Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Nelligen Dads and Lads (plus Audrey) weekend

Nelligen is a small town just before the south coast – a two and a half hour drive from Canberra. Eli, Audrey and I headed there as part of another ‘Dads and lads’ (plus Audrey) trip – this time staying in cabins rather than braving the chilly evenings in a tent. Admittedly one of the dads did camp (the camp site had ‘safari tents’ with wooden floors) but I’m not sure whether he thought it was such a good idea after having to cuddle up with his son for two nights in order to keep warm.

Our cabin was pretty well equipped and with the gas heater on we were kept warm at nights (another Dad suggested leaving a gas fire on all night was not so wise, but we risked it!)

The days however were beautiful. On Friday evening we munched on (enormous) marshmallows cooked (to perfection) on a raging camp fire, and spent Saturday fishing and enjoying the sunshine.

The fishing was largely unsuccessful, although I guess it depends on how you measure success. Yes we didn’t catch anything but in terms of fun and enjoyment we had plenty. The kids disappeared(!) to hunt crabs allowing us five Dads cast our lines into the shallow water (the park was on an inlet which when the tide was out meant the water was about 12 inches deep!). We used a variety of bait from squid to sausage all with the same result. The kids however caught half a dozen crabs which scuttled around in a water filled jug before being released back into the river.

An hour or so on the excellently equipped playground/jumping pillow then Saturday night was more campfire and marshmallows (with beer/wine for the Dads) while the kids ran wild and generally got wet and grubby. Audrey went barefoot for much of the day and with her hair unbrushed she gradually became ‘ferel’!

On Sunday we raced the (excellent) pedal cars around the site before heading home (Magic Faraway Tree on the CD/stereo for the whole journey!)

It was a really fun weekend. An added plus was the World Cup on the tele (the three of us watched Nigeria v Bosnia Herzegovina on Sunday morning).

Great company and a really enjoyable weekend.

A large soapy bath and an early night welcomed us we returned back to Canberra (as well as Amy, obviously!)