We went camping this weekend at Myrtle Park, which is only twenty minutes away from home, but it is a nice spot on the banks of a mountain river. We wanted to test out our new 'old' camper trailer. So we headed off to Myrtle Park for a one night stay.
It was late morning when we arrived and we surprised Ruby with an early birthday present.
She has been riding Dustin's bike around. Every morning she goes outside early to ride Dustin's bike before he comes out to ride it. She does a really good job as well for a almost three year old.
Of course it absolutely HAD to be pink!
Winter probably isn't the best time to camp here. I like autumn at Myrtle park best when the maple and oak trees are loosing their leaves and flutter around in the breeze. Most of the trees in the park were bare this weekend.
There were only a few people camping. It gets busy here in summer but this time of year it is quite cold and damp. The few others who were here camped along the river bank but we picked out a spot next to two big pine trees and the playground. Under the pine trees were a forest of fairy mushrooms.
Yes, that is Ruby running around in winter on the wet ground in her socks! She does have plastic pants on to keep her bum dry!
We lit a fire and the kids rode their bikes. Then I cooked tandoori vegies for lunch on the fire while Scott cooked the rice on the stove inside our camper trailer.
After lunch we went for a walk along the river. Of course the kids having no good sense to keep warm ended up with their shoes off and even paddled in the icy cold water.
We collected river pebbles off the banks.
And played with oak leaves :)
Dustin turned four a few months ago!
This is my favourite photo from the weekend.
At the end of our walk it started to rain so we went back to our camper trailer. So much better than camping in a tent.
We spent the rest of the day at our camp site. The kids played outside with Scott, riding bikes and playing soccer with a tennis ball. Coming inside or under the awning during the rain showers. I worked on some small embroidery projects. It was a relaxing afternoon.
Scott cooked lamb on the fire for dinner and I cooked some vegies inside. Our little camper trailer has a stove and oven and a grill so it was very civilized. After dinner we pulled our fire closer so it was almost under the awning and sat outside with a bottle of red wine while the kids did colouring in at the table inside. Then hot showers and bed.
Going to bed was my biggest concern. Camping in the Tasmanian winter is something most Australians wouldn't dream of, but we figured if we had enough warm clothes we would be alright. I was only worried about being cold in bed but I need not have worried. We were toasty warm and dry inside while outside it rained most of the night.
It was a typical cold foggy damp winter morning. We slept in until after 8.00am. Scott and Dustin were up first and made cups of tea and hot chocolate and then we made eggs and toast for breakfast.
We went for a walk after breakfast and then lit the fire again. The kids rode their bikes and played in the playground. Scott read the paper and I did some more embroidery. It didn't rain but it got colder.
Scott took Dustin's training wheels off. He did really well. He almost has the hang of it. I drank cups of tea by the fire. It was getting colder and if we were not coming home today I'd have grabbed 'The Pillars of the Earth' and crawled back into bed.
