Bruny Island

Over the long weekend our family decided to get away to Bruny Island for three nights. We have been there before, but were looking forward to going back and exploring some more now the children were bigger.

The children were really looking forward to putting our car and camper on the ferry and taking the 15 minute ride to the small island.

When we finally got to our camping spot, on a friends property with it's own amazing private beach, the kids were straight in the water.

When we first arrived on Friday the weather was amazing, but turned over night into a overcast rainy day on Saturday, which meant a few boats anchored in our little bay for the night to get out of the wind.

Lifting the rocks and finding crabs, shells and star fish was great fun, bringing the shells back to wash and keep in little collections.

On the drizzly Saturday we headed to the Bruny Island light house, which has some of the most amazing views, making you feel like you are at the very bottom of the world.

After the light house we headed to The Neck look out, if you've been to Bruny then you have been to this look out, it's a little work out to get up all those steps but the amazing views are well worth the climb.

We then headed to the pub for lunch, I had heard amazing things about the meals here, inparticular the seafood platter for two, which did not disappoint, so much delicious seafood and beautifully presented, they even had a kids corner which kept everyone very happy.

We cooked our meals on the camp fire, made ciabatta in the camp oven, lots of fish and fresh chips on the BBQ.

Sunday was drizzly again, so we did some more exploring, heading to the berry farm for some amazing ice cream and Bruny Island Cheese, Bread and Beer for all of the above.

The best part was spending loads of time with family, we are so busy coming and going lately that we hardly get time to enjoy each other, the children loved going out in the boat and catching lots of fish and then eating their catch just hours later.

Happy days. xx

Easter

With Easter falling a little earlier this year, we figured we could squeeze in another camping trip before the weather gets too cold. It was a great excuse to get some more use out of the motor bikes and spend the holiday with great friends.

We chose some where different from our usual spot, which can be hard to do, as there is usually six or more families and it can be hard to find a great spot that we all fit in and is suitable for the bikes, 4x4's and buggy.

Griffin Park, which is about a 10 minute drive from the tiny town of Mathinna, has many large camping spots by the beautiful river, which in the Summer is perfect for a swim.

The boys had planned a motorbike ride through some logging tracks to another small town called Pyengana which would take them about 4 hours and the girls and children took the 4x4's and navigated our way (not an easy task) to Pyengana in about an hour. The little town is famous for it's beautiful cheese factory and little "Pub in the Paddock" where we all met up for lunch.

It is a pretty popular ride and the place was full of dirt bike groups who had all made the trip for the day.

The pub is also famous for it's pig "Priscilla" who loves a beer specially brewed for her.

On Easter morning it was so special to have all 11 children wake up to a magical Easter wonderland, The Easter bunny had made the biggest hunt and it was lovely to see the bigger children help the little ones collect their eggs and show them what it was all about.

I remember coming to Griffin park when I was Poppy's age and riding motorbikes and hunting for easter eggs, so it was so special to now be sharing these memories with my own family and making new memories that will last a life time.

 The mornings were so cold, and one morning there was even a frost, but with a large camp fire, a few layers of clothes and a warm camp coco we were thawed out in no time and it wasn't long before the sun came up and dried everything out.

It was another great few days away, and even though I'm still washing bedding and packing away, I'm looking forward to more camping adventures at the end of the year when the weather warms up again.

Did you get away for Easter?

xx