There were lots of cabins and we all had our own carports, we brought the bikes so the kids could bikes around and in Mansfield they had a big bike track where Toby got to take a bike ride, it spans for 134kms, he didn’t get that far.

The weather was fantastic the whole week we were to lucky. The first day we decided to go to Craig’s Hut in case the weather wasn’t on our side. We could drive a majority of the way but the last 2 kms we had to hike it. TJ did so well, not one complaint, and on the way back all the kids were good. Rocky had a good trip on daddy’s back! It was very up and down the whole way in, but worth it went we got the breathtaking views. I was surprised at how big the house was. I was glad they had toilets there for Gigi and I on arrival, too bad there was no toilet paper. Note to self: always take toilet paper with us when we got hiking. So Rocky’s wipe’s got some use thanks to Toby’s suggestion

Our second day we decided to take the kids to The Mansfield Zoo. They had two beautiful white lions. One was making the most awesome noises, I loved it. The other memory was the fact several of the animals were allowed to roam freely, the kids weren’t too happy about that. Lets say 2 screamed their heads off, from the peacocks, ducks and kangaroo’s approaching them. I said well it probably doesn’t help you have food for them in your hands kids. Toby and I had a big laugh about that. TJ seemed to laugh through his fear. Toby even managed to get some video footage of Gigi and William screaming, it’s rather hilarious.

Day three we took a nice afternoon drive down to Bonnie Doon. Mom you might remember this from the movie “The Castle” this was the families favourite place to holiday. We found the town right near where we were and definitely felt of the serenity. I nice little town.

We spent the afternoon enjoying the resorts activities and basking in the huge spa.

Next day we ventured back towards NSW from being in Victoria to Gundagai where we stayed the night in the aid to allow me to catch up with my best mate from primary school. Sadly her kids were all away holidaying with grandparents. So my kids weren’t happy about that, we went out to dinner Friday night in Gundagai to the Family Pub and then Toby took the kids back to the hotel and Amanda and I went for a hot chocolate and catch up. Gundagai is a famous town as there is a song called Along the Road to Gundagai, it’s an Australian folk song, one of the top 30 of all time. My dad also liked to mention that he’s a member of the local RSL there. The original town was on that flat where the big bridge is, it was flooded several times and so they moved the town up off the flat in 1853.

Saturday morning we ventured into her town of Tumut for the Falling Leaves Festival, they had a big area full of tents and activities, the kids took a ride on the blown up slippery slides, TJ loved it. TJ also went into the petting zoo with Amanda, the others weren’t keen. Before long she had to leave to go to Sydney of all places to attend a concert literaly across the water from us in the Acer Arena. We ventured around the town some more before leaving for the big trip home. It was a lovely town I could see why she loves it there so much.

We arrived home about 4pm and all enjoyed our Real Aussie Holiday Adventure.

When we caught up on the phone Amanda said the concert of Black Sabbath she attended was terrible, they ended up leaving early. Total bummer, esp. at ticket prices of $160 each, too bad you can’t ask for your money back!

One of the most popular questions asked at the park is: ‘What time does the 3 o’clock parade start?’ “We call it the 3 o’clock question,” Giannetta said with a chuckle. “But the quality of your response is what matters. You need to think: what are they really asking?” This might mean pointing customers towards an air-conditioned spot to relax at while waiting for the parade, or suggesting a refreshment hut, restrooms, ride suggestions, or just a little interaction. In Disneyland, customers aren’t morons for asking obvious questions; they just might need guidance; both in maneuvering the park and in creating the kinds of memories they came for in the first place.

I think this applies not just in theme parks, but in lots of situations when I get asked really obvious questions. In each case, I have a choice: do I go for the ridicule and spend time on that, or do I just skip to being helpful. Sharole will tell you which one I seem to choose more often, but the truth is I’m not a completely heartless jerk all the time, and it’s reassuring to find a message out there that I can use to bolster my more suave and conciliatory side.

I decided to use one of the kids toys to be the throat/item to stick all the parts to it was also tubular so we could put pretend food in adn have fecal pretend matter come out the other end. They had to figure out what picture was what organ, then in what order do they go, once food goes into their mouths, and then I would tell them more about what each organ does. It kept their attention and it helped we let them stick it all on.

Our new tent has 3 pods and a communal area in the middle which is great for card games etc… This round we put Gigi and Rocky together the 2 boys together and we had a pod. You can sleep people in the middle if needs be. We put up our tarp out front for the kitchen dining room and covered sitting area. We were so lucky just a few sprinkles of rain the whole time we were there. After last months down pour whilst camping, we were glad for some non raining camping.

This property was one of the campers parents property and they had a lovely set up. A pit toilet in a shed and a hot shower in a shed behind. Tanks for plenty of water. A clothes line and we were even lucky enough for them to have a washing machine the old twin ones, where you have to put the clothes back and forth for the spin cycle. Reason being is our water can was placed on it’s side and it leaked on a bunch of our bedding, and stuff that never got aired out after our last camp that was pouring the whole time and then of course, Rocky had explosive diarrhea poo, that got all his bedding, boy did that pong. So naturally we were loving that machine.

The Easter hunt was on the hill near our tent. The kids got a tractor ride away whilst we planted eggs across the hill, then they came back found them all and then they were equally distributed.

They started on a cubbyhouse for the kids it only got as far and the floor but the kids loved it and provided them with lots of entertainment, and swings underneath. Bikes are there for enjoyment also, we didn’t have to pack them which was nice. A picture of all the kids before we all headed home at the end of the weekend.

All in all a great weekend, we even took a trip into Bathurst which had memories for Toby and I as I took him there when he came to visit back in 2005, we took my pulsar around the Bathurst 1000 track, I do recall we got the car upto 200kms. Looks like they’ve locked down that some with speed camera’s installed now. They had porsche’s racing on the weekend, we took the boys over to see it. This was my third attempt to get the porsche’s into the picture in the background below, sadly the boys weren’t as receptive to the repeated shots. Gigi deserted us for girls company, she went shopping and lost her birthday toy from her friend Chloe. Funny thing was one of the other campers went to the same store saw it and thought I wonder if that’s Gigi’s. They picked it up but left it, when they realised it was indeed hers, it was gone. A result of not listening to her mother that said “if you take your toys out to shops, you risk loosing them”, and this was a point in case.

Best Easter weather I think since 2010.

Sadly we had to bid the (1993) Camry goodbye after 4 years. She was a quick purchase so as to get around when we first arrived in Australia. It was just wide enough to fit the 3 car seats across the back seat. My dad said it was gray, it sure looked more purple to us though I was trying not to spend money in the car department for at least another year, however she cost us a good $1000 over the last year in repairs for a car only worth $2000 and so with this last issue we decided it was time to upgrade so Toby had a more reliable car to commute with daily.

Toby was firm on his only choice of car, a VW Polo (2010). Toby’s been after me for a good year and a half to get one, he did start with the Gulf but then changed his mind to a Polo towards the end of last year. Toby found 2 cars to look at, I went and looked and did the wheel and deal and voila, a car was purchased rather quickly, it’s amazing how helpful a dealership will be when you have 4 kids roaming around the store to make you happy and get you out. We were also lucky enough to sell our Camry within 4 days of advertising, so that was a relief.

We ended up having to wait 2 weeks for a new part to get installed on her, the dealership gave us a car to use whilst we waited, a jetta, we weren’t impressed with it, and finally picked her up on Saturday just gone. That was the first time Toby saw her. She is a lovely zippy car and has lots of pump for a 1.2 turbo. I admit I am enjoying driving her on my trips to the gym and such, it feels good to have a manual car in the family again. It’s like having our odessey and honda back.

We had another victim in this exchange and that was our fridge. That in itself is a long story but the end of it is, the seals went and were not able to be replaced, so at 15 years old, we said our goodbye’s to Whirlpool and welcomed in the Fisher and Paykel. The kids made comments like, this fridge is hard to open, I said yes because the seals work, and another one said, it’s so cold when I open the fridge, and I replied yes I know isn’t it great, the fridge works properly. So now our food should last longer, yay!

So this month has turned out to be a real expensive month for us. I then decided to look into some of our bills seeing how to reduce costs and managed to find a $1200 saving for our health insurance a year, I was proud of myself. Then to top it off our rent just went up $1200 a year. So as least I evened out the costs. Please no more bills or upgrades needed for ages……..

Now the question is, is Toby happy now?