The journey is not quite over for Kornies5. We have decided to set up a more permanent sort of camp in Bellingen, NSW and have leased a house for a year. We have had a wonderful few months here; the kids love their time at Chrysalis Steiner School. It is quite a magical place set on the edge of a hill in a forest near Thora. The view from the classroom includes waterfalls, mountains, rivers…not a building anywhere to be seen. When I was visiting Sam’s class, he introduced me to “Snaky” a friendly tree snake that they have adopted and [View Full Entry]

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Time is flying and it seems like eons ago that we were at 1770, surfing at gorgeous beaches and surviving a midgee onslaught. The kids convinced us to venture out on a LARC: Land Amphibious Replenishment Cargo. It was an all terrain vehicle and proved this literally as we were speeding down the beach. Sam spotted some dolphins in the water and the driver quickly turned and drove directly into the surf. The dolphins swam up to our floating vessel and played and then we returned to the shore and continued to a spectacular light house for a history lesson [View Full Entry]

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Charters Towers was a charming town and perfect for a two day stop to finish off school work, find the next Harry Potter book for Sam (he is devouring the series and is often glued to his chair for hours, ploughing through the chapters). We decided to head to Paluma National Park, north of Townsville, for a dose of tropical forests and quiet camping (except the birds who seemed to be nocturnal at this spot!) We were camped near some Canadian birdwatchers and as soon as Jojo saw them he dug out our binoculars and started following them. “Can I [View Full Entry]

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One minute we are lazing around hot springs…the next we are watching young children being thrown off sheep at the local Winton Rodeo! We have hit outback Queensland in a major way and the contrast in colours, people and activities is quite remarkable. We stopped at Mt. Isa and Max, Sam and Adam went on a tour of a working mine, underground. They descended in a lift and then went on an enclosed caged train to the different mining sites. The various mining techniques were explained and Max operated a hydraulic drill, while Sam declined due to the significant noise [View Full Entry]

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Litchfield National Park was full of special places for Kornies5+2. Wangi Falls was a busy, but impressive waterfall. Florence Falls provided another picturesque spot for a swim and we met our first water snake…a harmless python, although I did not know this initially and was almost ready to evacuate the entire waterhole! We enjoyed a picnic lunch at Buley’s Rock Holes and I think even Hamish, our Kakadu tour guide, would have been proud of our spread. Nana Deanna and Papa Harry joined the rock jumping ranks, as they plummeted into a small, but deep pool. Even J [View Full Entry]

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Kornies 5 have crossed the border into The Northern Territory. Ntimiluk National Park, near Katherine, was our first stop and on our arrival into the campsite we realised that we were not alone…the school holiday crowds had appeared but we managed to find a quiet spot not far from a resort-styled swimming pool with all of the five star trappings. After dinner we had a night swim which is always exciting and texted the Raik-Allens, who we knew were in N.T. to let them know of our whereabouts…you never know who you might bump into in the middle of nowhere. [View Full Entry]

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It has been a while since our last update… Nanny Rita and Papa Ami arrived in Broome with excited grandchildren hanging off their arms. We spent a beautiful afternoon on Cable Beach; the boys surfed and played with the tribe of children that they have befriended over the year. We were spoiled with great dinners that included entrées, mains and desserts but had to rely on Kathy’s macaroni and cheese one night, as darkness descended over Broome with a blackout hitting town just as we were about to “hit” some restaurants. Our back up battery came in han [View Full Entry]

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We did stay a bit longer at Ningaloo…two weeks in total. Snorkeling continued to be a highlight, including my first experience swimming with a reef shark. Well once I spotted the shark everyone swam towards it for a closer look. I, on the other hand, headed straight back to shore. Jojo loved the sharks and during Happy Hour reported on his close encounter with “such a friendly shark, he won’t hurt you as he has tiny tiny teeth. I love him.” In honour of Mother’s Day, I spent a day with “The Ladies” at The Novotel, Exmouth. W [View Full Entry]

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Quobba Station provided some welcome isolation and a break from the school holiday crowds. Max, Sam and JoJo adopted Ginger and Peggy, the station horses, who received many treats of apples, carrots and green grass from our boys. Day trips snorkeling, fishing, visiting blowholes and bluffs kept us busy. At Red Bluff we met a fellow called Dave, who shared his freshly caught Tuna sashimi with us and then pointed out a beach shelter that he had made, hammock included, where we spent the rest of the afternoon. Marshmallows were on the dessert menu again, with fires lit nearly ev [View Full Entry]

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When I signed up for this year, I never imagined what a huge part fishing would play on a daily basis. Sam wanted to shout the family a fishing tour in Kalbarri, until he found out that it would cost over one thousand dollars for half a day. So we did the next best thing….we hired a little boat that was probably one horse power and armed with our fishing rods, bait, tackle box and hand lines ( got the lingo down pat) we set off to catch some fish. A lone pelican followed us down the river, obviously aware [View Full Entry]

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