Food, ferries and finding your inner child

I love the optimism and hope that a new year brings; it’s a chance to re-set and get excited about new dreams. A few years ago, I never dreamed we’d actually be doing this – living out of a camper trailer, seeing so many amazing places in our wonderful country. A couple of years of dreaming and gradually putting pieces into place, and here we are!

For a few months now, our Aussie adventure has been nourishing our little family, as well as our sense of adventure and play.

Today, I rode a kid’s scooter along the foreshore of Inverloch Beach. My 9-year-old daughter protested at first, then rode a safe distance ahead of me (and her younger brother) on her bike. There’s nothing more embarrassing than mum on a scooter (except, of course, mum on a kid’s scooter!).  Humming along the walkway with these kids made my heart sing. I realised how much I love being part of their adventures when I get a chance (something that seems to happen less as they grow older).

I’ve had plenty of opportunities to feed my ‘inner kid’ on this trip; bouncing myself silly on jumping pillows, racing through a kids playground ‘obstacle course’, flying kites in outback New South Wales, and losing endless card games to my daughter. But what’s best is that I’ve had time to stop and enjoy it all. The truth is, I don’t have much else to do.

Don’t get me wrong – an extended family camping trip isn’t all champagne and roses. You still get the tantrums, explosive arguments, obstinance and disobedience (and that’s just the adults). But it does seem to leave more time to reflect on the fun (and challenges) you’ve had. Holidays don’t necessarily give you more quality time – just more time to remember it.

As adults, it’s easy to miss opportunities to nourish ourselves with good memories. What I’ve discovered is this – it’s the time reflecting on good memories afterwards that make these experiences even more enriching.

Nourishing my body, mind and soul was my focus for 2018 (my ‘word for the year’ being ‘nourish’). Ending the year with travel has been the perfect way to do this. If you’re curious, I’ll post more about choosing my ‘word for the year’ another time 😉

Camping in the new year (and school holidays) has been different. There’s standing room only in the pool, not a single free camping space and the amenities are non-stop busy. But despite the chaos, we’re happy to be back in a caravan park (and our trusty camper trailer ‘Jay Jay’ as she’s affectionately known). Jay Jay was left on mainland Australia while we explored Tasmania and stayed in some beautiful homes (thanks AirBnB). But we got straight back into camping life on our return. If kids could create a heaven, I’m pretty sure it would look like Big 4 Inverloch!

It’s fair to say that 2018 filled us to the brim with goodness (and food!) – here are the top 10 highlights of how we ended 2018:

1. Loch Arde Gorge on the Great Ocean road (no, it’s not named after a Monster!)

‘Loch Ard Gorge’ sounds a bit like a mythical sea creature – the last thing I pictured was a pristine beach flanked by dramatic limestone cliffs. There’s a bit more on our Great Ocean road adventures in my last post or @trailerandzen on Instagram.

2. Strawberry picking at Timboon

It’s not often you get to wander through strawberry fields and pick your own strawberrys. They were juicy and delicious (although the poor farmers say they could do with a bit more rain). Rain Gods? Are you reading this?

3. Beach Camping at Johanna Beach

Johanna Beach was wild and woolly – definitely NOT for swimming (even for experienced beach goers like us). With the rage of the frothing ocean, it’s no wonder how many a famous ship has run a-ground in these parts of Victoria. We had a whole acre of a secluded campsite to ourselves which was just back from the beach (and well protected from the wind by brush) Johanna Beach Campground was great beach camping!

4. Feeding the birds at Kennet River (even though we’d gone there for Koala’s!)

The Kennet River Koala Walk is supposed to be the place to see Koalas in Australia. Alas, they weren’t out to play when we turned up. Turns out the friendly birds at Kennet River were a complete surprise, and we loved them!

5. Mornington Peninsula & Peninsula Hot Springs

I came across Peninsula Hot Springs on Instagram and (I confess) I made Mr M agree to visit Mornington Peninsula just so I could go there (huh-hmm).  But how happy we were that we stopped by! A tip – book in advance if you want to stay at the council run Whitecliffs Tyrone campground in Rye (highly recommended, and only open in Summer). They book out well in advance. Right on the gorgeous Rye beach, it’s also quieter and less packed than some of the campsites further North.

6. Catching the Spirit of Tasmania

We all loved our first ferry trip across the Bass Strait on the ‘Spirit of Tasmania’ – we travelled at night to save losing a couple of days to travel, but still had a good couple of hours of summer light to enjoy the experience of leaving the port. Sleeping on the ferry was a novelty for all of us!

7. Dodging leeches in Cradle Mountain

I’d forgotten just how beautiful Cradle Mountain is. Pristine lakes, well-marked walking tracks, fresh air, and wildlife wherever you look. But the memorable parts for me: taking a lovely but mossy walking track off the main boardwalk and getting our feet were covered in tiny leeches! The sight of those little suckers trying to slither their way into my sandshoes was enough to make me run! We also spotted a sleeping pair of tiger snakes next to the boardwalk (pretty much right after Mr M had finished saying ‘It’s too cold for snakes here’). Oh no no no – not too cold for snakes in Cradle Mountain!

8. Launceston and Northern Tasmania

We loved Catract Gorge and City Park in Launceston (which came with a Macaque Monkey enclosure). They  had a little pond with ducks, and one of the baby ducklings had become separated from her mother in one of the smaller ponds. Lucky Mr M didn’t mind getting his feet wet so he could re-unite the duckling with it’s mother!

We also loved re-uniting with some friends we met on our travels at their family owned Café, Blueberry Barn Café in Frankford. Just 40 minutes from Devonport, this cute little café off the beaten track was worth the visit for their coffee and homemade Blueberry Cheesecake. Nestled in the Tasmanian countryside, the cafe had roaming Silkie Chickens, horses and budding rose bushes.

9. Bridestowe Estate Lavender Fields

The blooming lavender fields were amazing (a phenomenon that only happens a few weeks of each year). Did you know it takes 250kg of lavender to produce 2.5 litres of pure lavender oil (currently worth about $8,000 AUD)?

10. Christmas and New Year in Southern Tasmania

Christmas day was spent with friends in a beautiful waterfront home in Swansea (we were staying just up the beach at Dolphin Sands in an equally beautiful home). The kids spent Christmas day scaling rocks looking for ‘hideouts’ and wandering the beach searching for sea creatures. I realised then we had completely skipped the usual ‘Christmas Crazy’ this year, and never missed it for a second.

Our New Year’s Eve was spent (again) with friends at their beautiful home overlooking Conningham Beach – a stunning place to live at the end of the earth! Despite what I’ve heard about Tassie weather, it was perfect.

We stayed at a home near the foot of Mount Wellington, which could have been on the cover of an architectural magazine. It was all angular and full of windows – built to complement the mountainous terrain but also take in the views. We learnt on the first night it was also built to withstand extremely high mountain winds. The first night was so blowy I thought we’d be whipped off the side of the mountain!

 

 

 

Into 2019…

Like it did for many, 2018 brought both good and bad experiences for me. As well as the joys of travel, 2018 included some hard conversations, plenty of tears, tough decisions, unexpected life changes and family losses to deal with. But all these have brought me to the path I’m on today. I’m full of hope for this year, and already have my new word (which I’ll share with you soon enough!). In the meantime – I wish you lingering memories of the good experiences of 2018, and that you find the time to care for every aspect of yourself (including your inner kid) in 2019.