Wide open spaces

We had a short drive the day we left Uluru as we were only headed back to Erldunda (the place we had doubled back to three time a few days earlier in search of reception to plan and book our stay at Uluru). The kids had been busily (and sneakily) making cards and crafty presents for Kat in the back of the car over the last few days, and were keen to give them to her on Mother’s Day itself. Given that generally when we arrive at a new place, most of the afternoon quickly disappears with setting up and preparing dinner, we decided it would be sensible to stop before our final destination to have a little Mother’s Day celebration, and what better place than the Mt Ebenezer Roadhouse! The kids each gave Kat their collection of presents to open, and by the end she had a bounty of chocolates, as well as a ninja star, storage pockets, hair accessory and two beautiful cards all made out of coloured paper and cardboard.

Over the last few weeks there was a growing feeling between Kat and I that life was moving surprisingly fast given this trip was all about slowing life down. Time with the kids was not as common as we expected, sitting and reading a book or playing a game was a rarity, and the long list of chores that we thought we left behind in Sydney seemed to have followed us – cooking, cleaning, set up, pack up, shopping, packing lunches, washing, trip planning, supervising homework etc filled up a lot of our free time. It wasn’t that we thought there would be no chores on the road, just not so many, and not quite so constantly. The other mistake we seemed to be making was to try and fit too much in. Not only were we moving every few days, but we were also trying to fit activities into most mornings and afternoons. While it was great to see and experience all these incredible things, we were all starting to feel a bit exhausted, which never brings out the best in behaviour and moods. We knew we could not keep up such a pace, nor did we want to.

That brought us to Erldunda – in case you are wondering why you’ve never heard of it, it’s because it is not really worth knowing. I am not saying it is a terrible place to stay, but just that it really isn’t much more than a servo with a tavern and caravan park attached perched on the intersection of two main highways.  Having said that, the caravan park was quite nice, with a small playground for the kids, a kangaroo farm and emu enclosure, a small tennis court and a pool. We decided it would be the perfect place to stop for a few days. With nothing much to do and no sights to distract us, we could catch up on chores, plan the next few weeks and just hang out as a family.

It also allowed us to reflect on the first 6 weeks and work out what it was that we really wanted from the trip. Although a big part of it was to see many of the amazing sights that Australia has to offer, it was primarily about slowing life down and enjoying time together. This current pace was not allowing us to do that. We were also realising that rather than just doing things that Kat and I wanted to do that we thought the kids would also enjoy, we also needed to factor in time for activities that they chose themselves such as made up games in the camp playground.

Our time at Erldunda was great. Catching up on a few chores removed them from our mental to do lists and we still had plenty of time to spend with the kids playing tennis, swimming, doing schoolwork together, and generally just having fun. The kids made some mates with other kids staying at the campground and had lots of fun with them at the playground. On the last night we even went to the tavern for pre dinner drink while the kids did a bit of online study. We left Erldunda feeling more relaxed and in control and with a plan to slow things down going forward.