Beach Holiday Recap

I have just spent a lovely week down south enjoying a family holiday :) It's been a few years since we have all been together for a week doing whatever we want and relaxing.
My church is fortunate to be able to hold a campsite for a week each January for those who wish to come down and stay for however long as they please. It's dorm style accommodation with a shared kitchen, games room, tennis courts and ablutions and it's located within metres of a our own private beach. There's actually lots of campsites that back onto this stretch of beach and it's been nicknamed the 'Holy Mile' by the locals. Different church denominations and not for profit groups have a campsite and throughout the year various groups can take advantage of the facilities. I am actually going down there next Saturday to cater our Youth Group's camp and in March we have our annual church camp there too.

On Wednesday we drove down to the campsite and were the first ones to arrive, we actually took two separate cars which made things easier. It was Jocelyn, Mum and I in her car and Megan and Dad in his. We arrived down at 2.30pm despite making a detour via a shopping centre where we got side tracked with the sales at Peter Alexander and to grab lunch for the road. A few other families were arriving that night too and we ended up combining our resources for dinner and we made Nachos there was 19 of us and it was great to have a big family meal to kick things off.

Thursday the weather was cool and Megan and Dad went into town to grab a few things so Mum,
Jocelyn and I along with 3 others went into a town near the wine region. We got to walk along the main strip and explore all the little shops with different wares. I bought a pair of silver earrings which were locally made and some fudge from the fudge factory.
On the way back we stopped in another little town that had statues of cows all through it, we grabbed lunch at the local bakery and looked in a soap store and another gift shop.
At 3.00pm everyone who was staying at the campsite met at a local ice cream shop for an afternoon treat, it was super packed but as always the ice cream was worth the wait.
At night after we dinner and the kids were in bed we would play board games and chat. Bannagrams was the popular choice but I always ended up reading as I never felt like thinking much.

Friday the weather still wasn't great so Dad suggested we go explore a cave, when we got to the cave to pay for the tour we were told the next availability wasn't until 11.30am so we bought tickets for that session and went into a nearby surf town to grab a drink and watch the surfers catch waves. We eventually returned to the cave ready for the tour, the actual tour portion wasn't that long - about 15 minutes and we were able to explore the cave at our own leisure. Megan does not like steps or confined spaces so we bribed her down with hot chips afterwards and she and Dad stayed together and didn't go to far from the entrance while Jocelyn, Mum and I explored the cave. At the deepest point the cave was 37 metres and there was a lot of stairs and walking through tight spaces! It was a fun experience and it was honestly like a whole different world down there. It took us about an hour to walk through all the cave and we were exhausted by the end of it. As we had bribed Megan with chips and she had succeeded in doing the cave we decided to stop off at a fish pub on the way back for fish and chips. It was a lovely meal and we all enjoyed it, before going back to the campsite for a much deserved rest.
Our afternoons always included sitting outside either on the grass near the beach or in a shady spot somewhere reading and relaxing. We also did lots of walks along the beach and I collected lots of tiny shells for a craft project. I read 3 books during the holiday and all mentioned the beach at some point during the stories which was amusing.

Saturday the weather was finally starting to improve  and Jocelyn, Mum and I went to some markets at a town hall nearby then we dropped Jocelyn off back at camp before going into the town closest to the campsite to meet Dad and Megan. We shared two pieces of vanilla slice and Mum and I did some shopping. I ended up buying some bathers as I needed a new pair and it was easier said than done! There was a bather shop in the town which I really like and had often looked in, being big busted finding bathers that are supportive, modest, that I like  and don't break the bank can be hard. I tried on so many bather tops before eventually settling on a royal blue tankini top with black bather bottoms. I ended up spending $125 in total but I maybe buy bathers once ever 3 years if that so it's justified.

Sunday we went to church followed by grabbing some more groceries and in the afternoon I actually swam at the beach. I'm not a huge beach person, so I maybe swim at the beach once or twice a year if that, but the weather was warm and the beach was perfect so I didn't need much convincing to swim. A lot of people were leaving Sunday as they had chosen to come down for a few nights or just for the weekend so the campsite was rather quiet and there was only 10 of us at the campsite that night compared to almost 30 on previous nights!
That night we saw a lot of wildlife including: 3 possums that loved to jump and play on the roofs of the dorms, 3 frogs one of which decided that the ladies bathroom was a nice place to hang out and a lizard (it was super small so we think it was a skink) when we were showering after the beach. We also saw a stingray that came into the shallows while we were swimming, though we had seen a few previously but they were from a distance  

Monday was our last full day the campsite and Megan, Mum, a friend and I decided to go the cheese factory followed by the chocolate factory in the morning. The region where we were is known for amazing food and wine but as none of us are big wine drinkers we had to settle for the food side of things. I bought some yummy brie cheese which was super creamy and perfect. I bought a 250 gram wheel of it to save for later and 150 gram wedge of it that we enjoyed that night. Then we went to the chocolate factory and lets be honest we really went for the free samples as I can't tell the difference between it and normal Cadbury dairymilk haha!
I also went for my second swim of the holiday and I ran into someone I did G Team with who was staying at one of the cottages on the campsite and it turns out she is married to my Mum's second cousin (so extremely distant relative) and was there with her husband (my granddad's cousins kid) 3 daughters, son in law and granddaughter. It's such a small world and it was great to see a familiar face and chat about our experience at G Team.
That afternoon we did one last trip to the ice cream shop before coming back to the campsite to enjoy our last night.

Tuesday we left the campsite at 9.00am to head home and we arrived home at lunchtime. It was such a lovely holiday and sometimes you just need to take a break and recharge, but there's no place like home and I missed Rikki (he also missed me to from the looks of things) and my own bed.