Return to base camp

Today we arrived home from our week in the wilderness (or at least in tents) at Elanda Point on Lake Cootharaba, north of Noosa. Despite some interesting weather and the girls and Greg being under the weather at one time or other, we had a good time away and enjoyed doing something different as a family. Of course at the end of a week though I am very glad to be home with running water and a bathroom which isn't a few hundred metres away across a field littered with kangaroo droppings! So many things to be thankful for - a good reminder of the blessings that we have at home.

The girls of course loved the experience, Ellen spent a great deal of time chasing ducks (to feed them sometimes - if she hadn't eaten the bread first!), watching the kangaroos and goannas, observing the owls and enjoying the freedom of a beach on the front doorstep. The bad weather and storms don't seem to worry kids - as long as Mum and Dad are fine, they are too - nice confidence to have.

We did have a couple of experiences with rather bold goannas, which left me a tad wary - one came straight into our camp while we were there because Greg had brought back a hot chicken for lunch and was getting it ready for serving...the goanna was not to be deterred despite Greg and others trying to head it off, although finally got the message, but then for the next few hours it and a couple of others kept returning from all directions. We are NEVER having hot chickens for lunch again in a known goanna zone! This combined with the lady from the tent next door telling me that she'd been reading a book and felt something on her leg and looked down to see a goanna nudging her leg with it's head/tongue...I admit to being unnerved.

Anyway - we survived all that, had a great time, managed to squeeze in some windsurfing for Greg and I as well. In typical 'Ros' fashion I managed to break something on Greg's Dad's windsurfer while I was out on the water - unfortunately a long way from land, so Greg and Ellen walked out to see if Greg could help (Elanda is a very shallow lake that Greg being so tall, can touch the bottom pretty well anywhere) - and Arthur borrowed a canoe from a couple nearby, so Ellen had her first canoe ride on the way back in and was quite keen for her own 'spade' (paddle).

So - that's a quick synopsis of the camping trip - many more stories, mostly at my expense, so I won't share those here, but thanks for thinking of us. Hopefully this will be the first of many.