Family Life

Meant to be Relaxing

Alicia Redshaw12 November 2009

Some of you will know that I haven’t been well for quite some time now and that I went to the Doctor recently to be told to take it easy and start looking after myself.  That seemed way too hard with a Reno in progress, three children and a business…

Some of you will also know that two days later (exactly three weeks ago yesterday) Quentin was involved in a life threatening accident at work in which he broke his hand in three places, broke one finger and cracked another…

Just to give you all an update…Quentin is going OK and there is no major internal damage at this stage, just a lot of swelling and pain.  I am intending on slowing down when he is better and able to look after himself around Christmas time.  He may not have missed work because of his accident, but he sure needs help with everything from getting dressed to being chaffeur driven everywhere.

So now that I have managed to explain my further absense from my poor neglected blog I will show you what we did on the weekend.

Shock…horror…We went Camping for the fun of it…Yes we know everyone else loves Camping, but when it was once your job and didn’t always involve the comforts of anything but a sleeping bag in the open wilderness, Camping isn’t high on the to do list.

We went to South End (Curtis Island) with a couple of other families from Scouts so that our children could have a great time and we could RELAX.  We walked way to far for relaxing and the lack of clean drinking water, even though it was indicated on the sign at the camping grounds gate and in the brochure, made for a bit of annoyance and stress.  I would have to say it was more revitalising….Anyway here are some pics of the highlights or our first Camping weekend…which was really fun and well worth all of the effort for the 7 adults and 14 kids that attended. (hover over the pictures for captions)

The trip over was great and very exciting for all of the kids.  The hike to the camp ground was fun too with out group spreading over a good 100 metres on the way, even though Quentin and Russell caught a ride on the ute with our gear.

I had a fun but stressful time setting up the tent with my two little helpers (Milton had to set-up his own tent, being a Scout Leader and all) and my one armed know-it-all husband.

It was also a nostalgic trip for me visiting the haunts of my younger days and seeing the house I called home on the holidays back in the day.  It is for sale too, but far too much for a run-down piece of nostalgia with no power or amenities (or things that flush!).

All of the kids loved the playground on the ocean side of the township that I too loved as a child.

Pics for the sake of pics.

Exploring and collecting “Treasures” was a true highlight for everyone.  I took a box of clip-seal bags for the kids to gather their special finds into, and most took several home to clutter-up their bedrooms.  They learnt to look beyond the surface and really see what was in front of them, even admiring and learning about rock formations.

On Saturday night we walked a long way to watch a Turtle attempt to dig her nest 4 times, and finally give up heading back to sea due to her injured flipper.  However, the older children and a couple of parents ventured further up the beach for an extremely late night watching this beautiful Turtle lay her eggs successfully.  It was great having Peter and Katrina (both Turtle researchers) at our disposal for the kids to learn about these wonderful creatures and their habits.

Rebecca took the kids on a Marine Debris Collection and followed it by a session of analysis and reporting about what they found.  The kids also created some fabulous 3D Collages with what they found too. (I just have to add some stronger adhesives so that they can be used for the up-coming Coast Care event)

Levi and Noah had a blast running around and exploring.  Levi found this little crab and so wanted to pick him up, but was just a little worried about what it would do to him if he did.

I took 100’s of pictures of the weekend including a lot of scenery, textures and just stuff.

The trip home was exciting for the kids with it being the roughest trip the barge has experienced all year (according to the staff on-board).  Noah loved the rolling seas and the exciting atmosphere it created.

All in all it was a great weekend and we will be Camping again, just with a lot more water and for a longer time.