1845

1845. The number of kilometres we have driven since Thursday morning. Bring a packed lunch as this is long and may be prone to rambling... nothing new, eh?

Last night we got back from our short family holiday to Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula. Short in duration, but not in kilometres. I had to hit a target amount of kilometres in the car before the end of March for tax reasons so we decided to take the trip to the Eyre Peninsula for a holiday and catch up with Jo's mate Amanda and her family. We hadn't driven too far with the kids to date with the furthest being the 100 or so km's to Victor Harbour. Abbey asked if we were nearly there about 10 minutes into the journey on that trip, so taking the three kids as far as Port Lincoln was daunting to say the least.

To help them out on the trip we bought a DVD player so they could at least occupy themselves for a few hours of the trip. We were still a little nervous as Scarlett tends to get bored of movies within 10 minutes of pressing play.

To their credit, the kids did fantastically well. The first minor argument was only 15kms outside of Port Lincoln after 615kms had already passed. On the way back there were no issues at all and we actually travelled some 750kms on the return journey taking in a different route via Amanda's house.

Leaving at 9.15am we took the more obvious route there, heading north on the Port Wakefield road through Snowtown, the discovery site of South Australia's worst murder case, up to Port Pirie and Port Augusta where we stopped for lunch for a while just under half-way into the trip. From there we headed back south down the other side of the Spencer Gulf passing through the dusty red Whyalla, stopping briefly at Cowell and then all the way down to Port Lincoln, arriving around 4.45pm.

We stayed at the Port Lincoln Tourist Park in a modern cabin that could sleep six. We were very happy with the location and the accommodation - very clean and almost everything we needed. We had taken some pita breads down to make some quick homemade pizza's when we got there, but there wasn't an oven or grill so we ended up getting takeaway pizza. After that we took the kids to the playground and then a walk along the small beach that was located within the park before getting a reasonably early night to prepare us for the next day.

On Friday we took ourselves down to the Port Lincoln foreshore. Jo had lost her voice after suffering with a cold in the earlier part of the week so a quick visit to the chemist was also in order.

After lunch we mosied on over (cos we're in the country now) to Amanda's place out at Cummins. On the drive up there we could still see the damage from the major bush fires that happened back in January 2005.

Amanda's husband Greg took us on a farm tour which was very interesting to us city folk, despite Amanda pre-warning us it would be quite the opposite. We all loved getting a closer look at everything on the farm, from hearding the sheep in the ute (with the older kids riding in the back), driving across the great expanse of fields, seeing the pesty snails that can cause alot of problems right the way through to seeing the trucks and the machinery and learning such things as how much the equipment can cost, how much fuel would be consumed and how so much of the machinery these days uses GPS to assist with navigation. (Amanda - we loved it. Really!).

We headed out for tea at a pub in Tumby Bay with A & G and their three kidlets. After a great chat over dinner and probably the best chicken schnitzel by far that I've had in the ten years I've been in Australia, we all headed out to the beach at dusk for a paddle in the sea, a walk along the jetty and then a rest for the grown ups on the grass while the kids took over the playground.

Although we thought we'd chosen a great time of year to go Adelaide has just experienced a record run of days over 35 degrees with not much change expected over the next week. Although it's apparently a little cooler on the Eyre Peninsula than in the city area, the few days we were there were an exception to the general rule and it was in the very high 30's every day. Because of this we took it easy on the Saturday, going a little off-road to visit the Glen Forest animal park in the morning. The best part of the visit was definitely the aviary where were all able to feed the birds who came to perch on our arms and peck the seeds from our palms. The kids loved it (as did the big kids), although Scarlett's cry of "arrrgh" any time any animal came near her was hilarious for us but probably quite unsettling for the animals.

We had a break back at the cabin for a few hours during the hottest part of the day and then headed out to Winters Hill lookout to take bird's eye view of Port Lincoln. The views were stunning.

After tea we headed back to the beach at the cabin park just as the sun was starting to set for the day. We all paddled in the shallow depths as the waves lapped around our ankles. Jo and I spotted a flat fish (sorry, don't know it's real name but I am sure it tastes ok) which was almost invisible. The kids couldn't see it, but shortly after we all stopped in our tracks to watch a seal swim slowly across between the two jetties either side of us. It was a great end to a good, but hot day.

On Sunday we arranged to meet Amanda and her family again out at Coffin Bay after an early lunch. We headed out to the Coffin Bay National Park and they led us to the most beautiful beach I've been fortunate enough to put foot on. Now remember I've been raised on crappy, crowded English beaches and I've never been to the Mediterranean or the Caribbean, so to see such a pristine beach with crystal clear blue waters and only having to share it with maybe 10 people is something new to me! As A & G explained to us it wasn't a great beach for swimming because of the various rips, but after a little paddle we all wandered around the corner and found a few small rock pools for the kids to explore, collect a few shells and look for some wildlife.

We headed out to Farm Beach which was much more swim-friendly and we all managed to get a good dip and escape from the beating sun for a while. The kids build sand-castles in between dips in the ocean and Scarlett did her best attempt at swimming stopping just short of drowning thanks to some intervention, but thankfully it didn't put her off playing in the water as I'd half expected.

It didn't take long to dry off in the sun and we headed out for a BBQ at A & G's friends house. (Side note, when being hosted by locals always leave enough time for goodbyes as you leave the beach because they know EVERYONE!). The food and beer was a fitting end to a great day for us. Abbey got really sad when we left. She was having so much fun that she didn't want it to end. There's nothing you can really say to a nine-year-old. We all felt the same way. For the drive home from Coffin Bay we had been warned about the Roos coming out onto the roads so we took it easy. Luckily all we saw was a wild cat which I'm sure Jo would have adopted if I had slowed enough for her to get out of the car and pick it up.

Monday was pretty smooth. By the time we got petrol and tried to find a chemist to get some aloe vera for Jo's sunburn it was around 9.15am when we started to move out of Port Lincoln. We headed back home a slightly longer way to say a goodbye to A & G and their crew, stopping briefly there for photo's and hugs, before coming home via Lock, Kyancutta, Kimba (where I may have been picked up for speeding but it's alright because we saw the giant Galah and that made everything so much better for me ... not!), Iron Knob and then a stop at the Golden Arches in Port Augusta before heading back home the same way we came out getting home about 6pm. 630kms to Port Lincoln and 745kms back.

I'd heard the drive could be pretty boring (Amanda - you were right about Cummins to Kyancutta) but on the whole I found it fascinating watching the landscape change so much as the kilometres rolled by. This was the first time I've really encountered parts of the Australian outback.

I want to go back.

Abbey is currently saving her pocket money so she can move us all there.