Cania Gorge Camping

We survived a family camping trip!  And (wait for it)... we all really enjoyed it!  We drove 2.5 hours to Cania Gorge Camping and Caravan Park where we stayed for two nights.  It was a great place for such novice campers such as ourselves.  They had flushing toilets and electrical ports (for caravans), which came in handy for our griddle and electric kettle.  We were lucky to borrow some things from our more avid camper friends: a Dutch oven, gas camping stove, a foldout "kitchen" which was a neat contraption of countertop and shelves, a canopy, and a trailer to put everything in!  That's what gets me is all the STUFF you need to go camping!  

We got there and set up the tent in the rain.  We were SO grateful for the easy-up canopy so the kids and I could huddle under it while Mike did all the hard work in his rain coat.  Then we reheated homemade beef stew on the camping stove and I made funny flat biscuits on the griddle.  We were grateful for the amazing rain fly on our tent because it rained more in the night.  Cozy in the tent.

Here's me catching up on some sleep.  Cuz guess who heard ALL the rain?  And ALL the coughs and grunts and cries in the middle of the night?  This mama.  Next time I'm using ear plugs.

The sun came out the next morning and dried up all the rain and it was gorgeous!  Beautiful king parrots came to visit us before breakfast!  Our caravan neighbors gave us the tip that they'd eat almonds out of our hands. 

Mike cooking scrambled eggs and hashbrowns in the background.  Our awesome tent.

Lydia when two of the parrots came for the same almond.

There was even a pair of kangaroos that hung around the place.  I love Australia!  

Evelyn making hot chocolate for breakfast.

Chilling with the littlies. 

After breakfast the kids tried out the jumping pillows.  Giant air filled bladders mounted in sand. These things are cool!  

And even a separate smaller one for littler people.  

Then we set out on one of the many walking trails.  We went on a short hike and saw some beautiful rocks!

Can you see the handprints, hunter, and painted emu?

Another handprint on the ceiling.

We climbed into the Two Story Cave and saw tiny bats!  Too dark for bat pictures, but the cave itself was neat!  

On our way back to camp we did some off-roading and drove by the beautiful Cania Lake, which would have been fun to stop at if the kids weren't so crazy excited to get back to the... WATER SLIDE!

Yeah, this caravan park has the coolest amenities!  A miniature water park!  Too bad the water was so COLD!  But the kids didn't care.

Every evening they have bird feeding (when it's not raining).  Lydia was the only one who wanted to come.  Everyone else wanted to stay and watch Daddy set up the campfire.  Lydia with some lorikeets.

Wild cockatoos and galahs even come for the free meal, but they're not as friendly as the lorikeets.

Hooray for a fire!  What is camping without roasting marshmallows?  Good thing we still had some American ones tucked away.

And Mike made a Dutch oven peach cobbler!  Yum!

The next morning we were eager to get the fire back up as it was a might chilly!  

Bridget feeding Alice.

Nothing like a good game of soccer with camp neighbors to get the blood flowing.  We met a lot of really nice people.

Enjoying our last meal before packing up.  Pancakes, cantaloupe, and leftover cobbler.  Mmm!

It was so much fun!  I surprised myself that I could say that when it was over.  We all had such a good time, except maybe for Alice because we didn't let her eat nearly as many leaves as she would have liked.  We just may go camping again sometime!