Easter 2013 – Warrnambool.

The two weeks before Easter we spent trying to decide if we’d go away for the four day break.  It wasn’t until Good Friday that we decided to pack up our van and head to Warrnambool.

Matilda playing on the beach

Our tardiness in making a decision meant we ended up getting a site in the overflow area of Surfside Caravan Park, called Shipwreck.  Surfside was packed to the gills and we had a very quiet area with virtually nobody around.

Playing in the dunes

Being only about fifty meters from the beach was a bonus and right beside us was a large area for the girls to play and ride bikes and enough room to fly our kites right beside the van.

Kites

It was a very relaxed weekend and on Saturday morning Grace and I got up very early to take a walk along the beach.  We happened across quite a number of racehorses being trained up and down the beach and amongst the waves.  It was pitch black and we could just make out thier shadows as they raced up and down at the low tide mark.

It was such a great Dad and daughter time and I thoroughly enjoyed talking to Grace about so many different things as we took our hour plus walk.  The sun soon rose and on the return leg we stumbled across a number of chalk writings along the beach foot path.

Chalk Writing

We did a bit of sight seeing over the weekend and visited some of the main attractions around Warrnambool and along the Great Ocean Road.

Sadly we were a bit early at Logans beach for a whale sighting.

Pano at Logans Beach.

The Twelve Apostles.

12 Apostles

Grace

Mum and Girls

London Bridge.  I remember as a kid being driven out to the edge by my dad.  You cant get close anymore.

London Bridge

Over all we had a great family weekend.

The three "kids"

But the story Grace wrote after the weekend really made me realise just how important it is to take the time to spend with your kids.

My letter

The morning we spent walking along the beach. just the two of us having a chat was her favourite part.  Not the playgrounds, or the Easter eggs, but the time I took to spend with her.  I don’t think I’ll ever forget that.

Expander Pegs Review.

“I’m excited” was the catch cry of Big Kev and I’m going to echo his cry with this product.

I like to change and improve things often but I always do a great deal of research into the things I purchase. I like to simplify my life where possible and make things comfortable.

Last year I stumbled across this product. The simplicity of the design and the HUGE improvement to the original had me wondering why hadn’t this been thought of before.

[Expander Pegs.](http://expanderpegs.com/)

They have two legs that you put your rope between and squeeze together. Then you drive them into the ground like a (sub)standard peg.

The great part is they can’t spin out. They grab the ground and don’t pull out. They just do the job a peg is supposed to do.

I have replaced every peg we own with these and the best part is they are not expensive.

If you want to never worry about a peg coming out again and you want to hold that awning down in big winds then do yourself a favour. Get your hands on these. You’ll never regret it.

They come in three different sizes, 25mm, 30mm, 35mm.

Check out the expander pegs website for places you can buy them.

Get yourself well grounded and relax on your next trip not needing to hammer pegs in all weekend.

Australia Day 2013 – Warrnambool.

We headed off to Warrnambool for the Australia Day weekend with two families of close friends. It was the first outing for one of them with their new Jayco Expanda.

We stayed at the Surfside Caravan Park in Warrnambool. The park is very close to the beach and Lake Pertobe.

When I was very young my family stayed there a couple of years in a row and I have fond memories of Warrnambool.

Matilda

It was a trip down memory lane and I enjoyed taking my family to a place I love visiting.

Grace

The Surfside park was quite busy being the end of the school holidays, a long weekend and the local speedway was being run. Even so it was a very pleasant stay and full of family’s enjoying the park. Our site was literally fifty meters from the beach and we spent a couple of hours enjoying the very clean beaches.

Australia Day

The girls were very excited about Australia Day so we put up some flags and had an Aussie BBQ for dinner.

Darryn and Thomas

Warrnambool has a very well set out park called Lake Pertobe. The park is a year-round family attraction. It’s an adventure playground and a paradise for kids. There are giant slides, flying foxes, a maze and boat rides. There are walking tracks around the lakes, and the park features picnic areas and sheltered BBQ facilities.

The kids had a great time. I also caught up with an old friend at the lake whom I haven’t seen in years and she has a hobby farm not too far out of town. It would be a fantastic place to live.

Thomas and Dad, Anthony - Grace and Matilda

The boats on the lake are the same ones I remember riding in when I was a kid probably 30 years ago. They are still great fun and are well worth trying out.

Lake Pertobe Boats

One of the nights the blokes played a round of Bocce. It’s a fun game that can be played anywhere and we always carry it in the van.

Bocce

Those who haven’t been to Warrnambool before went on a small tour visiting places such as the breakwater, Thunder Point and Tower Hill.

Thunder Point

We all had a relaxing weekend and the drive to Warrnambool from Melbourne is not as long as I imagined. It’s better than traveling the thin winding roads to Apollo Bay and Lorne. It’s a place we will all return to soon.

Me and the girls

Mike, Betty and Darryn

Rose, Janette and Thomas

Tyredog TPMS review.

A friend* of ours was recently on a trip and had a situation where a blowout destroyed a tyre on his van. They were very lucky that it wasn’t much worse and that the van wasn’t damaged any more than it was. It made me think that a tyre monitoring system would be a good piece of insurance.

I have looked into these recently and the Tyredog system seems to be a well built unit. I picked up a Tyredog WTPMS TD1300A-X 4 sensor unit today and in no time at all had it installed on the vans tyres.

There are four sensors which are numbered so that you can put it on the correct tyre. They also have an anti theft ring. It will only keep the honest thieves away but it would take awhile to pinch them anyway. Not only do they monitor pressure but it also measures temperature. I imagine this would pick up on hot bearings. I like that.

Once the system was installed I was surprised at the difference in my tyre pressures. I was able to rectify this and make for a much safer trip. I highly recommend looking into these. It could save not only a damaged tyre but save a life if it avoids a collision.

* *thanks to Troy for permission to use his image.*