The Evans' go camping!!!!

Paul has been keen to go camping since we first moved here a year ago. Quite a few of our friends camp and eventually it became an unavoidable issue I could no longer put off. I did, however, have a few conditions that needed to be met before we went anywhere near a camp site. I always have conditions!

Number 1: No dodgy camp sites! My biggest aversion to camping is the whole public ablutions issue so they had to be clean and tidy. In fact, you actually get camp sites with your own on-site shower and toilet. That's definitely on my list of places to go camping!

Number 2: We had to be organised! There was no way I going camping with some poky tent and a few sleeping bags. We needed to have all "the camping gear" necessary to make this a pleasant experience.

And so with all these requirements met we set off on our first trip! Not too far away from home (an hour) and only for one night, our camp site of choice was Moore River. Our friends, Vaughan and Roelinda, were the chosen victims to witness this very first mission. I figured that there would be safety in numbers in case Paul and I couldn't get the tent up or had forgotten some vital piece of equipment to ensure a fun-filled experience.

I needn't have worried though! The tent went up with relative ease and no arguments!





The children had a ball - excuse the pun!



Between the two camping families we set up a pretty mean camp kitchen and ate like kings!



No camping experience is complete without marshmallows!



The children couldn't wait to sleep in the tent and I've never seen them so keen to go to bed! I must mention, that we probably had the cleanest tent in the whole camp site. Not only because it was a new tent, but also because Paul and his ocd ways wouldn't let anyone in the tent unless they had removed every possible speck of dirt from under their feet. This involved picking the kids up and vigorously dusting their feet and then depositing them into the tent without their feet touching the ground.





The camp site was set in a beautiful location with the beach only a short walk away.




And so, this is how I survived our very first family camping trip.



xxx

One year on ....................................

I really shouldn't wait until late at night to update my blog. Usually, when I'm out and about, I think up these amazing blog posts but NOW that I am actually sitting down to write, my inspiration escapes me!!!
Oh well. Let me continue on and bore you with some mundane details of our life.

We have been in Australia for exactly one year and 8 days! Can you believe it? Does time really fly by at such a rapid speed? Apparently it does.
And so, instead of boring with you all the minute, drab details of the past year I shall instead endeavour to enlighten you with some interesting facts I happened upon in the last year. Here goes......

* The grass is not always greener on the other side. I mean that literally and figuratively. I don't think we realised "how good we had it" in Wales and in the first few months we very quickly realised "how many good things" we had left behind. Literally, it is very hard to grow "green" grass in this place! Now weeds are not a problem - they flourish in abundance on our lawn but that lovely thick green stuff we like to call grass! Uh uh - no way. In fact many people resort to the fake stuff to get the green effect!



* Thongs (previously known to me as a g-strings) are what they call flip flops/slops here. Sweets are lollies and after spending 8 years in the UK trying to remember to call chips (the snacky type things) crisps, I now have to revert back to calling them chips.



* My children are no longer tv addicts and have managed to kick the habit without any serious side effects - phew!



* I can still ride a bike after 8 years of not riding a bike.



* A teacher is a teacher whether you teach in South Africa, Wales or Australia.



* A 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom house on one level stays a lot tidier than a small, poky 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 3 level, terraced house. Funnily enough, my children say they preferred our small, poky house in Wales because it had stairs! I hated those STAIRS! But I think I might just be coming around to their way of thinking since I think those stairs helped me keep off a few kgs. without doing any form of exercise.



* Internet shopping over here is lagging far behind the UK :-(
I loved the ease with which I could shop online in Wales and I am also sorry to say that the normal shops here, do not always meet up with my shopaholic standards.

* I have a new favourite coffee place. Its not quite Starbucks but on the whole its pretty good - Mc Cafe. Coffee is good and cheap and the kids always love Mc Donald's! They make the most delicious banana bread!



There we go - I'm sure you get the picture. Some good things and some not so good things but on the whole - not a bad idea! So I guess we'll stick around this place called OZ a little bit longer!

Have a good week.
xxxx

PS. The pics are from our Anniversary and Father's Day weekend.