mataranka then & now.

The last time we were here at Mataranka was 13 years ago. We had no kids, we drove a combi, I wore toe rings, Indian dresses and child sized t'shirts and he had long dread locks right down his back.

I remember the look of the car park, I remember the smell of the forest and I remember walking straight past all the tourists bobbing around in the main thermal springs pool and hiking until we ended up all alone in a quiet swimming hole further up river.

I remember stripping our clothes off and spending hours alternating between swimming in the spring water and laying on the banks watching the turtles and the little fishies swimming below.

It was calm, we were at peace.

I remember being completely mesmerised by the turtles. They would swim around in the water and then paddle up for gulps of air.

It was like our own private oasis.

On Tuesday we returned to Mataranka. This time with three children, grown up sized bathers and high hopes for wondrous experiences swimming in the springs and admiring the wild life.

Friends had told us that our entire trip would make sense when we got to Mataranka. After a few weeks in the red, dusty desert we could hardly wait.

This time we saw the tourists in the first hole and made a quick decision to hike to the second. One and a half hot kilometers later we arrived at the second.

This time the pool was full and the current moving in and out of it was fast. This time we were terrified of crocs and the sludginess of the bank made peering into the water almost impossible. This time there was a couple fishing off the bank despite the fact that the sign said not to. This time we dipped our feet in, splashed water on our faces and headed back to the first.

This time, all grown up with a family of our own, the first touristy pool was/is perfect. Warm and safe and fun. This time we've spent hours in there swimming and chatting and bobbing around with the other couples and families and kids.

This time the family of seven in matching speedos, the couple who have been here 13 times in the last 23 years, the woman with the pearl encrusted head band, the teachers from Ballarat, the couple with the birthday three year old, the girls with M names and all the other people we've met have all added to our experience. We've shared memories, travel stories and tips, birthday celebrations and a good laugh.

And the turtles.

Last night, a bit after bed time, Indi and Jazzy and I turned on our torches and went into the bush to find the river. We were absolutely terrified and squeezed each other tightly, threatening to go turn back right until the end. But then we shone our torches on the water just below us and had the best show we've ever seen. Families of turtles of all shapes and sizes swimming around, paddling up for air and performing.

It was incredible. And we were all alone.

We all agreed, turtles are our favourite animal.

We are loving it here. It is hot, there are kangaroos and peacocks roaming around and there is a heated spring fed pool at the edge of the park. Every time we tell a story about last time the girls laugh and ask if we were naked. We've just booked for another two nights.

Mataranka is different this time, but then so are we.

People in my neighbourhood.

A guy I met this morning asked me why all these kids aren't at school? They are at school, I replied, the school of life! Fair enough he said, I was worried but I guess they were better behaved than some of the adults around here last night.

This morning we met a couple with two kids, a nine year old boy and a seven year old girl. Both were born on the same date two years apart. November 15th. Our Indi's birthday too.

This morning we met an Irish guy on a one year working visa working at a bar in the middle of nowhere for twelve weeks. He really enjoyed the work and said the bosses treated the staff very well.

Another guy we met this morning was filling up a big, plastic tub with soapy water. He was going to chuck the family's dirty laundry in and let the agitation of the drive to the next caravan park wash it clean for them. I love this simple idea and probably should consider doing the same, but the convenience of three dollars for a washing machine at the next caravan park wins every time.

This morning two guys on camping chairs sat outside their caravan and watched as Bren reversed our van into it's spot. Occasionally they yelled out comments at us. About three hours later we sat on our camping chairs outside our caravan eating sandwiches and watching a guy reverse his caravan into it's spot. It was hard at times, but we didn't call out any comments at all.

This afternoon we met a couple who had poured talcum powder on every part of their caravan that touched the ground so the ants don't climb up inside. I wonder if it'll work.

This afternoon, I heard a woman tell her husband off over and over and over for how he was parenting their children. I'm certain that after a while he stopped listening to her, the same way she accused him of saying the same thing over and over and the kids not listening to him. Get in the car! Get in the car! Stop repeating yourself! Stop repeating yourself!

This afternoon a man in a cap walked past the spot where I was giving Farmer Bren a number two haircut. I offered to cut his hair next but he said he'd been done too recently.

This afternoon we saw a couple fishing in a water hole where there was a sign that read No Fishing! So not cool. Indi was most upset and really wanted to tell them off, but I thought it was safer to leave.

This evening the girls met and danced with a little girl called Jamie Lea. Jamie Lea lives here in Mataranka and goes to the local primary school. She showed us her t'shirt with the school name on it to prove it. She gets to swim in the thermal springs sometimes, but not all the time. My girls thought it was a bit odd that Jamie Lea lives where they are on holidays. I guess they don't remember that it happens all the time in reverse in their town in Daylesford.

I think if you had met me today you would probably think I was a happy, present, attentive, interested Mother. Except for that bit when I got cross with my middle child for constantly complaining about everything.

All pics in this post were taken at The Devils Marbles, NT.

The last pic was taken just after two enormous road trains drove up to the peaceful scene. The drivers jumped out and marched towards us. I was certain they were going to tell us we had to leave so they could do road works or something, but instead they got out their cameras and started snapping photos of the amazing view. You can see them there on top of one of the trucks getting a better view.

And finally, a HUGE thank you for all your kind and helpful comments on my last post. I needed to write that post to get it out and I needed to read your words of wisdom. I am having internet issues so visiting and commenting and emailing have been difficult but I read and considered and loved every one.

I do hope everything is sunshiney in your world.

Bye. xx

hiccup.

Most of the time life on the road is great!

We have no time frames, farm chores, appointments or obligations. Most of the time we are happy in our own company, traveling from place to place, making it up as we go along.

We don't do sunrise tours because we don't like to get up early, we like art, we like playgrounds and swimming pools and markets and animals and we like taking it slow.

Most of the the last two and a half weeks on the road have been just so ace.

But then yesterday something changed. We had one bad day. Not so serious in the scheme of things but it felt pretty intense at the time.

You know how in life sometimes you find yourself in places that don't feel comfortable. You aren't always sure why but it just feels uneasy. I felt like that as soon as we arrived here at Alice Springs.

Things started being crappy when I whacked my head on the car mirror in the wee hours of the morning (pun intended) and I saw stars.

Then my computer internet went all strange. I know I need to be more aware of how much time I spend online, but I do not want my computer to decide that fact for me thank you very much.

With no way to download emails or read blogs, I felt out of touch and upset.

Then we visited gorgeous friends of ours doing the same driving trip of Australia as us, who last week rolled their car in the middle of nowhere and ended up in hospital. Every thought and feeling and story they shared with us, I could feel. I am sick for them. What an unfair and totally awful end to their trip.

And the Aboriginal situation here. I'm not sure I am ready to put into words how sad it has made me feel. How difficult it has been to explain it to and debrief my sensitive daughters. I feel sick and sad and responsible.

As a family we will do something proactive.

Then there is the camping thing. Most of the time it has been brilliant but yesterday I felt like I was just over escorting the girls to the toilet, over there always being someone hungry, over there being sand in my bed, over the niggly fights, over the tiny space.

Yesterday I felt like I had no skin, like everything hurt me, upset me. I was raw and oversensitive. Yesterday what I really needed was to go into my sewing room and sew. I needed me time.

I couldn't have me time so I kinda tuned out. I played with my phone and on The Twitter and snapped more than once.

When Bren asked me to get off my computer late afternoon so we could discuss where to go from here I harrumphed. We ended up having the first fight we've had in about four years. Then I cried that I wanted to go home.

Then he cried. The girls cried. And I started looking at the map to see if we could get a train to take our car and caravan home. I was certain it was the only way.

But this morning we all woke up happy. Like the air had been cleared and we understood what we wanted, what this trip is all about.

We've had a wonderful day.

I am certain that there will be other places that challenge me, that I wont always be able to resist the call of The Twitter in the middle of family time, that we will hear awful news that will make me cry and cry and cry, that my need for personal space will overwhelm my need for everything else and that other bad stuff will happen.

BUT I do know what I want and I want this!

All photos are from instagram on the iPhone app.

Let the adventures continue....

Random rambling facts about today.

• All the pics in this post were taken this afternoon at Kata Tjuta/The Olgas on the gorge walk.
• We listened to Paul Kelly and The Storm Water Boys on the drive there and back.
• By accident we got there at lunch time so we ate apples and carrots and almonds and sultanas and chips on the beautiful wooden bench before we started the walk.
• The sign at the start of the walk says the gorge was once an Aboriginal sacred male place and the women didn't come closer than the picnic ground. I was unsure at first about walking there, but after a bit of discussion we decided that it would be ok because we aren't Aboriginal and because it didn't say anywhere that they'd rather we didn't.
• The walk was a little bit hilly but mostly flat and rocky with a bit of bridge crossing and board walking here and there to protect the vegetation.
• Indi spent most of the walk searching for love hearts in the rocks.
• There were lots of caves in the big rock walls, high, high up where chunks had fallen out. I imagined hiding out in one of those caves and how quiet it would be, but then thought I might get vertigo and or fall down so decided against it.

• My girl spent ages watching these two beetles crossing a hand rail. At first we tried to encourage them to keep walking (the girls), but after a while we walked on a bit and left them to it. How often in life does one really get the chance to study the behaviour of a bug without having to rush off and do something else?
• Farmer Bren said that his favourite part of the whole day was those few minutes when the girls were watching the bugs and we were sitting alone on the rocks holding hands.
• Some people came along and told the girls that the smaller bug had caught the bigger and might eat it, but my girls were certain it was a mother carrying her baby. Much like the way I piggy backed Miss Pepper a lot of the way.

• Before we got to the other end of the gorge the girls tried guessing what would be there. Jazzy was certain there would be a lolly shop. I promised her that if there was a lolly shop then I would buy her anything and everything she wanted. She was excited. I didn't actually have a cent on me. I thought it was funny until the we got to the end and I think she was a bit disappointed that there was only a picnic area.
• The picnic area was set on a grid thing off the ground to protect it. Through the grid we spied all these things that could have been ours but weren't: a green pen, some pink and white crochet cotton, two hair ties and a click clack clip.

• This morning I lost my size 4 crochet hook so I might not be able to show you what I have been working on for a while longer.
• This evening Miss Pepper had the biggest tanty EVER when I wouldn't let her crawl under the public toilet cubicle to look at the 'old lady who did that huge fart'!
• There is the biggest Orb spider I have ever seen living on the roof of the girl's toilets here. Ugh!
• We have just packed up the camp site and will head off first thing in the morning. I think we will even eat breakfast along the road somewhere just for fun.
• I have loved it here in the Uluru/Kata Tjuta national park but I am excited to hitch up the van in the morning and explore somewhere new.

I didn't think I had anything much to write today when I sat down, but I guess I did.

I hope things are good in your world.

Have fun out there. x

Dots.

This afternoon we spent a few hours sitting in the red dirt near the base of Uluru watching an Aboriginal woman draw pictures and maps and symbols in the dirt with her hands. She was so graceful and fluid with her actions. Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take any photos but gosh I wanted to.

After her demonstration, we were each given a piece of parchment and some paints and sent on our way to paint our own stories.

Miss Jazzy.

This is a story of our caravan trip. The sun is the sunset at Uluru, the clouds are the freezing weather at our home in Daylesford, the green bits on the sides are where we skipped, if you look closely you can see us swimming in the blue ocean in a few weeks time.

Farmer Bren.

This is the story of our journey. Our caravan is driving along the road, there is the starry night sky where Indi and I went to an astronomy talk, the mines in Cooper Pedy, Uluru and the ocean we are heading towards.

Indi.

This is the story of our family's life. The green spiral represents our home in Daylesford and the muddy path leading up to our home, the green dots are the trees, the blue dots are people we know, the blue dots with red in the middle are us, the white spiral is the caravan, the white dots are people we are going to meet, the yellow spiral is Uluru and the rainbow paths are all the paths we are going to take on our adventure.

Miss Pepper.

This is the story of our holiday. The orange is the sunset at Uluru, the red bit is where we skipped, the white is the path we rode around the big rock, the red thing is Uluru, the black is night time and the white dots are people.

And mine. A simple little story of a family's caravan trip from their home to the great big red rock in the desert. The black lines are the roads travelled, the dots above the roads are the skies and the stars and those below are the animals and birds and flowers and trees. The symbols above the van are the four girls and one boy that make up our little gang of five.

Oh how I loved dotting those dots. I could have stayed there dotting with the back of a skewer all day long. There was something so relaxing and therapeutic about it.

I loved the whole experience too. Despite the fact that I'm sure the painter and her interpreter do exactly the same thing every single day for another bunch of tourists. Usually that bugs the crap out of me but today it didn't. When I started chatting to the interpreter and discovered she's just an ordinary Mother like me, for once it was a back story I didn't want to hear. I enjoyed getting lost in the symbols and dots and wiggly lines.

We have no grand plan for the girl's schooling while we are away. Their school seemed to think they would learn enough on the road and with reading, writing and some maths games they should be able to keep up to date. Even though its only early days, I do think about it sometimes and wonder how they'll slot back in next year. But after a day like today I feel confident that they'll be fine. They learn so much more out of the classroom today than they could ever learn in. Art, culture, social studies, geography, money, language, geology, English...

I hope you had a chance to get a bit lost in something you love today.

Bye. xx

Riding around the rock.

I think one day, a loooooong time in the future, when I am old and wrinkly and grey sitting in my rocker thinking about my life gone by, today is a day that will stand out. Today is a life highlight I think.

Today, after the biggest three year old tantrum ever, Indi made us a packed lunch, we hopped in the car and drove to Uluru. Once there we took the bikes off the roof of the car and rode off around the base of the great rock.

We had been looking forward to this moment for so long. We were buzzing with excitement. Even having to stop to repair two punctures didn't spoil the mood.

We were at Uluru. On our caravan adventure. And that rock is MASSIVE!! Bigger than any of us had imagined.

It is a beautiful track around the rock, dotted with bits of information and stories. Many places are fenced off because they are sacred Aboriginal sites. In fact the whole area feels sacred. There is a kind of sense of calm and awe.

It was difficult to explain to the girls though why it was that despite the fact that it was made so clear that the traditional land owners do not want people to climb the rock, people still do. To get to the climbing path, one must walk right past this sign explaining that fact in several languages. Hmmmm...

Despite the fact that the car parks were full, we passed so few people on our ride and felt like we had the park to ourselves so much of the time.

An amazing day.

Today I rode around Uluru with my family. The five of us. Pepper on the Trail-Gator behind me and Jazzy mostly riding alone and sometimes with Bren.

We laughed, sang, picnicked and adored the scenery. The rock was cold to touch but we had the most beautiful, warm, brilliantly blue skied day.

I still feel a little self conscious about using Foxslane as a travel blog, but I do want to record this time and blogging is a comfortable way for me to do so, so for now I will. Maybe there'll even be a bit of craft thrown in the mix from time to time. Hope so.

I hope you are making some memories for you as a granny to look back on and smile one day too.

Before you go, I almost forgot I have one more little story that I must to share:

We had just arrived in the Uluru Cultural Centre this morning when this gorgeous girl came over and asked if I was Kate. Obviously I replied that I was. She said she had just gotten off the phone from her sister Aimee who reads my blog and told her to look out for a black haired girl in boots with three girls. As her sister was saying the words, apparently I walked past and fitted the description. Foxslane is here she told her sister. We chatted, I met her friends and heard about their trip and we headed off in our own directions.

I love how blogging sometimes makes the big wide world seem like a smaller, friendlier place.

Hi Aimee!

See yas all later eh! xx

Road tripping...

The girl at the petrol station this morning told Bren her family had done this trip we are doing around Australia when she was 13. She said she doesn't remember a lot of it but her Mum kept a journal and they pull it out sometimes and read it.

I need to keep a journal. I will keep a journal. From now.

There is so much that happens that I try to memorise as we go. So many smells and thoughts and stories to keep track of.

I want to remember... kicking my family out of the caravan so I could write a blog post a few days ago and looking out of the window to see them skipping. After that afternoon it has become part of our routine, skipping at rest stops, skipping after breakfast, before dinner, after lunch.

I want to remember how Miss Pepper smells everything and often her descriptions are hilarious. This smells like the Booba who lives upstairs's pool room, next to that caravan smells like soggy sauce (soy sauce), Uluru smells like honey, this bathroom smells like fishhies, your hair smells like the Sally with the two odd shoes...

I want to remember that comforting feeling of bringing your home with you where ever you go. Being a turtle. Being able to pop inside for a hoodie. Having your own bed and pillow every night. Being able to stop by the side of the road to make a cuppah. And being so proud of her when she is surrounded by boring, new, all look the same, caravans.

I want to remember the excitement of Miss Pepper's first friend on the road. A little boy called Brandon who brought her wrapped up plastic figurines as prezzies and followed her around the playground.

I want to remember nights when the girls were across the way at the playground, Bren was making a bbq outside, I was making a salad inside and Paul Kelly was playing on the ipad, working his way from A through to Z.

I want to remember how although it sometimes feels tedious listening to tour guides repeat the same words they have told forever over and over, my girls love it. The big two are the perfect age to take in every word, to follow each number on the map, to suck up every bit of information.

I want to remember how they loved the noodling (fossicking for opals) in Cooper Pedy and continued to dig holes and examine the dirt for days after we left that area.

I want to remember how frightened they got of the dummies in the opal mine tours. Dummies dressed up as miners scared the pants off them. Miss Pepper even had nightmares about those big dollies for days afterwards.

I want to remember that driving into a new state was an occasion and how exciting it is to chart our journey on the big map.

I want to remember crafting it up in the car as we drive.

I want to remember the rat plague and the police hunt for the missing caravaner when we first got to the NT. Low flying police planes and lots of police cars on the road. Oh how we hope they find him soon.

I want to remember the looooooong distances we drove through the outback. Looooong distances with only things like a tree full of boots or undies or bottles to break it up.

I want to remember that isolated feeling of being out of internet and phone range for days. Of feeling disconnected but also aware of how much crochet and reading I get done when there's no screens to distract me.

I want to remember how much I am trying to see everything and do everything and notice everything. Including every time one of my girls wants me to see her doing something which is a full time job in itself.

I want to remember changes in the weather, in the vegitation, in the climate...

I want to remember the feeling of awe when we first laid eyes on that rock.

And then the feeling of complete overwhelm watching her change colour as the sun went down.

This is just the list that sprang to mind in the last ten minutes. So many things to do, so many things to keep track of. I'm going to try my best.

I hope things are wonderful in your world.

xx

Yep, I guess this has become a travel blog.