Road Trip Day 8

Wow, we ar day 8 in to the trip and this is the first chance that I have had to make an entry. We have been keeping a hand written journal as we go making sure that we get the highlights of the day down on paper before we make new memories the next day.

We had a great crossing on the boat. The girls and I woke around 1:30am as the boat was rocking a little just before we entered Port Phillip Bay. We had a quick look at the sea, and to see what we could see. The quick answer, not much.

Back to bed, as we had an early start. We disembarked and headed towards Shepparton. Hotcakes at the Letter M shop for breakfast. Then we thought we might quickly swing by my brother's place. We were expecting them to be getting ready for their day. They were home and we spent a couple of hours with them. A bit longer than we had expected, but it was good. They showed us the SPC factory outlet, so we stocked up on jelly fruits, and apple juice and then we were off. We will had 6 hours of driving to do and I was a little worried that we would not make it at a reasonable hour. We were also expecting to drive though some heavy rain.

The weather man got it right. The further north we travelled the wetter it got. It poured and poured with rain. It did slow us down a little, and it was still raining when we reached Parkes. The place we were staying was nice. There was a little mix up with our room, which was easy fixed, and we were fed and went to bed. The girls got to sleep in the lounge on a sofa bed together. They were excited about that. They were asleep in about 5 mins as they were pooped. It had been a long day and they had not slept in the car.

The girls had travelled so well together. They kept themselves occupied with I pads, music, chatting to Grandma, their travel journals and just watching the world go by.

Day 2 we left Parkes at about 8:30...and it was still raining. We saw a heap of army trucks go past our Motel and wondered if they were helping with flooding in the area, or just going for a drive. The water was so close to going over the roads in some places and was over the road in some small towns that we stopped at for a Pee. Our first stop today was 30 mins in to our trip.

We called in to see "The Dish", the Parks telescope. It was amazing to read about how it works and the history of it. Itold the girls that we woudl show them the movie when we get back.

Day 2 was 9.5 hours of expected travel time. It took us just over 10 hours. The rain lasted about 6 hours of our trip, and cleared just as we reached cotton country. 

There was evidence of what we thought was cotton on the side of the road. We had to stop in the middle of nowhere for Milly to take a Pee, so I picked some up to taek a closer look. Having never seen cotton in its raw state before I can only guess and say that I think it was cotton.

We broke the trip up in to 2 hour blocks. That was about the limits of our bottoms and bladders. I was amazed at how cold it was, but also glad that it was cold because we didn't stay for too long at each stop. Our target today was Warwick. About 1.5 hours north east from the QLD border.

Warwick was nice. A little warmer than we had experienced, but still too cold for a swim. The girls attempted a swim, but it was freezing. 

Today we were heading to the big smoke. Multi lane highways, people everywhere and traffic jams. But before we reached the city we had an amazing drive down the granite belt. What an amazing view from the bottom. Well worth a drive.

We wanted to reach our Motel at a reasonable hour, and I am glad that we did as I had not factored in peak hour traffic and it was already busy at 3:30pm. we had dinner on the BBQ by the pool and watched the sun set. It was beautiful.

Mum was starting to become exhausted from the travels and the worries from home, so we gave her some time alone for a little while. She had been such a good help to us over the past few days.

We went to her room to say goodnight, and also helped her change her travel plans so that she could get home a little earlier than she had planned. 

We had a call from Mariah to say that her flight had been delayed and that she would no get in to Brisbane until 11:55 that night. Not ideal when you are travelling with two young children.

I left early to pick her up as I could not sleep. Lucky for me I did as there was every roadworks known to man between our motel and the airport. I was running late, so rushed to the baggage claim area, as this was where we had agreed to meet. There were some people at the claim area and still a few coming down the stairs. I could not see them anywhere in the baggage claim area, so I waited at the bottom of the stairs with a big smile on my face. As I waited there were fewer and fewer people, and then it stopped. I thought to myself, She must be having a hard time with the kids and will be a bit slower. Then the security guard shut the door at the top of the stairs and walked away. At this point I began to panic a little. So I looked around the claim area again. No not here, So I looked outside. No not there. I began to wonder if they had caught the plane at all. I was tired, stressed from the roadworks, and now worried that I could not find them.

Everyone in the baggage claim area had gone. There I was alone, not knowing what to do, also worried that Mariah may be wandering around with 2 kids tired and lost. At that moment there she was walking out with all those that needed assistance getting off the plane. It was a relief that they were ok, an that we could now go home and go to bed.

Day 3 we said goodbye to Grandma. She was happy to go home, but glad that she had spent the past couple of days with us and was about to see Ben and his family. I just realised that she will have seen all 4 of her children in 4 different states in a matter of a week. I am sure she would be happy about that.

As for the rest of us, we were off to Bundaberg. We were going to stay at Gin Gin in our tent, but after the late night we had I thought it would be best to get a good night sleep in a proper bed. Before that we had a 4 hour drive ahead of us.

On this drive we called in to see the Glass House Mountains, and Australia Zoo. The kids enjoyed the Zoo and were thrilled that they got to pat a Koala. We didn't leave the zoo until 4 and had a couple of Pee an food stops along the way. We reached Bundy, did some washing, checked out the pool and went to bed. We were all a little pooped.

I was up first and went for a walk so the others could rest a little longer. I went down the main road until I reached the cemetery and then cut through the cemetery so I could do a block back home. I noticed some very large graves/tombs that were like nothing I had seen before. I took not of some name to try and work out where they had come from. It appeared as though they were Italian. Some were HUGE and locked up very securly. There were a few I noticed even had big pad locks on-the doors. I will need to research why they do that. 

I returned back thinking that everyone was going to be up ready for a swim, but they were still asleep. So I did a few other things and before long they were up and dressed ready to go to the pool. 

Although we were in tropical Queensland the water was still cold, very cold. I was the only one that stayed in for any great length of time. The girls just enjoyed getting their toes wet and contemplating getting in.

 Now I think of it, Hanisi did try and swim across to the other side but only made it half way until she iced up and had to get out. It was time for a warm shower, and get ready to go.

Today we were travelling to Marlborough, a small town with a pub, and a patch of grass big enough for half a dozen caravans. Knowing that this would be the first time that we would have to set up our tents we tried to make sure that we were there before the sun went down. We almost made it. We had stopped at the Bundaberg drinks factory, not the rum one, the soft drink one. We did the little tour and had some tasting at the end. It was good. We spent a little longer than we would have liked, but it was worth it. We all got to select 2 of our favourite drinks to take home with us. Hanisi liked the apple cider, I liked the pineapple and coconut, Milly liked the pink, and Chester liked the Orange and Pink ones. We had four hours of driving ahead of us, a lunch stop, and of course Pee stops. Setting up in daylight was not looking like an option.

We encountered, road works, oversized trucks, full bladders and a setting sun in our eyes. We were blessed to witness an amazing sunset though. I took a picture while we were waiting at roadworks. 

We made it to the pub, booked our $10.00 patch of grass and were shown the amenities.

 Imagine this.... a paddock full to capacity with vans, tents, and people sleeping in cars...I would estimate 40-50 vans and there were 1 toilet for males and 1 toilet for females, and the toilets and showers were locked between 9am and 2pm for "cleaning".  That amount of time for cleaning gives you an indication as to how long it took to clean these two toilets. You did not want to be the person waking up at 8:45 and needing to go for number 2. That's if you were able to. We were up at the toilets by 7am and we had to wait for the toilet, and then for the shower.

 While we were waiting for the shower, we saw a lady coming out of the female toilets muttering under her breath,  "it is only quarter passed 7 and the toilet is already blocked." Ohh boy was I glad I was not female.

Hanisi had been unwell that night and needed a shower through the night and they were excited to let us know that there had been a frog in the shower through the night, we had also seen one squished on the road. When Chester, Milly and I had a shower we also had a frog with us. We are not sure if it was the same one, as we used different shower blocks. The kids ere very excited that we had experienced showering with a frog. In amongst the excitement of showing with creatures We managed to get packed up and on the road before 10am.

Not a long drive today. Just 2.5 hours. At the 2 hour mark we were stopping off at Serina to visit the sugar factory. By this stage we had noticed that it was getting warmer and warmer, the windows were getting wound down further and further, and there were even stages where the air con came on. It was a nice feeling to be hot. Particularly when we knew that it was freezing at home. I could honestly say that our visit to Serina was the hottest we have been so far on this tip. The tour that we did at the Sugar Shed even had umbrellas, not for the rain, but to provide some shelter from the blazing sun. Part o the tour was outside.

It was really interesting to see how sugar is made and the processes that it goes through and the products that we get from Sugar cane. One thing I found very interesting was that Australian law prevents the sale of Raw Sugar. That is sugar that has not been refined. You can buy sugar that is labelled Raw sugar, but it is just refined sugar with a bit of molasses added back in to git it a bit of colour. I know of a few people that will only eat the raw sugar as it has not been though the refining process and thus is better for you. That is interesting. At the end of the tour the kids got a big stick of fairy floss to eat. I was amazed that the kids did not eat all of it. Must have been a sugar overload. Unlike the next section of our journey which was only meant to be 30 mins.

Chester fell asleep in the car just seconds after setting off. We got 10 minutes out of town and he woke up and vomited everywhere. I pulled over in to a little area that looked like it had been used as a road works Depot at one stage. There were a few piles of gravel and a nice big open area.  So we told the kids to get out and run around while we we cleaned up the mess. We washed chester down (pulling around our camping equipment came in handy) got him dressed and called out to the others to come and hop in. I looked up and here was Annie fully naked climbing a pile of gravel, the two older girls had kept there clothes on, but were covered from head to toe in dirt and grime. Annie had a bath by the road, just as Chester had done abd the girls were washed the best they could. We finally made it to Mackay

It was a little odd being in a built up area again, but nice to have some creature comforts like more than one toilet for the whole caravan park. We set up camp and went directly to the pool for a swim. It was a little warmer this time around, but still a little cooler than we had thought it would have been. Maybe we were expecting it to be a little bit like Darwin??

Our site is nice. I could happliy stay here again if we wanted to come back.

Today was the first day that we did not have to drive any way, or re pack the trailer. We relaxed a little.

Road Trip

We are departing on a road trip this Saturdy. We Iam taking 4 weeks off work and we are visiting a state of Australia that we have not seen a lot of. QLD. Sure we have been to Brisbane and done all the Brisbane things that there are to do, but we want more of an advnture.

We love adventures. We thrive on adventure and we look forward to new adventures.

This adventure is not your normal run of the mill, trip to Waterhouse, or The Gardens, this is going to be an almost 8000 kilometre journey. In old money that is about 5000 miles. That is 1.82% of a one way trip to the moon, or 17.5 % of the earth's circumference.

We are either going to come back with swollen bottoms and a hatered towards car travel, or filled  with enthusiasm to do it all again. I'm hoping the latter.

Keeping the kids entertained is going to be difficult, and it has been on our minds ever since we imagined that it would be at all possible.

In this day and age there are so many ways to keep kids occupied. I mean there are I pads, I pones, I Pods, I everything. When I was a kid all I had were two eyes, and an imagination, or my minds eye. My kids will have more than their two eyes, but I do hope that Mariah and I will have the strength and determinaton to remove the "I"s and encourage the use of eyes.

To help with this  Mariah and I came up with some journals for the kids to use.

We hope that the games will keep drwaing they eyes away from the Is and look at the amazing ccountry that we are free to explore.

The challenge will also be for the adults to keep our eyes on the kids and the journey. We have a hand written diary, as well as this electronic diary. I can sit anywhere on my tiny keyboard and phone and leave a journal entry like this.It is quite extraordinary that I can do this, but only to be used as a tool to record memories.

With only 3 days to go we are extreemly excited, and as prepared as we will ever be.

Bring it on!

Determined

If there is one part of my personality that I am developing it would be my determination. I love to start things, but I rarely follow through or push through the difficult times.

I have a new example of determination in my life to give me encouragement....

My Children.

Their eagerness to be the best that they can be is amazing.

Hanisi is someone that will see someone else do something, that she thinks is just AMAZING, and she will try and try and try until she is able to do the exact same thing.

Last year a significant challenge for her was cartwheels and monkey bars. She spent hours trying to perfect the art of a cartwheel. Every time I was lucky enough to pick  her up from school I was summonsed to the monkey bars to see her latest trick, or how many bars she was able to skip.

I have seen this in her with her reading and writing, swimming, learning to be an announcer on the radio. Most of all I have seen a huge improvement in her behaviour. She is learning to control her excitement and frustration. It has been an amazing couple of years for Her.

Milly - Well Milly is very vocal at expressing her determination to achieve goals. When Milly faces a challenge, in particular a physical challenge, she has a couple of common phrases that she uses.

"I Believe in myself."

Milly has been learning to ride her bike without training wheels this year, and I have heard Milly say "I believe in Myself" a lot when she has attempted to push through the difficult times.

I am not sure where she picked up on it. It is not something Mariah and I say. Maybe school or something she watched on TV. Knowing Milly is is probably something that she saw on TV.

I do enjoy watching my children be successful in the things that they do. Even the small things. I am proud of them all and what they are doing.

Maybe if we all 'belived in ourselves' a little more we would be as happy as our children.

Christmas 2014

Christmas 2014 has been and gone. This year we wanted to continue last years tradition and share with others rather than receive ourselves. We are very fortunate to have the things that we have and it is hard to celebrate knowing that the simple things in people's lives are often put before the spoils of the Christmas season.

I made contact with the bishop of the ward in Fiji to see if he was happy to help us out again.

He was thrilled to assist.

Last year we shared what we had done with our family and some were touched enough that they wanted to contribute in 2014.

The funds were sent and the wait began. I trust the discretion of the Bishop to delegate the funds to those that need them the most.

This year we were able to assist a family with paying their school fees, a single mother have the windows in her home replaced, and provide some needed food and essentials to families who needed the help of others.

The first lot of news came through while we were eating dinner. The Bishop and his family had called in to visit the family that needed help paying for their school fees. When the gift was presented the father, a man in his 40's-50's cried. He was amazed that someone from across the globe would be thoughtful enough to share this gift with him. He revealed to the Bishop that he had been praying that somehow he would be able to pay the debt and allow his children to attend school in the coming year. He, nor I, ever thought that this act of giving would bring such great joy to each other.

This is what Christmas is about. Knowing that we have in some way made a real difference in someone's life. Christmas has a greater meaning to me now than ever before. I no longer am concerned that I have or have not purchased something for every person that I interact with in one way or another. It is more than all the retail hustle and bustle. It is hearing and seeing that we have become someone's Christmas miracle.


Last year we received photos of the gift giving. This year we sent and received videos to and from those that we assisted.

This idea of the Maiwiriwiri family was brilliant. It allowed us to get the kids more involved, and feel as though we are actually there participating in the giving.

I am not going to post the videos on here as I believe that they are a personal communication that does not need to be shared on the WWW.

I will share pictures of the kids that we took while making our video.

We look forward to 2015 and hope that we will be blessed with the same opportunity.

Radio

Living in a small community means that you have a lot of opportunities to serve. Well that is what I thought any way. But each community is filled with opportunities to serve as a volunteer. Living in a small community just means that you are more aware of the opportunities that arise.

 

When I first arrived in St Helens, one of my colleagues, who is involved in just about every organisation in St Helens mentioned that she was a volunteer Ambulance Officer and also worked at the local community radio station.  I mentioned that one of my goals was to become involved in the community. She said that the radio station were looking for new board members and she offered to put my name forward as a potential member.

 

It was approved by the board and I now attend regular meetings and help out where I can. It was from my involvement with the board and fundraising efforts that I was approached to become an announcer for the station.

 

I was not confident about the offer, but deep down inside I was thrilled that I would be able to have my own radio show. I came up with the name “Breakfast with the Big Fella” as the name for my show.

 

I started doing a regular Saturday morning show 7:30-11am, which I thoroughly enjoy. I then went on to pick up an extra shift on a Wednesday morning 6:00-8:15. This one I am not so fond of. Particularly if I don’t get a good night’s sleep the night before. (like last night).

 

It has been very enjoyable getting to know different people, being part of the community, a voice of the community and showing my children that you can do anything.

 

Hanisi has visited the station with me on a number of occasions. So much so that she has her own on air name and a small following of supporters. I have been stopped in the street on a number of occasions asking when ‘Little Chick” will be back on air. She started off by reading parts of the weather and now she reads some of the adds with me. She wishes she could have a whole show of her own, and who knows, maybe one day she will and I will be her co-host/special guest?

 

Mariah says that we work well together.

 

All the kids have been to the studio and have a look around. Milly has done a little on air time, but is a little shy to talk through the microphone.

 

So that is one way that I have assisted the community of St Helens. I keep them entertained and informed. (I hope).

Annie Mariah Terry

Annie is about to turn 1 in a couple of weeks and I have not even completed a post about her arrival.
I realised yesterday that I had not kept a record of the events of 2014 and there were so many that needed to be reported.

Annie was a baby of choice. Mariah had felt for some time that she had wanted to have another baby. Me, on the other hand, was not feeling those same feelings. I was content with what we had. Chester was just starting to sleep through the nights and the girls were settled and becoming more independent. Why would anyone want to spoil that?

Well we did.... and this is what we were blessed with. They say "sacrifice brings forth blessings."
 

I would say that we have been blessed beyond our comprehension.

I know that this is a blog about Annie, but I have been looking at Chester the past couple of weeks as I have spent time with him and I have realised that his is such a handsome little fella.

From the first appointment that we had with the doctors we knew that the Drs had their dates wrong. What they were saying just did not make any sense. I felt that Annie would come earlier than expected. We were so fussed with the dates because we now lived 2 hours from a hospital that had the ability to deliver a baby.

I must admit this was my biggest concern as Mariah's past labours had been very short and I was sure that this was not going to be any different.

I had reviewed my training through my volunteer involvement with the ambulance station and had a plan in my mind if it all went wrong.

As the day drew closer, we had parents on stand by, and Mariah's mother booked in to come and be with the kids. I was lucky enough to have 6 weeks off work from the third week of January. The time had come and we had been spending a lot of time at the beach and exploring the East Coast of Tassie.

It was Australia day long weekend coming up, and I had considered that Annie may be born on Australia day. If that was to happen, I thought that it might be nice to call her Matilda. No sure if Mariah was sold on the idea.

Australia Day (Sunday) came and went with not even a hint of a birth. I was a little disappointed with that, but it was just not meant to be. But that was ok, because we had a big day planned at Bridport the next day. It did mean that was the name Matilda out the window. Oh well, back to picking another girls name... It was not easy.

Monday came and we were all excited about the day at the beach. The weather was as it should be on any public holiday - Hot and Sunny.

The kids were so excited. We love the beach. We live on the coast and still feel like we don't go to the beach enough. We packed the Patrol, loaded the kayak and thought at the last minute that we should bring the labour bag and extra baby seat. We thought that we should pack it just in case.

We had a blast at the beach. It was a beautiful day for swimming, kayaking and being told off by old ladies for not wearing a life jacket. We spent the day with a lot of friends doing what we love to do.

At the end of the day we went back to the camp site of a friend and just sat a talked. They invited us to stay for dinner, which we did. When we got back, I noticed that Mariah had gone missing. She had gone off for a walk. When she came back she was eager to get going where I was happy to stay. She kept making up excuses as to why we had to leave and I just kept ignoring her requests. In the end I gave in and we decided to leave

I was debating if we should go home via Gladstone, long and straight, or Scottsdale, shorter winding through the hills. I sat at the intersection and debated. I tried to get input from Mariah, but she "did not mind." About 5 mins from the Bridport turn off, Mariah tells me that she has been having some pains. I asked what they were like, how far apart, and when they started. She then tells me that they started back at the camp site. I asked if she felt like we should go to Launceston or keep going home. She said she didn't know. I said she had until Scottsdale to let me know what she wanted to do. It was just as we were coming in to Scottsdale that the huffing and puffing started, and she was grabbing at her knees.

I knew it was on, and we needed to go to Launceston. I got on the phone to mum to let her know that we were coming as quickly as we could and expected to be there in about half an hour. We arrived in Launceston and Mariah wanted to have a quick shower before we went to the hospital. By this stage the labour was well underway. I unpacked the car and put the sleeping kids in to their beds. Mum was fussing as a mother would and getting towels etc for the car. But there was no time for fussing.

I don't recall if I called the hospital or not. I think we did, because a grumpy old nurse told me off for not calling when we turned up to have Chester.

I think we got to the hospital about 8:00pm. I really don't recall what time it was but it was about then. Soon after Annie was born.

Trying to think back I don't recall too much. I do recall that the nurse was telling Mariah to push and Mariah kept saying I am so tired, I just want to go to sleep. I explained to the nurse that we had just had a big day at the beach and are all exhausted. Poor Mariah just wanted it to be over. Lucky for her it was a quick delivery and we were introduced to Annie.

Annie was not a name that we had both decided on. It was a name that we had discussed, I liked it, Mariah not so much. But, here she was, she needed a name. So we quickly decided Annie Mariah Terry would be just fine.

After Annie had spent some time with Mariah and the nurses had completed all their checks, I got Annie dressed and then came home so I could get some sleep and so could Mariah.

12 months on and Annie is doing great. It has not been an easy 12 months. It has been difficult for us to adjust to a new baby. Well for me it has been.

Annie is such a happy baby, and really, has been a good baby.

This is Annie.

Policeman's Point.

Wow.. It has been 12 months since I wrote a blog. What a 12 months it has been. I have a lot to catch up on.

I will start with the weekend just gone.

We caught up with Stinky Dan and his family over Christmas and he mentioned a camping trip. I said I was keen and quickly forgot what I had said.

I received a text to make sure that we were still keen for camping. My response... SURE>...

Nothing like a last minute decision. I had other things that I was doing that weekend, some would have to take a back seat, others I could work around.


We went to Policeman's Point. It is located on the southern side of Anson's Bay on the North East of Tasmania. It is part of the iconic Bay of Fires Conservation Area.



Photos from the Southern part of the Bay of Fires.

When we arrived Annie, (I'll introduce Annie in a later blog) decided to complete some maintenance on the Patrol while the rest of us unpacked.

 

She was so proud of the work that she had done.

We knew that Saturday was going to be a HOT day. The forecast was for temps in excess of 30 degrees with a strong northerly wind. As a result a total fire ban was declared from midnight Friday. We made sure that the marshmallow toasting was completed early on Friday.

 The Bureau got it right. Saturday was HOT... I had my radio show (ohhh yeah I'll blog about that later) and the temp at the station was 36 degrees before 11am. I could not wait to get back to camp and jump in the water.

We got back to find the kids and adults all in the water and cooling off.

It was a beautiful spot when the tide was out.

There was a lot of sand for the kids to run around on and build sand objects.

Milly, our Frozen fanatic, built a sand version of Olaf.  She was so proud and rightfully so. She did an awesome job.

Our cute Milly.

My Dad had decided to come down to visit us that same day. When I told him that we would be at the beach I knew that he would not mind.

He had a ball with the kids.

Notice Milly's hand gestures... My father is deaf and Milly is trying to communicate with him. Her and Hanisi are good with their signing.

 

 

All of the kids ran and played most of the afternoon. 

 

Others were exhausted from the heat and the excitement.

 

Annie thought she was ok to park her pram there for more than an hour. Beach Security had other ideas.

Until he was chased away like a pesky seagull trying to rob you of your chips.

 



They were proud of themselves.

 

 

 

Annie was just glad that she got out of a ticket.

 

The guard was sent packing. We never saw him again...

 The kids went back to playing without a care in the world.

I remember those days. Going from day to day without and thought for tomorrow, just enjoying the moment that you were in.

I like this final picture. To me, this is a representation of a good holiday. Feeling free and HAPPY.

Two nights away, and a life time of memories.

Thanks Stinky Dan for the invite.