Ed’s naps have prevented us from being able to travel to Kakadu and Litchfield, but Berry springs is only 40 minutes away. So we decided to head down early one morning. Claire and I were unsure just how much he would get out of it, but we knew Maggie would love it.
Well, it turned out Ed had a great time! He couldn’t do much but hang onto his Mum in the shallower part, but still thought it was a blast. And Maggie absolutely loved it. It was hard describing it to her, she seemed to think she was going into a big pool that looked like a lake. But when she got there she saw the fish and we swap downstream to the bigger pools she said in her geniune voice “this place is amazing Dad!”.
We went with the Lewis’s to Phillip Island for Maggie’s birthday (usually we end up going for Islas but the dates didnt work). We had to get a new house, great but a lot more expensive. We had the best weather that we have had, and the girls got to go to the penguins on Saturday evening.
Otherwise it was a lovely time – always too short!
Echuca has reliable weather, some nice natural areas around, and the discovery park is perfect for the kids with the water park, pool and general games. As such, as covid died down we decided to head there for four days. It was lovely, though most of the time was spent entertaining the kids.
We went away for 3 nights to a cabin in the Discovery Caravan Park. Gaga & Pa decided to come up with us in their caravan. We weren’t camping because of the difficulty with Eddie being 10 months.
The first morning we went to my old camping spot – or at least we tried to find it. It was some fun bush bashing but eventually I gave up – however the spot we found was fantastic. Had a great picnic on the side of the river with a lovely little campfire. Maggie decided she wanted to host her own kids show called “Maggie’s Amazing Picnics”.
Otherwise most of the time was spent in the actual Caravan Park itself. Such is the fun of Kids.
Ed was only 8 months for this Easter so Claire decided to take him up each day. We arrived on Friday and left on Monday. The weather was wonderful, around 25-29 each day. The kids spent most of the time in the water and it was freezing – they all shivered but claimed not to notice.
It was an amazing holiday, the kids all played really well together. They invented a game called “Touch Mouse” which one would shine a touch on the ground and the others would pounce on it. They went on a “dunny run” in the ute and as Lindi drove them away they all chanted “dunny run, dunny run” and Claire pointed out they probably didn’t know what it was. When they arrived back Maggie said to Claire “We went to the toilet!!”
Maggie loved handing out the chocolate brownies and birds nest she had made with Claire so much that when the Easter Bunny came and left her a humpty dumpty she decided to give out the smarties to everyone.
Another funny comment was because Maggie was having difficulty telling “Tony” and “Uncle Brian” apart and she said to me on the last day she kept “getting confused because they have the same head”.
As always, these trips tend to be the hardest to write up as they are just made up of many little moments. I doubt we will get weather this good again for a while – but hopefully we can all camp as a family next year!
Maggie outlasting everyone in the water, chanting “Canooooe”Ed very happy eating mud
