QUEENSLAND!

We arrived in Camoweal, and after a quick walk up and down the main street decided that the only thing left to do was have a cold beer in the pub! We had pulled the camper up into the sites behind the pub and once we were set up ventured over to the pub for a few quiet ales. Well it was definitely a few quiet ones as we were the only ones in the pub! The next day we set off again to Mt Isa, the kids are so sight seeed out that we just drove straight to the caravan park and kicked back for the next two days, we restocked the pantry, recharged all our electrical devices and continued on the ‘Overlander Way’ the next two days were spent driving and sightseeing across to the coast.  We stopped at some great little outback towns for lunch, a quick stretch and to curb the kid’s addiction to icecream for another day or so. We had a great time checking out all the fossils and dinosaurs in Richmond and Hughendon, it was great to see Oscar actually interested in one of our ‘touristy things’. I think we have national parked, gorged, tourist attracted our kids to boredom and they are in need of the simple pleasure of a playground and lego!.

After a couple of long days driving and free camping we arrived at Townsville! We treated ourselves to the luxury of a BIG 4, and as they had no powered sites left had to get one with an ensuite (woo hoo!!!!) The kids had free reign over the playground and jumping pillow and mum and dad could relax for five minutes and enjoyed the company of some great neighbours. They had kids the same age as Oscar and Scarlett so our kids were very happy to have some new friends to play with!

On the Sunday I happily had a day to myself and lo and behold I chanced upon a market!!! I had a great time wandering around and having some time to myself, soaking up the rays and having a little shop (I think I was having ‘shopping’ cravings!). The only thing I didn’t enjoy was the wait for a trolley to do some groceries! It was that busy at woolies that I had to wait in queue to get a trolley before I could even start my shopping, and when I finally got to the registers it was another 45 minute wait! Thank god the kids weren’t with me (and even worse Mike, he hates doing the groceries at the best of times!)

In Ballarat we have in house joke about Ted, our friendly check out chick at the Eastwood st complex. He is so slow that he now makes Mike and I nearly cry with laughter, once he was so slow that he would pick up an item, really look at it, as if he was trying to memorise what it was, then he would slowly scan it, look at it again, and then put it in your bag…..once he took so long that I kept giving the kids money to put in the spinning wheel. Then good old Ted actually stopped scanning my groceries and watched the coin spin all the way to the bottom!  The lady behind me was so annoyed and I just laughed and laughed. Poor Ted must have no idea why we find him so humorous!  (Ted recently moved to the Deli section and man you should see him cut it up with the meat slicer!!)

Anyways, after reading the latest new idea and women’s weekly I finally got to leave the supermarket  (mental note to self, never do shopping in Townsville again!)

The next day we went to the Aquarium and The Strand, it was a great day, the kids loved playing at the water playground and Mike and I loved paying over $40 for some over priced fish n chips (NOT!) lucky they were bloody beautiful! After a big long walk on the beach and a bit of climbing of trees in the gardens we headed back to the car to see we had a bloody fine. I thought it was because we were over the limit, but noooo it was for not reverse parking! So now we have our first holiday fine and let me tell you I am not paying it!!! There is not one sign saying that you have to reverse park into the parking bay. I have already emailed the Townsville council advising them this and sent through photos of the signs regarding parking…lets see if they can get the $20 out of me!!!!

So the next day we packed up and headed up towards Cairns, again we had no idea where we were going as we hadn’t planned very well. We ended up in a little town, Caldwell. Although there wasn’t much to do here it has been amazing to wander around this area and see the damage that cyclone yassi did earlier this year. You can see where houses have been torn from their stumps, roofs and sheds blown over and the trees that are still standing are all on a lean. After having a chat to the people at the caravan park and looking through their photos you really feel for these people. The cyclone has caused heart ache and so much damage but the amount of work these communities are doing is so commendable. A lot of the drives and walks in the mountains are still closed due to the effects of the cyclone, you see big metal steel things (or ‘acro props’ which  Mike has advised is the correct technical term) holding up the roofs in some of the shops and some house still have tarps over them. The trees are broken and bent, but the regeneration is wonderful to see. Today we went for a drive to Murray Falls and the Tully Gorge, the debris that is still everywhere in the national forests is amazing, the fallen trees, broken limbs are everywhere. It was an amazing day spent in the national park, we went for a walk to the waterfall, swam in a beautiful watering hole, took a drive up to the tully gorge. The scenery was amazing in the rain forest, but I was more excited that we spotted a Cassowary! Mike didn’t believe me about these native flightless birds and I finally got some proof! There is nothing better than proving my husband wrong! (in my head I sing the ‘I WIN, YOU LOSE, I WIN YOU LOSE’ song over and over…..)

After an amazing day playing with the kids, we saw the obligatory ‘big thing’ the golden gumboot in Tully and made our way home. Tomorrow we are heading to mission beach for a few more days of relaxing and frolicking by the sea! What a hard life we lead!

The last few days in the Northern Territory

Matarankah (or as Mike enticingly named it, ‘what about a wank, ha?’)

We pulled up late in the arvo to Matarankah homestead and after taking the last powered site settled in for a relaxing evening chatting to the other campers in the area. I think our common bond that begins all our conversations with fellow campers is ‘Oh no what happened to your legs!’, Since Broome I have had the curse of midgees and mozzies attacking me wherever I go! I have been offered all types of remedies, repellants to try and get rid of these pesky bites but to no avail. Mike has loved that as soon as it turns dusk I go and put on long pants and top no matter how hot it is and then sit there and complain that it’s bloody hot!.

We had a great couple of days at Matarankah, we swam in the thermal hot pools, had camp fires at night eating marshies and generally just relaxed! Mike made some new friends and every night was next door having a few quiet ones with the old guy. The ‘old guy’s’ wife always turned in really early and every morning would apologise to me and say she started on the scotch way to early the night before and had to retire to bed! They were very funny and great company for a few days.

We left Matarankah on the Tuesday, on a mission to cross the Northern Territory outback as fast as we could. We had absolutely loved our brief time in the Northern Territory and can't wait to return when Lola is a little older so we can explore some of the national parks some more. So for the last couple of days we have had a few long drives across the country watching the same view for hours on end. We had a few stops to break the boredom, the first at the Daly Waters Pub for lunch, even though it was only 11am we ‘forced’ ourselves to have a beer at Australia’s oldest pub. We loved that there was so many people turning up to see this ramshackle old pub and I enjoyed the chat with the Irish chick behind the bar, who came out to Daly Waters to save some money, but found that she put nearly all her earnings back into the pub every night!  

Today , after a night of free camping at one of the rest stops near the highway, we headed off again, we lunched at the iconic Barkly Homestead and drove to our next destination, Camoweal QUEENSLAND! With much excitement (well ok with only excitement from me), we have finally crossed the border into Queensland. We plan to spend a night in Mt Isa tomorrow and make our way to Townsville by Saturday….looking forward to some more beautiful coastal country side!

KAKADU

KAKADU _every time I write it, say it or see it, I hear the tune of Zanado by Olivia Newton John playing in my head, with Zanado replaced by KAKADU. I think that I have even hummed it for the last four days as I have wandered around this amazing part of Australia. I can add Kakadu to my list of favourites! Kakadu had a very special feel, I think immersing myself in the traditional owners appreciation of the land, and embracing the culture, country and they way they perceive the land has been such an eye opening experience. I have seen so much and learnt so much in these few short days that I already can’t wait to come back and learn so much more.

My favourite time was at Ubirr, looking at the rock art that has told such important stories for such a long time, gazing at these spectacular views of amazing land, such important land to Australia.  Just being there in the moment, feeling the earth’s heat, letting the feeling, the specialness just sit with me for a time.

I think that Kakadu has burrowed into my heart, searing my soul with a little of it’s magic. I have left Kakadu feeling right with the world, I feel a sense of clarity that I haven’t felt for quite some time, the questions that plague me may not all be answered but I feel a direction has been plotted. 

Kakadu was amazing, in amongst my new found feelings of love and peace (I may even start my own commune), was the day to day goings on of travelling, We visited awe inspiring places, saw spectacular views and learnt so much in our brief time here. We also swam and frolicked at the pool, enjoyed many a happy hour with the Labbetts who we were lucky to wander through this kakadu diversion with. We laughed, watched our children play with their friends and enjoyed the familiar faces of some great friends. It was so much fun to spend these few days with the Labbetts and will be a part of our trip that I will remember fondly. I even love that they followed us to Katherine mac donalds and Woolworths!!!!

I am  looking forward to the time of year when they put nothing but reruns on tv so I can watch Crocodile Dundee and be able to see all the places I have visited, whilst singing ZANADU in my head!  The balance between the ridiculous thoughts of croc Dundee and zanadu and the strong impression Kakadu had on my pyche mades me giggle!

Scarlett and I did an amazing dawn cruise along the Yellow waters, and it was lovely to have a couple of hours of special time with my big girl. We did some great walks in the park and I am a little jealous of the Labbetts who went to Jim Jim Falls and Twin Falls, (definitely  next time!)

So after our brief sojourn into this amazing land, we headed back towards Katherine, via a quick dip in Edith Falls. After such an amazing time in Kakadu the stark reality of Katherine (aka Shitsville) hits you in the face nearly as much as the stench does. We drove straight through the town centre to the beautiful Katherine Gorge and set up for the night at the caravan park there. We enjoyed again a dip in another beautiful pool, Scarlett and Lola are becoming more and more confident everyday in the water. The serenity of all these amazing national parks has soaked into my skin and I was becoming very ‘one with the land, and the animals that reside there’..................... that was until the BLOODY bats turned up. OMG they were everywhere, the noise they made all night long was enough to turn all these good loving  naturist thoughts into ‘where do I find a shot gun to start a mass bat massacre!!!! I battled through the night listening to the caucophony of sounds and finally drifted off to sleep. The next day, to the sound of Mike impersonating Robyn saying ‘holy bat shit Bat man’ we packed up our campervan, washed as much of the bat shit off the roof and headed to our gorge cruise.

The beauty of the gorge certainly made up for the bat shit, we drifted down the river bribing the kids to be good with lollies so we could enjoy the view. The gorge was impressive and the tour guide very educational. So after bribing the kids for the last couple of hours, we made our way to Mac Donalds in Katherine, again we were stalked by the labbetts who were also making there way to the gorge, we said a fond farewell and enjoyed another 30 minutes of peace as the kids scoffed into the fat laden burgers and played on the playground. We then bet a hasty retreat out of Katherine to Matarankah.

The Northern Territory

Northern Territory – July 1^st

So after bidding a fond farewell to the Kimberley’s we ventured into the Nothern Territory. With Lola asleep and the others refusing to get out as they had just been allowed to watch a DVD, I was alone in my obligatory ‘crossing the border’ photo. I was lucky Mike even stopped the car as he hates it when we have just overtaken the grey nomads (or slowmads, as Mike calls them) and I call for a scenic photo stop! We ventured down the highway for another night of free camping. We had a quick stop at Timber Creek for lunch and were bitterly disappointed to see a sign for fireworks, and then a big SOLD OUT sign over it! We continued down the road and stayed at a rest stop about an hour from Katherine.

As we pulled up we noticed that another family who we had been meeting at various spots on our trip had also pulled up for the night. They had 6 kids, so our kids had a great time playing with them as the parents swapped stories of where we have been and where  we have stayed. I loved to hear the mum talk about what she feeds them and where they stay as they are very budget conscious, it is so interesting to get ideas from other people. We were also very excited as they had purchased fireworks and invited us to watch the

“’Spectacular’ So after a great afternoon where the kids enjoyed playing, the parents enjoyed relaxing, we waited until dusk for the firework show, it was so strange to be in the middle of nowhere with just  a dozen or so other campers around you lighting fireworks. Some of the fireworks were great, others were a bit of a fizzer, but the funniest was when an old nomad came out of his caravan and in a very gruff voice, firmly told us to stop all the rot, we are going to start a fire! He was very concerned his caravan would go up in flames!

So after moving a suitable distance we let the last of the fireworks off, and headed for an early night. As it was a beautiful night Mike and I slept with the sides down under the stars, at about 3am we were woken by a very noisy car pulling in to the rest stop, the guys got out, used the toilet and then proceeded to have a very late tea, or a very early brekky. They had obviously been celebrating ‘territory day’ (the only day fireworks are permitted for sale in NT) and had had a couple, they were shouting to each other, as they scoffed a bbq chicken, it was a little weird to  hear one yelling ‘Wanna leg mouldy arse?’, after such a peaceful star watching drift off to sleep. As they were leaving they screeched out the road throwing ground fire crackers and laughing there heads off. 

After a brief few more hours of sleep we got up, said good bye to our friends and headed for Katherine, we drove into Katherine at about 10.20, Mike and I saw the golden arches sign, peered at the clock and gave each other a little nod, we had 10 minutes to find maccas before the brekky menu closed. We did a quick drive down the main drag and tried a few corners, we were nearly about to give up when I turned a corner and there it was, we then told the kids our plans but mentioned they had to run really fast to get there before 10.30. Well I have never seen my kids sprint so fast, their little arms and legs were pumping and breathlessly they asked if we had made it in time for pancakes….WE HAD YIPPEE, the Watson kids inhaled their food faster then lightning and then gave mum and dad a few minutes of peace as they went and played on the play ground…aaah the simple things in life are really the best!

We then continued our trek to our destination, Darwin. My cousin Damien, had very kindly offered a lovely site for us to set up camp (at his house), we had a pool right next to us and bathroom facilities right next door. Damien, Nicky  and the kids were away camping themselves, so we just pulled up at his house and set up camp. As they were not home we were hoping we had set up at the right house, imagine if we set up, let the kids jump in the pool and then the owners came home and looked a little confused to find us Watsons invading their home. We were very grateful for the offer to stay at Damien and Nicky’s, we made use of their beautiful pool and outdoor area whilst they were away, did a million loads of washing (there is nothing better then fresh sheets after a few weeks of camping!) and commenced sight seeing!

On the Sunday we headed into Darwin, Damien lives in a beautiful country area about half an hour from Darwin, so after doing a much required grocery shop we set off to the Mindle markets, I absolutely loved the markets, the place was buzzing with people and there was so much to see, so even though we had tired and grumpy children we hang around for as long as we could, enjoying the entertainment, yummy food and lively atmosphere.

Monday

We headed back into Darwin and wandered around town, visited the esplanade for a picnic lunch before heading to the museum. We all had a great time at the museum the exhibitions were so interesting, displaying the different seasons, animals and landscape that is the Top End. I particularly enjoyed watching the kids get excited when they named all these different creatures and species that three months ago they wouldn’t have known. The Cyclone Tracey exhibit was haunting and very emotional, it was well worth a look around. The kids spent ages in the interactive area and Mike and I enjoyed the chance to sit and watch them play. We then made our way back to camp and enjoyed the beautiful pool once more.

Tuesday

We went to casuirina, a huge shopping centre, the kids saw cars 2 at the movies, whilst I shopped with a sleeping Lola, what bliss. That night Damien Nicky and the kids arrived home from their camping trip, it was great to finally see them, although I am sure that they were tired from the long day of unpacking and driving.

Wednesday

We went to the Territory Wildlife Park which was amazing the kids really enjoyed wandering around, seeing the different seasons of the top end and the amazing animals, Mike and I also enjoyed learning so much about the top end.  We walked around the park to most of the exhibits, it was fascinating as they had recreaated the different seasons, so when you got to the moonsoonal rain, you pressed a button and the 'rain' poured down. When the heat of the day became too much and the groans from the kids were no longer ignorable (or GINORABLE, as Scarlett says to us know), we jumped onto the train that wandered through the park in the hunt for icecream. I think the watson's should have bought shares in icecream the amount we are consuming!

Thursday

Today we went back into Darwin and wandered around the monuments and attractions based on Darwin’s involvement in WWII, dragging the kids to different aviation museums, much to their horror! (they wanted to play with Lachy and Claire) and although they won’t admit it, they did have a good time. That night oscar and I ventured back to the Mindle Markets, it was nice to spend some time with my boy, he loved wandering around watching the buskers perform, he danced to some music and ate huge amount of fairy floss!!! It was a lovely few hours with my gorgeous boy.

On Friday we did a day trip to Litchfielf National Park, the scenery was amazing and although the Wangi Falls were closed to swimming, (there was a croc sunning itself on the rocks) we wandered around the monsoonal forests and swam at Bluey’s rock pool. The kdis loved it there being carried away with the water rapids, Oscar was watching the older kids jumping off the rocks into the deep pools and although he got up there twice he couldn’t quite make the jump! It was an awesome day in the sun just relaxing and enjoying life.

Saturday welcomed us with another market, at parap, Mike gleefully followed his wife around the market, waiting with Lola at every corner as it was so busy that he couldn’t get through with the pram, but you know Mike hejust loves a good market, nothing would keep him away….there was not a thing he would have rather been doing!!!! I did enjoy again the diversity of culture that was on offer and wandered around picking up a few little items that I can store in the camper until we get home. That night we caught up with the lovely Labbett family, who were holidaying from Ballarat. I think Mike enjoyed having another bloke to talk to and I know I enjoyed having a laugh with Jo, we had a great night, even if the boys had to walk a mile to cook the bbq. Mike again felt the urge to don the frock as the photos on Facey will show you, even Ash got in on the action with his sunnies! What a laugh we had! We hope we see them again before we head across to the east.

On our last day with the Collis Family, Damien had generously offered to take Mike and the boys fishing. With a glint in his eye Damien also mentioned there may need to be a little stop on this fishing expedition at goat island but wouldn’t reveal the reason. The boys headed to the river for a leisurely fish, hoping to catch us some supper. Oscar put his rod in and not long after felt a bite.  Mike and Damien came round to assist and sadly told Oscar that they thought he was just caught in a snag. They kept pulling trying to unhook the snag and much to their surprise a BLOODY BIG CROCODILE was attached to Oscar’s rod. Oscar had tangled around it’s foot, so they quickly cut the line before he got too angry and started chomping at the boat! The boys say he was about 3 metres in length, I think that this is such a great tale to tell when he returns to school, and even though they spent the day fishing this was the only bite they got. They all had such a great day, in the afternoon Damien steered them in the direction of Goat Island. This is an island on the river in the middle of nowhere and to Mike’s surprise the only thing on the island was a PUB! They pulled up next to another boat and were about to jump out when they both realized that they had left their wallets in the car (ha ha) They were about to leave when the publican came down and said where are you going, they explained the situation and he said, ‘Doesn’t matter we will work something out’ I love this tale that the boys tell as it exemplifies what great characters Australia is made up off.. Here in the middle of nowhere surrounded by  a river full of crocs is this pub, run by a man originally from denmark, who has owned it for about 8 years, they all went inside and had a cool beer and softdrink. The publican then got the boys to work with his can crusher making them show him their muscles to see if they could do the work. The boys set about crushing cans, leaving Mike and Damien to have a few minutes of peace. The publican was cluey though as when the bag of cans ran out he told the boys to made their dad’s drink quicker so they could crush their cans!  As luck would have it the only other people at the pub were known to Damien so they borrowed some moola to pay their way! I love that this was the boys last day in Darwin, what a great memory for them to share!

It was so lovely to stay with Damien and Nicky, we hadn’t seen Damien since our wedding over 11 years ago, and although had always received progress reports from Aunty Sue and Uncle Kev, it was great to catch up and meet his lovely family. The kids had a ball playing together, as Damien and Nicky have two kids close in age to ours, Claire is Scarlett’s age and Lachlan is a few years older than Oscar. They all got on like a house on fire, Oscar wanted to know if we could move to Darwin so he could see Lachy all the time! We often had to drag them away to go sight seeing as they did not want to leave. Nicky kindly offered to babysit the older two a few times so that I could duck in to the shops and get a few things done!!! (what bliss a little me and Lola time!) We really enjoyed the quiet evenings chatting with Damien, Nicky and their two older kids Alicia and Jake. It was lovely to be welcomed into their home and spend this time with getting to know each other, we greatly appreciated their generous offer, hospitality and their warmth. (oh and the fish that Damien caught during their camping trip was delicious!!!) I also loved our extended stay in Darwin, I felt right at home wandering around the city and I think Darwin had such a lovely feel about it, I loved learning a little of the history, enjoyed seeing the ways they build to maximize the climate they live in and would love to return in the wet season to witness how this amazing land can change.

So after a lovely 9 days in Darwin we packed up are camper, said our goodbyes, tore the kids away from their new friends and headed off to kakadu. We are going to spend about four nights wandering through kakadu and seeing as much as we can of this beautiful land. The first day we have spent relaxing by the pool and visiting the cultural centre. I have learnt so much already and we haven’t even ventured too far from our caravan park. Tomorrow we intend to see some rock art, go to a traditional basket weaving demonstration and go on some lovely walks. We are looking forward to the Labbetts joining us again for another night of fun and laughter!

Free camping Treenie (Broome to Kununnura)

Free camping Treenie (Broome to Kununnura)

So after as much procrastinating as I possibly could the day (or should I say night) had arrived, Mikey was making me free camp. We couldn’t possibly justify paying $65 just to pull over for the night and my budget conscious brain clicked in and agreed to free camping on our way to Darwin. Don’t get me wrong I usually don’t mind free camping in the middle of no where with no facilities but for some reason I just wasn’t that interested in doing it on the trip. Well was I mistaken, we have had so much fun pulling up in the free camp sites and meeting lots of others doing the same thing! I must admit I now have caravan envy as I see people exit their caravan in the morning looking freshly showered but hey I can cope with  the ‘shower in a can’ for a few nights. We free camped for (two nights) our way past Fitzroy Crossing and Halls Creek, stopping to see the sites and visit some beautiful spots in the national parks, we had a brief 'power and shower' reprieve stop at Parry’s Farm Stay about 20k’s out of Wyndam.

This was an amazing spot, they had powered sites on their farm, and the kids loved wandering around and trying to find the crocodile they told us was currently residing in their lagoon. Although the thought of staying the night in Wyndam did not hold much appeal for me, Parry’s Place was beautiful and a great spot to kick back. We ventured into Wyndam and saw some amazing sites, we visited the lookout where five rivers meet, we saw the aboriginal sculptures that pay tribute to the land we live in and met some very interesting characters. The highlight of the wyndam stop was the Croc Farm. The kids loved seeing these amazing reptiles so close to us and when we did the tour they were enthralled watching them being fed. The old guy who took the tour was so entertaining, he was truly living on his own time, he had a quick smoke before the tour then as we were wandering around he would light up and then throw a big bit of meat to the crocs. He told some fascinating tales about how the crocs came to be at the croc farm and used some very ‘entertaining’ language in front of us all to explain them. I was killing myself laughing watching Oscar’s face as he kept repeating ‘swear word’ after swear word in front of the kids. Scarlett thought it was hysterical and kept wanting to repeat them for the next few days, cheekily telling me that the croc man said it so so can I!  After a great few hours listening to this entertaining man we were on the road to Kunanurra. I gratefully paid to spend a few nights in the Big 4 caravan resort, it was lovely! Great shower pressure, playground and pool for the kids and some beautiful shady spots to rest under.

Mike and I have a running tally on the shower pressure at each of the parks we haved stayed at, Mike has mentioned on a few occasions that he is just going to go and buy a shower head and ‘install’ it every time we get to a new park so that he can enjoy his shower, And I  have turned into ‘that’ person, you know the one that tells everyone who walks into the amenities what shower I have found to be the best. In the quest for a decent shower I feel that I must now empower all others with my knowledge, I LOVE it, I am the one at the basin who when I see someone approaching the shower will try and get their attention through the mirror so I can deliver my best intentioned advice…”the end shower has the best pressure…or the first two showers go hot then cold”….OMG I think there is a little Peter Saunders coming out in me yet!!!!!

Kununnara was great. It was such an interesting place, we visited lots of aboriginal galleries and learnt some amazing things, we fed fish that literally jumped on top of each other to get the bread, we picnic’ed at some beautiful spots near lake argyle and the national parks and generally just hung out at the caravan park. The kids were in their element as they finally had some more friends to play with and it was so nice to see them having a great time with their new friends, it was a shame to be going so soon as I think Oscar had really needed some time with some kids his own age.

But the NORTHERN TERRITORY was awaiting. After nearly 13 weeks (half of our trip) we were leaving Western Australia. We are taking some amazing experiences with us and as I watch the kids write and draw in their journal, looking back at the photos to remember things I hope that this is just the start of our adventures in WA. We have so many things we didn’t get to do or see and are already planning our return visit (mind you in the next visit Mike has already upgraded the car and campervan so we can do the Gibb River Road and other off road adventures!)

Favourite things in WA

Theresa – Coral Bay, definitely somewhere I want to go to again, it was just beautiful, the Ningaloo Reef was amazing and I loved that the fish just swam around you and you ventured only metres of shore to see the coral reef.

Michael – Coral Bay ( what a surprise we actually agree on something) Mike loved that we didn’t’ move the car from the time we pulled up, we just walked across the road to the beach or the shop.

Oscar – climbing the Gloucestor Tree in Pemberton (oh and his birthday in Perth)

Scarlett – Playgrounds! Her favourite was in Donnybrook, but she wished it wasn’t raining so she could have gone on everything..

Lola – I think that lola would say the birds, she has loved that they are everywhere and she can constantly point to one and say ‘bird, bird’ I also think she has loved having 3 months of full time mum and dad time. What a great gift for her to have her family doting on her every day.

So the first three months of our trip are done and dusted, this time has been so special for me, I have loved (most of the time) being with my family, watching the kids grow and develop so many new skills. Oscar has changed so much in the last three months, still a little shy until he has sussed the situation out, he is learning so many new skills daily. I love watching his relationships with his sister’s grow and develop. From the frustration he displays when Scarlett always wants to do what he is doing, to the tenderness and care he shows to Lola. Oscar is such a gentle and kind soul, he wears his heart on his sleeve and is compassionate and caring. He makes me so proud.

Scarlett is so like her mother, we constantly but heads as she is fiercely independent and has such a confidence in herself for a three year old. She will hold herself determinedly, shoulders set back and her body rigid, she is already learning how to hold her own in this world. I love watching our relationship develop, I see so much of myself in her already (particularly when she imitates me scolding her), she is quirky and funny, laughs at her own jokes, is constantly singing and making up stories. She  has an answer for everything and does not back down. She has grown up so much and already constantly talks about going to kinder and school. The other day she told me that when she finishes school she is going to move out and travel the world! In the next breath she also wanted to know if we would come with her so someone can buy her icecreams when she wants them! 

Lola is also developing her own personality. She delights everyone she encounters, and will babble away to anyone who is willing to listen, I love watching her talk to the ‘oldies’ whilst I do the laundry. Lola loves helping me to move the dirty washing from one spot to the next and put the pegs everywhere, quite often a quick trip to the laundry will take 3 times as long, as everyone wants to chat to her and watch her as she plays with the pegs.  Lola does the funniest expressions and I love watching her play the older two off to see who will be at her beck and call! Lola is cute and funny to watch, she LOVES it outdoors and is horrified when we try and restrain her from taking off down the caravan park roads, she has a wandering spirit already. She is truly delightful!

So after three months  living in close confines I believe that the Watson’s are travelling quite well, we are still laughing and loving the life we are living. We are so fortunate to have seen the things we have seen and shared the experiences together! I am looking forward to the next 3 months of our adventure as we try and take in what we can of this big beautiful land of ours!

Northern Territory awaits!