We sometimes lament about the places we've passed, the experiences we've missed that we don't even know of. Often we lament about the places and experiences we have had to miss because we just don't seem to have long enough to travel around this great continent.
Most of us would think that a year is enough time to travel around Australia and it is but its not enough to see and do everything that this country has to offer.
Nevertheless we've been given this opportunity and we're determined to make the most of it which doesn't always mean visiting every spot on the map. It does mean that some days we need to just stop and enjoy doing not much.
Yesterday we had one of those relaxing days exploring Sandy Cape - the dunes, the beach, the limestone rocks. And we also just sat in the sun by the caravan playing lego, drawing, reading and getting school work done too. It was a welcome day of relaxation.
Today was a very different day. B needed to get his head down and knock off a lot of school work for the morning. A woke up and at midday we drove to Green Head to grab a few groceries.
No sooner had we arrived than we realised we'd both forgotten our wallets (that's the second time I've done that) so we scrounged around for coins in the car and the gentleman at the servo/ liquor store/ grocery store was very helpful.
From Green Head we drove east to Stockman Gully Cave. J happened upon a brochure for the cave while he was browsing through a bunch of papers at the caretakers caravan at Sandy Cape. It was a bit of luck really and we are so pleased we found out about this place.
The Stockman Gully is a dry (when we were there) riverbed used by stockman to muster their cattle overnight. The cave itself is a limestone cave of about 250-300 metres long.
We took our head torches and it's lucky we did because you walk a lot of the cave is in darkness. The kids and J loved it. Me, not so much. J remarked "how amazing would it be, diving through here?" Um yeah. I think he would find that amazing. You wouldn't get me down there at all. Ever.
Another interesting thing about the surrounds were the half dozen bee hives at both of the entrances to the cave. The long sheets of honeycomb were visible.
We met a family at the picnic ground by the cave and the uncle, a local, recommended a spot just off the track back to the highway. Three Springs is only accessible by 4WD - along a sandy track scattered with solid limestone rocks.
Three Springs is literally an oasis. The gums are and beautiful banksias are fed by the springs. Apparently the palms were planted by Afghan cameleers. There was recent activity by camels, wild horses and foxes and no doubt this spot is a frequented water hole by plenty of wildlife.
It was a great day out but even a few hours away from the caravan can seem like a huge day for the kids. If we can get back well before dinner then that's ideal. Today we weren't back until after 4 and that rush to get dinner and the kids in bed before 7 can be a little frantic.
It's all about balance though. If we don't go out we miss things. We had a great adventure today. Tomorrow we'll charge our batteries - the caravan and the family's - another day of relaxing at this beautiful beach.
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