2011!

Ok, so my resolution this year is to maintain this blog - HA! good luck lol

It's January 5, 2011. We are in Sydney, after cutting our camping trip short due to the crappy summer weather we have been having.

Christmas was spent in Brissy, at mum's place - it rained the whole time, and that's no exaggeration, at one stage I really thought that we were going to be flooded in! We were supposed to go to Mt Warning on Boxing day, but the 60ml per day of rain put those plans to rest, so we stayed in Ipswich. Spent boxing day at the Railway Workshops in Ipswich, they had "A day out with Thomas" on, which the boys loved. In the afternoon, we went for a walk in the rain, to look for a flood , which Austin was somewhat obsessed with. We found one too, which was nice. On the 27th, we tried to go buy a dryer, cause everything was wet, either from Elliott's bladder, or the rain... We failed, there were non to be had, the stores we managed to find were either sold out, or underwater. We couldn't even find a clothes airer LOL.

By the 28th, things were looking better, Ben was itching to get into the camper, so we called the park in Ballina where we had a booking starting on the 30th, to see if we could go earlier, we could! Hurrah - the car was packed at lightening speed, and we were on our way.

The South Ballina park was lovely, they showed us to "the wilderness" and allowed us to choose a 8m x 10m spot, we found a lovely spot surrounded by old Banksia trees and set up. The following days were sunny and hot, and spent in typical camping fashion, the boys made some friends and got filthy playing in the dark sand of the roads, we sat around, me trying not to do much, and Ben trying to convince us all that we should go somewhere! We found the Burns Point car ferry that went across to Ballina, and went for a drive to get some supplies.

On Thursday, Chris, Danielle and mum/nana came down to join us in the fun, we got them all set up, the boys were thrilled!

New Years Eve, Colby, the boy next door, told us about Lake Ainsworth, a freshwater lake at Lennox head. Ben was thrilled at the thought of being able to take the kayak out, so we all headed over there. It was lovely, until I broke my nose by taking an Elliott to the head :S Ice for an hour, then off to hospital for some drugs! NYE was spent in a Panadeine Forte haze! Fun!

That brings us to 2011 - the first thing that happened was I got word that a good friend's husband had lost his battle with cancer the night before... not a brilliant start to the year. I was still in a lot of pain, and on the drugs every 6 hours, so I don't really remember what went on.

Sunday, Chris, Danielle and mum/nana went home, stunning weather, not what they wanted to do, we went to a reptile show that the park had organised, Austin was in 7th heaven! He got to hold a massive black headed python for about 20 mins... We then had a nice swim, sat in the shade, then tried to find a beach that wasn't feral from all the flood waters - hit jackpot with Patch Beach - had a great time playing in the surf.

Monday, we packed up to head south, spent 6 hours or so in the car, finally found Booti Booti NP and set up again - the weather was crap, there were some obnoxious yobs making a racket till all hours, then the gusts started and we spent the night thinking that we were going to be blown into the ocean. We decided the next morning to call it a day and go home.

Yesterday was spent having a quick, blowy swim, then driving the last 3.5 hours home. Unpacking, laundry, trying to dry out the tent! Fun times. Oh and good old santa had left some pressies under the tree for the boys, so Elliott spent a few hours of bliss playing with his Tidmouth Sheds, and Austin, putting together some new lego.

Bringing us to today. So far, more lego construction, more laundry, and more unpacking/packing of the camping gear - and total eradication of all things christmassy from the house *phew* thank goodness that's over for another year. Looking forward to a few nice family days at home before reality strikes with Ben going back to work...