Kombi Blog

It’s our last day today. To make the most of our day we started with a spot of Archery – or at least the kids did and they did quite well hitting the target more times than I would have.

After Archery Bryce and I decided it was time for his first game of Golf, so we hired some clubs and hit the course. The golf course is part of the Darlington Beach Caravan park and we only had to pay $15 all up for both of us to play golf – pretty good I reckon.

Bryce’ first swing of the club put the ball into the water, but after that he did quite well for his first game. There is somthing special about taking your son out for his first game of golf. We plan to play again when we get – it just might become our new father & son activity. While we where golfing the girls went for a long beach walk.

To end our last day we headed to the pool for the afternoon for a swim and our last trip to the spa.

Tomorrow we plan to get up early and make the 660km trip home. We have certainly enjoyed our time at the NRMA owened Darlington Beach Caravan Park and we can highly recommend staying here – just book early if you plan to stay there.

We had planned to play golf today but we woke to such a glorious day that we decided to head to the beach and that’s about all we did today. We did manage to cook pancakes for breakfast and Carolyn cooked dinner. After dinner the kids went of for a swim while we watched a DVD – all in all quite a lazy day.

It’s hard to believe that our holiday is almost over.

Ian

We started the day kind of leisurely with coffee and a lot of sitting around. At 11am we decided to head down to the bowling green and try our hand at lawn bowls – how hard could it be? It was boys V girls and the game was on.

As it turns out it’s a lot harder than it looks and worse still the girls crushed us 9 – 2. Melina turned out to be kind of a naturel.

After lunch we veged out reading the paper and I made coffee from the machine in the Kombi and enjoyed some of Norma’s homemade chocloate chip cookies. Bryce went off and hired a go-kart for the afternoon.

For dinner I cooked the best BBQ dinner I think of the whole holiday and once that settled down we decided to go for a swim and spend some time in the spa – got to love holidays.

Ian

Today is our 19th Wedding anniversary and in order to celebrate we decided to head to shops and do some serious shopping, which we did.

Once we had exhausted every shopping bone in our bodies we decided to head to the  movies to conclude our big day out. Our first plan was to see just one but as soon as we found out it was half price Tuesday we decided to see two, in fact it was three. The girls went of to see a chick flick – Fame, while Bryce and I headed off to see The Surrogate with Bruce Willis.  Once we had seen our boys and girls movies we all went and the latest Disney movie Up, it’s great family movie and well worth seeing.

No pictures today.

We woke on Monday to an extremely beautiful day, it was so good that we decided to head to the beach which is just a few minutes walk. The Caravan park provides free boogie boards which we took with us.

Darlington Beach is about 6km long, great for walks which the girls did while Bryce and I played soccer.

Darlington Beach

Once we had finished lunch we all hit the waves as best we could.

Carolyn on the Boogie Board

Riding the waves

After the Beach the Caravan park was running a family trivia night which we decided to enter. We took along our Red Wine and a selection of cheeses and decided to make a night of it.  We didn’t win but we did have a good time, I think we came in 4th of about 20 groups.

Cheese & Trivia

You know it’s tough doing nothing at all, haven’t much time to post updates at all

On Sunday Bryce and I spent the whole day watching the V8 Supercars on the big screen provided by the Caravan Park. We were both delighted to see Holden come 1st, 2nd, 3rd, & 4th and that 9 out of the top 10 were holdens!  The girls spent the day walking along the beach and reading.

Tander Wins

After the races we did come back together for BBQ Chicken wings and salad. All in all a nice relaxing day.

We attempted an early start this morning but we didn’t quite get away as early as we planned. We reminded ourselves that we are on holidays so time doesn’t really matter.

The GPS told us that we had 422km ahead of us, we weren’t really sure on where we were going so we trusted the GPS which took us left out side the gate of the Gwydir carvan pack and we said our good byes to the thermal pools.

The journey to Coffs Harbour from Moree is via the Gwydir Highway which is a very windy but pretty road which takes you over the The Great Dividing Range and through the Gibralter Ranges which are just spectacular.

As a result of our late start we didn’t arrive in Coffs Harbour till 4pm. But with the camper trailer it doesn’t take long to set up and before we knew it our beds were ready and we were walking along the Beach.

We finished our night by watching s movie outside under the awning.

We have a whole week in Coffs and we will keep you posted on our.

Well I must admit that we did nothing at today apart from sleeping, resting, soaking in the Thermal Pools (a lot), eating, and reading – all the things you should be doing on a holiday.

Although, I did manage to cook quite a mean Hamburger for dinner. With the lot!

Well we have certainly enjoyed Moree and the Thermal Pools, if you haven’t been here it is well worth the visit – some 300,000 visitors make the trip each year. Tomorrow we head to Coffs Harbour for week on the beach – let’s hope there is lots of sun. According to the GPS we have around 400km to travel, not sure what the road will like but I will let you know.

Ian

We started our first full day in Moree with a huge sleep in. Obviously we were still tired and in need of a good rest. With not much left of the morning we decided to start the day with pancakes, ice cream & coffee.

With brunch out of the way it was time to hit the thermal pools. The naturally heated pools are absolutely fantastic. People travel from all over to immerse themselves in the healing properties of the Moree Thermal Pools. I’m to sure about their healing properties but they sure are relaxing.

You can only spend so long in the pools, maybe two hours at a time. We spent the rest of the afternoon reading and enjoying the freedom of doing nothing at all.

Before we left home I had installed a coffee machine in the Kombi so I even made myself a double flat-white this afternoon. There is something quite satisfying about making your own coffee in your much loved Kombi.

After a BBQ dinner cooked on the provided BBQ’s we decided to head back to the thermal pools for a night time swim.

I must say we are loving Moree and the Thermal Heated Pools.

Ian

We woke up at 6am or at least tried to. After packing a few last minute things, some coffee and a quick breakfast we hit the road at 7.20am leaving behind a chilly Lithgow of 2 degrees.

According to the GPS ( TomTom App on the iPhone ) we had 522km ahead of us.

I had already taken our new camping trailor for a spin over the long weekend up and down the Blue Mountains including Victoria Pass so I knew Shirl could handle the hills towing the camper but the longest she had travelled so far was 140km – so I was a little worried 522km might be a big effort.

But there was nothing to fear – shirl handled the road, hills and distance without a problem. We hit Mudgee just before 9am and stopped for a chi & a coffee.

We continued on to where we made a quick stop for fuel and then a stop at Narrabri for lunch. After the first fuel stop Shirl wad averaging 13.2 liters per 100km – very happy with that considering we were towing a camper trailer.

I had thought we would have gone through Coonabrabran but the GPS took us via Mullaley which resulted in about 20km of dirt road but Shirl was up to the task.

We arrieved in Moree around 3.30pm and had eveything set up by 5pm, this included a 30 minute check in – got to love the camping trailer.

We are staying at Gwydir caravan park which has the Thermal Pools with tempretures from 35 – 39 degrees. They are fantastic & just what was needed after a full day if travelling, we plan on doing nothing more than sitting in the thermal pools all day long – apparently they are good for you as well, what a bonus!

So after our first day of travelling I am very pleased with the way Shril handled and that we are away as a family on Holidays.

Now for some pictures.