Caravan Of Courage 2017-18

With our boys now heading into year 6 & 7 this year it is nice to reflect on how far they have come and how quick they grow.....and how much they cost you! It is also a very special start to this year as we have a new little niece “Poppy” and the engagement of our best’est friend Deb becoming engaged to her partner and good mate Brendan. We are all feeling a little home sick today, even the boys mentioned they would like to be at home. We must be at that point in the trip where we need to drink thru it (parents of course), all that aside the boys started the day with a little surf (following a sleep in) at the local beach. The good conditions didn’t last long, but just enough for the boys to get a few good waves in and for us parents to have a bodysurf before the sea breeze hit us! The weather was very humid as usual, but with the sun out for half an hour the caravan park all decided to catch up some washing. We headed to the pool after lunch and you would not believe it over c...

Well what a year was 2017, with Bell returning to study, the usual surf club, jujitsu, guitar, soccer for the boys and of course Chris finishing the conversion on the coupe to get it back on the road, and let’s not forget 6 weeks on the road so far there hasn’t been much time for relaxing and doing nothing! With the weather looking more and more overcast with rain threatening we decided to head to Dorrigo and visit the Rainforest Centre along with Dangar Falls. The drive was beautiful and we stopped into a little Gallery on the way to pick up a beautiful little engagement gift for Deb and Brendan at Bellinger. At the Rainforest Centre the fog was so heavy it left us little to no view from the skywalk of the Rainforest Centre, it was very eerie to say the least! After a short walk through the forest, It was so dense and limited light and you could see the plants all struggling for their spot in the sun and with the boys playing “shaking branch and make it rain” and running off we h...

We are supper excited as our bestest friend since Bell was 13, Aunty, Godmother  to our boys has just gotten engaged to a super cool guy Brendan. It all happened on a tree top walk. Congratulation wish we were there with you both to give big hugs. Sending Deb and Brendan lots of love and light as you both connect in a way that is so special xxx

This morning we awoke to find the weather a little overcast but fortunately there was no wind about (can’t say the same for the boys), we headed for Arrawarra where we found the waves were huge, way too big for the boys so we headed for Woolgoolga for a smaller set in the bay. Since we were feeling a little lethargic (not hung over) and the water was cold we just stood in the shore break and enjoyed watching the boys do their thing. They are getting very confident, so we often have to call them in as they go out way too far for our comfort...they don’t care the least! Riley is very efficient and can easily stand on his nipper’s board surfing it into the shore from way out the back! Aiden is like a little whippet, getting every wave possible, his skills have evolved rapidly and he is almost ready for his first composite board, but don’t tell him that! When we returned to the camper our lovely neighbours (Bill, Andy, Kyle and Crystal) from Brisbane invited us yabbying at Red Rock, it i...

Today we awoke to the realisation that it’s 6 weeks since we left Perth (lets not worry about this too much for now though). Just down the road is Arrawarra Beach, now I know none of you have heard the name not to mention there is even a beach there, it is a predominately local beach as it is out of the way from the main town. We actually stumbled onto it by chance. We spent the morning hanging with the locals, there were little tykes hopping onto our boards and chatting away as if they had known us for years, it was pretty funny! The waves were BIG and clean, amazingly the boys were out the back (50 meters from the shore) catching the sets with the locals, and sometimes getting in the way LOL!.......we were more than happy to watch and have a bit of a body surf! It was actually really hard to photograph as the swell was so big one minute you could see them and the next minute they were gone, they rolled in one after the other. The boys survived just, Riley caught his nipper board on ...

We have just cracked the 7000km mark (7194 km) and have 4 weeks of travelling to go! With just a 3 hour drive it was nice and easy, all apart from the crazy drivers desperate to get onto the main road, pulling out in front of you dangerously close, seems to be the norm! We had two sections of heavy rain whilst Bell was driving, lucky for us the weather was all clear on arrival which made way for a beautiful balmy afternoon. We touched base with Jen to see how her first night went with our niece Poppy, apparently she wanted lots of cuddles and food, and only finding it necessary to sleep in the morning.... oh we remember those days. We had the boys do a reflection of there Christmas break, to start getting them back into routine. The beach is a short walk and has a spectacular arch of trees which wouldn’t look out of place in a wedding photo. In desperate of supplies we took the 10 min drive into Woolgoolga town followed by a visit to the main beach. Woolgoolga beach was brilli...

Today Jen and Troy brought into the world our little niece ‘Poppy Ivy’, born 1.04pm NSW time (10.04am Perth) measuring 49cm in length, we were very excited. We look forward to meeting her in just over 4 week’s time, we bought a cute little handmade pottery bird for her from the local Gallery in Fingal Bay at the Oak Shack. Before the news of the new arrival we spent the morning with Toni and Joshua (nephew no.1) at Kingscliff (10min south of Fingal Head). The beach was beautiful and we went in for a dip the water was fresh but the waves made it worth it, we finished off with fish and chips for lunch before wishing   T&J goodbye as they headed back home L , it was a lovely 5 days with family. In the distance we could see some big clouds forming so we picked up the surf boards and headed back to Kingscliff, unfortunately the local beach had been churned up by the previous evening storm. Another afternoon in the sun and surf we enjoyed watching a baby sea eagle practice flyi...

Today was Andrews last day with us as he was rostered on at work, so we hit the road to visit Wollumbin Mount Warning, it was the central plug of a huge shield shaped volcano. With limited time we only managed to do a 20-30 min walk through the rainforest, it was very noisy due to the cicadas.....to be honest this is an understatement. It was so loud the sound made your ears hurt it was truly incredible. With Andrew needing to leave for home and for the rest of us to get ready for our snorkel with the turtles we headed back to Fingal. The weather didn’t look great leading up to the afternoon, but it seemed to be holding out for now. Wet-suited up we headed on a small charter boat across to Cook Island with the Watersports Guru. It was just the 6 of us and there were no other boats around the Island, we travelled a short distance to the end of the Tweed River and continued South along the coast (only 10min) to be greeted by dozens of dolphins swimming near the island. Cook Island...