We headed away from Friendly Beaches towards Port Arthur, stopping for some berry picking at Sorell Fruit Farm along the way. We decided we needed at least a couple of nights in a caravan park to clean up, so rang ahead to try and book somewhere. The caravan park in Port Arthur was full, but we managed to get into the caravan park at White Beach, about 10km from Port Arthur. The park was packed and teaming with kids and quite nice except it was the first time on this trip that we also had to pay extra for showers and to use the barbecues in a caravan park. A very cold and brisk southwesterly wind as well as occasional showers made it a very cold stay at White Beach. We also didn't have an ideal ... read more

We checked in at the Hillcrest Tourist Park in St Helens in the early afternoon so decided to go back into town to do some food shopping for Christmas lunch as well as a few last minute presents. On Christmas Eve, we went for a drive in the hills, doing short walks at Blue Tier Reserve (Goblin Walk), Anchor Stampers (an old Tin mine) and Halls Falls. We stopped for some more cheeses at Pyengana Cheese on the way to St Columba Falls (where we had lunch) and Ralphs Falls. After dinner (delicious Gem Fish from Salty Seas fish shop) we went back into town for the annual Christmas Eve parade. Christmas day was very exciting for the kids as Santa had managed to find us despite our distance from home. They were both very pleased ... read more

We caught the 'Spirit of Tasmania' ferry from Port Melbourne to Devonport, departing at 9am and arriving at 6pm. It was a relatively smooth ride, although we all felt a little queasy whenever we had something to eat. Alex and the kids took advantage of the free movies, watching Ratatouille in the morning while I added our Melbourne blog entry (the ferry had NextG reception). In the afternoon, we all watched another movie (Baby Mama) to pass away the time. Once we got off the ferry, it was only a very short drive to the Abel Tasman caravan park, where we stayed for 3 nights. During our first day in Devonport, we drove out to Coles Beach where we had barbecued sausages for lunch, visited Mersey Lighthouse, and then drove out to the east to visit ... read more

We drove from Lorne along the Great Ocean Road again, stopping at the ex-Diggers memorial, Aireys Inlet lighthouse (where the ABC television children's show 'Around the Twist' was filmed), and Bells Beach. From Torquay we travelled through Geelong into Ballarat, where we stopped for a late lunch and play at the Adventure Playground. The lake there (Lake Wendouree) was dry and we later learnt that because of this, the police had recovered quite a few discarded weapons and were able to solve several old crimes. Obviously the crims hadn't allowed for the drought when throwing the evidence in the lake! We travelled north to stay with Jeannie and Vin at Lamplough Estate, just south of Avoca. They are parents of a friend of ours and kindly offered for us to stay with them. We had a ... read more

We crossed the SA/Vic border without great fanfare and headed into The Grampians via Horsham and Wartook Valley. We made camp at Smith Mill camp ground. It was a great site with a fire place (with a swivel hotplate) and picnic table and plenty of room for us to set up our full annex (awning with walls). We did this because it looked like rain was heading our way and the forecast was for wet and windy conditions during the weekend. It was great having a fire place again and being able to use it. Cape Arid in WA was the last time we had a camp fire. We had plenty of wood as the only other group of campers there when we arrived decided to leave due to the expected bad weather, leaving us all ... read more