Bennett Carter Davy: March 2006

Sunday was mine and Paul's 6th Wedding anniversary. we racked our brains trying to think of something to do and settled on Melbourne Zoo as Bennett is right into animals at the moment and finally we figured he was old enough. Scienceworks was a close second though.

There is 1 Gorilla, mummy.

Yes, The beads still come everywhere.

See the butterflies daddy.

Still checking out the butterflies.

Eeek a crocodile

Bennett and the crocodile (its very hard to type with rubber gloves on)

Saying hello to the lizard

Still looking at the lizard

We had lunch at the zoo, during which Bennett embarrassed himself (and mummy and daddy) by chucking a massive wobbler because he wasn't allowed to put his chips in his drink.

We managed to see a few more animals after that and then went home. After a big sleep we went to the park and had fish and chips for tea although Bennett didn't really eat much he was too busy playing.

As Paul's post on his message board had me in stiches, I thought rather than post my own lame attempt at humour I will post his thoughts on the weekend instead

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On Friday morning, we left home for Bennett's first ever camping trip.... but we had a couple of small errands to run first. One of these was dropping in at Stephanie's friend's place in Lara. Alas, her little 6-month old daughter was feelin' a bit peaky so we stayed around a bit longer than expected to help out... though by the time we left, the young'un seemed to have a bit of colour back in her cheeks.

By early afternoon we were back on the road, and our first stop was at Lorne to pop in at the "Big i" (information kiosk) for a whole array of documents advertising markets, restaurants and things to do. While in Lorne, we checked out the bookshop and had ice-cream with the boy. We drove on, with me fighting the headache I'd had all week, and we finally arrived at Kennett River. Or is it Kennet River? I don't know and I don't think the local proprietors know for sure, because they seem equally divided in their opinion on the spelling of the town's name.

Because we got an early start on the long weekend, it was still rather quiet when we arrived and pitched the tent. The weather was nice so we went down to the beach. The water was beautiful and clear... so much so that I could even see some fish while I was out having a swim. Back at the campsite, the boy was pretty excited and we had much fun dancing around the campsite to tunes supplied by DJ iRiver. After dark, Kayleigh and Grace arrived and set about putting up the "Taj Mahal" of tents. After an hour of watching and giggling, I was getting cold and tired so I let them finish the job on their own.

Saturday morning was a calamity. At 6am Bennett broke the first rule of camping and threw up inside the tent. Whilst we were able to clean the tent up alright, it still guffed in there so I gave up all thoughts of getting back to sleep. I thought I'd have an early shower, so in my sleep deprived state I went and had a shower and as I walked out of the amenities block and the door slammed behind me, I cursed as I realised I had left the key for the amenities block in the shower cubicle. So I sat around waiting for someone to turn up, and about 15 minutes later some kid finally came along. He was pretty weird and didn't respond when I spoke to him, but he was heading to the amenities anyway so I could have snuck in whether he liked it or not. He was probably scared to death and thought I was a kiddy-fiddler or somethin'...! Thankfully, without further ado, I got the keys and went back to the campsite.

As I arrived, I saw a menagerie of ducks fighting each other over the Rice Bubbles the boy had spilt the previous night. I kept them out of the tent (which was still half-open to be aired out) and set about sorting out some of the stinkables. Tired and grumpy, I set about making a cuppa, but as I did, the gas bottle ran out and I had to replace it. When I attached the new gas bottle and switched it on, a gas flame ball blew out of the cooker and lightly singed the end of my fingers. All this, and it wasn't even 7:30am yet...

Thankfully, the day did get better. After a lovely fry-up for breakfast, we had a jaunt over to Apollo Bay where we checked out a market and some shops. We got Bennett some replacement clothes at an Op Shop and checked out a couple of second-hand book shops, as well as getting some mercyndol for my annoying headache.

When we got back to Kennett River, we bummed around a bit until deciding to trek over to the beach in search of Kayleigh and Grace. When we got there, we found them and I borrowed their body board and had a jolly old time riding some waves. The weather was perfect for it, except that it was still quite sunny and my head was already burnt so I had to wear a hat... and try to find it everytime the waves washed it off. I survived, and so did the hat, and finally my headache seemed to be waving with a bit of water therapy.

Back at the campsite, the boy went down for an early night after some quality snags and a bit of frisbee with some of the neighbouring rugrats. The rest of us sat around nibbling goodies, yakking and having a couple of beverages. Eventually Bennett started to get a bit unsettled so I decided to call it a night, and go to bed.

In the morning we rose early and set off for breakfast at Lorne. On the way, Stephanie fanged one corner too many and the little boy found himself carsick, and spewed over yet another set of clothes. After another early morning cleaning effort, he was right to go and we made our way to Lorne. We had a lovely breakfast of bacon, egg and cheese rolls with HP sauce, whilst the boy had pancakes with maple syrup and ice-cream.

After Bennett blew kisses to half the people in the restaurant, we departed Lorne and drove up to Airey's Inlet for a pretty disappointing Farmers Market. We then set off towards Deans Marsh to pick some berries. However, the map we were using wasn't completely clear about how shabby the road from Aireys Inlet to Bambra was... so we had an interesting 17km of shabby undulating bush roads to traverse. At one point the Lancer thought about shuddering and collapsing underneath us, but it survived, and got us through with only a mild case of the shakes.

The berry farm just west of Deans Marsh was highly agreeable. An organic ale and a lovely home-made apricot and blackberry sorbet was the perfect antidote to the 38'C temperatures. We picked some blackberries and strawberries but a combination of heat, thrist, tiredness and soiled nappy meant that Bennett wasn't really in the mood for too much more, so we headed back.

Once back at Kennett River, the sun was obscured by the clouds and the weather was absolutely perfect for a swim and a bodyboard. Bennett isn't too keen on the water - he prefers to play in the sand... but I think he was pretty excited when Stephanie took him out a little way into the water and I rode a couple of waves all the way into him. He was sitting up in Stephanie's arms clapping me in. The waves were so good, I even managed to ride some waves without a board at all. I could have stayed in there all afternoon and evening was it not for paternal responsibilities!

Kayleigh and Grace set off to go out for dinner, so instead we cooked up some pasta back at the site. After we ate, we decided we might actually head back to Werribee that night. The forecast was for rain overnight, the boy was still a bit sick, and he was completely out of nappies. The air bed was half-flat, and we weren't much looking forward to the 10am checkout or the Melbourne-bound traffic on Monday. All in all we decided it best to pack up and head off while it was still light. Alas, we didn't get to bid farewell to Kayleigh and Grace as they were still out at dinner, but I'm sure they would have had a nice day today.

We got home just before 10pm. We got the boy to sleep and were pleased to see that the dogs were fine. I slumped in a chair with a glass of white wine, and had a small rest before heading off to kip.

All in all, a highly agreeable time was had by all... and we've decided we should definitely go camping again sometime soon before Winter comes... maybe somewhere inland like Bendigo or Ballarat... or even back to the Great Ocean Road to go to Torquay, or to another fine looking spot at Cumberland River which my boss has highly recommended. We've learned some good lessons about camping with the boy, and we'll be even better prepared next time! Hopefully it will be sooner, rather than later!