A taste of The Gold Rush in Ballarat

We had a fabulous time in Ballarat, the highlight being the day we visited Sovereign Hill and stepped back in time to the Australian Gold Rush era of the 1850's.

We were the first visitors of the day to this 'living' museum and after Miss Fancy struck gold in the first few minutes of gold-panning, all the kids declared they wanted to stay the entire day. And so we did.

There was plenty to do.

We browsed the quaint stores on Main Street, including an 1850's David Jones.

We got our ears blasted when the Red Coats fired their Muskets.

We watched some traditional candle-making.

And candle-dipping.

We watched the confectioner make boiled lollies using traditional methods with a lolly press from the early1800's. 

On today's menu were Raspberry Drops, which he was making for a bunch of school kids arriving next week.

Above we witnessed molten gold being poured into a bullion bar - this one, $160,000.00 worth!!!!

We even engaged in a spot of old-time bowling - complete with wooden lanes, wooden bowling balls and wooden pins.

The Big kids took charge of the lanes up one end and the little boys were in charge of setting the pins up after they were knocked down.

But the main activity of the day was gold-panning and this is where we spent most of the day.

There was a brief demonstration by one of the helpful 'diggers'.

And then the kids were left to their own devices. 

Whilst they were busy searching for gold, I set myself up on the edge of the river with a latte (or 3 - this solo parenting business is darn exhausting!). 

A spec of Gold was found by Miss Fancy and then they were all gripped by Gold Fever

They took the activity very seriously indeed.

It may not look like much but the kids were super excited by their little containers of Gold that they found themselves.

There was much protest by the big kids when 5.30pm came around and the gates were about to close but the little boys were thoroughly exhausted. And so was I. 

Our visit to Sovereign Hill was declared the best day ever!

So off to Melbourne where we say good-bye to the "Mainland" as we board the Ferry bound for Tasmania to complete the final leg of The Big Adventure. I'm hoping it will be all smooth sailing (literally) as we cross Bass Strait.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Nullarbor Plain

Nullarbor - derived from the Aboriginal words Nullus and Arbor meaning "No Trees".

Crossing the Nullarbor Plain was a journey in itself. 

I've actually been wanting to do the Nullarbor ever since I was in Grade 5. There was a new boy in our class who told us during "Show and Tell" on his very first day that he had come across the Nullarbor Plain from the mining town of Parapurdoo. Our Teacher asked him a million questions and I could tell by his enthusiasm that it was a huge deal.

So I was pleased to give the Pianoman a break from behind the wheel and drove the entire stretch myself as a warm up for the two weeks I'd be driving solo after he was to fly to Tasmania from Adelaide.

It all went smoothly in case you were wondering :-).

It was two whole days of nothingness. No trees. The odd Roadtrain or fellow traveller. But otherwise nothing.

However, the coastline was another story. The Great Australian Bight was spectacular!

We've been reading Alison Lester's "Are we there yet?" so the kids were really excited to see where the coastline looked like a huge bite had been taken out of it. 

It really did have that appearance.

"Look at the teeth marks!", Blue Eyes exclaimed.

There were a few places you could stop and stretch your legs, Whippets legs included.

Since reading this book, there has been quite the confusion with the kids who thought it was named The Great Australian Bite rather than Bight. "But it looks like a Bite", they'd say. "Yes, it does but this is a different Bight. Sounds exactly the same as Bite but spelt differently. It's just a coincidence", I'd say. "What's a coincidence?". 

It's quite funny because I was also confused about the same thing when I was younger and it was years before I realised that it was a Bight rather than a Bite. So whilst Alison Lester can be 'blamed' for confusing the kids, I blame my confusion on the 80's game "Oz Quiz" that we used to play all the time. The board had a picture of the Bight with Sharks and Chattering teeth so I thought it was The Great Australian Bite. 

Did anyone else used to play this?

So we finished the Nullarbor and spent a few glorious days at Streaky Bay before we headed off to Adelaide to kiss the Whippet and the Pianoman Good-bye at Adelaide airport.

To be continued soon.......

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Plotting and Scheming

I totally fell in love with Esperance. Just quietly, I think it reminded me a little bit of Tasmania. The natural rugged beauty with its glorious white sandy beaches and a delightful little seaside town to boot made it a perfect destination in my book. 

We spent hours on the foreshore playing on the beach, fishing on the jetty and watching the resident sea lion "Sammy" do his thing. We watched him laze about, open and close his eyes, sneeze, point his nose in the air and reject fish from the fishermen. I almost had to help him roll from one side to the other as it painfully reminded me of when I was heavily pregnant with the twins and couldn't do the same without assistance.

Anyway, when we weren't enjoying these lovely little moments we spent some time dealing with some 'house-keeping' issues in readiness for the new chapter - our return to Tasmania next month.

This Big Adventure has been a journey on so many levels. The Pianoman has been calling it a 're-alignment', I've been calling it a 'circuit breaker', some may call it a mini mid-life crisis and Blue Eyes has been telling strangers we're travelling around the world, god bless him! Whatever it is, it has been wonderful and we have spent many many hours plotting and scheming.

As you do when you are spending every waking moment with someone on the road, we have been trying to plot a bit of a sketch of what we want to achieve in terms of family, careers and life in general life. And we have been coming up with all manner of schemes of how to get there. There are the bigger picture things like what we want to do with the Farmlet when we get back and to that end we have been tossing up all sorts of ideas from Orchards, Crops, Breeding stock, Lavender or Saffron Farms. Or maybe we'll enjoy being hobby farmers with a mixture of all of the above. It is a long long long term plan and we will do it ever so slowly. I hope you are in for the long haul with me! Frankly, if I reinstate a few chooks, start a vegie patch and don't lose the kids in the bush during the first few months then I think I'll be doing well. 

On the more immediate term we need to think about jobs. We actually left Sydney to embark on The Big Adventure without a job to go to at the other end. One of our bolder moves I must say! I know people do this all the time, but it was a big step for us and quite ironic given the Pianoman was awarded the Young Australian of the Year Award for Career Achievement in his home state some years back. His career has been a big part of his life so to chuck in the big Sydney job was a big thing I guess. However, our reasons for doing so are obviously worth it it in the end. And lo and behold, the world didn't end and things have worked out OK. I don't want to sound flippant or to trivialise the stress of not having a job. On the contrary, it is one of the most stressful things to happen, particularly when you have 4 young children and a mortgage to pay. I don't know, we took a calculated risk and figured something would come about in the 3 months that we were away.

So in the 2 and a half weeks we had to plan this trip, the Pianoman set about putting a few "irons in the fire" and somewhere along the coast of WA one of them came off, which happened to be just great for him. Lucky for us it was a job in Tasmania where our worldly possessions had already been sent and were being stored (there was actually a Plan C based in Darwin at the time we left Sydney). But to cut a long story short, the Pianoman needs to be back in Hobart on 1 February. There was no way we would have comfortably made it to Hobart with the caravan from where we were at the time, so it was decided the Pianoman would see us through the Nullarbor Plain (you know, in case there was a Damsel in distress scenario) and then he would fly from Adelaide to Hobart and I would continue on The Big Adventure as planned with the kids for the last little bit.

As you can imagine there has been a re-jigging of arrangements. We finally got the caravan on the Ferry across to Tasmania (we have actually been wait-listed for 2 months) and are now trying to get the Whippet on the flight with the Pianoman, both to ease my load and a 2 hour flight for the Whippet is so much more palatable to him than an overnight trip on the Ferry. The lease on our house comes to an end just in time for the Pianoman to move straight in. This means everything will be arriving in my absence. This also means I'm now drawing up sketches of where every item in our house needs to go as the Pianoman does not care for such details and I'm a bit of a control freak!

So there you have it. Our days together are now numbered which makes us want to soak up the days even more, not that I think that is possible as I think we've really made the most of the trip.

Here are some shots from the gorgeous Cape Le Grande near Esperance.

We patted the Kangaroos at Lucky Bay.

Blue Eyes added "Kangaroo Impersonator" to his repertoire of tricks.

Matthew Flinders named this bay Lucky Bay in 1802 during his circumnavigation of Australia. It may have been a safe anchorage then but it was blowing the clappers on this day. 

This is Whistling Rock at Thistle Bay - it really does whistle!

Lucky Bay was a tad windy but Thistle Bay was nice and sheltered so we picnicked here instead.

I came back from the car with food and everyone's swimmers and towels to find this -  I was too late again!

Exhibitionists, the lot of them!

We left Esperance to do the infamous Nullarbor Plain - so far so good. Will update hopefully tomorrow when we have finished :-). Goodnight!

"Welcome to Western Australia, would you like a Bushfire with your Cyclone?"

Blue "B" Alert means get prepared!!

It was almost the most unexciting day we have had on our Big Adventure:

7.00am  - Leaving Broome

Midday – Somewhere between Broome and Port Hedland

7.00pm – Just south of Port Hedland

But then things started to get interesting.

When we stopped at Port Hedland and walked along the foreshore we noticed the wind picking up and it was getting really choppy out at sea. We were going to stay there the night but checked the Bureau of Meteorology website and noticed that a tropical low was forming off the coast. For safety reasons we never drive at night but decided the prospect of nasty weather was enough to change the rules.

So we decided to leave and drive further south. The ultimate destination was Coral Bay, which turned out to be smack bang between 2 natural disasters - Cyclone Heidi to the North and a severe Bushfire to the South. All roads were closed south of the Coral Bay turn-off and would soon be closed to the north. But we were completely unaware of a possible cyclone at this stage, only a tropical low.

So we had a quick dinner and continued on our merry way south while the kids fell asleep in the car. We drove a few hours and it suddenly became apparent that we were heading straight into the eye of the nastiest, scariest storm we had ever seen in our lives. We had simultaneous lightning strikes on all 3 sides, thunder booming all around, the sky was glowing and it looked like the world was going to end. It was around 11pm and we hadn’t seen a single car in hours. I quickly checked the weather again and the tropical storm was now upgraded to a Cyclone. Crap! A few minutes later we lost mobile reception. And then I started to panic.

Of course we happened to be in a region known as the Pilbara, you know the one that always gets a special mention in the news due to its flash flooding and changeable weather conditions? We started seeing water across the road and then were taken by surprise when we hit the first floodway. It was quite scary. Just a 2WD towing an old caravan with precious cargo on board. I could just see the headlines with footage of the Family of 6 people and 1 whippet standing on top of their old caravan floating down the river.

Even the warning signs can't find a network.

The problem was that we were in the middle of nowhere. This part of the world is very isolated indeed. We were still 120km from the Roadhouse we were heading to and 60km from the one we last passed. I wanted to head straight back to the last roadhouse but that was in the path of the cyclone so that wasn’t very comforting. But I didn’t want to go through any more floodways and possibly get stranded between them as the water levels rose. I started carrying on like a pork chop. I’m normally calm in a crisis but I was getting quite hysterical and it’s a good thing the kids were asleep.

Me: “Let’s call 000. I don’t like this and I’m getting totally freaked out”

Pianoman: “We can’t, we don’t have mobile reception (and this isn’t a real emergency)”

Me: “But you said we could access an emergency number on our new iphone 4s’s anywhere!”

Pianoman: “No I didn’t, it’s fitted with GPS so we can be tracked if things turn pear-shaped but you still need a little signal to call out (and it isn’t an emergency yet)”

Me:“But no one knows where we are! We were in Broome thismorning! I want to alert authorities before it becomes an emergency. No use calling when we’re floating down the river! Oh My God, we’re going to DIE!!!!!!”

The decision was made for us when we hit another floodway a bit further down but this time it was about 100 metres long and there was no way we were going to go through it. Mobile reception was finally back and we rang the emergency FESA hotline.

The conversation which the unruffled Pianoman had with the lady during this ordeal is hilarious (in hindsight):

Pianoman: Are all roads open between blah and blah?

Advice Line: Yes, all is fine since our last patrol a few hours ago

Pianoman: Well I am experiencing something a little different.

Advice Line: Oh, that’s odd, what exactly?

Pianoman: We are surrounded by a rather large storm and the floodways that were meant to be dry are now whitewater and hundreds of metres long:

Advice Line: (Silence)

Pianoman: Any suggestions?

Advice Line: Um, go to higher ground immediately and we will send a crew in the morning to assess the road but we are a bit stretched with cyclones and bushfires today.

Pianoman: (Silence) Um, thanks.

It wasn’t very comforting advice because there was no higher ground on the floodplains, just this one road, parts which weren’t yet covered in water.

We needed turn around and find a patch of road away from this particular floodway. But there was water on both sides of the road so turning around wasn’t easy. Some time later we see a 4WD approaching on the other side of the floodway. I feel a whole lot better seeing another human. He was a Bosnian with poor English and was also completely freaked out by the weather and says that there were about 30 more floodways after this one and we wouldn’t get through them. He helps us do a 50-point turn. When that didn’t get the car and caravan facing the other direction, we decide to unhitch the caravan and wheel it around by hand. Something was lost in translation and just as the Pianoman goes to get the jockey wheel and chocks for the wheels, the Bosnian unhitches the caravan and it promptly starts sliding down the side of the road. I yell out to the Pianoman who drops the jockey wheel and makes a run for the caravan. So there they are, the Bosnian and the Pianoman with both hands grabbing the caravan tow bar, feet firmly planted into the ground in front of them and bums in the air. Blood vessels are bursting on their faces as they try to keep Matilda from waltzing down the side of the flooded road.

The Pianoman yells at me to grab something to put behind the wheels. I quickly grab the first thing I see which is the spare Petrol Can. “Not that!” he screams. So I chuck the petrol can away like a madwoman and put my incredible hulk on and lift the heavy blue esky out of the back of the car and throw it behind the caravan moments before the boys hands slip off the caravan. That esky is so heavy and I still have no idea how I managed to lift it but that’s adrenalin for you. The esky does the trick.

We turn the car around and hook the caravan back on, collect the tossed petrol can and put the esky back into the boot. At that point, Miss Fancy wakes up from all the commotion and sees me with the esky, “Oh mum, can I have a drink too?”.

We drive the 60km back to the previous Roadhouse navigating the previously dry but now fast flowing floodways in complete silence. It’s now 1 in the morning and the Roadhouse is full of about 20 Road Trains, all with their engines running and it’s so loud. We find a spot next to the petrol bowser and carry the kids into the caravan. The 3 boys have slept the entire way through the ‘adventure’.

We slept at a patrol station - yay us!!! There is the petrol attendant up bright and early to put the Blue Alert sign on the wall (which quickly turned to a Red Alert).

I feel like a stiff drink but instead start getting high on petrol fumes as the petrol can that I tossed away now had a hole in it and had leaked petrol all over the caravan floor. Back we all go to sleep in the car.

I stayed awake and chatted to the Truckies until they started leaving around 3am. When the last one left at 6am it was finally quiet but then we had to make tracks too. The Truckies said we had a small window to get south as the water would temporarily decrease but then the patrols would come through and close the roads.

And so we left in the wee hours of the morning, drove through about 30 of these floodways, each time praying that we wouldn’t aquaplane off the road into the ether.

It’s just as well we did because literally 30 minutes after we arrived at Coral Bay, they closed that very road too. So we arrived at our destination, having dodged yet another cyclone and quite relieved to be ‘stranded’ in paradise until the Bushfires were under control and the road south was re-opened. We were just one big happy family in Coral Bay - no one could get in and no one could get out.

We unhitched Matilda, went directly to the Bottleshop, poured ourselves a drink and burst into hysterical laughter. 

Why does everything seem so much scarier and dramatic at night?