thewills'wanderings

After spending a fantastic week in Baghara, near Bundaberg, we left last Friday for the town of 1770. We camped at a caravan park and spent our time exploring the surrounding beaches. We had some rain, mostly at night and it was unbearably hot. We’ve bought a tent for the big girls but because it was so hot they couldn’t sleep outside and we all ended up inside the caravan with the air-con on. I know, I know we sound very soft and it’s not going to be good for Tim’s image to admit to a camping holiday in an air-conditioned caravan.(By the way he’s always the first to suggest we turn it on!) I’m so glad we have it though!

We also encountered some very nasty flies. Now, I know that Australia is famous for flies but I had no idea that it had flies that are bright green and seek you out and BITE. Tim got the most bites, they even drew blood. I think I got the least bites because I’m a bit paranoid about Australian bugs and spend most of my time when we’re camping in wild kind of places jumping and slapping and generally discouraging any kind of bug activity near my body.

While in this area we did some more 4 wheel driving which took us to some cool beaches with no-one else around. It ‘s kind of eerie swimming in these kind of places because of all the shark hype, but it’s awesome and the water is ridiculously warm, so warm that you just can’t get cooled off like in NZ. On Sunday we decided to find a church to go to. We found a little Baptist Church and went along . There were no other children but the morning tea was great , with a bonus of 6 big kangaroos bouncing along while we had morning tea under this huge permanent pagoda thingy(roof but no walls).

After waiting for the weather to settle , we booked on a day trip to the Great Barrier to do some snorkelling. It’s the first time we’ve ever done a touristy thing like this and it was very nice. It was a 90 minute cruise from 1770 to Lady Musgrave Island. I felt seriously ill but managed to avoid throwing up, but only just. Both Charlotte and Michaella made use of the very nifty puke bags though. Once we arrived on the island we transferred onto a pontoon where we had morning tea then got into our gear and went snorkeling. It was so nice to be in luke warm water and see lots of colourful fish. Charlotte bobbed around in a life jacket while we snorkelled. We all went on a glass bottomed boat to the island and did a walk around checking out the birds in the scorching heat and walking around on the coral. The water was so warm, it was impossible to cool off. We had a buffet lunch on the boat, more snorkeling and headed back to the mainland. I slept all the way back and when we got back it was straight on the road(after fending off a few biting green flies!)

We needed to get back to Surfers by the 18^th to use our theme park passes(the 2 day pass which we had to use within 14 days). In hindsight we probably wouldn’t have bought them as it put us under pressure to get back to Surfers but we managed to do it with a few very hectic days. We left 1770 after the cruise and drove a couple of hours, had our first takeaway dinner since being in Oz and stayed in a rest area overnight. As soon as we woke we left and kept driving till we got the Australia Zoo. The weather was shocking, we had pouring rain and actually felt a bit chilly after being soaked to the bone, but still managed to see the crocs, koalas, wombats, Tasmanian devils etc. It was quite impressive but did give me an appreciation for how good the Auckland Zoo is. It wasn’t that much better than our zoo, except for the shows and encounters which did give you the chance to learn lots and touch koalas etc which the girls loved.(I actually thought they were quite smelly).

We then drove from the Zoo to our caravan park in Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast (after a wee domestic dispute involving directions, which you get when you’re travelling.) The caravan park was mostly full of permanent residents (think trailer park), a bit of a different experience. We did a few loads of washing in the laundry, crashed and left for Dreamworld early the next day. The girls had a blast and ran around all day going on all the rides for the second time in 2 weeks! They really are adrenalin junkies! After another full on day we drove to Burleigh Heads at Surfers which is where we are now and I am breathing a big sigh of relief! Ah……..!!!We are here for 3 nights and it’s awesome. It’s a caravan park right across from the surf beach and very easy. Tomorrow I’m off shopping with the big girls at Pacific Fair, not that we’re actually seriously shopping, but it is nice to look!). Tim doesn’t get this, but it’s a girl thing. Right girls???

So, the time is ticking by, and we’re having a great time. It’s so nice to have no major plans and just decide where we want to go and GO! Hope you enjoy the photos!

Our plan is to head south toward Sydney on Saturday. Look forward to e-mails from you all.

We’ve now been in Australia for nearly 2 weeks. Starting in Brisbane, we stayed at the Cedar Lake Country Resort in Nerang which is about 20 minutes from Surfers. That first week we were busy looking for a car to buy and figuring out how to get it registered in our name and insured. This is a bit complicated when you don’t have an Australian address, but we did it! We bought a bright red Holden Jackaroo, which is the same as an Isuzu Big Horn in NZ.

While this was all happening we managed to spend a day at Dreamworld and Whitewater World which was awesome. The 2 parks are connected and we got a 2 day pass so that we can go back again in the next 14 days. We’ll be back next week for a second go. It was so hot at Dreamworld, luckily there weren’t many queues. It was great to race over to the water park to cool off. The big girls are adrenalin junkies like their Dad and love all of the wild roller coasters and water slides. I have to confess to being a total scaredy cat. I hate the big rides and am very glad to have to stick with Charlotte and hang out in Wiggles World and play on the Nickelodeon water park which is so much fun. Charlotte would probably like to go with the big girls and if she was tall enough to go on the big rides I’m sure she’d have deserted me!

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The other night I was deciding what to cook for dinner and everyone requested a curry, so off I went to the supermarket to get supplies. While scouring the butchery department I saw some lovely, juicy looking marinated meat that would be perfect for a curry. It was cheap too and it was…..kangaroo. Now, I knew that if I went back and announced that we were having kangaroo for dinner I would have lots of protests, so I decided to just quietly get on with cooking dinner (and quickly hide the packaging!)

Guess what? They loved it! What was hilarious was listening to the comments about how nice the meat was while they were eating it. I waited until Michaella had finished her second helping and as we were clearing up the plates I casually asked, “So how did you all like the kanga curry?” There were loads of squeals and shock that I fed them the cute little ‘roos that they were patting the other day.

Next on the menu is kangabangers. Maybe not this week though, I need to build up some trust with the girls so I can trick them again! (It’s all good training for South-East Asia, they need to toughen up!)

Well at last we are here! Right now I’m sitting in the Nerang Public Library using their internet for free.(You’re supposed to have a library card but the nice man let me have an hour on a courtesy card.) The timeshare internet is being upgraded so we couldn’t use it today.

Yesterday was great. The kid’s loved the flight and because it was only 3 hours long and they all had their own tv screen and food, it was very stress free. The fact that Charlotte sat in the row in front with Tim and Ashleigh had nothing to do with my relaxing flight.(hehe!)

We drove to our timeshare, swam in the pool, had an early dinner and all crashed! We were woken by the VERY loud laughing kookaburras which sent all of us into fits of laughter, only problem being that it was 4.45am! Our body clocks told us it was 7.30 so we were up and into it.  The kids were even doing maths work by 7.30!(don’t worry, I know the novelty will wear off!)

We spent the rest of today looking at car salesyards, getting our bank account sorted and swimming at Surfers, where the water was so warm! The temperature has been quite bearable, 29degrees with a warm wind.

Well, I must go before the nice man tells me my time is up. I’m off to the supermarket to get supplies for dinner. It’s quite a challenge on a tight budget, food is expensive here……………….(I can almost here the girls yelling, please mum NO MORE SAUSAGES!) I’ll see what I can do, I did see some kangaroo mince yesterday!)

At last we’re nearly there. After a month of camping, baching and staying with family we’re about to start our adventure.  For all of those faithful friends and family who have been regularly checking the blog, sorry there ‘s been nothing new for a while.  From now on it should get more exciting.

Goodbye to everyone that we didn’t get a chance to see or speak to.  Please e-mail us if you’d like, we’d love to keep in touch with you all. Remember we’ll be back for a couple of weeks in April before we head off to the big wide world, so we’ll catch up with some of you then.

…………………..photos coming soon!

by Maddie (aged 9)

Guess what we’re doing? We’re going around the world.   Well not exactly the world, but to quite a lot of countries. There are lots of things I am  excited about and these are some of them. First of all I’ve never been on a plane or to a different country so I can’t  wait to do that.  Another thing I’m excited about  is that we’re going to Australia and the waters there are warmer than New Zealand’s water. I hope I won’t get stung by a jellyfish or stingray.

It’s also really cool that we get to see poorer countries and will get to help out in some places we go. We will get to see our sponsor child Samreth when we visit Cambodia.  She’s the same age as me, I wonder what she’ll be like.

 It will be cool but kind of weird to have Mum and Dad as our teachers.

I am looking  forward to eating yum thai food and a  bit scared about the food I don’t like. I hope I don’t have to eat spiders.

It will be awesome that I will get to spend more time with  my family, especially Dad. He will not have to go away for work like he usually does!

I’m a bit sad that I won’t get to play in any sports teams for the year but guess what dad said?  He said we have to go for a run every morning. I don’t think Mum will be very motivated though.

It will get very hot in Asia so I’m not that excited about that.

I’m going to miss all of my friends but hope they’ll e-mail me and look at this blog.

Well……. not our life, just our stuff. It just feels like our life.The box is a storage container where we’ll be keeping everything that we can’t carry on our back or drag along beside us for the year.(not including our children)

The last few weeks have been quite crazy. Packing up our house, making endless plates of food for end of year shared lunches, buying secret santa presents, deciding what we need to take with us overseas, getting the kid’s to sort through all of their precious belongings and only keep what REALLY is precious, selling things on trade-me to fund our theme park trips in Aussie, attending final assemblies and Christmas parties, cancelling accounts, sorting home-schooling material and lots of other things that I just really cannot remember right now. For the last few days we’ve had just our camping gear left in our house, so we’re all sleeping on camping mattresses and using our camping cooking gear for cooking etc. We do have the luxury of having our fridge until the last minute so it’s been quite fun really. It’s nice having a clutter free house and not much to clean up. We still have our Christmas tree twinkling in the corner. That’s just something I can’t do without and when we move into Adventure Specialties on Saturday we’ll take it there, cos I just couldn’t cope with having no tree leading up to Christmas.

So,the countdown is on and our adventure is starting to unfold!

We have a taken a year out of our life to travel as a family. It’s something we’ve always thought about but about eighteen months ago we really started to try to make it happen. I clearly remember the moment when I thought “wow, we could do it”. I had been speaking to Lee Harris from church and she was telling me about their planned trip to the UK and then sailing in the Mediteranean with their girls. My heart raced when I heard of their plans.  A few nights earlier Tim had said, “I guess if we’re going to do this overseas thing we should do it soon before Michaella starts high school”.  So that for me was the start of the dream. Not long after that we had a private offer on our house after spending a few years doing up houses. We had tried to sell 6 months earlier and much to everyones surprise we hadn’t been able to. Then out of the blue we sold, without even trying, which in hindsight was so great and has made this all possible.

So in November last year we moved out of our fantastic tree house in Woodlands Park into a small 3 bedroom not so fantastic rental. We decided to rent for the year and try to use our money creatively to help fund our overseas trip. For me, this whole year has been part of the big plan and while I’ve been frustrated with our little house and scabby kitchen and bathroom, I’ve known that it’s all part of the plan.

Throughout the year I’ve spent endless hours on the internet researching, dreaming, budgeting and now here we are with tickets booked, bags almost packed and boxes all around us. I can hardly believe it!

February to April

We fly to Brisbane where we will  buy a vehicle of some sort and then pick up the caravan which has kindly been loaned to us by Steve P’s parents(thanks!!). We will then camp up and down the east coast, making sure we get to the Arapiles so Tim can relive his younger, fitter days and try to climb! We don’t have huge plans but will cruise around and explore!Tim also plans to the find some work, maybe a week or so to help feed us!

Easter in NZ

We will be back in NZ for the Christian Outdoor Instructors Conference which is also going to be a big staff reunion for Adventure Specialties coinciding with their 25th year celebrations. We really didn’t want to miss that so we planned our trip to make sure we could be there.

April 16th

We fly to Bangkok(assuming the airport is open!). We will spend a few days here while we organise tickets to Nepal.

April 19th ish

Fly to Nepal. Here we will meet up with the AdSpecs group and help out with the Tear Fund project”lost children of the Himalayas”. At this stage it looks like we will be painting a building or something practical like that. We’ll also trek in the Langtang Valley which is about 12 hours by bus from Kathmandu. It’s supposed to be a reasonably easy trek and is close to the Tibetan border. During the trek, Tim and a few others will do a more serious climb while the rest of us chill out in the village below. We’ll be in Nepal for about a month and then head back to Bangkok to continue on our family journey.

End of May–September 6th

From Bangkok, we’ll travel north to Chiang Mai, spend a few weeks there recovering from Nepal and then begin our overland extravaganza into Laos,Vietnam,Cambodia and back to Thailand. The exact details and dates are still flexible at this stage, actually they always will be. With this sort of travelling and with 4 kids we’re can’t be too detailed in our planning, which suits me just fine! I plan to do some english language teaching if the opportunity arises.

Septmber 6th

Fly to London where we will spend a few days checking out the sights and then head to France??and maybe hire a campervan for a month……….details still unclear.

mid-October

Fly to Los Angeles. Our plan is to spend a couple of months travelling around in an RV(check out the movie).Still unsure, our return date is flexible…………have a feeling the $$$$ or lack of may determine our return.