My favourite moments

"Play is the work of children" J Piaget.

One of the main reasons I love to camp is because there are not many restrictions on what you do or how you do it. It allows plenty of time to just "hang out", encouraging the kids to become more creative, meet new people, get along with each other and just play. Watching this happen is always my favourite moments of a camping trip. Here are a few from our 18 night road trip to Victoria and back.

Our site at Cann river was a bush camp so with the abundance of leaves the kids decided to use them as tags and wrote on them. We each had a "place card" for dinner as well as other items being labeled.

The kids road their bikes nearly every day. It gave them so much independence and while in caravan parks allowed them the freedom to explore on their own. 

This river was right beside our campsite and was so nice to cool off in.  The kids had a great time playing with two others who came down for a swim, and weren't turned off by the eels!

We joined in with a two hour ranger walk along Cape Woolamai to the Pinnacles. Although we started off with them, half way through we lagged a bit behind ( little legs couldn't keep up!) so we made our own way home.

We found a labyrinth cut into the grass at San Remo. After running through it and finding the way in and out, the kids used their small toys to play a game which lasted nearly two hours! Luckily we weren't in any rush and I had a book I wanted to finish!

This was another spontaneous stop when coming back from the deep space station in Canberra. It was hot so we decided to stop of for a swim. Jay was determined to catch some tadpoles and spent ages hunting them down.

 A fellow camper suggested to us, to make sure we went up to the roof of the Parliment house to see the views of Canberra. I not sure how much Ivy saw of the view but she did enjoy practising her somersaults! 

The kids were very quick to make friends with complete strangers where ever we stopped and sometimes it was hard to move on.

Check out more playing here ( I had to explain the rules of "fly" to Ivy again, she was a bit confused why Jay moved the shoe!) 

Mumma Bear.

Ivy's favourite moments

After 18 nights on the road Ivy's favourite experiences were "The zoo's " (we went to two) and "The Australian mint"

We had Melbourne Zoo in the back of our mind when we decide to head down south, but it wasn't till I was chatting to other travelers around the pool that I was convinced that we should check it out, even if it meant staying an extra night. Ivy was determined that she didn't want to catch the train (which stops right outside the entrance) so I was brave and drove there dodging the trams along the way. I thought it was going to be tricky as I remember a lot off tension in the car between my parents when I traveled through the city years ago, but by sticking behind a local I made it without any incident. The zoo has a great layout with plenty to see, most of the exhibits can be seen by wandering along lush paths that are surrounded by leafy plants which were great on a hot day like we had. Ivy 's favourite animals were the Meerkats, African wild dogs and the Tigers. She had been practicing her tiger growl most of the morning in anticipation of meeting one and was quiet disappointed when she didn't get a response when she tried it out! Jay really enjoyed the African wild dogs, especially watching the pack try to get meat that had been placed really high up a tree, as part of their enrichment. Apart from the animals and watching the kids enjoy every minute of our visit my favourite part was the Zoo membership we got! For $88, not only are your supporting the zoo and all the conservation programs that they operate, adults can get unlimited entry and kids get in free, not only for 3 Melbourne zoos but also Taronga and Dubbo! After an exhausting 6 hour day we walked back to the car park, glad that we didn't have to catch public transport back to the camp ground!

When we left Melbourne it was pouring rain and we were undecided on where we were heading to next. Thinking the Great Ocean Road might be our next destination, we decide to drive to Geelong before making a finally decision. Along the way we found Weeribee Zoo, and because we could get in for free ( yeah for the Zoo membership!) we dropped in for a break. This Zoo is an open range so we jumped onto the first bus /train ride for the day. Even though the rain fell down, we could see all of the animals that were on display. The baby Rhino came right  to us and sharpened his horn on the front carriage! Although this was a great opportunity for us they had to call the Zoo keepers down to move her because we couldn't drive forward. We didn't stay and walk around the other exhibits as it was raining too much, but we really enjoyed our trip there and it helped me make the decision to drive north and try to out run the rain!

Heading north led us to Canberra, and to the Royal Australian mint. The mint like many attractions in Canberra is free, and combined with a tour was really interesting.  Both kids enjoyed watching the robots who do most of the work nowadays, and the tour guide was very enthusiastic and informative about the history of coin in Australia as well as how the process occurs. Honestly I am surprised that this was one of Ivy's favourite moments as she spent half the time chatting to a new found friend or rolling on the floor but since we have returned home most of her drawings are of coins or the robots that she saw! Just goes to show you that just because a child isn't intently listening they aren't taking it all in and learning from it.


So that's Ivy's favourite moments,
Next is mine!

Mumma Bear.

Jay's favourite moments.

After 18 nights on the road I asked the kids to share with me the two experiences that were their favourite. Jay found it difficult to pick but in the end he chose the two major attractions that the trip was based around, the penguins at Phillip Island and Ned Kelly's armour. He has a major interest in these two areas and studied them independently at home, so seeing them first hand was on his bucket list.

The Nobbies  is at the end of Phillip Island which is a conservation area for both sea birds and seals. The board walk weaves down the cliff face and gives a great view of nesting gulls, and we were so lucky to see a penguin as well! The views along the coastline are spectacular. Along the way Ivy noticed there was a few dead gulls and was concerned about them, thinking that maybe foxes had killed them. Lucky for her there was a ranger around that she could ask and being the independent soul that she is, she just walked straight up to him and asked about it. I think he was quiet taken back and stumbled on his words as he tried to describe the circle of life to her!

The Penguin parade was the main reason we went to Phillip Island, so one night while the storm clouds rolled in, we drove up to the centre to check them out. We paid a bit extra to have a ranger talk before hand which was very informative but also gave us the opportunity to pick out front row seats before the doors opened to everyone else. We waited four nearly two hours and just as the first penguin stuck his head out of the ocean the rain fell down! It wasn't just a sprinkle but a torrential, every part of your body soaked type of rain. But that didn't stop the penguins coming up the beach or the enthusiasm of my kids who kept an eye out for the little guys yelling "look there some more!" every time a group appeared. Watching them walk up beside the boardwalk was (as Jay said) "awesome!" and we followed one from half one down the hill till the top where he disappeared towards his burrow. You are not allowed to take photos of the penguins so that they don't become discouraged from returning but that didn't ruin the experience at all. By the time we made it back up to the centre we were soaking wet but ecstatic to have seen one of our favourite animals up close. 

 Our main reason for stopping in Melbourne was to see Ned Kelly's suit of armour and the Old Melbourne Goal  where he was convicted and hung. We all really enjoyed the Goal, some people had said that it might be not entertaining for little kids, but we always go into to these things with an open mind trying not to rush through it and it often turns out for the best. Visiting on a Saturday meant that we saw a performance about the history of Ned Kelly, which not only kept the kids interested but reinforced everything Jay had read about the bush ranger. They also had a court room drama that you could be involved in and a tour of the watch house that was so realistic ( they make you line up for a security check, lock you in a cell and switch off the lights and yell at you alot!) you felt that you were under arrest! While you have to pay to get into the goal, it's free to visit the State library  where they display the real armour (on the fifth floor) that Ned wore when he was shot down and arrested at Glenrowan. I'm not sure how many people know about this because nobody was there and we had only found out through Jays research. At this point Ivy was a little over it so laid down right next to the display while Jay and I checked it all out. Overall it was a great day that ended with my free spirited Ivy flying (she wants to be a bird when she grows up!) through the streets of Melbourne while on the way to our tram.

Stayed tuned for Ivy's favourite moments!

love Mumma Bear
xxx