Two Little Lions

Well it’s not really Townsville anymore is it?

A chilly morning in Rocky, and we were off again. We were heading for Hervey Bay. This last leg was nice and easy, two supposedly 4 hour trips over two days. It didn’t end up like that though. We stopped in Miriam Vale for lunch (we stopped there on the way up too) and that added about an hour. Then the girls were going loopy so we decided to stop at Childers so they could play in the park at the rest stop. We were supposed to visit Grandpa but it was quite late by the time we finished at the park so we arranged to visit the next day, and drove straight to the Holiday Park. After leaving Rocky at 10am we finally got to Hervey Bay at about 4-5pm. We have NO idea how that happened.

The holiday cabin was quite nice, the smallest of all that we stayed in and not quite the best configuration, but it was only for one night. We decided to eat out, and being close to the Esplanade we thought we’d just walk. So we walked, and we walked and we walked. So Hervey Bay’s esplanade is quite different to most other Esplanades! I’m used to all the restaurants and shops being clustered together. The restaurants were quite widely scattered, with houses in between. So we had a long walk before anything remotely appealed to me in particular but finally we found an Italian restaurant that looked quite kid friendly.

Dinner ordered, they brought out pencils and colouring in books for the girls. The girls got their meals first, and then we got ours. Big servings, not the best food I’ve eaten but the service was fantastic. After we’d finished we walked back, stopping in at the Ice Creamery. It was quite cool but we couldn’t pass up the opportunity. We got back to the cabin around 8ish and the girls went to bed soon after. I wasn’t up for much longer, but Jake stayed up to read.

In the morning Kira was obviously a bit over the whole thing and getting ready was a bit of a drama. We got ourselves organised and headed over to the Hervey Bay markets. I was hoping to grab some brekky there but alas there was nothing there for the likes of me. I found a great clothes stall and bought some stuff for me, for once, while Kira jumped on the jumping castle. Then we got the girls some dress up stuff. After that we went and took advantage of the car wash we’d spotted on the way in (there was kangaroo poo on the car) and I got some food from the shops.

Over to Dad’s and we had a lovely visit, the girls had a big play and harassed Grandpa for attention and then we had to get moving again. The last leg! We drove pretty much non-stop. We had a couple of pit stops but the girls both fell asleep as we were thinking about stopping for lunch and we decided to keep pushing on. We stopped at Caboolture one last time and then it was the home stretch. Not long now… home!

We were all VERY glad to be out of the car. Walked in to a lovely bunch of flowers from Dee and a kitchen with the last odds and ends washed up. Gotta love excellent friends!

And that, as they say, was that. Our huge adventure was at an end.

Imogen’s birthday, but being the day before the big drive we had nothing planned (and of course Imogen was still unwell). We did go to Entropy and get the girls some goodbye presents from Nanna (brachiosaurus and pterodon) and in the afternoon the girls and Nanna and I went to the park down the road for a last play. We got everything organised and went to bed early.

Up early and amazingly we got on the road right on time. Said our goodbyes, with some very upset parties all round, and drove off in the dark. The girls went back to sleep but Imogn woke up at 5:30 and didn’t go back to sleep. Luckily we had been given a portable DVD player (thanks!) and turned that on and entertained her until Kira woke up. We stopped to do a nappy change and got back on the road. Just south of Prosperpine, at 6:30am, Jake swore and then was a big BANG CRASH! I screamed and the girls freaked out. We’d hit a kangaroo. The shock took a while to wear off and then we pulled over to check out the damage. Jake got out as I didn’t want to in case of blood and guts. The look on his face wasn’t reassuring and when he got back in and said the damage was pretty bad.

We stopped for brekky at Mackay, and I finally saw the damage. It reminded me of a facial wound where you can see the grinning skull. There wasn’t much we could do about it so far from home so we just had to keep going. We were down one headlight so we were very grateful that we had no more night driving coming up. The girls were content to watch movies for most of the trip and we arrived back at the Capricorn Caves at Rocky at about 2pm. We were in a different cabin this time, and it definitely suited us better.

I got some photos of the car.

Nice hey?

We spent the afternoon chilling out.

Jacob reading the Twilight series. Busted!

Early night!

Our plans for the 4th of August were to visit the Museum of Tropical Queensland and the toy store Entropy. Imogen was coughing up a storm though so we decided it would be best for her to stay home and rest. Kira was bored though so I suggested Jake take her to see Ice Age 3. She had a ball and Imogen and I had a quiet day at home.

On the Wednesday we had planned to visit Magnetic Island, but again decided against it due to Imogen’s cough. We wanted to do something though, so settled on the Billabong Wildlife Sanctuary. It’s about 20km south of Townsville. I have to say I think it was a tad overpriced for the amount of time we spent there! But Kira especially enjoyed it. Going back over the photos, you’d be forgiven for thinking Imogen wasn’t with us, but she was! She spent most of the time in the Ergo on my or Jake’s back.

When we arrived it was time for the reptile show so we watched that, and Kira got to hold a bumch of reptiles.

After that we wandered off to explore.

We found kangaroos to pat, koalas to admire, wallabies and pademelons to ooh over.

There were also, of course, crocodiles.

Birds, turtles, plus the flightless emu and cassowaries were all there.

Imogen was getting very tired so we left after about 2 or so hours. And that was that.

The day after the party we bullied Michael and Jodie into coming back to the Water Park since our first attempt at going was on the day it was dry! Of course, our luck, it was also the first day up in Townsville that was overcast and dare I say it? Cold! But we headed there anyway thinking it would fine up and get quite warm.

It didn’t.

So we got there and the first thing we noticed was the water. So. Much. Water.

The second thing I noticed was the bucket. Of water.

Blurry but you get the idea

Eeek.

So we got ourselves changed into swimmers. It was freezing. I felt like a southerner! But really we were feeling the cold too, it’s just that when you have kids, and they see water, they don’t CARE what temp it is. They just want to get wet. So into th freezing cold water we went.

Kira was the first to get dunked by the bucket of water. Standing on the main structure, just bad timing… SPLASH! I have no idea how much water is in that thing but it’s a LOT. And for a 5yr old I imagine that would be pretty traumatic! Screaming ensued, and many cuddles were needed. She stayed well away from it after that.

I was carrying Imogen around and we were venturing closer to the water bucket ourselves. I thought I had it timed ok, so we climbed up to go down the slide and waited in a spot I thought would shelter us.

Dun dun. Nope. As the water came crashing onto us I thought “oh f***” and held onto Imogen tight, shutting my eyes and holding my breath. She of course screamed. A lot. We slid down the slide to get down, um great idea. Wet slide and me holding a child. Ouch my poor bum as I hit the ground. I felt like an arse! Not long after that Imogen started to shake and chatter so I decided no more for her, and got her dried and dressed as quickly as possible. Once she was dry she of course wanted to go back in the water. Um, no.

Sabine loved it! While our two were dried and dressed, this was Sabine.

Michael and Jodie wisely kept her away from the evil bucket of freezing cold water death and so she suffered no trauma.

So we watched them and decided we’d made a bit of a mistake. For us anyway!

Afterwards we went and got lunch, and then on the way home we stopped at the shops… another mistake as Imogen started to get a really croaky voice. The girls were feral so we ended up going home, with Immy now sounding like a talking seal. Wonderful!