Snow, Surf and Weddings

Due to lack of internet access and fairly regular moving between destinations, the posts have been somewhat lacking. So I wanted to bring you up to speed on what we've been doing over the last couple of weeks.

After we left Deni (amid a few tears, mostly mine) we set out for the Alps. We got to the foothills of the  mountain range near Khancoban just as it was getting dark and so we asked the guy at the petrol station if he knew anywhere we could camp (not in a caravan park). He suggested a bend in the Murray River not far from where we were. It was a gorgeous spot next to the river which was flowing fast, there was a small area of lush grass under a small grove of elm trees which were shedding their autumn leaves (perfect for some Jarvis jumping and crunching in his gumboots) and best of all there was noone to be seen. We set up camp in the quickly fading light and cooked up a steamy hot risotto to ward away the very chilly night air. We were even allowed to have a small fire. In the morning we woke to more cold, but also a gorgeous mist that had lifted enough by the time we had finished breakfast for us to see the snow capped mountain tops we were heading for. Unfortunately for this blog we didn't take a single photo. But the lack of photos has left me with a feeling that the place was just in our imagination, which is kind of nice.

The drive up to Thredbo was slow.. very slow. The camper weighs a lot and we have stacked Big Red to its capacity. I think we made a top speed of 40km/h. Thankfully the road on the western side of the Alps is much less used that the east side so we were left to take it at a leisurely pace without stalling the traffic. We stopped for some lunch at Thredbo and then continued down to Jindabyne for three days with Mum, Dad, Jess, Jake, Lara, Adam, Finnley and Ollie. There was snowboarding, tobogganing, snowmen making, apre skiing (aka drinking in the bar) and even a Xavier Rudd concert. Rob somehow won a hand painted guitar signed by Xavier, thanks dad for the ticket and rubbing some of your good luck on it.

 

From Jindabyne we headed to the coast. We stayed with Lara, Adam and Finnley in their gorgeous new place at Bermagui which overlooks the beach all the way to Camel Rock. After a few days we took the much anticipated drive a bit further down the coast to Merrimbula to purchase our very own boat, well a tinnie and a 15hp engine to be exact, but we were super excited all the same. We spent a night at Pambula in a gorgeous caravan park on the beach and then made our way back to Bermie. On our return we stayed with Grandma Laura on her divine property; Ironbark. Rob was promptly put to work (as all good grandson-in-laws should be) overhauling the garden and he did a fabulous job.

We then decided it was time for some serious camping in our camper and most importantly some fishing time in the new boat. We headed for Lake Conjola on the advice of Aunty Lara. And what a great spot it was. We immersed ourselves in Caravan Park life on the shore of Lake Conjola just a stones throw from Conjola Beach. The boating / fishing / reading expeditions were a great success. Rob even cracked a bottle (mini bottle) of Jack Daniels Black Label over the bow of the boat on her maiden voyage. The most successful part of these trips was the fact that I could read uninterrupted for a few hours and Jarvis had a 2 hour nap one day on the life jackets, not much in the way of fish were actually caught.

We then made our way towards Kangaroo Valley for the much anticipated Boundy-Church nuptials. We were kindly housed and fed by Gen and Matt in Bundanoon the night before, handed over Jarvis to his Pa in Bowral and then headed into the "Tie the Knot Festival" (otherwise known as Cath and Cy's wedding). It was three days of complete and absolute fun and a whole lot of love. What a fabulous wedding, well worth hanging around the east coast for.

Having attended the wedding of the century, passed through Sydney to drop off some unnecessary items and pick up our son, we will be heading west across the Blue Mountains tomorrow. It's been a fabulous couple of weeks and a great way to say goodbye to the east coast of Australia. It may be 12 months or more before we see it again but many adventures are sure to be had in the mean time.