Crowded Crowdy Bay: Road Trip #2 Begins

Our alarm used classical music, the most polite effort possible at the far-too-early (or late?) hour of 1:15am on Saturday morning to signal the dawn of our Easter school holiday road trip.  Already, we hadn’t had the best start—my painstakingly-prepared shopping list didn’t get me very far with the grocery stores closed on Good Friday.  What??  Closed?  For a country that is decidedly not religious, they certainly take every opportunity to close up shop and have a holiday.

With coolers only partially full, we were all on the road by 1:45am.  The kids had been so excited for our middle-of-the-night mission; I doubt it lived up to their expectations as they sleepily settled into the car. 

You are likely asking yourself why on Earth we would want to start a road trip in the middle of the night.  I’m sure there is a small faction (and likely a reality show in the works) of Extreme Road Trippers; but for us, making the 5-hour trip to Crowdy Bay National Park was a necessity if we had any hope of scoring a site.  Easter weekend camping trips must be a requirement to maintain citizenship around here; we arrived at 6:30am and drove through 3 campgrounds before we were able to squeeze into jam-packed Indian Head in Crowdy Bay National Park.  Not ideal camping, but we were thankful to have a place to lay our heads for a couple of nights.

This campsite was further from the beach than I would have liked, but the hike to get there was beautiful.  My favorite color is green, and this hike offered an endless array of greens in all shapes and tones.

We passed by Kylie’s Hut, named after longtime resident and author Kylie Tennant who lived there in the 1960s.

It’s hard to come by an ugly beach in Australia—the beach was gorgeous, with the water rushing through the rock formations.

Having three boys means being a regular witness to activities which you have absolutely no desire to participate in—like this sand fight, which provided them with endless glee.

Wildlife around the campground was plentiful: a young kangaroo hung around; I thought he must be an orphan because his mother was nowhere to be seen, but he looked healthy.

This goanna brazenly meandered through the vestibule area of our tent; thankfully, the kids had remembered to zip the actual tent closed.

Camping is a wonderful way to see the country, but it also provides an opportunity to spend time with other families from different parts of the country, which provides unique insight into Australia’s culture.  We shared a campfire both nights with a great family that provided plenty of campfire guitar playing, solidifying Sam’s desire to learn how to play guitar.  And like many of the locals we've spoken with throughout our travels, this family told us about their favorite pie shop that we had to check out.  Meat pies are a big deal down here, and each region has their hole-in-the-wall place advertising 'award-winning' or 'world-famous' pies.  Fredo's Pies was no exception.

People supposedly flock to Fredo's Pies from far and wide for their crocodile pies, so I had to give it a go.  I can't say I would have known it was anything different than chicken, but it was tasty.

Bellies full of pies, we were off, continuing northward...