23 May 2014 Deep Creek Conservation Park and the Stringy Bark Campground
We have been in our new home for almost 2 weeks, so it must be time to run away. 🙂
Eileen and Brian, Deb’s mum and dad, arrived around 9:30am to take up residence for the weekend, they are looking after Aiko for us and having a weekend exploring in the city. After showing them all the “How to’s” for our new place we set off at around 10am to pick-up our caravan from storage and head off down the coast.
The pick-up was easy, we even got to fill our water tanks with rainwater for the trip which was very much appreciated. We got back on the road around 11am and headed towards Cape Jervis and the Deep Creek Conservation Park. As we approached Yankalilla we decided to grab some lunch at a cafe that an “Old” friend of Deb’s (Cathy) worked at, hoping she might be on. She was and Deb and Cathy had a great , yet short chat and catch-up. We got a bit of lunch and a couple of cakes for the afternoon. Once we’d eaten we hit the road and made it to Stringybark by 12:30.
Tom and Vonnie, and Brad, Emily and Jackson , and Darrel and Ally had already arrived and set-up. We picked out a spot to park the van, leaving enough room for Carly and Kieran to setup in between us and Vonnie and Tom. Just as we finished Carly, Kieran, Ella and Ethan arrived. They were all set-up in no time and everyone settled back for a quiet afternoon around the campsite. 
Ella and Ethan had lots of fun exploring the bush and picking out multi pronged “Marshmellow Sticks” for the evening, and Jackson was throwing his Frizby around (For a 2 ½ year old he has a great arm on him).
It was soon getting late and the fire was lit and we all set about making tea for the first night. We always try and keep it simple for the first night so sausages and bread seemed to be a very common theme for tea. We had about 10 guests fly in for tea. We had 4 kookaburras in one tree and about 6 in another. Around here they assume snags on a BBQ are fair game. But I think we must have been hungier than them, and they missed out. 
As beer was replaced by red wine and then port we all had settled in pretty well. Deb grabbed a blanket and took Ella and Ethan off to a quiet spot away from the lights and they laid on the blanket and looked at the stars. From what I hear, Ella isn’t much of a star gazer, that really surprised me, as she is such a whimsical soul, I thought she would have been taken away to another world. They didn’t see any satellites, but did see thousands of stars. The night skies down here are amazing.
We had an early-ish night and looked forward to the rest of the weekend.
Satruday 24th May 2014 Stringy Bark Campground
We both had a great nights sleep, which is a little unusual, as it normally takes a night or 2 to get used to the van. Around 6:30am we heard a light knock on our door, Ella and Ethan had arrived for morning snuggles with us in our bed. It was lots of fun and eventually after a few final rounds of “And the Little one said, Roll Over, Roll Over” we got out of bed and they had their first breakfast for the day, Cocoa Bombs (GF Coco Pops) while we had a morning cuppa.
Once we eventually made it out of the van, we got our breakfast ( and E & E’s 2nd breakfast) on the go. Bacon and Eggs with mushies and tomato in toast. Yum, a camping favourite.
We all had a quiet morning, the most activity was Tom and Brad getting the fishing rods geared up ready for the high tide down at the Blowhole around 1:30pm. Kieran and I did a run to Delamere for some previsions and a couple of newspapers. And to check 4 mobile phones for for messages, emails and twitter updates!!! All was well with the outside world that mattered for us. We got the fire going around 11am so there were a few good coals for our jaffle-irons at lunchtime. Ham and cheese toasties cooked on a bed of hot coals , yum.
Mid afternoon, Kieran and I took Ella and Ethan out for a walk along the Forest Circuit Walk to do a Geocache with them. Ella keeps explaining that Geocacheing is just a way adults get kids to do some exercise while having fun!! Maybe so, but they always enjoy the “hunt”. We found the cache very quickly and after they had had a good look through all the “little treasures” in it, we put it back and hid it a bit better than when we found it. Then we walked back to the camp area, a pleasant 2km walk through the bush, so many great looking trees in this part of the park, lot of “Black Boys” (or more PC, Grass Trees), and with all this warm weather we have been having there was a real blush and “Spring” wild flowers (which Ella particularly enjoyed).
We got back to camp and Vonnie and Deb were getting the camp ovens ready for tonight’s tea. A beef roast in one and a leg of lamb in the other, both with a very generous helping of vegies. The boys all pitched in with dinner and cranked the fire up a bit to make sure we had enough hot coals for cooking. It’s hot thirsty work slaving over a hot camp fire, luckily we had a few beers to help with the situation!! Vonnie did up a gluten free Olive and Dried Tomato Damper Camp-oven for an afternoon snack, so delicious.
We tried to time the cooking of the camp ovens so we were eating just before sundown, but as it happens, we were about 30mins out, so carving and serving was done by torch and lantern light. 
A delicious meal as always, followed by Emily’s treat for us all, bananas and apples stuffed with chocolates, wrapped in foil and roasted in the coals. Served up with a good dob of cream, YUMMM!!
Darrel and Ally were leaving in the morning, so we just had to burn all the wood in their trailer that night. We had a campfire that was the envy of the campground, as the night went on we had to get a bit further back from it to avoid being singed!
Everyone had retired for the night by 10, wrapping up a fantastic day.
Sunday 25 May 2014 Stringy Bark Campground
We were woken this morning by little taps on the door at around 7am, apparently Kieran held E and E back a little longer this morning. After some nice cuddles with them in bed, we were all up and they were having their first breakfast, Cocoa Bombs, again, while we had a morning cuppa. It wasn’t long before we were all out and about and ready for main breakfast, what else but bacon and eggs with mushies and tomato.
The morning was quiet, with everyone relaxing around the site. Darrel and Ally left around 9:30am and Tom and Brad went fishing at Rapid Bay Jetty. Kieran and I drove around to have a look at the Bay and the camping area there. I looks like a fantastic place to camp, set at the base of some very steep hills and right on the water, with a very long jetty and clean beach. Although it is VERY open to northerly winds. (There were no fish here either for Tom and Brad).
Carly and Kieran packed away their camper trailer after lunch and set off home around 2pm. They had a great time, and so did Ella and Ethan, so we hope they will do this sort of thing more often, both as part of a group and by themselves.
We spent a quiet afternoon with Tom, Vonnie, Brad, Emily and Jackson, it was very relaxing sitting around not doing much of anything at all. Deb and I grabbed some good sized logs left behind at a nearby campsite, one was still smoking as we carried/dragged them up to our firepit.
Late afternoon Brad and Emily managed to find some firewood and we cranked the fire up so we had some coals for cooking. Last night is always a bit of a lets make do with whatever is left sort of meal. Tom had the last of last nights camp-oven (he forgot all about it at breakfast), snags and chops for Em, Brad and Jackson, Toasties for Vonnie and snags, mushies and tomato on bread for us. Beers were finished, red wine and port finished the night. This is living at its’ best, simple pleasures.
Monday 26 May 2014 Stringy Bark Campground and back to Adelaide.
Without the little ones around we slept in. We were planning to be up and in action by 7, but 8am seemed to be what we needed.
It had rained overnight, so we were very glad Carly and Kieran had got away yesterday while it was dry. Nothing worse than packing up a wet camper trailer, only to have to open it back up at home to dry it out.. (Tom and Vonnie, and Emily and Brad have that “pleasure”). And to make thing a bit worse, Emily and Brad had a bit of a leak over night, and were dealing with a soggy floor inside their tent.
We had had breakfast and were all packed up around 9. The others were going to take some time to pack up and leave. So we said good bye and headed home. The van got a tad dirty driving out on the dirt (now, mud) roads. But luckily for us we could wash it down where we are storing it, and with all that we were still home by 11:15, with the van all tucked away for our next trip in Sept/Oct.
Brian and Eileen seemed to have had a very relaxing and good time in our apartment over the weekend, and Aiko was in very good shape (and happy to see us). We are very lucky to have them around to do the little things for us.
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