25th - 27th - Australia Day!!

As the weather was so horrible yesterday Benny thought the road might've been a bit boggy so we drove into Bemm to meet Dave and Steph in their Yarris. They arrived early enough to have a drink in the pub so we figured it'd be rude not to ;) Luckily the road wasn't boggy but the corrigations gave the Yarris a run for its money, once we'd established going at 50-60kmph was smoother than 20kmph we made it back to camp. The rain had stopped but the wind had picked up, they were camping in Bennys old tent so we gave them a hand putting it up.

 

The next day we all piled into the Yarris and checked out McKenzies Fainforest walk. On the way back we stopped at a pub for a lunch time beer and Benny helped fix a Germans guys car, as it was a long weekend he and his friends were going to be stuck there or have to pay tow truck to the nearest town.... You would've thought after someone rescuing you like that you'd at least buy him a beer, especially as we were already IN a pub!!! Some people, no manners :p Malcolm and Trish had the campoven going when we got back so we had a yummy roast, veggies and the lot and we also made chocolate brownies for afterwards, who said you don't eat we'll when your camping!! That evening we learnt that David liked all songs with clapping in them....

 

Australia Day!! We made it into Bemm just before 12 but we struggled to stream Bennys phone so in the end we used his signal to hotspot to my phone to stream Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2013 through the stereo speakers, we managed to tune in at number 95 so only missed 5 songs, whoo-hoo!! During the day countless beers and ciders were consumed, we moved 4 times as it was either too hot, too windy or too shady! We discovered that we were all terrible at hacky-sack and the only way to get a decent rhythm was to use our hands and even that was questionable ;) Benny and Dave attempted to catch some fish but no joy :( During the day we all placed bets with who was going to make it into the top 10, with the deal being if you got number 10 (or over) you did 10 shots, if you got number 9 you did 9 shots etc... Poor Benny and Steph didn't make it into the top 10 so both of them downed 10 shots of tequila, Dave guessed number 3 and I got number 2 so got off lightly ;) we were all shocked at number 1 (Vance Joy's Riptide) but after dancing around to it like crazy drunks we got wolf whistled into the pub to let us know our dinner was ready ;)

 

Needless to say the next day was a bit of a struggle, for some people more than others!! A float in the sea and a fry up seemed to help ;) Dave and Steph had to hit the road to be back at work for Tuesday so after cleaning up some...lets just call it 'tent juice'...it was goodbyes all round, not too sad though cos planning on catching up on their road trip from NSW to Melbs in a couple of weeks time!!

 

Mckenzie Rainforest walk

Tarzan?

 

Monkey guy...

And monkey girl ;)

Sand dune running

Brownie mix...yes he licked the bowl :)

Hacky sack...with hands ;)

 

One of our moves....compete with awning bearers ;)

Getting the rods ready

There are a few of these....bear with us ;)

 

 

Ahem, everyone else was supposed to moon too!!!

 

Change of locations....makes it a bit trickier for the self-timer to get up the trunk in time!!

 

 

Pre tequila shot

And post ;)

Pre....she did it with style though ;)

 

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21st - 24th January - Finally got the boat out!!

 

On the 21st Benny, Malcolm and me set off fishing across the inlet. We had to borrow a life jacket for Malcolm, beggars can't be choosers and he ended up having to wear a massive yellow inflatable thing, that reminded me of something off the titanic! He wouldn't keep it on for a photo though ;p

 

After a nice calm crossing to the inlet, with our little boat even getting up on the plane, with 3 people in was quite impressive!! Malcolm caught a flatie (flathead) pretty much straight away on a plastic but we weren't quick enough with the net and it jumped off the hook. After that there was nothing for a while, Benny was catching a few Brim but too small to keep, then I managed to get a flatie and this time we got it on the boat! 10mins later Malcolm caught one too :)

 

On our return journey the wind had picked up and we all caught absolutely SOAKED!! Good job it wasn't freezing otherwise we'd have been pretty miserable. Benny did his thing with the flaties at the boat ramp and Malcolm started feeding the Pelicans....I wanted a go with the next set of fish scraps but I decided I'd conduct the Pelicans like an orchestra ;) it was great, they were flapping their wings and making sounds all at the same time when they thought I was going to throw the fish scraps!!

 

On the 22nd Benny and me went to Bainsdale (the nearest big town) as Bennys phone had stopped working and he needed a new one... It was nice to have a look round the shops and spend the day together just the two of us :) On the way back we stopped at a Micro-Brewery, Benny had a stout (yuk!) and I had a tasting paddle of 4 beers, most of them were ok but one in particular wasn't very nice at all, in Bennys words he thought it tasted like it had been strained through a pair of old socks!! As we were heading back into Bemm River I realised we were in perfect time for happy hour :) Malcolm and Trish had been for a drive for the day and had beaten us there!!

On the 23rd Benny and Malcolm went out on the boat and I had a camp/beach day :) they came back with 6 flaties and 2 Brims so we had home-made fish, chips and salad for tea which was delicious!!

I'm typing on the 24th and it's raining and forecast gale force winds so the perfect time to catch up on the blogg!! Dave and Steph are meant to be joining us this evening after they've finished work so finished crossed the weather doesn't get too vicious ....watch this space!!

 

You can't really see now soaked I got in this photo....maybe from my hair?? Oh yeah, and there's the flatie I caught ;)

Mum I Only have a double chin cos it's a bad angle ;)

Malcolm and me with our catches of the day

The jetty where Dave and Robyn let us keep the boat :) Thanks x

Flat head

Feeding the pelicans....love this shot, just before the fish guts land...

....and this one as a follow up with them all fighting for the fish ;)

Benny borrowing my pink PFD and showing off just some of his catch for the day

The weather about to hit us..

.

When it actually did, waterproof pants and jacket were out

At the micro brewery on the way back from Bairnsdale

With my tasting platter ;)

 

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13th Jan - 20th Jan - Hot, Cold and Birthday Celebrations

 

Well during this past week we've had some pretty extreme weather, Victoria certainly isn't letting us down with the "4 seasons in a day" saying although I think for this week Im going to adapt to "4 seasons in a week". We've gone from boiling hot days, in the 40s where we even decided to drive to Py-yoot beach, a 5 min walk, with nights where I've just stayed in my bikini to keep cool to cold days and nights where Im back in joggers, uggs and fleeces!!

 

On the hot days once we'd motivated ourselves to move in the heat we'd pack the ute up and head down to Py-yoot beach for the day, there seemed to be a bit of breeze down there and the water was always deliciously cool (freezing even!!). Benny had the brilliant idea of taking Malcolm and Trish's gazebo down to the beach, great shade and it earned the name of the "Big Top" from the other beach-goers! On the beach days we chilled out in the shade and waves, Benny and me had a bit of a crack at surfing when the waves were good. Benny, Malcolm and me went abalone hunting, which was challenging as there was so much seaweed on the rocks you'd spot an abalone then the waves would come in and move the seaweed that would hide the abalone. Abalones are kind of hard to spot anyway, they just look like part of the rock but with a faint oval outline... Benny got 3 and I spotted one, I borrowed Bennys knife and popped it off the rock, but then had to catch it once it started floating along with the waves! We got the little gas cooker and cooked them up in the beach as a snack, yum!

 

On another beach day Benny and me went for a walk to the rock pools, we sat in a warm one and had our own private aquarium. Lots of snails, crabs and little fishes. Benny caused a stir among the fishes when he used one of the snails as bait, once he'd lured them in to trust him he even managed to catch one in his hand and pull it out of the water, if only they were big enough to eat ;)

 

The heat got so bad that there were some bush fires that sprung up locally, the residents of some of the 'towns' were evacuated, we knew they were close cos we'd driven through them on a 4x4 day recently (Cabbage Tree Creek, Club Terrace, Bluebird Creek) we kept in touch with the locals from Bemm River to make sure we were safe. They hasn't been evacuated and we were closer to the coast so we felt fairly ok....better to be safe than sorry though, there was a wind change predicated that night, it was meant to be good and help calm the fires but just in case we packed the kitchen up, most of the camper and Benny got the winch ready to help pull the trailer out (as we'd spent ages trunking it 180 when we first arrived at Pearl Point). Luckily the wind changed for the better and some cool weather and rain came with it so we were safe from any evacuation.

 

It was Malcolm's birthday on the 16th Jan but happy hour at Bemm River pub fell on the day before that so Malcolm and Trish took us all down there for happy hour beers and a dinner treat :) It turned out to be a great evening, with a few of the locals turning up, everyone trying to escape the heat and what better way than to have a few beers!! Dinner was great pub food, Trish had ordered fish and chips and extra salad and surprised us all by finishing first. Back at camp I couldn't stop hiccuping and Benny was laughing at his Mum and Dad as he hadn't seen them that drunk for some time, Malcolm drew a line in the sand and we all proceeded to walk along to prove our "soberness"! Malcolm and Trish then remembered a game they used to play with 2 beer cans, walking them out with your hands and leaving one out as far as you could....Malcolm demonstrated but failed when the can crushed so he 'had' to drink a warm beer!! Trish couldn't stop laughing at Malcolm when he went to adjust the solar panels on the ground as apparently when he leaned forward he almost didn't stop and kept going with gravity ;) It was a fun night.

 

Benny and me went into town one cold arvo to buy ice and eggs. ..we got distracted at the ice part with Robyn and Dave (the owners of the holiday accommodation where we buy the ice), Dave actually drove into the local town (Cann river) to refuel and came back (about 40mins later) and we were still stood in the driveway nattering away to Robyn!! That lead to some drinks with them, well Robyn and me shared 2 bottles of red so we were arrived back to camp a little later than we planned...Benny reckons the wine had a snoring effect on me that night ;) getting my own back!!

 

The difference of a baby-wiped "clean" foot and the black sand effect on the other!!

The local goannas

 

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Random Photos That I Forgot to Include in Posts!!

 

The moon the night of the bush fires....

After a walk along the beach I spotted a little seal our of the water, when he saw me he hurried back into the water but only about 5 metres in, I went in up to my waist and he was just sat watching me :) I didn't have my camera/or phone on me cos Id left them with my towel but I walked back that way and the seal just followed, sticking its head up and shaking it a dog would when it's wet and waving its fins around, very cute!!

The seal

Stripes of colour on a deserted beach

Just me and the seal :)

 

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9th - 12th Jan - A visit from the Johnson's

Tim, Honie, Clara and Kai rocked up sometime Thursday arvo set up camp and explored the beach with the kids. Friday was a gorgeous day so we all headed down Py-oot beach for some sun and surf, in the arvo we changed beaches and went down to Pearl Point Beach, the beach was pretty steep where the waves were breaking and the waves weren't small, the kids were doing really well in the water, Kai in his green inflatable ring, Honie came out to swim with me for a second and the next thing you know we just saw Kai (a flash of green inflatable tube!) getting sucked over and into a wave, Benny was playing in the breakers and saw him come up, amazingly he was fine and kind of enjoyed the ride! A bit later on though Honie was next to Kai, right in the wrong spot, when a big set came in...they both got dumped on the sand, Benny went to try and help and Honie kept getting washed up the beach, I was floating around out back at that point and thought she was just having fun in the washing, rolling around in it, she assured me afterwards she was having trouble standing up! The kids had been calling Benny "Ben-lee" but for the rest of the weekend that changed to "Benny the Rescue Helicopter!" He's got a lot to live up to now ;) Honie, Kai and Benny all had half the beach in their hair....it seems sand is a lot harder to get out of dreadlocks so now we have a beach in our bed!

 

That evening I taught Clara how to French plait with a very patient Honie as a model. She already knew the basics and picked up it really quickly, smart little cookie ;)

 

Saturday was a little windy and slightly overcast but we all headed down to Py-oot in the morning, Benny and Tim went out snorkelling and came back with 3 abalone, very good hunter-gathers!! After being in the water with the kids we were all pretty cold as the sun decided to hide behind some clouds so we headed back to camp to warm up, we had some visitors when we got back, 2 goannas, rubbish everywhere in the Johnson's camp. In the afternoon the sun had come back out and the wind had dropped off a bit so the boys grabbed their fishing rods and we all headed down to Pearl Point Beach for some afternoon sun, the waves were really messy again so the kids played in the sand and Honie and me played in the waves. They're such good fun when they're messy and heavy like that, we were having a great time diving under them and getting washed around like a washing machine!! Luckily Benny the Rescue Helicopter didn't need to make an appearance as Kai didn't make it in the water as he was being buried in the sand by Malcolm once they'd returned from their (unsuccessful) fishing walk along the beach, although they did see a tiger snake going for a dip in the water...

Abalone catcher, went down well for lunch :)

 

Getting them out of their shells

Steps down to Pearl Point Beach

Honie, the style guru ;) Kai's hat, Clara's sunnies (after loosing her own in the surf) fishtail pigtails (courtesy of Clara) and to complete the look her own Fluro boardies!

 

 

 

 

Fun in the sand

 

Deserted beaches are the best!

Sibling love :)

Pink crack ;)

 

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