A WEEK OF PERSONAL HIGHLIGHTS

It has been a week of personal highlights for each of us. Brodie was very excited to lose his front tooth. It had been loose for a while. He was a bit disappointed the next morning when he saw the tooth fairy had only left $2. He told me some kids at school used to get $5 and even $10! I said that they must have brushed their teeth a lot better than he does!!

Tara's highlight was planting her own herb and flower gardens. She has been a bit obsessed lately with growing plants and had taken to collecting dirt in a container and waiting for something to miraculously appear. Darren took her to the hardware shop to get pots and seeds and she has been watering them and moving them into the sun every day. She couldn't believe it when the first shoots appeared.

Casey's highlight was getting his photo in the local paper. The museum that we visited last week had a bookfest on Saturday morning, selling books that the library was getting rid of. We picked up a heap of books for the kids for only 20c each. I turned around at one stage to see Casey giving his name and age to a man with a camera around his neck. He didn't even realise it was a newspaper reporter until I told him.

Darren's highlight was winning the 2010 Little masters Championship at the Bowen Golf Club. He parred the course and arrived home with a ribbon and a $50 voucher. The kids were very impressed with the ribbon!

And my highlight......I went to a Zumba class! It was nice to get out and do something that was just for me. I used to love going to dance class last year for that very reason, and I have missed it so much. Zumba was a lot of fun, but exhausting! 55 minutes of non-stop dance moves. Now I know why they all look so toned on the ads on tv!

No, we haven't updated our living arrangements! This is a photo of a cabin built in 1872 that is located at the Bowen museum. I took the kids there this morning for another 'school excursion'. It's been described as one of the best regional museums in Qld, and it certainly lived up to that reputation. The kids were fascinated and took notes on their favourite things.
I'm sorry I haven't updated the blog for over a week. We've settled into life here, and sometimes it feels like there's not much happening that's worth writing about. I will try and be more diligent over the next few weeks.


This is the kids' favourite tree in the park next to the caravan park.

Tara learnt to go across the monkey bars.

She's also been having golf lessons. This is directly at the back door of our caravan. The location is fantastic with the kids.

We were still struggling every now and then with keeping the enthusiasm up concerning school work. I decided to rearrange the annexe to make it feel more like a classroom. We had been doing most of the work inside the caravan, but it can feel a bit crowded at times. So far it's working really well. I've lengthened the time each day that we have school, but set times for breaks. It seems to take the pressure off me to get a lot done in a short amount of time. I've started to plan lessons a bit more too, trying to include more fun ways of learning. The kids have even been putting their hands up to ask and answer questions - and sometimes call me Mrs Hargraves!

LIFE IN BOWEN

We have been in Bowen for a week and a half now, and it looks like we'll be here for a while longer. The good news is Darren got a job with a concreting/bricklaying company, and they've got plenty of work. The kids were excited because they really like it here. They've made friends with a couple of local kids and have been meeting them each day at the skate park and playground.
I took the kids for a 'school excursion' to learn a bit about the history of Bowen. It was declared a town in 1861, and there are over 20 murals around Bowen depicting different aspects of its history. We made it to number 11 before Brodie started whinging that he was hungry and thirsty! It was a very hot day. In fact, the weather's been so warm I even got in the pool with the kids the other day! The water was a bit icy, but it only took a couple of laps to get my breath back and after that it was quite nice.
More exciting news! Darren went to the Caravan and Camping Show in Brisbane a few weeks ago and entered a couple of competitions there. He got a phone call when we were in Emerald to say he had won a weekend at a resort in Bowen. How's that for timing?! We couldn't believe our luck! We rang them this morning and booked in for 3 weekends away. Can't wait!


Yesterday we went to Airlie Beach for a look around. It's about a 45 minute drive south of here. Tara couldn't believe her eyes when she saw a line of camels walking by! The main strip reminds me of Surfers Paradise about 30 years ago, but without the high rises. It's also nice to see towns where the beachfront is all parkland and public domain, not sold off to developers.

There is a lovely swimming lagoon on the beachfront.

A walkway through one of the beachfront parks

BACK TO THE COAST AND CANE COUNTRY

From Emerald we headed north to Clermont and then across towards Mackay. We spent one night at a free camp spot called the Retreat. It's out the back of a pub on a huge area of grass. The next morning we drove through thousands of acres of cane fields and made our way to Seaforth, a small seaside town north of Mackay. We hadn't rung ahead, but managed to get a great site closest to the beach for two nights (photo above). It was school holidays, so there were heaps of other kids there. I hardly saw Casey, Brodie and Tara - they were off playing with their new friends in the playground and down on the beach the whole time. The campsite was run by Mackay council and cost $18 a night for up to 6 people. There were coin-operated showers (40c was enough for a decent shower), but no powered sites. Generators weren't allowed, so we kept an eye on how much the solar panels were charging the batteries. We would have been fine, except the tv's use a lot of power. On our last night there, the fridge seemed to just turn itself off. We weren't sure if it was just the power situation, or if something serious was wrong with the fridge. We went through a few towels mopping up the leaking water as the fridge defrosted itself! The next morning we bought a bag of ice to put in the crisper to help keep the food cold, and headed to Bowen.

After three nights without power to plug into, it was good to get to a caravan park. And hooray... the fridge started working! We didn't even lose any food. Darren has an uncle and aunt in Bowen and he's hoping to get some work here. We're all hoping too, because it's so nice here. The caravan park backs onto a big park area with playgrounds and a skate park. In the photo above you can just see some of the caravans in the background (our van is above where Casey's head is.) Just next to the park is the beach - and the caravan park also adjoins the golf course - so everyone's happy!

After all these months (and after playing on their cousins' Wii game inEmerald), the kids decided they wanted to hook our Wii up. As you can see, the table comes out easily to make room.

The other great thing about the caravan park is that there is a pool. The kids just had to get in on our first day here. The weather is really warm (I was ready to get in myself), but the water was quite fresh! They eventually all got in and swam happily around until their lips went purple!

It's overcast today, but still really warm. I went through all the clothes again this morning, packing away the winter gear and pulling out all the summer stuff.
We had another minor drama last night (actually 4am this morning) when Tara threw up in her bed. Luckily I'm a light sleeper and jumped out of bed quickly enough to grab her down from the top bunk, wake Darren and get him to take her outside before she let rip a second time! I pulled the sheet off fast enough to save the mattress. It all could have been a lot worse, and she was fine straight afterward.