Camping : Part 2

We woke up to another beautifully warm and sunny day.  First things first, it was time for breakfast! 

And what says Sunday more than a lazy Sunday brunch? 

The boys set to work cooking snags, bacon, fried eggs and toasting the bread for our meal.  The beauty of camping is, much like a BBQ, it's the one of the rare times when it's macho for a man to be taking care of all the cooking.  G and I sat back and relaxed (yes, of course I was in the hammock!) while we waited for our food to be served.

We made a couple of new friends, who happily joined us for breakfast.

They stayed behind and held fort at camp while we headed off for another trip down the rapids!

Liam packed up the ute - strapping in the tubes, lilos and floaty devices and then laid down a tarp for us to sit on comfortably.  We all piled in the back of the ute, and set off down the road! 

This is the first time ever that he's allowed me to ride in the back of the ute. I attempted to do this once, on the way home from the shops.  He wouldn't unlock the door, so I yelled out "FINE, I'LL RIDE IN THE BACK!" and he replied with "FINE!" so I climbed into the tray.  He thought I was pretending, so he got into the driver's seat and began backing out of the parking spot.  As he reversed out, he looked back at me expecting me to be freaking out, but instead I smiled and waved. He promptly stopped the car, got out and demanded that I get into the passenger seat!

Yay for finally getting to ride in the tray! It was good fun, taking in the beautiful view, smelling the fresh country air and chattering away to my best friend.

This trip down the rapids I was a little more co-ordinated and only fell off my lilo once! And that was only because I was too busy blabbing away (typical!) to notice the big rock coming up right in front of me.  

We got back to camp, and decided we were enjoying floating too much.  Liam got a big rope, tied G's lilo and mine together, and anchored us onto a rock so we wouldn't float away downstream.  Then before heading off with Mark for another attempt at fishing, he placed a yummy blackcurrant cider into my hands.  Have I EVER mentioned how much I love that boy?!

By this time, most of the other families had left so we were uninterrupted out there.  It was so peaceful, just floating out in the middle of the river, drink in hand.  At one point, we even fell asleep! It was lovely, but I did have a few angry patches of red sunburnt skin to show for it.

The beautiful view from both directions... it didn't matter which way I floated off - it was win-win!

Liam came back from his fishing expedition, and LOOK! He'd caught a giant friendly killer whale!

I got back to camp to find that G had taken over my hammock! MY hammock, remember?! I think Mark and G spent a lot of the weekend waiting for me to get up from my seat so that the could pounce! Definitely  a very comfortable hammock.  (You can't tell I loved that hammock, or anything!)

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and soon enough it was time to pack up and go home.  It's hard to believe the how compact our home for the weekend can become... the boys took the tent down and shoved it into its tiny bag, and all that was left was the lonely little door mat :(

We're heading back up there with a few more friends for Liam's birthday, and I am already hanging out in anticipation! Not to mention our overseas trip which is coming up before then!

So tell me... where's your favourite camping spot?

Australia Day BBQ

For Liam, Australia Day is like his religious holiday.  It's the one day a year he looks forward to, and celebrates everything that he loves.  We decided to celebrate the day by inviting our friends to join us by the pool with beers, BBQ and Triple J's Hottest 100 - what could be more Australian than that?!

The last few events we've tried to organise have been cursed with dismal weather (read: thunderstorms) however it was our turn for a win, and we were blessed with sunshine and a lovely warm summer's day! Whilst I busied myself sorting out my nails (the important stuff, obviously!) Liam cleaned, swept, dusted, decorated and transformed our backyard.

Of course there were Australian flags! We put up large ones in the bar, in the bungalow, on the fence, and hanging off the hills hoist for good measure! I decided that my Essendon flag also needed to take pride of place in the bar too.  Liam, although being a massive Hawks supporter himself, humoured me and put it up as I asked.

More flags outside the bar area, and we brought the ratties outside to play!  As you can see, Rocket is keeping guard, and making sure his little pals are safe! We also had new covers for the two couches in the bar, but people seemed to use them more for storage space than anything! Since it was such nice weather, everyone opted to sit out in the yard to enjoy the sunshine! It was lovely... kind of like having a little picnic at home with our friends! :)

Liam was determined to have zinc! He was so excited to find green and yellow coloured zinc at the shops too! He had a ball, painting everyone's faces with Aussie-coloured stripes! Unfortunately for me, his godson got a hold of the zinc and I decided it would be a good idea to let him paint little wiggly lines down my leg.  Just a note for all of you - zinc does NOT come off easily, and may result in awkward little tan lines!

The pool got PLENTY of use! Boys being boys, were running around attacking each other and throwing everyone into the water.  Unfortunately, this resulted in a couple of phone deaths. RIP little phones.

Rocket loved joining in the festivities! But the excitement all got a bit too much for him! 

The next day, I totally understood how he felt.  I think most of our guests were feeling a little worse for wear but it was totally worth it!

I was not a huge fan of the top song of the Hottest 100 though! But then again, I've always been a little less into commercial music than the next person. I just don't understand the big hype over that song.  I mean, it's a good tune, but is it really THAT deserving? And it's been overplayed to death.

What are your thoughts?

Wordless Wednesday - Waiting......

Rocket can't wait for his friends to join him for BBQ and beers!

Bring on Australia Day!

 Playing Wordless Wednesday over at My Little Drummer Boys!