Motorhome Adventure – Page 2 – Life is a Journey

Easter at Burrill Lake – Days 3 – 5

Posted on April 3, 2016 by Libby Withnall

Day 3 started with another cloudy sky. Everyone did their own thing for breakfast. I tried these oats – which were okay.

After breakfast we hung out at the Powell’s van – trying to photograph the yellow tailed black cockatoos.

Kevin, Thea, Viv & Sarah went for a drive into town, bringing back some delicious pies for lunch – and some balloons.

The skies cleared up a bit in the afternoon and the tide was in.

Later in the afternoon we joined some friends of the Powells’ for cheese and nibblies.

While Athena & Viv continued making balloon animals.

Which made them very popular with all the kids in the park :-).

Easter Sunday involved Easter Eggs of course. But since I wasn’t feeling great I didn’t manage to get any photos (or video) of the kids opening their gifts. Christy got some new pjs and Athena a pop vinyl. Plus some Lindt eggs.

Athena & Viv was nice enough to cook/BBQ breakfast for everyone.

Today a petting zoo came to the park and it was lovely getting to interact with all the animals.

I especially loved the calf.

and this chicken, who was so soft.

In the afternoon the sun finally appeared.

And we finally got Christy and Alyssa out of the motorhome and off their computers and onto the standup paddleboards.

It was a restful afternoon, and after working for a bit on my smashbook I went for a walk to the beach.

As you can see the clouds had rolled back in.

But I still enjoyed sitting on the dune watching the waves for some time…until I felt a few drops of rain and headed back, just in case it started pouring down (which it didn’t).

Tonight Leanne made us a delicious potato gnocchi for dinner. Served with some garlic bread.

On Easter Monday we were up and away rather punctually, hoping to beat the traffic home (which we did). We stopped at the Heritage Bakery in Milton to buy some breakfast.

Kevin and I had quiches – with some of the best pastry I’ve ever had. However, we also bought some apple pies/turnovers, which really weren’t that great.

We had a great trip home (and heard of bad traffic from people who left a few hours after we did). It was such a nice relaxing weekend – just hanging out and chatting. And, of course, eating :-).

Easter at Burrill Lake – Day 1& 2

Posted on March 30, 2016March 30, 2016 by Libby Withnall

On Thursday after school, Christy, Kevin & I set off down the coast. We had a good run until about 10mins out of Nowra when we hit traffic.

It took us about 30min to drive the 10mins, but while we drove along at snails pace we were able to make friends with the local cows.

We arrived at Burrill Lake Tourist Park just on 7pm, where our friends, The Powells, were waiting for us (they stay in their parents onsite van). It’s actually our 4th visit here. You can read about our previous visits here, the last being in 2010.

After we got set up (love that it only takes 5-10mins) I reheated dinner (one pot taco pasta and mac ‘n’ cheese) and we chatted till it was time to head to bed.

The next morning we awoke to some rain and headed over to the Powells van, where Leanne had cooked breakfast for us.

Just before lunch Athena and Viv arrived and got their tent up. There were supposed to up on the hill somewhere but had actually been given the site right beside us. In hindsight they could easily have set up their tent on our site (as it was one of the parks that don’t mind how many tents you have on each site).

Thankfully the weather cleared up. Not sure what Kevin was doing on the roof and why he didn’t take any photos for me (I’m sure he would have had a nice view of the lake).

After lunch (and more chatting) we all had a bit of a relax. Some were sleeping, some playing on computers and I was trying to read some blogs (but it was a bit hard on the ipad).

Unfortunately I didn’t feel very well (stupid fibromyalgia) for most of the weekend but I did visit the lake (it was only 3 campsites away :-)). It doesn’t look the prettiest at low tide.

About 5.30pm the ice cream van arrived, and even though we hadn’t had dinner, Kevin and Athena wanted an ice cream. Of course, I had to have one too. Didn’t really enjoy it that much as I seem to lost my taste for sweet food.

I went back to the lake to try to see the sunset (they can be spectacular here) but as you can see the clouds had blown back in.

I had made fajitas for our dinner tonight, which we ate over with the Powells, before joining some of their neighbours around a gas fire.

Weekend at Huskisson Beach

Posted on March 20, 2016 by Libby Withnall

At this stage we are trying to get away every second weekend – at least while the weather is nice. On this weekend we headed down the coast – just 90mins from where we live. I hadn’t booked in anywhere and I when I rang the place we’d planned to stay they were booked out so we just decided to drive to Huskisson and hope for the best. The first tourist park was booked out, but the second, Huskisson Beach Tourist Park, had spots in the camp area – which we actually preferred to the main park (it was just across the road).

After getting the motorhome set up (which takes 5-10mins) we walked back to the main office to book in. The beach is just across the road and was beautiful at this time of night (around 7pm).

I had made taco salads at home, so dinner was nice and easy.

The next day we went to the beach for an hour or so. It was warm out and the beach was beautiful.

We have never been here before and I didn’t realize the sand was so white. Just gorgeous.

Unfortunately the water was rather chilly (having dropped from 22 to 15deg in the last week) as you can see from my reaction :-).

But we managed to enjoy a bit of time in the water once we were totally numb.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and reading back at the motorhome. I did go on a little walk after lunch over to the river. As you can see this was also a lovely spot and would be great with young kids.

Looking out to Point Perpendicular

We were also visited by this kookaburra (it’s on our neighbours towels).

Around 4pm Kevin joined me on a walk (with the promise on an ice cream).

The tide had gone out since my earlier visit here.

We walked around the headland and back up the beach we had swum at in the morning, then to the main office for our ice cream.

Dinner tonight was potato bake (that I’d cooked at home) with a Quorn burger and corn cob. Seemed like appropriate camping food.

On Sunday we enjoyed some pancakes for breakfast before driving around to Hyams Beach.

When we arrived it was raining so we waited it out in the van (having seen on the radar that it shouldn’t last long).

I have always wanted to visit Hyams Beach but was a little disappointed. It did not look like ANY of I have seen. Not sure if it was because of the grey skies, or we were not at the right place (though the signs proclaimed this to be Hyams- maybe there is more than one part??).

We actually thought Huskisson was at least as nice, if not nicer. Guess, we’ll have to come back on a clearer day.

On our way home we made a tea stop as Kevin wanted to try make me a tea on the road.

Again it was just the three of us, but hopefully Athena will be able to come away with us soon. We had a really nice relaxing weekend away and will definitely be back to explore some more of the area.

Check out the video below if you want to see more our weekend.

Weekend adventure to the Blue Mountains

Posted on March 1, 2016March 18, 2016 by Libby Withnall

Yes, I’m back and hoping to get this blog up and running again. Now that we’ve got a motorhome we are hoping to have lots more adventures and to be honest I’ve missed this space and sharing my photos. I’m just going back a few weeks and if time allows I’ll do a few posts from the past few months.

On the last weekend in February we finally had the motorhome ready for it’s maiden voyager (it used to belong to Kevin’s Dad and needed a lot of work done on it) to the Blue Mountains. It was just 3 of us, with Athena opting to stay home.

It rained for quite a bit of the trip and was rather foggy up in the mountains. We had booked two nights at Blackheath Tourist Park with an ensuite (not that we needed one, but the other available spot was right by the gate). We were really happy with our spot.

Our view in the morning, with trees out the back window.

Since there was a forecast of rain today we decided to switch up our plans and head to Sublime Point (funnily enough we have one of these in Wollongong as well).

It was an easy downhill walk (not quite so on the way back up) and the view was stunning. We were looking at the back of the Three Sisters and over the Jamison Valley.

While we were here the clouds started to clear and the sun came out.

I loved how the trees created a frame for the valley….

and for the Three Sisters.

From here we drove the short distance the Everglades Gardens.

Even though it was late Summer the grounds were still beautiful (but I’m planning a return trip in the Spring to see the Bluebells).

And how’s this for framing a view?

We also had a look the art deco house.

They had tearooms with a lovely menu but it was a little too early for lunch. So it was back out in the gardens for more photography.

Then it was on to Leura for lunch and shopping.

The chocolate shop….

The most awesome dog/pet store I’ve ever been to….

Lunch at the Red Door Cafe….

We were pretty tired after all this (and I was still in the middle of a Fibro flare) so we drove back to the tourist park and had a relaxing afternoon and evening.

The next morning we woke up to ducks outside our window.

And bright blue skies with not a cloud in sight.

We made the best decision to swap the days around as the valley was crystal clear today.

First was the skyway…

We opted not to do the walk to the waterfall (might do it on another trip) to conserve energy for a walk on the valley floor).

Kevin requested a mid morning snack and we both got one of these cookies – which was expensive but really delicious.

Then it was time for the cablecar….

and a walk through the rainforest. This was really lovely and there were plenty of spots to sit and rest while Christy took lots of photos.

But be warned there is a BIG staircase to walk UP at the end (if we’d gone the other way it would have been easier).

One more look at that amazing view of the valley and the Three Sisters.

Then it was back up to the top on the Scenic Railway.

Unfortunately I hit my head hard getting out so had to sit down for a bit while Kevin and Christy rode back down and up again.

From here we headed the Gingerbread House, which is in an old church. It wasn’t quite what we were expecting with only a small selection of gingerbread foods and hardly any ginger used on the menu. I will just say our meal was okay but it really wasn’t worth the money.

After this it was time to head on home after a very enjoyable first weekend away in our motorhome.