“I have a sore on my toe,” Miss5 whined from bed last night.
I pretended not to hear. Something which requires award winning acting skills when there’s no other sound in the bus and the person talking is less than two meters away.
Which usually works a treat except Tracey was sitting beside me doing the exact same thing.
“Guys!” Miss5 said in her outside voice. “My. Toe. Still. Hurts.”
I risked a glance at Tracey who was risking a glance at me. This is Parenting 101 here in Devereauxville.
“Your turn,” said Tracey.
“Why?”
“Because I have boobs.”
Check + mate.
“Show me where it’s sore,” I said to Miss5 a few moments later and she pointed to a small crack under her big toe.
Reaching deep into my daddy bag of tricks I then tried kissing it better, which I saw as taking one for the team. We struggle to get Miss5 to wear any footwear even – and this is specifically what I was thinking about as my lips lightly touched the pad of her big toe – to the loo.
“It still hurts,” she said.
“Bandaid will fix that,” I told her, wiping imaginary grit from my mouth and wondering why I didn’t try that first.
It didn’t.
“I tell you what,” I said eventually, running out of ideas, “if it still hurts in the morning I’ll take you to the doctors.”
This at last seemed to make her happy and she closed her eyes and was asleep within minutes.
“Isn’t that a bit drastic?” Tracey muttered as I returned to my chair.
I assured her a doctors visit was not on the cards.
“It worked, didn’t it?” I said, grinning at her smugly.
And then, at about five o’clock this morning, I got to see that exact expression reflected back at me from Tracey’s side of the bed.
“It still hurts,” Miss5 had yelled at me. Actually, it was likely just her normal speaking voice, but as I was asleep it had the same effect as an airhorn. “Can I go to the doctors now?”
“Good one,” smirked Tracey, rolling away from us.
“Daddy, wake up,” said Miss5. “Come on! We need to go to the doctors!”
“Why,” moaned Master12 from his mole hole under our bed while there were rustles and grunts from the other three occupied bunks as well, “does she need to go to the doctors?”
Tracey put her sleep on hold for a moment longer to answer.
“Because your Dad’s an idiot,” she called out.
I’d have gone with our daughter’s toe being sore, but I guess that works too.
We decided to take the Great Ocean Road back to Geelong, where we’re preparing for our Spirit of Tasmania ride on Friday. We figured it would give us a taste for the place and we’d come back later in the year on our way to Perth.
It’s not often the kids would rather look out the window than down at their DS’s.The views out the windows were spectacular.
Came over a hill and saw this beach and that was the end of our travels for the day. This is the best thing about doing a big lap: spur of the moment decisions which you have no reason to say no to.
The haul a boat up onto this jetty occasionally. Lots of people jumping off a jetty and swimming to the beach.Fishing must be pretty good there too.
First time needing to use the jerry can of emergency diesel to make sure we were gonna make it to the next servo. Couldn’t get close to the bowser in Port Campbell. Too big.
This whole coastline feels like it needs to have a James Bond film made here. I don’t know why, but that was my take.Much excitement was to be had watching the crashing waves and not knowing if this part of the cliff was going to be the next to fall into the seaKids were horrified at two people taking photos of each other performing handstands and other poses on the WRONG SIDE OF THE FENCE!We ran away to a different lookout because, as Miss10 put it, “I don’t want to watch someone die.” Unfortunately we could still see them from the next spot.I decided the moment called for some good ol’ fashioned mocking so I showed them how to do a ‘very similar’ near perfect handstand, but within the safety of the fenced areas. And I do believe mine is better because I utilised the fences, just to add a touch of the miraculous. Then we hurried back to the car in case they saw us mocking them. That guy was ripped.
Must have been 1000 people watching the sun set from the Twelve Apostles look out.The number of tourists coming to see this wonder is highlighted by road signs reminding people we drive on the left over here. The need for those signs makes you pay attention to the road, let me tell you. Prepare yourself for too many photos of Twelve Apostles (-ish). So hard to not take photos constantly. Harder still to pick just a couple to show.Whatever you think about these things, they’re even better. Truly worth the drive.
The scale of this place doesn’t really hit you in this shot until……you realise those are people over there.More people jumping the fence. Again, my kids were horrified. I like this about my kids.Not a lot of room for error if you trip by mistake. And us Devereaux’s always trip by mistake.
Overheard an American woman announce, “This is something you don’t see every day.” Miss12 asked what don’t you see everyday. “I think she means the sunset,” I told him. “It still happens every afternoon, doesn’t it?” Miss 8 asked. Although she didn’t acknowledge me or the kids, the woman clearly overheard this and continued to her friend, “I mean watching the sunset here. Today. That’s a one off.” Gave the kids a lot of chuckles on the way home.
A reader told us about this place so we sought it out. Good call.Cheese tasting was enjoyed by all of the kids because, you know, food. Ended up buying three cheeses we all agreed were the best and then one more I knew they weren’t fussed on. Because I’m smart.
Cheese tasting was followed by ice-cream tasting. Two scoops each. Much happiness ensued. The lovely Molly looked after us the whole time. She was awesome with the kids and should be paid more.
For three dollars the kids got a bottle of milk and could add their own flavouring. ‘As much as you like’ is a phrase the staff may not be using from now on.
Raising a family on little more than laughs
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