What a Week!

It's been a BIG week! It all started on Wednesday night (last week) when Michael came home from work and said 'Han, on Friday we can do what ever you like!' (Meaning, he was having a few days off from study) Now these are words I haven't heard for a while, so you could imagine all the things that flashed through my mind! We came up with a few different ideas and on the top of the list was to go on a bush walk, I love bush walking, especially to high peaks. But when we found out it was going to be raining that was out of the question. I have been wanting to take Mick up to the West Coast ever since we were married, we got to go up to Lake St Clair when Laura was working up there about 3 years ago, but haven't been back since, and I really believe that everyone living in Tasmania has to see Queenstown - at least once in their life. So we thought about it and decided that's what we would do. We would drive to Strahan on Friday (25th) stay the night and come back home Saturday evening. We knew it was going to be lots of driving, but thought it was a good chance to spend some time together, talking about whatever we wanted!

When Friday morning finally arrived we packed the car up and set off on our special little holiday together. Leilani was very excited and asked a couple of strange questions before we left, such as "Will there be a T.V there?" and "Will all my friends be there?" and while packing her toothbrush "Will there be water there?" Obviously concerned about where she was going to brush her teeth!

After passing the 282km sign at Bridgewater we started thinking 'What are we doing?" But we continued on! Our first stop was Hamilton Park, otherwise known as the 'Smelly Park!' We're not sure if Hamilton was having a bad day or what, but the smell throughout the whole place was quite off! It didn't stop us having a play at the park fenced with barbed wire though! Leilani has become a big fan of the monkey bars and Emily, as usual loved the extra long slide.

After lots of talking, a few naps from the kids and a couple of hundred kilometers we finally arrived at our destination - Strahan! The kids were SO good the whole way but they were both so happy to be on their feet again. As soon as we got inside our 'studio apartment' at Marsden Court Emily just kept running and laughing like she had forgotten how good it was to be free!
They soon found themselves a little cubby house and decided to play snakes and ladders in there! It felt so good to be away. Our accommodation was great and Leilani was very excited that she got to sleep on a special sofa bed!

I love the West Coast and Strahan is such a pretty place, and there's lots of things to do there. It's the starting point for the Gorden River Cruises, some of these tours include Sarah Island, Tasmania's first and most brutal penal prison. You can take a seaplane ride or enjoy The West Coast Wilderness Railway which travels from Strahan to Queenstown. Because we were on an 'unplanned' holiday we didn't get to experience any of these this time, but it was lovely just walking around and soaking in the atmosphere of the place.

We all went to bed early and had a great sleep (which can be a worry sometimes when you go away) and we woke to Lani and Emily talking to each other. It was fun to all be in the same room - it felt like we were having a big sleep over!! The girls sat up on Lani's bed and watched T.V for a while in the morning, which Lani thought was fantastic! I think this photo is cute! TO BE CONTINUED...