FROM LIANA:
Making our way from Armidale to Forster has been our longest journey so far. At just shy of 300km this journey made up half of our total distance so far. However on the way our family was struck by a tragedy. One of our worst fears had been imagined where it was confirmed that Daniel had Man Flu. It started in Armidale as a bit of a sore throat and by the time we got to Forster almost four hours later the sickness had officially set in.
Now perhaps some of you have heard me vent about this before, or perhaps even some of you can even relate. Daniel is annoying at the best of times, but when he is sick he crosses the border into completely intolerable. He’ll refuse to move, sitting in his little ivory tower bed in the camper barking out his orders to get him things (the camper isn’t huge, quite literally everything is in arms reach), and god help anyone who makes noise, moves or tries to talk – easy with two kids in a tin box right? The only thing which made him feel better was lying in bed watching Wonder Woman – go figure.
Needless to say that not much happened in our first two days in Forster. It was mainly trying to avoid the wrath of Patient Zero festering away in the camper, and making the drive into town to fetch his various food requests. Luckily the campsite we stayed at had lots to occupy the kids. We stayed at Discovery Parks Forster which is right on the Wallamba River. There’s an enclosed playground, a little beach to play in the river, games room and the roads made perfect loops for the kids to ride bikes and scooters around. The park also does regular movie nights and sausage sizzles. Staying at Discovery Parks is always such a treat because they cater for kids so well.
Once The Patient was back on his feet we were able to start going out and about in Forster. It’s such a beautiful coastal town it’s a shame we didn’t get to explore more. We spent the morning beach combing at Pebbly Beach. The small beach has got the best shell collecting I’ve ever come across with some amazing shells to be found very easily. The Tanks rock formation makes for good sheltered swimming for the kids as well.
We spent the afternoon fishing at John Wright Park after a good tip from the guys at Great Lakes Tackle. We had a perfect afternoon with a picnic and a glorious view on the water. Final count was 5 catfish, 2 small puffer fish and about a cubic metre of seaweed. Despite Kaia having the measuring tape at the ready none of the fish were over the 36cm legal limit to catch and eat but the thrill of the catch was just as fun.
We finished off our time in Forster by taking on the Booti Hill walking track. We decided to start the hike at the Ruins campground as it meant that we would tackle the hill at the beginning of the hike when we were fresh rather than at the end. It’s a 6.5km return loop, with an extra 1km return to add on the detour to Elizabeth Beach. It was ambitious to take on with the kids, especially with the Elizabeth Beach detour being an almost vertical climb. The views are spectacular and there is the most perfectly positioned picnic spot at the top. But that’s where it all came undone. It was a steaming hot sunny day and after getting to Elizabeth Beach we realized we were out of water. Ryder also had a dirty nappy and we had forgotten to pack a change. You’d think after two kids we wouldn’t still be making such rookie mistakes.
We ended up wandering the streets around Elizabeth Beach to try and find a store or something to purchase nappies and water. We stumbled upon Pacific Palms Caravan Park, who were kind enough to provide us what we needed from their personal stock. I’d hate to think how the day would have ended without their kindness! All in all it ended up being a 10.5km hike which was good training for our upcoming Milford Track trip (more on that in the next edition). A true testament to her limitless energy, after doing that hike which had us wiped out completely, Kaia still spent the next 3 hours running around the campsite with her new little friends where she still managed to out run older kids on bicycles.
From there it was on to Sydney and back to the bright lights of a big city. We knew we had to be in Sydney by the beginning of March as our pre booked trip to New Zealand was departing from there and the kids were staying with my parents in Sydney. Mum always kindly puts us up and spoils the kids rotten.
Whenever we go to Sydney we always seem to just evaporate money between long overdue catch ups with old friends and using Sydney as a base to catch up on life admin such as renewing passports and car repairs. We wanted to get Elsa serviced before we hit the true middle of nowhere and we needed to get the brakes looked at….an exercise which set us back an unexpected grand.
We toasted best friend Gavin Skeels’ 40th birthday which was a much needed parents night out where we ignored the exhaustion which set in after the wee hours of 9:00pm. We spent the evening catching up with a group of ex-colleagues who have been friends for the past 15 years. We don’t speak or see each other all the time but when we do catch up its like we’re all back at Friday night drinks in our 20’s again.
Mum then treated us to the Great Opera Hits show at the Sydney Opera House. As we stood on the balcony of one of the finest monuments in the world, watching the sun set behind the harbor drinking champagne – you wouldn’t have known that we are effectively homeless. The show surpassed all our expectations, with the finale of the Flower Duet from Lakme – one of our wedding songs – being the highlight.
A bit of shopping and packing and it was time for our holiday from the holiday in New Zealand. Stay tuned for our kiwi adventure!
FROM DANIEL:
Our next destination was some distance towards the coast, some place called Forster. Had never heard about it before but the wife raved about it having been there a few times before in her younger days. Arriving after a four hour drive I was pleasantly surprised by the site which was right on the river. There was definitely going to be some fishing. Nice sized pitch and we splashed out on an ensuite to minimize the midnight arguments about who was going to take Kaia to the toilet. Having put a brave face on throughout the journey I finally succumbed to what was undiagnosed bubonic plague. I spent the next few days suffering in silence (as I do) and without sympathy but eventually I fought back from the brink of death. Rewarding my gallant effort I was treated to a sausage sizzle.
We did plenty of fishing, the wife already mentioned fishing from the harbor, but we also had a fantastic afternoon fishing from the jetty of the campground. Once again my haul resembled something straight out of Deadliest Catch and included the lesser known half jawed serpent fish – or at least that’s what I called it. My fishing efforts were slightly more rewarded, with Ryder learning to say “Fishy” with excitement at every new catch. I was concerned at how sharp the teeth were on some of these fish given that Kaia was swimming in the river just a few metres away.
The day’s highlight was seeing a pod of dolphins chasing the wake of the boats going past in the river. While we were all shouting with excitement over this rare occasion, Kaia wasn’t impressed as they didn’t put on a show like what she saw so many times at Sea World.
To further comment on the “nature walk” I was roped in to – a great experience with a fantastic lookout for lunch, however the lack of water on such a hot day had me about to transform into Bear Grylls in the search for water, despite being mercilessly mocked for my over confidence in my survival capabilities. My mouth was as dry as Ghandi’s thong (for those of you in the UK those are flip flops, however the UK meaning of thong could also have applied).
All in all a good time in Forster. I’d highly recommend Discovery Parks Forster to anyone. A fantastic well maintained site in a great location.
Our next stop was back to Sydney in preparation for our pre-planned trip to New Zealand. Once again my mother in law gave us the finest hospitality when putting us up and gave us a couple of great nights out. The day before leaving for New Zealand we dropped Ryder off at my father in law and his partner Chrissi. A huge thank you to the in laws for taking the kids and making this New Zealand trip possible. Milford Sound here we come….
Where are the Actons? 
Leave a comment