24 Sept to 26 Sept 2010
We are just back from a camping weekend at the Stringy Bark Campground in the Deep Creek Conservation Park south of Adelaide.
It was the first time we have taken all four grandchildren away camping together. The six of us set out on Friday afternoon, the Prado packed to the rafters, and arrived safely there at around 4:30pm.
Vonnie and Tom, and Emily and Brad had arrived in the morning and had the campfire going and the site set up. With a bit of help we got our camper trailer all set up and were sitting around the fire enjoying everyone’s company by 5:30.
After explaining the rules about the fire, toilets and the bush to the young ones we all relaxed and enjoyed the fire. Ethan hadn’t been camping before with a fire, so he was very interested in it and took to it like a duck to water.
Snags and Steak for tea followed by marsh mellows roasted on the fire was a good way to start the weekend.
We gave all the children a torch each, and they had loads of fun investigating the surroundings and the tents at night.
After running themselves ragged all of them were in bed by 8:30, and peace descended on the camping area. 🙂
We woke around 6:30 on Saturday to the sounds of the birds and quickly had a bed full of grandchildren. We all lay there listening to the sounds outside for a good 5 mins before it was play time and the windows were opened and they were making all sorts of wonderful sounds and noises, calling out to Tom to crank up the fire and for Emily and Brad to get up!!
After a big breakfast of bacon and eggs, we had a visit from the Ranger (checking we had paid our fees and that we weren’t burning the local wood – of course we weren’t 🙂 ) and then the children headed out to collect more wood for the fire and to find the best marsh mellow sticks they could find.
Before long it was lunch time and we cooked up toasties in the coals using our jaffle irons, delicious.
In the early afternoon we (Deb, me, Dante, Tessa, Ella, Ethan and Vonnie) jumped into the cars and headed off to find a Geocache, named “Tappa Yakka”, hidden in the park. Using our GPS unit and my iPhone we headed off to the gps location of the geocache, along many dirt tracks and eventually down the track to the Tapanappa Lookout and picnic area. When we got there, we found a few “Muggles” having a picnic, so the children had to try and be a bit sneaky as they searched the area , with the help of the GPS unit, to find the Cache. While we were looking we found a large Shingleback lizard sunning itself in a clearing. The kids soon found the cache hidden under a Yakka (Blackboy). We took the cache back to the car and opened it up. There were a few little treasures in it ( a plastic bracelet and toys) and the log. We convinced the children to leave everything in it as we didn’t have anything to swap for them, so we just signed the log ( we were the third to record our find on the log) and them had the kids sneakily put it back in place and well hidden. The “Muggles” didn’t suspect a thing, LOL.
We then headed back to the campsite, filling our cars with some good wood on the way.
We all settled in around the campfire and the radio to listen to the AFL grand final. Vonnie was running a book with the winner to get a block of chocolate. A few of the little ones first chose a draw, but then changed their minds and went for one team or the other (pity they changed!!). The last five minutes of the game was very exciting on the radio (without pictures it seemed to be so much more intense). But the draw became the topic of discussion for a while and the chocolate was quickly shared out.
We had a Lamb and vege camp-oven for tea, always so delicious. After tea, Deb and Vonnie took a couple of rugs, and all the children, into a dark area to lay back and look at the stars. The stars down there are always so magical and its fun looking for satellites and shooting stars. Emily and Brad made roasted bananas and chocolate for dessert. It was delicious and devoured in no time.
The kids all settled back into bed fairly easily after their long busy day, and they all slept well.
Sunday morning saw a repeat of Saturday, our bed full of kids, but they were a little quieter, well maybe just a bit!
After another yummy breakfast of bacon and eggs, we relaxed for a while and then started to pack up. We left around 10:30 and were home by midday. It was a great weekend.
(-: FUN!