Life is a Journey – Page 36 – The life and times of Libby Withnall

Easter at Burrill Lake – Days 3 – 5

Posted on April 3, 2016October 15, 2026 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, 2016October 11, 2026 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.

A Day in my Life – 14th March, 2016

Posted on March 21, 2016October 17, 2026 by Libby Withnall

It’s been quite some time since I’ve done a day in my life blog post but I love seeing how my life has changed over the years (though these days it’s not necessarily for the better!!).

Being early March, my day started with catching up on what happened during the Iditarod overnight. It’s due to finish tomorrow night and is getting rather exciting.

Then it’s time to watch the cycling.

Since I was up early this morning I was able to see some of the lovely sunrise, but unfortunately I wasn’t feeling good enough to head out on a walk.

Athena and Kevin have headed up to Sydney for their driving test so I hung out the washing when it was ready.

I also had some breakfast, but I’m a bit out of practice with taking photos for blogging, so forget to get a pic. Athena, however, remembered to send me a pic :-).

After having a shower I worked on a vlog.

Nan & Pop offered to take Athena out for lunch to celebrate getting their Ps, so just after 12pm we headed into Wollongong. I haven’t been down that end of town for a while and was amazed at all the building that is going on.

When we got to the Indian place, it was closed, so Thee’s second choice was Thai.

Yet, again, bad on the photography front, but I did remember to get my meal, which was delicious.

After lunch Thee headed off to meet a friend, and I returned home with Nan & Pop, to two very excited pups.

Didn’t get much done for the remainder of the afternoon, but I did bring in the washing.

And go pick up Christy from school.

Time for the dogs to have their heartworm & flea/tick treatments.

With Athena going out for dinner, I decided to make Nachos for dinner, but it turns out that neither Kevin or I were that hungry and we unable to finish our bowls.

We watched some documentaries – this was “A walk through history” with Tony Robbins.

Then it was time to get the kitchen all clean and tidy and head up to bed to do some reading.

Weekend at Huskisson Beach

Posted on March 20, 2016October 14, 2026 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.