Woke as per usual to the barely audible binging of Jen’s watch alarm around 6:15 AM. The sun was up and shining through the upper windows of the caravan filling it with light. It always seems a bit difficult to pry the eyes open at this hour but by this time my brain is awake and won’t settle so there’s no point snoozing along. The kids are still asleep in their respective beds – Cole on the top bunk, Aidan, the bottom and Piper in the bed where the kitchen table normally stands. She rouses first after Jen leaves the caravan heeding nature’s call and decides to follow after. We’re heading further up North towards Broome today without any definitive plan as to where we’ll spend the night – we’ll see how we feel and the driving goes. I was feeling in dire need of some fitness so gathered some towels and made myself a mat under the awning of the caravan to do my push ups and sit ups. Aidan and Cole did a few of the former and Jen and Aidan joined in for the latter.
It’s yet another sunny hot day and we start the process of feeding the troops, caffeinating ourselves and packing the caravan up for departure. It’s Cole’s turn on dish duty so he helps collect the plates and dries them as I put them through the sink. Aidan is in a stellar, helpful mood today and has actually made Jen and I our coffees before tucking into his breakfast. To expedite the process of preparing the caravan for travel, Aidan, Cole and Piper head down to the kid’s park just down the path from our van. We have to unplug/screw the electrical, water and drainage connections, pack them away, take down the awning, lower the roof and then hook the caravan up to the truck. We do our final checks of the fridge and roof clips and ensure the propane is turned off before finally making our move. While Jen drops off the key, I take the opportunity to do a tourist shot of Piper in front of the sign of the caravan park road we were staying on – relevant in that Piper developed her own word for thongs or flip flops early on – not sure where it came from but there it was and it was hers. She calls them La las and we were staying on Lallas Road so I had her hold up her La Las in the picture. We were due for some supplies so headed into the local Woolies before hitting the highway. Once packed and ready to go, we did one last swoop through Port Hedland looking for an elusive Emporium which was supposed to stock our printer ink – never found it so gave up and made trails for the highway.
The kids seem to do better with their schoolwork if we get them into it first thing before movies or other playtime and besides it was already almost 10 o’clock in the morning – well past the morning bell most kids had heard at least an hour earlier. Today seemed to go smoother than some, with little argument over getting started. We have found starting out with their Journals seems to work best as it takes the longest – at least an hour and often more. Once completed and checked, the kids moved onto some English before our first fuel stop, about 250 kms into the drive. They were in need of a break and keen to pop in the newest Top Gear movie they’d picked up at the Woolies earlier in the day. The deal was that they could watch it for an hour and then we had to tackle some Maths. All went without much ado and maths were more or less hit with some gusto. I always try to help out a bit to relieve some of the strain on Jen but this often increases the friction a bit as Jen has legislated that my only role when driving is to drive – not the most exciting role to play especially when the roads get very long and straight. I copped it a few times today for trying to multi-task a bit. Jen’s very aware – any slight re-correction of the wheel and she’s onto it - berating me for not paying more attention to the road. There was even a moment today when a small twister pulled us slightly past the mid-line – no fault of my own and I had to correct – sure enough she was onto it and looked at me as if I were crazy when I tried to explain that it was caused by a phenomenon of nature. We stopped for lunch and another top up of the tank a further 120 odd kms on from our first stop. As per usual we collected our picnic materials from the caravan and plopped down at a table near the pumps. This place was teeming with animals. Chickens, peacocks – even an albino one, and some water dragon lizards kept us amused and occasionally terrified while we tried to fill the pits of our stomachs. We’d noticed a sign at the first roadhouse advertising for an eco retreat – from only $150 dollars a night. The picture looked amazing with a couple in front of a beautiful beach on the veranda of their little villa. There was no mobile coverage in the area so I had to use a pay phone adjacent the roadhouse. The first try put me through to some bloke who had to transfer me but of course this didn’t work and I had to call again. Unfortunately, the scraps of change I fed the machine weren’t enough to connect the call (I couldn’t actually find the cost of my call anywhere on the instructions – only that it didn’t give change.) I tried a couple more times with a bit more silver/goldware and finally managed to get through. Turns out that the $150 dollar per night spots were tents with ceiling fans (no A/C) and no self-catering was allowed so we’d have to eat at the eco-retreat’s restaurant. A ‘garden villa’ with A/C to fit us all was in the order of $495 for the night. I weighed our options – the caravan at a site for maybe $35 and our fan or the eco-retreat option – it wasn’t a hard decision to make – so off we toddled back onto the highway to a place called Port Smith – 200 more kms up the highway and 23kms up a dirt track to a caravan park and apparently lovely lagoon. The kids got back into their school work for another hour or so and then were allowed to continue their movie. While I listened and tried not to sing along to songs from my iPod, Jen dug into her textbook and read about public policy and government – a bit dry but apparently essential for her current coursework. We eventually found the turn off to Port Smith and battled a sandy, wash-board-like road all the way in to the caravan park. The central part of the road was really soft and you could feel the caravan’s wheels getting sluggish through parts so I tried my best to drive on the banks of the road – the right-side being considerably better than the left until we managed to encounter another vehicle coming in the opposite direction. We fortunately had plenty of time to retreat to the proper side of the road and it wasn’t far beyond this juncture that we eventually found the park. The notice on the door indicated they closed at 5 pm – it was 5:06 by our Kluger Clock but fortunately they were still open and had plenty of sites for us. The sun was setting and the kids were in dire need of a run around so we set up quickly and then headed for the beach….tidal flats. This area is simply amazing in terms of tides – a phenomenon which accounts for the so-called staircase to the moon whenever there is a full moon. What happens is that the moon gradually rises over the horizon and its light reflects on the flats which extend kilometres out to sea giving the appearance of a staircase rising up to the moon – very cool. We haven’t seen it yet but will get a good look at it up on Cable Beach at Broome. The tide is touted to rise and descend up to 9 feet! Tonite it was out so we trekked along tidal mud flats about a kilometre before reaching the edge of the lagoon. The water was nice and warm and some visiting fishermen were hoisting their nets in and out of the water catching some mullet for bait. The night sky radiated with colour and the kids were having a ball playing in the shallows and kicking our football around. Darkness was descending quickly though so we headed back to camp. While Jen cleaned up the kids, I got stuck into making a Greek Salad and some Chicken Korma and rice for dinner. A couple pieces of Cadbury’s Crème Brulee and Lindt’s Chili Dark chockie for dessert and clean up was in order. Cole and Jen got stuck into it, while Aidan completed some remaining schoolwork and Piper played with some of the boys’ matchbox/hot wheels cars. All tidied up, Cole joined me for some sight word practice while Jen read to Piper with Aidan listening in. Some teeth brushing and cuddles and all were in bed (including Jen) ready to take on another day while I began my evening ritual of tapping the keys and expounding my soul to the world. And there you have it – a typical day on the road with the Mitchells!
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