Frankston

We finally got made it to Melbourne!!! The nagging about when we would be getting there was getting pretty persistent, with all of the boys eager to spend the remains of their carefully saved Christmas money. Minotaur is the favourite haunt for Drew and Jonas, and Campbell had a Dymocks voucher to spend and visions of finding the Best Second- hand Bookshop in the world!!

We stopped in at Ballarat for a night on route to explore the town. Last visit we didn't get to have a look around the city, so we were looking forward to having a wander around this year. The temperature continued to rise and we were very grateful for a massive pool and spa complex complete with a big screen TV at the caravan park. As we were driving towards Melbourne the next day Drew was laughing about the fact that the TV was ignored while everyone in the pool stopped to watch a cute little baby learning to walk and enjoying the fountains at the edge of the pool. So much more entertaining than watching the news!!

Our first day in Melbourne was spent in Frankston, where we had booked a site for 3 nights. It turned out to be an Op Shop mecca!! Campbell got his fill of books and we found these delightful painted stairs in The Salvos shop. 

We arrived in Frankston on our 19th Wedding anniversary so we enjoyed a lovely lunch and then ice-cream followed by a swim at Frankston Beach. It was a bit too much of a walk down to the water to get Campbell down and he wasn't keen about going for a swim. This is one of the things that I find the most difficult about travelling with Cams. I would so love the opportunity to enjoy the beach as a family, but he is now just too big to carry down the sand. A long walk down the beach would be such a lovely thing to do together, but it is just not something we can do on a whim. Eric and Campbell found a shady place to rest while I had a swim with the boys and although I came back twice to offer to sit with Campbell, Eric insisted that I enjoy a cool swim. 

It was so very hot and Eric and I were light headed by the time we got the tent up- we left the kids in the car with the air conditioning going while we unpacked. There was absolutely no chance of cooking and eating outdoors with the temps still hovering around 44 degrees at 5pm. We headed to the local club for dinner and then lingered for as long as we could before skulking back to the tent. Once the sun started to go down it was slightly more comfortable and we set up a picnic rug to watch the stars appear one by one.

 I certainly plan to make sure that our anniversary is celebrated with a bit more flair next year!!! It will have to be a special one- just look at the figures:

On our 20th anniversary we will be 40 years old.

Campbell will be 16

Andrew will be 12

Jonas will be 8

and our anniversary is on the 14th. 

Just look at all of those lovely even numbers! What do you think we should plan??

Melbourne

As soon as Joe woke up he spied a cat out of the window of the tent. While the rest of us were sluggish and resistant to facing the day after a dreadful night of unrelenting heat, Joe set off out the door to meet the cat! Oh my goodness- it was so HOT!!!! ALL NIGHT!! 

Joe made friends with this very sweet little kitten, with no idea where it came from, while we all tried to prepare ourselves for another very hot day exploring the city.

The discovery of fountains were much appreciated as we made our way from one end of the city to the other. 

The museum also provided us with some cool air for a while.

It became a wonderful day, even with the heat! We found Minotaur quickly and the boys got to spend the last of their money on their favourite pop culture collectables. We made our way across town to see what other treasures we might uncover.

 They also remembered this comic book shop in Bourke street and managed to find it again this time.

We found yet another cool Salvos Store at the end of Bourke street- has anyone else noticed how Salvos are really working on their image? No longer slightly smelly and unpleasant- these op shops are trendy with cool displays and decorations. We haven't felt the need to find the books and escape quickly like we have always done in the past.

This fabulous day ended with an even more fabulous evening. We had a swim in the pool to cool down  before packing up for the beach at Seaford. We had plans to meet up with a family I know through blogging.  Seaford Beach was much easier to negotiate with a wheelchair and we finally got to enjoy the ocean together- all 5 of us!!! It was so special and I know it will be a memory I will always treasure.

It really is bizarre that we had such a relaxed evening with this family that we have only really got to know virtually. It felt like we had all been friends for years and recognised each other across the crowded beach. We had a wonderfully relaxed Thai meal together and chatted away and laughed about our funny family stories. We all feel very fortunate to have met this gorgeous family and we all hope that we get a chance to chat over a meal again soon. Thank you to our lovely new friends for helping us to have one of the most memorable days of our entire trip. Between 6 kids to watch and constant conversation (in fact sometimes multiple conversations at once) none of us managed to get a single photo of us all toegther. I have several snapshot images in my head though.

Another swim at the beach after dinner completed our wonderful day and ensured that we were all able to sleep better that night...well until the thunderstorm hit!!!!!

Lakes Entrance

The threat of what appeared to be a huge bushfire made us a bit nervous on the drive to Lakes Entrance. Thankfully we didn't have to get too close. The highlight of our stay here was the boat trip we took. These cute little boats were available for hire and after no success fishing from the beach, we were sure we would fill a bucket with fish from the boat. Well.... we did have a great time cruising ;) We didn't really explore much at Lakes Entrance- it may be becoming apparent from recent blog entries that we are getting a little bit travel weary. We are enjoying opportunities to just relax by the ocean rather than doing too much of the exploring and sight seeing that we were so keen to do 4 weeks ago. Campbell is quite homesick and is counting down the days until he gets home to his own bedroom. As reluctant as Eric and I are to get back to our very busy reality, the novelty of camping does lose it's shine eventually. Our visit to Lakes Entrance will be fondly remembered by us all despite our lack of adventure. We all loved our boat trip, the Mexican dinner we had one night we were there (I will especially remember that delicious glass of Sangria), the hilarious neighbours (Pugsley Snr and Pugsley Jnr) and the cleanest caravan park we have ever seen. My goodness that place had rules for EVERYTHING but it was such a gorgeously clean bathroom (see you can hear my camping weariness). The rules for the pool alone had about 20 bullet points on the list!! Our short but sweet visit brings us closer to the end of our holiday.

Oh Yes! Those hot fudge sundaes may be fondly remembered too .

Phillip Island

We enjoyed our last night in Geelong with some dinner on the bay. Joe also made the most of the lucky dip he got in the magic shop in Melbourne by becoming Jonas the Pirate for the evening.
We started off for Phillip Island a bit disappointed that we could only secure one night in the caravan park- we will have to make the most of our time there. We drove the short distance to Queenscliff to get the ferry across to Sorrento. It was a much easier and cheaper trip than the Kangaroo Island ferry- there was even a elevator for Campbell to go straight from the car into the passenger lounge. As soon as we got going the kids were invited to play some games set up by volunteers. The trip was over before we even had time to appreciate the view!! The drive around the coastline towards Phillip Island gave us views of surf boards tucked under arms, over flowing caravan parks and the cutest little seaside cabins. Very sweet and pretty but very, very crowded. Once we arrived on Phillip Island we dumped the trailer to start exploring- we had to see it all today!!! How gorgeous it was too. Again I will let the photos do the talking.
After an easy dinner of salad wraps I took the boys down to the beach for a swim, while Eric and Campbell relaxed. A game of Beetle completed our busy day. We have managed to fit a lot into our day again today- too much for any of us to want to go to the Penguin Parade tonight. We saw one peeking out at us while we were walking to the blow hole today and Eric and Joe saw them parading on Kangaroo Island. It feels like home is getting very close now- we are all looking forward to seeing our Charlie soon.

Jonas the Pirate.

The ferry trip to Sorrento.

A lunch stop along the way.

Phillip Island.