Bruny Island, Tasmania

We caugt the ferry over to Bruny Island after my mum and dad flew out of Hobart.

Now the holiday feel is finally here because Bruny Island is a true holiday destination. We camped for $5 per night in the island's only hotel's grass paddock, directly across from the sea. Stunning views, and amazing to walk over the road to play in the sand (or do yoga - me), or have a swim in the warm sunshine.

Dusty and Maxie have been collecting sticks and logs to float on the shore - we have a collection of their timber 'boats' stored in the caravan.

We made friends in the grassy paddock - Cain, Verity, Jazelle & Jasmine - had a locally grown gourmet dinner at the Hotel with them plus a number of locally Brewers ciders, before watching the sunset on the beach. The boys had a ball playing with their girlfriends the next day, too. They also sold everything to live in a caravan for a while, and to move to a new house in QLD. Hopefully we'll see them all again one day on the Sunshine Coast - where they are building.

We took a drive to the lighthouse and national park. The boys are having fun tackling each other and racing around pretending to be planes.

The next day we returned for a walk and swim at the beach and we went for a drive down the beach - our first beach run in the F-250.

The next day, the weather turned a bit overcast, but that didn't stop Tim from collecting our dinner off the rocks at the Bay - oysters.

And then Tim fired up the bush kettle on the sand of a nearby bay (less oysters) so the boys had a play, and I had fun with the camera (very picturesque place) before we sat together for a cup of billy tea.

Even on an overcast day, Bruny Island is a beautiful, beautiful place.

Comments

Jondaryan Woolshed

Dusty and I were feeling restless and homesick this morning. I didn't want to go home, necessarily, but I did want to make use of our time away by travelling and sightseeing instead of being at the caravan - the small space we have set ourselves up in really felt crowded for me this morning. Dusty had also said that he wanted to go home to his BIG house, with a sad sigh. So, Tim suggested our first Toowoomba-area tourist destination, Jondaryan Woolshed. The Woolshed museum features over a dozen buildings from Australia's earliest days, when Jon Daryan and surrounds were used for Merino Wool production - the first place in Australia to farm Merino Sheep. It's more than just a sheep museum though. There are all kinds of relics, which were brought here from all around The Darling Downs, including a dairy/cheese factory, school room, tractor shed, railway line, a tea, stew-and-damper hut, and a yard full of farm animals including freshly hatched geese and baby goats. Shrie...

Ballina, Lennox, Byron and Mullum

It's amazing the way our perspective has changed since we haven't had a house, a job, a 'base', to go back to. Everything is more beautiful, and we really give ourselves to the experience. Dusty took the photos above after we arrived in Ballina, he's getting good at operating the camera! We parked our caravan in my cousin Geoff and Nadine's front yard and they were amazing hosts - to have us, welcome us, enjoy spending time with us and the kids, to encourage Dusty to get more familiar with the drums ... ... To teach Dusty how to crack a real whip... ... To let Maxie bathe in their front yard ... ... To show the boys how to catch yabbies with sand pumps... ... And to take us on a guided tour of South Ballina, where we crossed the river in the car on a ferry. We had a ball driving down the beach. Geoff taught Dusty and Maxie how to catch pippies in the sand. When we climbed a sand dune, a very excited Dusty discovered he was actually afraid of heights and it ...

Culburra Beach and Point Perpendicular

We continued south down the coast and booked ourselves into a park at Crookhaven Heads (Culburra Beach), expecting a similar beachy seaside town to Kiama. The closest big town was Nowra (very simple and unexciting, besides a sensational produce market that was worth the drive in for). Crookhaven Heads and Culburra Beach were both very quiet towns, but our holiday park had the bonus of long car-free driveways and large green lawns, so we had a ball learning to ride new balance bike (Maxie) and skateboard (Tim, me and Dusty) and we made new good friends too. Also, plenty of beaches to explore ... It was a good base point for exploring some very cool seaside towns nearby and Point Perpendicular lighthouse (inside the Beercroft Military Reserve, which is open to the public via security-issued tickets). This lighthouse is the 'most painted' lighthouse in Australia. The weather was really wild - crazy wind, we couldn't walk anywhere near the lighthouse as the pram was blowing a...

Joanna Becker

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