we went to tasmania and all i brought you was this blog post

Pure Traveller organised our trip to Tasmania for the whole extended family. This post is sponsored by Grandma, who paid for the trip! The links are just for information, no one has given me any money or products for doing so.

We travelled around in convoy, with grandparents, a great-grandmother, cousins, aunty and uncle, staying in a few spots and exploring as much as we possibly could. What an incredible place. I had naively assumed we would get through seeing most things of interest in the nine days we were there- ha! While small, Tassie is so intensely rich. So much to see and experience! And eat! And wine! We found there was plenty to entertain the kids.

We stayed at the amazing Curringa Farm, at Hamilton. We drove the hire cars there from the airport, stopping to grab our order of groceries along the way. Curringa Farm has three gorgeous cottages, we stayed in the cottage called "Out the Back". It was the oldest of the cottages, and, in my opinion, the cosiest. We enjoyed the view of the river, snuggled next to the fire when we saw the nearby mountain with snow on it, and devoured delicious cooked breakfast thanks to the lovely local bacon, eggs, milk and juice found in the fridge. This is a working farm, and the hosts offer farm day tours if you are passing through.

From Hamilton we took a day trip to Mt Field National Park. Although Tassie looks small, don't be deceived into thinking everything is five minutes away. The roads are country, with lots of things to stop and explore along the way. Allow extra time in your planning for stopping at farm gate stalls, and possible car sickness. Mt Field National Park is stunning. While Grandma, Poppi and Great-Nana sat in the warm information centre with a cuppa, the rest of us took a little drive up the hill. Where it started to kind of slushy-snow (please note, it is summer!). This pleased the eldest boy greatly, who had managed to tick off his Tassie wish list on our first day.

We headed north for a few days, staying at Platypus Park Country Retreat at Bridport, a gorgeous coastal town. I did put my feet in Bass Strait, refreshing! We did some wandering around the farm, checking out the curious cows and saying hello to shy sheep. We had a nice dinner at the Bridport Hotel, which did a good kids corner and an awesome steak.

Near Bridport I discovered three words that may have changed my life: Cold. Climate. Wines. So delicious. Thoroughly enjoyed tasting along the Tamar Valley Wine Route, particularly savouring the delicious bubbly Kreglinger goodness at Ninth Island/ Pipers Brook Wines.

A visit to Hillwood Berry Farm was a winner with the kids, the raspberries and strawberries were pick-you-own and delicious.

We headed down to Hobart for the last leg of our tour, enjoying a myriad interesting touristy things very close-by. One of my favourite places to visit was the Richmond Historic Gaol. It is perfectly preserved, so it is wonderfully tactile for children. The displays and information signs are really interesting snippets into what life was like for prisoners of the colony.

Zoodoo was another fab stop for the kids. All the favourites are there, and our middlekid ticked off his list, seeing the Tasmanian Devils. Being a smaller zoo, a morning visit will allow plenty of time to wander through the vineyards in the Coal Valley. Check out Pooley Wines (on the most beautiful setting you could imagine), Puddleduck Vineyard (a family-run, family-oriented small boutique vineyard with the loveliest hosts to pour a drop) and of course Wicked Cheese.

Tasmania really was a wonderful family destination. I'll be back soon with a quick guide to travelling Tassie with a young family. What are your Tasmania must-do's?

there were five in the van: day five

Easter morning, so chocolate was the natural choice for breakfast.

Carrying on like a bunch of tourists. We travelled in CamperDan from our little powered site in the Skenes Creek Beachfront Van Park south along the Great Ocean Road to see the classic sights.

At London Bridge, Uncle Al told us about his last visit, which happened to be with my darling's dad. Apparently, they took advantage of the lack of safety rails, and dangled over the edge of the cliff. Crazy. I could barely contain myself, as my weird fear of edges started to get to me. Not heights, edges. And dropping things from them. Probably should have taken some kind of sedative, in hindsight. It was to be a big day of edges.

We stopped at the sweet little town of Port Campbell for lunch and a play. The boys had a play on a fantastic timber playground while I wandered the little market and bought a very lovely handmade beanie. At Port Campbell, I saw lifesavers wearing trackies. It's cold there. So we had some hot chips for lunch. You can see how awesome Eloise thought they were.

I braved more edge to see the Twelve Apostles. It was windy, cold, very busy and totally beautiful. My lovely new beanie worked a treat, as did my Close carrier, which enabled me to carry Eloise, snuggled in, whilst freeing my hands to hold onto railings in a white-knuckled fashion. Oh, and that family portrait was indeed the best one. From a series of sixteen.

 

We stopped in at Johanna Beach on the way back from the Apostles, so Surfer Mate could have a look at the alternative venue to Bells. I hung back in the warm CamperDan (fine by me!) as the small one was in need of a feed. We were treated with a gorgeous rainbow.

Our final visit was to be the Otway Lighthouse, but it was closed by the time we got there. Not to worry though, on the drive out to the lighthouse, the koalas were getting ready for bed. The first koalas I've seen in the wild! Completely unexpected, and amazing.

there were five in the van: day four

Just a quiet day hanging in Apollo Bay. We wandered through the markets there, I bought a cool hat to keep the little one's ears warm, the boys had a big play at a very popular playground.

Then we set up CamperDan and CamperStan with our dear friends, and got the fire cranking. Can I tell you that corn on the cob, cooked any other way than in the embers of a wood fire, is deeply disappointing. And the boys are still picking up sticks and examining them for their worth as a marshmallow tool. And roasted chestnuts: not too bad!

there were five in the van: day three

Good Friday...boy, was it ever!

We discovered the true joy in camper vanning. Stopping wherever you like, and having your kitchen with you from which to prepare breakfast. Here we are on the Great Ocean Road, just out of Lorne.

It was interesting to hang out on a different coastline to our Eastern home one. The sunshine was lovely, and although the water was an inviting turquoise, it was oh-so-cold! The biggest found some very strong, very think seaweed. We went for a walk and found some amazing shells, which the middle one wanted to keep for a connection.

And then, we ventured on to fulfill the purpose of the trip: reliving hubby's youth, attending a little surfing contest at a little beach called Bells. I am not very heavily into surf culture, but I got totally swept up in the excitement and festivities. I was a bit wary of lugging all the children to the beach for a contest that can potentially run for days and days, but somewhere the gods were smiling on me. After we parked in a field in Siberia, we made the kids some lunch (because you can do that in a campervan) and meandered down to the beach. As we approached I heard the happy announcement It looks like someone will be ringing the bell this afternoon folks! Somehow, we had managed to turn up for the men's final. Ace!

We found our mates, and then proceeded to watch some awesome displays, including this guy

do this move

landing him a perfect ten. This guy was so cool with the crowd, and his very sleek and consistent rides won him the Bell on the day.

It was all rather tiring.

I really had no idea I'd have such a great time. I even bought a t-shirt.

And once we were settled in our next campsite, and the kids were asleep, you know which movie we watched in the DVD player in the Kea camper, don't you?

Thus beginning a storm of Point Break quotes for the rest of the journey.

there were five in the van: day two

We awoke on day two of our trip in Wadonga, a little unsure of how we got there to be honest. The children had slept soundly in their beds. We stopped in at the local shopping centre to get some fresh bread for lunch and some kind of latch to hold the fridge shut when we went around corners. I didn't find one, fortunately nifty husband got all MacGyver, folding a piece of paper into a wedge. Not that we needed it, anyway. Wadonga to Lorne was on the agenda for day two. That's some straight driving there. Next turn in 274 kilometres. I drove too (love driving a manual) and found it easier than I expected. I even did the busy part, skirting around Melbourne and through Geelong.

Our home for the evening was a campsite at Cumberland River Holiday Park. It was in such a gorgeous spot, on the Great Ocean Road just out of Lorne. Flanked by cliff faces and overlooking the sea, with a babbling creek running alongside. Truly beautiful! The park was full to capacity, with the Easter long weekend (otherwise known as Camping Long Weekend) about to kick off. I found it fascinating to check out everyone's camping set-ups, with dining tents and campfires. I cooked a simple dinner in the van- it was too late to get a campfire going in time for the kid's dinner. We had a lovely explore of the place in the cool light of the morning. Harry told me he could see people's homes way up in the cliffs, and their paintings, too.

I think he may have been right.

there were five in the van: day one

Bells Beach. Rip Curl Pro. Twenty Year anniversary. The Great Ocean Road. An off-hand comment amongst some reminiscing about twelve months ago, and the seed of a plan was planted. When they were 14, hubby and his best mate went to watch the surfing at Bells. So why not all go down for a big old road trip? The planning and booking began. Us five in one campervan, four adults (Best Mate, his lovely wife and his parents) in the other.

I'm just going to put this out there. I got scared in the week leading up to our road trip. Really scared of what living in a confined space with three small children would be like, even though I knew it was only a couple of weeks. We hadn't travelled together yet, the five of us. I was already feeling a little unravelled as it was, and ashamed that I didn't take to the planning of the trip with the usual OCD gusto and list writing for which I am famous. Thank goodness our gorgeous friend had it in hand. So rather than tremors of excitement, I was experiencing shivers of mild dread.

And then, my darling arrived home with the glorious mobile. And I started putting things in it. Packing the clever little cupboards with breakfast cereals bought specially for the holiday and ingredients for easy meals I thought I could make in one pot. Our own pillows and doonas. The kid's scooters and teddies. Suncream and parkas. And joy settled in. That feeling of leaving it behind. Living simply for a while. And I got excited. Almost as excited as the kids, who the next morning would not get out of the campervan so we had to finish packing it around their jumps and squeals.

And at last, we popped the children into the car seats, the littlest one already asleep, and took off on the first, most boring part of our journey: taking the inland road from the Central Coast of NSW down to somewhere Abury-Wadongaish. Turns out over the Easter period, most places don't pre-book sites for less than four days. So when it came to some of our accommodation, we were winging it (because I am awesome at that).

The kids were awesome on the journey. They ate their snacks, they played with the things in their activity bags. I had prestuffed a couple of backpacks with sticker books and colouring-in. Good move. They had a little play when we stopped at Maccas and looked up some caravan parks on the ipad.

We finally rolled into Wadonga quite late- around 9.30ish. We were surprised at how quickly we got the van set up for sleep, even taking out the car seats was easy enough. The boys were mightily impressed at their big bunk bed:

We had landed at a Big4, as luck would have it. Which I discovered mostly have one of these jumping pillow things, which, if you are either nearlythree or nearlyseven, are the best thing ever.

                            

So after brekkie and some bouncing, we headed off for the next, equally boring leg of our journey.

Oh, and the vehicle we hired was a Kea- we got a good price at a caravan and camping show we went to. It was a cool mobile. Stocked with everything you need, even wine glasses. We had the 6 berth one. You can look at their website here if you like.

Have a happy day!

S.