A Little Duna Easter

Posted by Craig on April 22, 2014

Ok…Ok… I’m sorry, I didn’t blog over the weekend, but we were just having too much fun, and there wasn’t really a chance to sit down and think through writing a blog, so I’ll just do a quick summary to make up for it!!!

We left after work on Thursday night after a much more sedate pack having had the time during the week to prepare this time. Still felt like a mad rush at the end, but at least we didn’t get up there and realise we had left lots of stuff at home! We managed to get on the road by about 6:30pm which was 30 minutes earlier than last time.

Traffic was shocking with everyone heading north for the long weekend and I have never seen such a long line of red tail lights in the distance (until that point anyway… I have since!!). At least the traffic was moving, and the cars in front made it much easier to see where the road was going.

Arrived as we normally do, in the dark, at about 9:30pm and I was a little apprehensive to see what the block was like given we had left it in a near flood! No concern though and as I unlocked the gate in the darkness I noticed little sprouts of green grass where last time there was a massive puddle! I found it very exciting, but Fi just rolled her eyes at me!

We moved the van a little further up this time just in case it rained again, camping in almost the same spot, just a little closer to the trees. As seems to be the way, every time we arrive the spot lighters seem to be out shooting in the farm behind us, so we quickly lit every light we could find. I made Zac stand outside the van holding the dogs as I set up the van and I have never seen a kid jump higher every time a shot was heard in the distance. Sounded to me they had upgraded from a .202 last time to either a .308 or shotgun as the crack was a much bigger deeper sound! Just made Zac jump a little higher again and again!!

Camping in the same spot had it advantages as I simply re-dug the fire pit from visit and the left over wood from last time meant it didn’t take long to get a good fire going.

Anyway, we woke the next morning and as I do I had to take the quad bike out to look around the block. It was amazing just how much it had changed in a week! The grass was a beautiful shade of green and as I approached the first dam all I could say was “Wow! Wow! Wow!”. No longer a shallow muddy brown puddle, the dam was brimming with lovely (but dark) water. Absolutely amazing!! Ruby loved going for a swim even if it was bitterly cold!

The second dam was the same, and there was even water about 50-100m up the creek bed! I had to take a couple of quick photos for the blog.

I returned to camp to find Tara and Jess awake, so we all jumped on our bikes and headed back to the second Dam again. While they were amazed at the amount of water, I think they were mostly excited by the water under the bridge, having a ball running back and forth.

We had a brief shower this day where it poured for about 5 mins before the clouds passed over and the sun came back out. From what we heard, we were lucky given the weather was shocking back in Melbourne.

Nicola and David spoke to us from the road heading north to their own holiday at Dinner Plains and they said the weather was terrible. They did make it through and even tooted and waved as they passed Violet Town… unfortunately this far back from the freeway we didn’t hear them 🙁

Mark was also coming up for the weekend and he coped not only the bad weather but shocking traffic as well on the Hume, so it was about 3pm by the time he finally made it with a full car load, Kris, Matthew, Emma, Claire and Ashley (Kris’s son) all piling out of the car.

The kids were very excited to have company, and raced away to show off the block while Mark and Kris setup camp.

Now Ashley is Autistic and he was fascinated with the quad bike, so I took him for a spin around the block. He loved every moment of it. After taking Ashley and a few of the others for a ride I soon became sick of it, so handed the reins over to Zac who was chuffed as the only kid allowed to drive the quad bike. I must admit he has got a lot better at it!

Unfortunately that was short lived, as Tara came running back to camp yelling “Dad, Zac says the quad bike won’t go!!” Frowning, I headed off to find out what had gone wrong.

I found Zac and Claire sitting on the bike in the middle of the block, Zac almost looking pale worried that he had broken Dad’s bike! “The back just fell…” Zac said.

I had a look, and sure enough the seat was sitting on the wheel… not good 🙁

I lifted the bike to find that the shock absorber in the rear had sheared off! Lucky Zac was rinding as I tend to travel a little faster… the damage wasn’t too bad. I managed to balance the shocker on the frame and carefully drive it back to camp very slowly. Wasn’t Zac’s fault, but it did mean the bike was out of commission for the weekend much to Ashley’s disappointment as all he wanted to do was sit on it. Unfortunately I just couldn’t risk more damage to the bike or even worse to one of the kids!!

Lucky I was able to order a new shocker on ebay and should have it for the next time we are up there again 🙂

We didn’t do too much on Saturday, Mark took his lot off to town to play in the park as a distraction while the Morton’s were dragging themselves out of bed and having a late breakfast. Then Fi decided that she wanted to try walking to town, so as she headed off with all the kids I made myself useful setting up tree swings and building a fort out of the tractor and truck tyres the last owner had left behind. Was about an hour later when I got the call to join Fi and the kids for lunch in the cafe in town.

After lunch, we raced up the road to get a few supplies from Coles in Benalla before returning to the block about 4pm were Mark had got the fire going. Had to send all the kids off to collect wood though or we wouldn’t have lasted long enough to cook marshmallows.

Sunday of course was Easter, and the kids woke to find the Easter Bunny had visited them in the middle of the night. As is the tradition, it was chocolate for breakfast, lunch and tea this day!!! The kids had so much chocolate that we didn’t even bother to organise an easter egg hunt… however nothing gets past Tara and eventually she asked when we were going to do it? Unfortunately it was too dark by the time she asked, so we had to promise to do it on Monday.

The day itself was pretty cold and overcast, so we didn’t do an awful lot and for the first time ever, we kept the fire going most of the day. Even the dogs preferred to sleep around the fire this day, making the most of the chairs vacated by the kids!

So, before we knew it, the weekend was over. It was Monday and time to head home, but not before that promised easter egg hunt!! Sneaking out in the morning with 200+ easter eggs under my jumper, I headed over to the second dam and distributed eggs around the place.

Returning and gathering the kids, I told them to get a bag and follow, holding back the rush until we were close enough to unleash them. They had a blast, and most of them ended up with a good bag of 30 to 50 eggs each. Tara probably had the most but then she had offered to collect for Zac who was hiding the van with a sore leg, not up for walking (I think it was a ploy to get out of helping me pack up!!!). Tara was true to her word and handed a good number of eggs to her poor brother back in camp. See they can be nice when they want too!

After the hunt, Mark finished his packup and left before lunch, keen to beat the traffic. We weren’t in such a rush choosing a more sedate pack up. Fi even walked into town again this time with the girls on their bikes and the dogs on the leads as I finished the packing and Zac hobbled around complaining about his sore leg.

I got the call to pick them up just as I was finishing and it was just after 4:30pm by the time we locked the gate and headed for home. Unfortunately we did get the traffic, and spent a few hours crawling the last 100kms or so back to Melbourne. Yes I now have seen even more red tail lights in front of me! Felt like crawling through the city in peak hour!!!

Was a good weekend and the kids all had a ball happy to have someone to share our fun with. Unfortunately I forgot to get the camera out enough, but I think Fi took a few photos, so I’ll raid her phone before I finish this post.

Here is what I found on her phone.