Homeward bound.

We headed off yesterday morning homeward bound. Once again about 2200 kms to travel.

The advantage of taking the same route home is we have already stopped at the tourist stuff so we were able to motor along very quickly.

We managed to travel just under 1000 kms in the one day. 

The interesting thing about the trip is most of the day you are travelling through cattle stations, and they are unfenced. Imagine the children's surprise when we slowed down for a small group of cows.

As we headed back into Coober Pedy the Opal mines rose up in front of us, like the pyramids of Egypt. Great pyramid shapes in different colours. 

We arrived at our stop for the night not to long after dark, ready for a good night sleep.

A proud moment as a mum today.

Today my big two children climbed Ayers Rock (Uluru ) and I have never been so proud.

 I sat down the bottom with my two youngest children whilst my wonderful husband braved the climb with our two children. Truthfully I was a bit concerned that they would get half way up and decide to turn around. 

But they didn't, they kept climbing til they made it to the top.

The wind picked up whilst they were walking and it was cold at the top but they sat in the same crater that I did some 16 years ago.

The climb down took them a little longer as there feet grew tired and they faced the steep decline but they didn't complain, didn't give up. 

Today taught them that if you don't give up, if you persevere it is worth it. That they can achieve more than what they think is possible. 

Back on the road again.

After a week of relaxing and exploring Alice. We are back on the road again. 

The week in Alice was a week of first for the two big kids, they were both finally big enough to hire the go karts at the caravan park. (It did take 3 go's to find one that would fit our son). Our youngest daughter had a great time having a ride In A 2 seater.

They also had a great time at the Finke desert race, there highlight was a make shift sandpit full of tonka trucks

The dust was incredible. The noise was loud, but the crowd was definetly still family friendly at the prologues. 

After a week at Alice we are on the road home via Ayers Rock. It's funny after a week of small trips the children already seemed to be out of driving mode. We had to stop about half a dozen times between Alice and Ayers Rock.

The joys of children's imagination

I love the way children think.

If we can get them away from video games, tv's, structured games all of a sudden it allows their imagination to take over.

This trip I have been making a point of having (as much as possible) open ended games. Pegs, blocks, pocket friends, felt boards, plain notebook and pens.

What I have found as the days go on that the children are playing together so much easier. In the last few days I have not heard them utter even once - I am bored, what can I play with, or can I have the iPad.

Instead they have created adventurers with there pocket friends (which I have had to publish on my blog). They have had puppet shows, made up new games with cards, magic tricks, told stories.

So stay tuned over the next few days of 'more adventures of Annabelle and Bill' (our pocket friends)

Our Pocket friend Bill

Today was a very busy day for Bill. 

The children tried unsuccessfully to make him a house of cards, so instead we compromised and made him a house of books.

He then went for a fun skateboard ride all the way to the park.

He had a great time on slides, swings, balance beams and even rode on his first Donkey.

I wonder what adventures he will get up to this afternoon?

Pocket friends can be purchased from www.bubsandbeans.com.au

Simple fun when camping

As a mum of four children my house is filled with stuff, so when we go on holidays I like to take a minimalistic approach to packing the children's toys.

Problem is, this trip we have quite a few days in the caravan whilst My husband is out watching the Finke Desert Race.

I still didn't want the kids to bring heaps of toys so we have a few toys and activities to keep them occupied .

Pegs - My kids can spend ages using their imagination with pegs. In this photo my oldest two have made some monsters for a puppet show.

Mega Blocks - due to their large size they are great for all the children. They are easy to clean up and once again are great for their imagination.

A simple pack of cards.

This trip I bought the children a couple of packets of playing cards. They had great fun playing snap and then they began making up their own games.

Tomorrow I am going to teach them how to make a house of cards.

Pocket Friends

You will see these cute little figures in lots of our photos. These guys have already travelled to thailand, and now to the NT. They come in Foil packaging which means that the identity of the character is kept as a surprise until unwrapped. There are 6 girls and 6 boy characters. When we headed off to thailand, I packed a few for the children and gave them a couple each on the plane on the way over and a couple for the trip home. We have done the same for each of the 2200 kms.

They are small and like the name suggests fit in the children's pockets.

A notebook and pen. 

The children are writing their own journal each day about their trip. 

Felt board.

Another great activity is a felt board. It's another open ended activity that the children can play with again and again.

The dishes.

Probably my favorite is to get them to dry the dishes - surprisingly the children all love it, They pretend it's a cafe and tell me each meal they make as they dry them. We give our daughter (22 months) a clean facewasher for her to help. Much easier for her than a big bulky tea towel.

* Pocket friends and felt boards can be found at www.bubsandbeans.com.au

Walks to do with Children near Alice springs

There are so many great places to visit around Alice Springs. Problem when you have children you end up carrying the children most of the way. I have created a list of some great walks we did with our four children from 8 months to 8 years

Standley Chasm, there are entry fees to pay before you walk, the walk to the chasm is quite easy and the view at the end is magnificent.

The walk is easy - our 22 mth old walked some of the way, was carried, had a piggy back for a bit. Took about 40 minutes including lots of photos

 If you travel further down the road you will get to the Glen Helen Gorge and Homestead. The walk once again is easy through the dry Finke River.

The River was cold but the view was magnificent.

There is Ormiston Gorge and Waterhole, if only the weather was a few degrees warmer it would have been perfect place for a swim. The walk was a flat path the whole way. You could easily push a stroller.

 Our last stop was the Ochre Pits, The colours are amazing. It was well worth the short 300m walk to get there.

Our 22 month old easily walked the whole way.

This blog and other great travel blogs can be found at

http://www.chasingthedonkey.com/hotel-villa-dvor-omis/

We have made it to Alice.

We have travelled 2200 kms and arrived at Alice Springs. It's great to sit back and relax knowing we have 7 days now of relaxing and enjoying all that Alice has to offer.

The Caravan park is packed full of excitement with the Finke Desert race just days away. There are competitors, spectators and a few curious people who didn't realise what was happening at Alice this week.

The children had a great afternoon checking out all our caravan park has to offer and playing with our blocks from home.

Learning outside the classroom.

There is so much to learn outside the classroom. 

You just need to stop and take the time.

Today is officially a school day for the children, but as we are away we have to take the classroom to the children.

As we travelled today along the 'Explorers way' (Stuart Highway) from Adelaide to Alice Springs we made a point at stopping at all the information boards and we got the children to read the boards. Later when we jumped back in the car we ask them questions that relate to it. Making sure we know the answers, also. They spend time each day writing in a journal about their day.

We point out and explain things we see

We answer questions. The great thing is we learn so much as well as the children.

We take the time to learn, the time to teach.

A nice reminder

As the sun sets on another day I am reminded how the simple things can bring such joy to children when travelling

We started the day chasing away the birds, with the sound of giggles filling the air.

Lunchtime was spent gazing out the window of the caravan telling stories about lego and toy story characters.

We ended the day at a caravan park playground with giggles once again filling the air.

Sure there were almost 400 kms in between with stops to learn about Burke and Wills, underground shops, and rocket museums. 

But the memories that we will remember are the small pleasures the day brought.

A sunset finish.

So Day 2 of our adventure has seen us clock up the kms. We were very lucky today with a brilliant run in the morning seeing us drive 300kms without the need for a stop.

We stopped for lunch and a quick walk then jumped back in the car.

Imagine our surprise when our two youngest kids then decided to sleep for another 300kms.

In the end we managed to travel almost 800kms which will allow for some much deserved sightseeing tomorrow morning.

Some of the great views from today's drive

We arrived at our destination a little later than we would normally like however the saying 'never wake a sleeping baby' was running through our mind coupled with the knowledge of a hot meal and a powered site made the extra 50kms at sunset worthwhile