Just back from a wonderful girlie weekend in the Grampians with the other Home2Home girls - left to right Sherie, Judy, Mary and Mandy - www.h2h.com.au
As a family, we've done a small amount of travelling since arriving in Adelaide in 2004: we've driven to Melbourne via the Great Ocean Road, and to Sydney, then down the coast to Melbourne and back on the "fast" road. We've also flown up to the Gold Coast about three times now. One of the places we've missed so far though has been the Grampians - mainly because when we were planning to come back through there in 2006, they were hit by terrible bushfires.
Judy and Mandy had found this wonderful camping park purely by chance a couple of years ago, and had raved about it ever since, and as Mary from our Home2Home helpdesk in the UK was over visiting, it seemed a good chance to see what they were talking about. We hired a people mover (some Toyota thing - not sure of the model!) from our friend Brian at Aussie Car Rentals (www.aussiecarrentals.com.au), Sherie from Migrate Mates (http://www.migratemates.com/) flew down to join us, and we set off Friday lunchtime, heading East!
Well, what can I say about Emu Park Holiday Camp (http://www.emuholidaypark.com.au/)? If you've not experienced any of Australia other than the Cities, then you really need to check this place out! Alan and Vicki, the owners of this fantastic 40 acre park, are also the local fauna rescue people so as you wonder around, wallabies and kangaroos that they've nursed back to health and released watch you pass, and if you're very lucky (as we were) Vicki will have a current resident that she's bottle feeding - we even got to help with this, after which L
S the 'roo thought Mandy was its Mum and followed us back to our cabin! Mrs Possum visited us in the evenings - we had been told to be sure and shut the cabin door or she'd be in and on the sofa! - and a pair of Wedge Tailed Eagles flew overhead! The fields around Wartook are just full of 'roos and emus - so much so you really have to drive cautiously, constantly on guard for one bounding across the road in front of you. I imagine living in country Australia is tough - the climate means you're either having to buy in water or you have too much and have to be aware of floods, it's a long old drive even to get your groceries and a long trip on the school bus every day for kids, and then there's the bushfire risk in the summer - but this place, with no mobile phone and very little TV reception, is the place to go to truly relax. They even have a fire-proof shelter - the terradome, complete with double spa bath - that you can rent out by the night for the romantics amongst you (well, it sleeps up to four, so we'd be sharing with the kids - not sure about romance there!)
S the 'roo thought Mandy was its Mum and followed us back to our cabin! Mrs Possum visited us in the evenings - we had been told to be sure and shut the cabin door or she'd be in and on the sofa! - and a pair of Wedge Tailed Eagles flew overhead! The fields around Wartook are just full of 'roos and emus - so much so you really have to drive cautiously, constantly on guard for one bounding across the road in front of you. I imagine living in country Australia is tough - the climate means you're either having to buy in water or you have too much and have to be aware of floods, it's a long old drive even to get your groceries and a long trip on the school bus every day for kids, and then there's the bushfire risk in the summer - but this place, with no mobile phone and very little TV reception, is the place to go to truly relax. They even have a fire-proof shelter - the terradome, complete with double spa bath - that you can rent out by the night for the romantics amongst you (well, it sleeps up to four, so we'd be sharing with the kids - not sure about romance there!)We visited Halls Gap Food and Wine Fair on the Saturday, and had a great meal at The Wander Inn (http://wanderinn.wordpress.com/) with some family friends of Mary's (complete with great live music by their son while we ate), and then visited their sheep farm on the Sunday, learnt all about the shearing process, and got to bottle feed a 3 day old Suffolk lamb - we christened him Chops - before a wonderful lunch in their beautiful farmhouse. These lovely people had never met half of us before, but welcomed us and treated us like family, it was wonderful.
In between these fantastic experiences, us girls got to plan, and set the world to rights. We talked about ways to get the message across to potential migrants in the UK that if they want to use an agent, it's well worth considering one who is in Australia rather than automatically opting for a UK-based firm: Australian Migration Agents must be licensed and regulated (unlike their UK counterparts); their costs are often substantially lower, and more important than all that; when you land in your new country, your Australian Migration Agent (if it's a good one like Sherie!) is there on the ground to help you settle so you're not just left floundering. Sherie is based in the Gold Coast, but handles visas for migrants to all parts of Australia, and has links with people all over to help her clients when they arrive - like us, here in Adelaide! She often visits the UK and holds 'clinics' offering help and advice, so get in touch with her if you're looking for a great agent who not only knows her stuff, but cares about her clients well beyond the call of duty!
Wartook is about 5.5 hours drive from Adelaide - mostly on the Dukes Highway, the A8 - so if you're planning on checking out Emu Park, try and plan on at least a long weekend, if not longer. We only had two days there but it was so peaceful and welcoming that it felt like a real break - although we all wanted to stay longer!
Back to normality now - son's SAPSASA (South Australian Primary Schools Amateur Sports Association) soccer carnival all day today and back to nagging darling daughter to do her homework in the evenings, despite her doing her best to act out Swine Flu symptoms after the school sent home a list of them to watch out for - I'm not really such an uncaring mother (honestly!) but I'm sure if you have swine flu, it doesn't just hit on school days then take a break at weekends! Sometimes after such a great weekend, the everyday family hassles are just that little bit harder to put up with......
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