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Published: January 19th 2010
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Day 264 - Little Dip Conservation Park to Mount Gambier
I woke up this morning realising that I hadn’t planned this out very well at all. Darryl had a bush shower yesterday afternoon but I didn’t so now we were a bit smelly, running out of clean clothes and about to rock up at the home of people we’d never met before! Oops!
Oh well, we left Little Dip heading for Mount Gambier and figured we’d think of something along the way. In the interests of making ourselves look a bit more presentable we stopped on the outskirts of the town so Dar could get a quick haircut, his ‘number 9’ was a bit out of control and a ‘number 3’ was required. 10 bucks later and Dar returns an almost new man and ready for anything!
This will only be the third time in the whole trip that we’ve stayed at somebody’s home albeit on their driveway and it’s difficult to know what to expect. Does that sound rude? I don’t mean it too. It’s just that the caravan needs to be level and we really don't want to be a hinderance or get in anybodies way.
We’d done the old Google trick again using John & Kates address to check things out from the satelitte view that it gives you so we had a reasonable idea but thought a quick drive by was also a good idea. It was worth it and totally reassured us that their large front lawn would probably be our home for the next couple of nights! Perfect.
We knew that when Kate found out we’d been to the local laundrette to do our washing she’d tell us off, and she did, but it was much nicer to arrive with clean sheets and clothes! Anna had phoned ahead to check they didn't mind us turning up smelly!! You can imagine the response!
There were big smiles all round when we piled through the front door and they weren't even wearing pegs on their noses. John, Kate, baby Harry, 14 year old Luke and 10 year old Jarad plus dogs Daisy and Wilbur just made us feel so welcome right from the start. Kate was baking cookies and it would have been rude to refuse them when they were hot from the oven! Yummy Kate, we should get the recipe!
The older boys had been playing tennis in the back garden so we tried not to intrude too much on their court when we backed the caravan in through the gates. We’d been wrong about camping on the front lawn, instead we were safe and secure out the back with easy access to the house and the family. Even more perfect.
First impressions suggest this is a great house to live in, very well laid out and perfect for entertaining. The older boys are camping out in the garden too but they’re in a tent which they’re pretty excited about.
Grant, Anna and the girls arrive shortly after us and once all the general sorting out has been done we head off out to the Blue Lake, one of Mount Gambier’s more famous attractions.
Whilst us girls, plus little Harry and Darryl, decide to walk the 3.6km trail around the lake the boys go off to play cricket somewhere. The walk is a good workout and of course gives different views across the stunning water which is as blue as blue can be. It’s the source of Mount Gambier’s drinking water so there’s no swimming or recreational
activity allowed here to ensure it’s purity is maintained.
We pulled our normal ‘cheese platter’ routine as a pre-appetizer for dinner which was a BBQ extravaganza cooked up by Grant, John, Darryl and Luke. What a feast we had. We were so stuffed full, not even a second walk around the lake would have shifted the amount of food that was cooked up! Instead we sat around chatting, playing with little Harry and when he went to bed we played with the dogs and got back on the Wii! A bit of bowling and a few games of tennis which passed through everyone’s bed time just leaving John, Grant, me and Darryl fighting it out!! At 1.30am we were gently prompted to stop so we went to bed but John & Grant were still at it come 3 in the morning!!!
What a great day we’ve had and what a great family to be staying with, can’t wait til tomorrow.
Dar and Sar
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Jan Kettle
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The bluest of blue lakes
The Blue Lake is stunning, isn't it? We stayed in the campsite just over the back from where all the signs are. There were a couple of smaller lakes and an interesting nature reserve there I seem to remember. xxx Mum K