent the whole morning in a great starter cave called the "Signature Cave". This is a great cave to begin with as there is a decent amount to explore but no "endless drops" for the kids to fall down. There are squeezes, mazes, tunnels and slippery slides to enjoy.

So, full of excitement we 'donned' our dirty clothes, helmets and head torches and set off to explore the cave. The kids were wonderful, they got comfortable with sitting on their bottoms to get down slopes and became more and more adventurous as we spent time exploring the cave. 

We set boundaries about helmets needing to stay on in the cave and that was it, no other boundaries were needed. The kids were really empowered by being real cavers. They were fascinated about the new world they found below the earth and the new experiences it allowed us to have. We turned the lights off and felt the complete darkness on our bodies. We also loved getting REALLY DIRTY, sliding, rolling and crawling through the mud.

This is going to be a new regular for our family. Watching the sense of pride on the kids faces when they pushed through their comfort zones and challenged themselves was really rewarding. Orlando was so inspired by it that he made up all sorts of plans about living in the cave, and dreamt of many a cave adventure.