The Drive
We arrived late Monday morning after driving 130km north from Adelaide.
The drive was relatively easy. We had a collection of bugs on the windscreen from our drive from Melbourne to Adelaide the previous weekend. Prior Clare, we didn't get an opportunity to clean it. An attempt was made with the wipers but we ended up smearing the dead bugs all over the glass and became hazardous. We pulled into the petrol station. While the car was refueled, the windscreen was cleaned. As we drove away from the petrol station, a swarm of bugs smacked onto the windscreen! The children thought it was hilarious.
Base camp was at Leasingham Caravan Park. As it was not school holiday period in South Australia, we were the only family whom had pitched their tents. Other travelers had campervans, caravans or cabins.
The Setup
Where should we set the tents up? There was a small tree. Shade or no shade? We decided to set one up under the tree and the other next to the first tent away from the tree. We made sure that the tree wasn't eucalyptus as those drop limbs unexpectedly. The grass was checked for rocks, gum nuts, excrement, and sharp items. The gradient of the ground analysed. The orientation of the tents was to be so our heads were not lower than our feet when laying down. Pitching the tents was quite straight forward. We forgot to bring the instruction manual. From memory, we managed just as we did when we first brought them back home. Later, we re-discovered that the instructions were on the inside of their storage bags. The children enjoyed helping especially with the tent pegs. We folded the tarpaulin groundsheets/tent footprints so they were not overhanging the tubs of the tents in case it rained or condensate overnight. The mats valves were released and automatically inflated and the sleeping bags unpacked and fluffed up. The clothes bags and torches were placed inside the tents. The flop flops were placed under the fly.
After the tents were erected and the pre-prepared lunch was consumed, we donned our cycling gear: helmets, gloves, sunglasses and high-viz jackets.
The Ride on Day 1
We rode uphill on the quiet road from the campground towards Riesling Rail Trail. The bitumen road had a few potholes and the edges were gravel. Once we arrived at the trail, it was quite an easy ride.
We rode from Leasingham to Auburn where we lost sight of the trail signage that was the beginning of Rattler Rail Trail. We found it as we rode towards Mount Horrocks Winery which was the old railway station. Auburn was a pretty little town. We saw that bikes could be hired from there.
There were many interpretative signboards along the way. The trail surface was quite good but the edges of the trail fell away and gravelly so one could easily lose control of their bikes. We kept to the middle left of the track. But when there were other cyclists/pedestrians coming from the opposite side, we keep further to the left but not too much. Also, we kept control of the bikes by decreasing in speed as we were passing. Lucky for us, it wasn't busy.
There was an array of rural landscapes of wineries, chicken coups, sheep fields, cow fields, and canola fields.
Wineries could be accessed directly from the trail but we refrained ourselves. We have reserved the last day (our third) for the wine tasting.
For me, tree tunnels, especially the Aleppo pines, were great to ride through.
The hill cuttings where the rocks have been revealed were beautiful and interesting. Many different plants grew on these and they sporadically burst with orange and purple flowers.
There were also masses of white irises growing in cooler dappled light areas. Ella Mae wanted to inspect some paddy melons she saw. She was excited about wanting to eat these but I explained that these were not for human consumption. She was a little disappointed as her favourite fruit is watermelon.
The remnants of abutment walls reminded us of the old railway track location. Sometimes we rode next to them, sometimes we rode over them.
I saw my first brown snake that was in the wild and not in a vivarium. It was playing peek-a-boo but I was not too keen for the "boo" part and rode away quite quickly. We also saw some snake trails.
We had a gander at the solar panel that was charging the electric fence that kept in the cows. But we spotted a sun-basking bearded dragon camouflaged on the timber post. It was observed for a little while.
We were perplexed about a little concrete structure with conical roof that needed much love. We reckoned it was a phone booth that had some connection with the by-bygone trains.
We stumbled upon a pair of jaw bones with a scat deliberately placed between them. We stopped and discussed about how this scat didn't belong to a vegetarian as it had fur within it. Subsequently, we discovered that the jaw bones belonged to a wombat and the scat came from a fox.
5km before Riverton, we turned back after we had a snake, nuts and chocolate break. The aim was to return before sunset. Even though we had bike lights, we were determined not to cross path with a snake in the dark.
I showed the children the bull ants and their nests. All the while, we were stamping our feet so that the ants didn't get a chance to hitch a ride on our shoes.
On the way back, when we past a cow's paddock, a pair of Holstein Friesian calves were not behind the fence. My feet automatically had a mind of their own and pedaled away quickly. This reflex was from when Kim and I traveled in Norway in 2005. We had a run-in with a herd of calves. That is another tale for another day.
It was a good day as we rode nearly 40km easily. Perfect weather for riding as it was hot in the sun but cold in the shade and not overly windy.
I showered the children while Kim sorted out the bikes. Then, I prepared dinner while Kim had his shower. We charged our phones and camera battery in the electric box near our tents.
Dinner was late as another couple was cooking a banquet! We decided to wait for the stove instead of digging out our own gas cooker as we couldn't be bothered as the children were happy snacking on chips. We made soba noodles served with tofu, canned Portuguese mackerel and stir-fry broccoli - drizzled with sesame oil and soy sauce.
Before we slept, we made sure our shoes were not sticking out of the fly just in case it rained overnight or had condensation.
Kim, Thomas and I slept badly that night as it was a really windy. Our tent seemed to be coming alive. The camp ground was about a house or two away from the main road and we could hear trucks throughout the night and morning. I think Ella Mae must have been exhausted as she slept pretty well.
The Ride on Day 2
The children were all smiles in the morning.
After breakfast of cereal (Thomas had three bowls!), we rode from Leasingham to Clare. We were fascinated about the amount of olives trees that grew on the trail. The ground was scattered with ripe and shriveled olives. But the trees have been treated with glysophate as they are considered as weeds in Australia.
We saw a mistletoe flower bird. We found out more about them after we arrived back home. The symbiotic relationship between the bird and mistletoe is mutual. Now, every Christmas I will remember these beautiful birds.
We saw a road grader that was used to level the trail.
As the trail was a gradual climb, Thomas pedaled furiously and continuously but not going anywhere. He was feeling quite frustrated. However, when there was a swooping magpie, he rode so fast that I had problems keeping up and was left in a trail of dust. We giggled so much about this after.
When we reached the summit, the children were really pleased.
The dance of the tumble weeds made the children tremendously happy.
We ate at Zest Cafe in Clare. We had salt and pepper squid served with salad, avocado sushi roll, steak burger with chips.
We were blessed to meet a fabric artist, Tracy Henwood. She has a shop called Knit, Spin Weave in Clare. She gave Ella Mae an opportunity to weave a scarf that she was working on. She was very patient and kind with Ella Mae. Ella Mae liked her straight away as she felt at ease with her. After coming home, we read more about Tracy and her shop. The world needs more people like her to build a community and who are passionate about passing on their skills. The world also needs to appreciate people like her.
The ride back was easy as it as pretty much all the way downhill. We uncoupled Ella Mae's bike and she rode on her own for about 3km. Thomas and I played the track stand game as we needed to slow down for her. The aim of the game was to balance on your bike and move forward as little as possible. He won of course.
For dinner, we had soba noodles with chorizo, broccoli and carrots.
Thomas and I played the hand shadow puppet game with our torches in our tent. Kim told one of his bedtime stories to Ella Mae in their tent. Both tents were heaving with laughter and giggles. We slept well that night.
The Drive on Day 3
Kim and I were awakened by the dawn chorus while the children slept. It was magical with light peeps and chirps weaved within deep caws and kookaburra calls.
First, we had a quick cereal breakfast and freshened up. Then, time to pack up the tents and their contents. As one of the tents was under a tree, we had bird droppings on it which was cleaned off. I was in charge of the tents and their contents while Kim was in charge of the packing of the car and bikes.The children helped by taking the pegs off and counting them. After I squashed, squeezed and sacked the items, the children carried them to Kim.
We drove up the road and harvested olives as per suggested by our fellow travelers. We harvested one by the road not the trail. First Kim and I checked for snakes. The children were really excited. I showed them a ripe versus an unripe olive. Our hands were purple with olive juices as our one litre container was gradually being filled. The children were proud of their efforts. These olives were pickled when we arrived back to Melbourne. I kept them in the fridge while in Adelaide.
I promised the children that we were going to have "pain au chocolat" for lunch. I wedged pieces of chocolate in the plain croissants and placed them on the dashboard as we drove to Mintaro Maze.
It was such a hot day that we were offered umbrellas after we paid. We were glad we took the umbrellas. The sun was against a blue sky and the white gravel shone. The children alternately made decisions of which direction to take. This, they took pleasure in. The centre was found in 10 minutes. We celebrated by devouring the perfectly melted chocolate croissants. After lunch, Ella Mae and I played the outdoor board games under the shade of the trees. Thomas was chuffed when he beat Kim at giant chess. All the while, we were watching vintage vehicles go by.
Kim and I chose three wineries to experience:
Pikes Wines: Family friendly with toys and books on a leather couch. The tasting hosts were really good. They had a handover between them and that went smoothly. They were both passionate about their wines. We were enlightened. Wines were amazing.
Tim Adams Wines: Not family friendly. So the children watched Kipper the Dog on the tablet while Kim and I did the wine tasting. There were two dogs in the outdoor area. We were not to eager to leave the children there while we tasted the wine. The tasting host was aloof. She was inattentive with us and the wine she was pouring. The wines were outstanding despite this.
Shut the Gate Wines: This was on the list, but we drove past it by accident as they changed their address and was not updated on their website.
Crabtree Watervale Wines: Not family friendly. The children returned to the tablet with Kipper the Dog while we did the wine tasting. The tasting host was friendly and fascinating. It was educational. The wines were amazing.
Camp gear
Bunnings tarpaulin/ground sheet/tent foot print: These were quite cheap. I think once we start to have cycling/camping without the car, we will have to invest in something lighter.
Kathmandu Lansan Ultralight tent: This was easy to set up. I can imagine how efficient we will get as we get more practice. It was pretty windy on the first day. Despite having just 14 pegs where it really required 16 peg each really to peg out the inner tent and fly, the wind did not blow our tent away.
Kathmandu Ascent 38mm 3 season self-inflating mattresses: Two full lengths for the adults and two 3/4 length for the children. These were relatively comfortable. I had to pick up Thomas and place him onto his mattress in the middle of the night. He had wiggled down and was sleeping directly on the tent floor.
Kathmandu Pathfinder sleeping bag: Kim found this quite warm. Packing this was frustrating as the bag was very small but it was possible if one was super patient and had super strong hands like my mum's.
Mountain Design Travelite sleeping bag: I am unsure of series as I have had this since 2001 as a going away gift from Prior+Cheney Architects when I left to travel to London for my working-holiday. I have always found this comfortable except once when I was in Lake Mungo and it was below freezing inside the shearer's cabins in 2004 before they refurbished.
Kathmandu Orb sleeping bags: Both children seemed to like these. They use these when we have guests in the house. I think we could get compression bags for these as they are very bulky.
Kathmandu inflatable pillow: Kim put a t-shirt on top of it for extra comfort. I stuffed my clothes in a cloth bag and made a pillow out of that. Our son and daughter had bolster each. I made these for them a couple of years ago for them to use as home. They used these a pillows to sleep in the car as well.
All the bags of one tent content was kept in one of the sleeping bags bag (blue for one; pink for another) so that when we needed to repack the tents and their contents, it would be easy to distinguish which bag belonged to which tent.
Our car became pretty handy too. It was a like a giant cupboard. The toiletry bag was kept on the dashboard. The semi-dried towels draped at the back of the seats and steering wheel. The food boxes on the children's car seats.
Kitchen/Dining
The campsite had a very basic kitchen (toaster, kettle, double electric hotplate, fridge/freezer, and miscellaneous crockery). The hotplates were not very good at all. It didn't keep the water boiling to cook the soba noodles properly. But the frying of the chorizo seemed to be ok. I added water to the pan when I was cooking the broccoli and carrots. That seemed to steam the slooowwwly....rather than burn them.
It had two 6 seater dining tables.
Our pots:
- Kathmandu anosided light weight aluminum pot with lid: It was too small to cook all the soba noodles for the whole family. I think either we cook the noodles one portion at a time or use the gas cooker with a bigger pot.
- Kathmandu anodised light weight aluminum frying pan: It was too small to cook all the vegetables for the whole family. Either we cook them in small batches or use the gas cooker with a bigger pot.
Our furniture:
Kathmandu Maison Aluminum table. We used this once. It was quite cold and windy to eat in the morning and evening. So, we stayed in the Kitchen/dining room provided.
Kathmandu Roamer MDF table which we didn't use. Actually, we didn't even take this out.
4 x Kathmandu Roamer tri stools. We used these a couple of times.
Bathroom
The women bathroom facility had 2 showers, 2 toilets, 2 basins and paper towel dispenser.
The men bathroom facility had 2 urinals,1 toilet, 2 showers, 2 basins and paper towel dispenser. We didn't see an accessible bathroom/toilet. We wore flip flops to the shower and after shower, wore our dirty clothes again and got changed in the tent. We placed the dirty clothes in a bag closest to the tent entrance.
Laundry
We didn't use the laundry but they had one. The clothes line was pretty full when we were there even though we were the only ones camping. We hung our towels on the clothes line provided. By the time we were ready to leave camp for exploration, the towels were relatively dry.
Reflection
Our car is a Mitsubishi ASX Aspire. It became apparent that our car was too small four of us if we ever go on big trips i.e. more than a week. I think the next investment will be a roof box. Soon there will be a little more room as the children will be out of their bulky car seats. So, I think we will get about a few more years out of this car.
We also forgot to bring many items that were necessary such as towels, sharp knife, cutting board, cutlery. We borrowed some of the items from Kim's mum whom we were staying with in Adelaide. But we didn't consider how difficult it would be to cut hard items such as carrots, broccoli and chorizo. The experience was comical.
I used the Ikea plastic knife to cut them. The first cut, the carrot pinged off the bench, hitting the tap and ricocheted onto the floor. Consequently, my left index finger held on to the end of the carrot to catch the end while the right hand pushed the knife down. The chorizo had to be first stabbed first. Then the right hand put pressure on the indent with the knife and the left hand index finger caught it as it cut.
I think we needed somewhere to sit for a meal or to hang out. A waterproof/windproof shelter and a groundsheet will be good. That way, we can be self sufficient. It would be tricky if the campsite was busy. I think a place to hang out damp items will be good too.
I think we could have packed less clothes for the two days of riding. We were really lucky with the weather.
We tried not to let the children have any technology throughout our camping trip. They had a TV in the kitchen/dining area where they turned into zombies. In the first night, the couple who were there first, had the TV on. We had no choice. As soon as they left, we turned the TV off.
We gave the children the tablet on the day we had to pack as well as at the non-child-friendly wineries. I think we can further limit the use of technology by getting them to help with most of the packing itself. Most of the time, the children were able to entertain themselves without technology anyway by collecting sticks and gum nuts and making use of their imagination. I think it was important to set boundaries of where they could go and explore while the adults were busy as there was a road between our tents and the kitchen.
After returning home, we unpacked the tents and hung them out to dry properly. Then, folded lightly and placed in a breathable dust bag. The sleeping bags were unpacked and hung on hangers with breathable dust bags over them. All the inflatable items were unpacked and stored with the valves opened. Loose items such as pots, and crockery have been placed in a box. The toiletry bag was refilled.
I have since spoke to a few families upon our return. Their adventures were different yet similar to ours. These were some of their experiences:
- We forgot to pack a sharp knife and cutting the carrot was a challenge.
- It rained the whole time we were there.
- It was too cold to shower. So we didn't.
- We packed only two-minute noodles and chips.
- A wombat tore a hole through our tent. We only have used it three times. I think we will try fix the whole before our next camping trip.
- We slept really early and woke up really early.
- We precooked our meals and kept the meals we want to eat the next days frozen. We kept them in the ice box with ice bricks. They thawed out by the second day.
Whatever the experiences, ultimately, they will go camping again and so will we. We made memories as a family and we should savour moments like these as they are precious.
A list have now been written up of what needed to be packed for the next trip. This list will be revised again and again. Then again after we go on another adventure.
Now, we were lucky with the weather for our first family camping experience. What will the future hold?
We arrived late Monday morning after driving 130km north from Adelaide.
The drive was relatively easy. We had a collection of bugs on the windscreen from our drive from Melbourne to Adelaide the previous weekend. Prior Clare, we didn't get an opportunity to clean it. An attempt was made with the wipers but we ended up smearing the dead bugs all over the glass and became hazardous. We pulled into the petrol station. While the car was refueled, the windscreen was cleaned. As we drove away from the petrol station, a swarm of bugs smacked onto the windscreen! The children thought it was hilarious.
Base camp was at Leasingham Caravan Park. As it was not school holiday period in South Australia, we were the only family whom had pitched their tents. Other travelers had campervans, caravans or cabins.
The Setup
Where should we set the tents up? There was a small tree. Shade or no shade? We decided to set one up under the tree and the other next to the first tent away from the tree. We made sure that the tree wasn't eucalyptus as those drop limbs unexpectedly. The grass was checked for rocks, gum nuts, excrement, and sharp items. The gradient of the ground analysed. The orientation of the tents was to be so our heads were not lower than our feet when laying down. Pitching the tents was quite straight forward. We forgot to bring the instruction manual. From memory, we managed just as we did when we first brought them back home. Later, we re-discovered that the instructions were on the inside of their storage bags. The children enjoyed helping especially with the tent pegs. We folded the tarpaulin groundsheets/tent footprints so they were not overhanging the tubs of the tents in case it rained or condensate overnight. The mats valves were released and automatically inflated and the sleeping bags unpacked and fluffed up. The clothes bags and torches were placed inside the tents. The flop flops were placed under the fly.
After the tents were erected and the pre-prepared lunch was consumed, we donned our cycling gear: helmets, gloves, sunglasses and high-viz jackets.
The Ride on Day 1
We rode uphill on the quiet road from the campground towards Riesling Rail Trail. The bitumen road had a few potholes and the edges were gravel. Once we arrived at the trail, it was quite an easy ride.
We rode from Leasingham to Auburn where we lost sight of the trail signage that was the beginning of Rattler Rail Trail. We found it as we rode towards Mount Horrocks Winery which was the old railway station. Auburn was a pretty little town. We saw that bikes could be hired from there.
There were many interpretative signboards along the way. The trail surface was quite good but the edges of the trail fell away and gravelly so one could easily lose control of their bikes. We kept to the middle left of the track. But when there were other cyclists/pedestrians coming from the opposite side, we keep further to the left but not too much. Also, we kept control of the bikes by decreasing in speed as we were passing. Lucky for us, it wasn't busy.
There was an array of rural landscapes of wineries, chicken coups, sheep fields, cow fields, and canola fields.
For me, tree tunnels, especially the Aleppo pines, were great to ride through.
The hill cuttings where the rocks have been revealed were beautiful and interesting. Many different plants grew on these and they sporadically burst with orange and purple flowers.
There were also masses of white irises growing in cooler dappled light areas. Ella Mae wanted to inspect some paddy melons she saw. She was excited about wanting to eat these but I explained that these were not for human consumption. She was a little disappointed as her favourite fruit is watermelon.
The remnants of abutment walls reminded us of the old railway track location. Sometimes we rode next to them, sometimes we rode over them.
I saw my first brown snake that was in the wild and not in a vivarium. It was playing peek-a-boo but I was not too keen for the "boo" part and rode away quite quickly. We also saw some snake trails.
We had a gander at the solar panel that was charging the electric fence that kept in the cows. But we spotted a sun-basking bearded dragon camouflaged on the timber post. It was observed for a little while.
We were perplexed about a little concrete structure with conical roof that needed much love. We reckoned it was a phone booth that had some connection with the by-bygone trains.
We stumbled upon a pair of jaw bones with a scat deliberately placed between them. We stopped and discussed about how this scat didn't belong to a vegetarian as it had fur within it. Subsequently, we discovered that the jaw bones belonged to a wombat and the scat came from a fox.
5km before Riverton, we turned back after we had a snake, nuts and chocolate break. The aim was to return before sunset. Even though we had bike lights, we were determined not to cross path with a snake in the dark.
I showed the children the bull ants and their nests. All the while, we were stamping our feet so that the ants didn't get a chance to hitch a ride on our shoes.
On the way back, when we past a cow's paddock, a pair of Holstein Friesian calves were not behind the fence. My feet automatically had a mind of their own and pedaled away quickly. This reflex was from when Kim and I traveled in Norway in 2005. We had a run-in with a herd of calves. That is another tale for another day.
It was a good day as we rode nearly 40km easily. Perfect weather for riding as it was hot in the sun but cold in the shade and not overly windy.
I showered the children while Kim sorted out the bikes. Then, I prepared dinner while Kim had his shower. We charged our phones and camera battery in the electric box near our tents.
Dinner was late as another couple was cooking a banquet! We decided to wait for the stove instead of digging out our own gas cooker as we couldn't be bothered as the children were happy snacking on chips. We made soba noodles served with tofu, canned Portuguese mackerel and stir-fry broccoli - drizzled with sesame oil and soy sauce.
Before we slept, we made sure our shoes were not sticking out of the fly just in case it rained overnight or had condensation.
Kim, Thomas and I slept badly that night as it was a really windy. Our tent seemed to be coming alive. The camp ground was about a house or two away from the main road and we could hear trucks throughout the night and morning. I think Ella Mae must have been exhausted as she slept pretty well.
The Ride on Day 2
The children were all smiles in the morning.
After breakfast of cereal (Thomas had three bowls!), we rode from Leasingham to Clare. We were fascinated about the amount of olives trees that grew on the trail. The ground was scattered with ripe and shriveled olives. But the trees have been treated with glysophate as they are considered as weeds in Australia.
We saw a mistletoe flower bird. We found out more about them after we arrived back home. The symbiotic relationship between the bird and mistletoe is mutual. Now, every Christmas I will remember these beautiful birds.
We saw a road grader that was used to level the trail.
As the trail was a gradual climb, Thomas pedaled furiously and continuously but not going anywhere. He was feeling quite frustrated. However, when there was a swooping magpie, he rode so fast that I had problems keeping up and was left in a trail of dust. We giggled so much about this after.
When we reached the summit, the children were really pleased.
The dance of the tumble weeds made the children tremendously happy.
We ate at Zest Cafe in Clare. We had salt and pepper squid served with salad, avocado sushi roll, steak burger with chips.
We were blessed to meet a fabric artist, Tracy Henwood. She has a shop called Knit, Spin Weave in Clare. She gave Ella Mae an opportunity to weave a scarf that she was working on. She was very patient and kind with Ella Mae. Ella Mae liked her straight away as she felt at ease with her. After coming home, we read more about Tracy and her shop. The world needs more people like her to build a community and who are passionate about passing on their skills. The world also needs to appreciate people like her.
The ride back was easy as it as pretty much all the way downhill. We uncoupled Ella Mae's bike and she rode on her own for about 3km. Thomas and I played the track stand game as we needed to slow down for her. The aim of the game was to balance on your bike and move forward as little as possible. He won of course.
For dinner, we had soba noodles with chorizo, broccoli and carrots.
Thomas and I played the hand shadow puppet game with our torches in our tent. Kim told one of his bedtime stories to Ella Mae in their tent. Both tents were heaving with laughter and giggles. We slept well that night.
The Drive on Day 3
Kim and I were awakened by the dawn chorus while the children slept. It was magical with light peeps and chirps weaved within deep caws and kookaburra calls.
First, we had a quick cereal breakfast and freshened up. Then, time to pack up the tents and their contents. As one of the tents was under a tree, we had bird droppings on it which was cleaned off. I was in charge of the tents and their contents while Kim was in charge of the packing of the car and bikes.The children helped by taking the pegs off and counting them. After I squashed, squeezed and sacked the items, the children carried them to Kim.
We drove up the road and harvested olives as per suggested by our fellow travelers. We harvested one by the road not the trail. First Kim and I checked for snakes. The children were really excited. I showed them a ripe versus an unripe olive. Our hands were purple with olive juices as our one litre container was gradually being filled. The children were proud of their efforts. These olives were pickled when we arrived back to Melbourne. I kept them in the fridge while in Adelaide.
I promised the children that we were going to have "pain au chocolat" for lunch. I wedged pieces of chocolate in the plain croissants and placed them on the dashboard as we drove to Mintaro Maze.
It was such a hot day that we were offered umbrellas after we paid. We were glad we took the umbrellas. The sun was against a blue sky and the white gravel shone. The children alternately made decisions of which direction to take. This, they took pleasure in. The centre was found in 10 minutes. We celebrated by devouring the perfectly melted chocolate croissants. After lunch, Ella Mae and I played the outdoor board games under the shade of the trees. Thomas was chuffed when he beat Kim at giant chess. All the while, we were watching vintage vehicles go by.
Kim and I chose three wineries to experience:
Pikes Wines: Family friendly with toys and books on a leather couch. The tasting hosts were really good. They had a handover between them and that went smoothly. They were both passionate about their wines. We were enlightened. Wines were amazing.
Tim Adams Wines: Not family friendly. So the children watched Kipper the Dog on the tablet while Kim and I did the wine tasting. There were two dogs in the outdoor area. We were not to eager to leave the children there while we tasted the wine. The tasting host was aloof. She was inattentive with us and the wine she was pouring. The wines were outstanding despite this.
Shut the Gate Wines: This was on the list, but we drove past it by accident as they changed their address and was not updated on their website.
Crabtree Watervale Wines: Not family friendly. The children returned to the tablet with Kipper the Dog while we did the wine tasting. The tasting host was friendly and fascinating. It was educational. The wines were amazing.
Camp gear
Bunnings tarpaulin/ground sheet/tent foot print: These were quite cheap. I think once we start to have cycling/camping without the car, we will have to invest in something lighter.
Kathmandu Lansan Ultralight tent: This was easy to set up. I can imagine how efficient we will get as we get more practice. It was pretty windy on the first day. Despite having just 14 pegs where it really required 16 peg each really to peg out the inner tent and fly, the wind did not blow our tent away.
Kathmandu Ascent 38mm 3 season self-inflating mattresses: Two full lengths for the adults and two 3/4 length for the children. These were relatively comfortable. I had to pick up Thomas and place him onto his mattress in the middle of the night. He had wiggled down and was sleeping directly on the tent floor.
Kathmandu Pathfinder sleeping bag: Kim found this quite warm. Packing this was frustrating as the bag was very small but it was possible if one was super patient and had super strong hands like my mum's.
Mountain Design Travelite sleeping bag: I am unsure of series as I have had this since 2001 as a going away gift from Prior+Cheney Architects when I left to travel to London for my working-holiday. I have always found this comfortable except once when I was in Lake Mungo and it was below freezing inside the shearer's cabins in 2004 before they refurbished.
Kathmandu Orb sleeping bags: Both children seemed to like these. They use these when we have guests in the house. I think we could get compression bags for these as they are very bulky.
Kathmandu inflatable pillow: Kim put a t-shirt on top of it for extra comfort. I stuffed my clothes in a cloth bag and made a pillow out of that. Our son and daughter had bolster each. I made these for them a couple of years ago for them to use as home. They used these a pillows to sleep in the car as well.
All the bags of one tent content was kept in one of the sleeping bags bag (blue for one; pink for another) so that when we needed to repack the tents and their contents, it would be easy to distinguish which bag belonged to which tent.
Our car became pretty handy too. It was a like a giant cupboard. The toiletry bag was kept on the dashboard. The semi-dried towels draped at the back of the seats and steering wheel. The food boxes on the children's car seats.
Kitchen/Dining
The campsite had a very basic kitchen (toaster, kettle, double electric hotplate, fridge/freezer, and miscellaneous crockery). The hotplates were not very good at all. It didn't keep the water boiling to cook the soba noodles properly. But the frying of the chorizo seemed to be ok. I added water to the pan when I was cooking the broccoli and carrots. That seemed to steam the slooowwwly....rather than burn them.
It had two 6 seater dining tables.
Our pots:
- Kathmandu anosided light weight aluminum pot with lid: It was too small to cook all the soba noodles for the whole family. I think either we cook the noodles one portion at a time or use the gas cooker with a bigger pot.
- Kathmandu anodised light weight aluminum frying pan: It was too small to cook all the vegetables for the whole family. Either we cook them in small batches or use the gas cooker with a bigger pot.
Our furniture:
Kathmandu Maison Aluminum table. We used this once. It was quite cold and windy to eat in the morning and evening. So, we stayed in the Kitchen/dining room provided.
Kathmandu Roamer MDF table which we didn't use. Actually, we didn't even take this out.
4 x Kathmandu Roamer tri stools. We used these a couple of times.
Bathroom
The women bathroom facility had 2 showers, 2 toilets, 2 basins and paper towel dispenser.
The men bathroom facility had 2 urinals,1 toilet, 2 showers, 2 basins and paper towel dispenser. We didn't see an accessible bathroom/toilet. We wore flip flops to the shower and after shower, wore our dirty clothes again and got changed in the tent. We placed the dirty clothes in a bag closest to the tent entrance.
Laundry
We didn't use the laundry but they had one. The clothes line was pretty full when we were there even though we were the only ones camping. We hung our towels on the clothes line provided. By the time we were ready to leave camp for exploration, the towels were relatively dry.
Reflection
Our car is a Mitsubishi ASX Aspire. It became apparent that our car was too small four of us if we ever go on big trips i.e. more than a week. I think the next investment will be a roof box. Soon there will be a little more room as the children will be out of their bulky car seats. So, I think we will get about a few more years out of this car.
We also forgot to bring many items that were necessary such as towels, sharp knife, cutting board, cutlery. We borrowed some of the items from Kim's mum whom we were staying with in Adelaide. But we didn't consider how difficult it would be to cut hard items such as carrots, broccoli and chorizo. The experience was comical.
I used the Ikea plastic knife to cut them. The first cut, the carrot pinged off the bench, hitting the tap and ricocheted onto the floor. Consequently, my left index finger held on to the end of the carrot to catch the end while the right hand pushed the knife down. The chorizo had to be first stabbed first. Then the right hand put pressure on the indent with the knife and the left hand index finger caught it as it cut.
I think we needed somewhere to sit for a meal or to hang out. A waterproof/windproof shelter and a groundsheet will be good. That way, we can be self sufficient. It would be tricky if the campsite was busy. I think a place to hang out damp items will be good too.
I think we could have packed less clothes for the two days of riding. We were really lucky with the weather.
We tried not to let the children have any technology throughout our camping trip. They had a TV in the kitchen/dining area where they turned into zombies. In the first night, the couple who were there first, had the TV on. We had no choice. As soon as they left, we turned the TV off.
We gave the children the tablet on the day we had to pack as well as at the non-child-friendly wineries. I think we can further limit the use of technology by getting them to help with most of the packing itself. Most of the time, the children were able to entertain themselves without technology anyway by collecting sticks and gum nuts and making use of their imagination. I think it was important to set boundaries of where they could go and explore while the adults were busy as there was a road between our tents and the kitchen.
After returning home, we unpacked the tents and hung them out to dry properly. Then, folded lightly and placed in a breathable dust bag. The sleeping bags were unpacked and hung on hangers with breathable dust bags over them. All the inflatable items were unpacked and stored with the valves opened. Loose items such as pots, and crockery have been placed in a box. The toiletry bag was refilled.
I have since spoke to a few families upon our return. Their adventures were different yet similar to ours. These were some of their experiences:
- We forgot to pack a sharp knife and cutting the carrot was a challenge.
- It rained the whole time we were there.
- It was too cold to shower. So we didn't.
- We packed only two-minute noodles and chips.
- A wombat tore a hole through our tent. We only have used it three times. I think we will try fix the whole before our next camping trip.
- We slept really early and woke up really early.
- We precooked our meals and kept the meals we want to eat the next days frozen. We kept them in the ice box with ice bricks. They thawed out by the second day.
Whatever the experiences, ultimately, they will go camping again and so will we. We made memories as a family and we should savour moments like these as they are precious.
A list have now been written up of what needed to be packed for the next trip. This list will be revised again and again. Then again after we go on another adventure.
Now, we were lucky with the weather for our first family camping experience. What will the future hold?
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