Last Breach Trip Before Lockdown

It was obvious that in the covid-19 world soon a lot of activities that we took for granted would be finished. We drove down to Sale to see the Grandparents for what seemed to be the last time in a while. We made sure we got a trip to the beach in.

It was a lovely day and the wind was minimal, which is saying something for Seaspray.

Maggie had a lot of fun playing in the sand, I taught her protect the stick and she mostly enjoyed running back and forth in the waves and screaming.

Claire (pregnant) mostly lay on the picnic rug with Gaga. Pa and myself splashed around with Maggie and it was a really nice day all around.

 

You can tell Claire took this photo because the horizon isn’t level

Long weekend in Phillip Island

Myself, Claire, Maggie, Jenny and Dean went down to Phillip Island for the long weekend. Not exactly the sort of camping and boating fun that I usually like to write about, but it was still a good trip outdoors and quite managable with Maggie from a rented house. Brad, Ains, Maddie & Isla went down too and of course Maggie loved being around Maddie and Isla.

Friday was very hot and Maggie and I spent most of the time in the water or playing on the beach. The 36 degree weather was too much for the others.

 

Saturday the cool change had come through and it was raining on and off. We went for a walk along a beach to some caves and Maggie thought it was the best thing ever. She still sings “beach patrol” to the theme of paw patrol. Watching her partipate in it with Maddie and Isla was a lot of fun.

The rest of Saturday was raining but the house was well set up for it and the girls had a lot of fun. We ordered Chinese and Maggie enjoyed her giant bowl of steamed rice. She asked Claire (while sitting around a noisy table of 9) “Mummy, who do I speak to?”

Sunday was the trip back and Brad and I played some mini golf of a terribly run down course while the girls and Dean went to a wildlife park.

Paradise Valley 2019

Easter for another year. Maggie is now a bit over 2, so we were a bit uncertain how camping would go. Once again, the hardest part is to get a decent nap given the temperature on a mild day is blazing hot inside a tent.

However, we went down for two nights which proved to be a great success. It wasn’t long enough for her to get too tired, but it was long enough that she really had a good time.

She played really well with Olive and Paddy, she loved driving Pa’s truck, loved the river, loved sleeping in the tent… loved it all, but especially the Easter Bunny came and gave her some chocolate, which she thought was the best thing ever.


The Campsite
 


The best part of camping

Lorne for Maggie’s Birthday

We are very close at getting back into the camping lifestyle, at least with Maggie, however this was another outdoorsy holiday on the luxurious side of things. We stayed at the nicest house I’ve been in, certainly the most expensive. Maggie was completely in her element, with all the grandparents there, and her two favourite things in the world: a swimming pool and the beach. We even made it to a waterfall but she wasn’t that fussed as she couldn’t swim in it.

 

Cape Conran for 2019

Saturday 2nd

Well… I spent a lot of time vomiting! Unfortunately it was around 10-15 knots. The direction meant that we were able to launch the boat okay. However, this did not sit well with me. We didn’t get any gummies, although I did bring up an old maid. We went after flathead next and I got around 7 and the boat got about 12. Was a reasonable day of fishing, but with no photo-fish and 6 hours of spewing I have to admit it wasn’t my best trip.

Sunday 3rd

A nice calm day was very appreciated. We went out after Kingfish first but didn’t get a bite. Then we tried in vain for gummies. I did manage to lock up with the biggest thing I’ve ever hooked. However, I just could not budge it, and since we were 99% sure it was a ray, it wasn’t worth the 30 minutes it would have taken me to get the thing topside for a looks. Perhaps a shame – as we didn’t get any flathead next! Just a whole lot of octopus.

Thanks to the in-laws for minding my little baby. She told me when I got back that she wants to go fishing! awww….