Bushwalking forum? Good buy
Nup. gumtree, 5k from my house
edit: found the listing, same guy!
How have I missed this thread?! This is the best. We’re about to start car camping for the first time ever. The girls are nearly 4 and 6, if the car camping goes well (first trip will be in a few weeks, camping just south of Fryerstown at Warburton’s Bridge), I’m gonna have to get set up for bike camping.
The big slide at Vaughan mineral springs was a big hit if your in the area.
Yeah, that slide looks rad. Checked it out with the little one a few weeks back, but preferred the camp ground at Warburton’s Bridge to the one at Vaughan Springs which was heaps busier with less space. Plenty of room at the Bridge to ride bikes. And we might even duck up to Vaughan in the car to get on the slide if the kids get bored.
This is the best thread I’ve read in ages.
Guilted me into action. Took number 3 out to Warburton last night.
Caught the train from Richmond, with Bo-Bo getting the trucker mascot eye view
Got off at East Camberwell for emergency “I’m Busting”, (might want to avoid the 2nd garden bed if you’re in the area) waited 40mins for next train.
Stopped near Woori Yallock to give a quick, tube replacing tutorial to someone who’g got a flat and had never changed a tyre before, Bo-Bo now strapped to kiddy chair for easy access.
At about 30km, we had the I want to go home chant start up.
Camp setup
She slept OK, but woke around 2 to nude up then about 5 with the “I’m so freezing” call.
Eyes > Tummy
Hill back up to Mt Evelyn was a struggle this morning. Just managed to roll straight on the train at Lilydale but had a #1 and a seperate #2 stop on the way home, luckily only 10 mins between trains.
That’s great. Also, I now want pancakes.
I need to poo
You’re a good dad, dallli 
Great article on page 87 here: Bunyan Velo: Travels on Two Wheels, Issue No. 06 by Lucas Winzenburg - Issuu
I was planning in taking the kids out to Bunyip this weekend but I’m a bit worried about the recent weather. Has anyone been out along the aquaduct track when it’s wet?
Did Bunyip last night, was supposed to be a two nighter but life got in the way on Saturday.
Had a drizzly ride in on Sunday, I made the kids carry there own sleeping bags and mats this time in their backpack so got down to two panniers plus tent for me.
Kids did pretty well on the ride, track was pretty good even with the recent weather.
Managed to get camp almost setup during a brief break before the rain kicked in, while I was doing this the kids wandered off and built themselves a see saw.
We were tent bound for a couple of hours with the rain at which point I realised I’d forgotten to pack the cards that I’d promised I was bringing… luckily I had Matilda audio book on the phone.
During a brief rain brake I went to suss the wood situation, there hadn’t been any replenishment since Swift Campout so I was searching unsuccessfully under the wood piles for any dry bits. When I got back into the tent I realised I’d picked up a couple of blood sucking passengers. And the girls were caught between being freaked out and interested as I plucked them off and squashed them.
Rain stopped fully long enough for some Mi Goreng and a few toasted marshmallows using the few dry bits of wood I’d brought with us.
In the morning the see saw was magically transformed into a stage for an impromptu ballet concert, we packed up and smashed the ride home.
Even with the soggy conditions and not being able to see the stars the kids loved the spot and the ride. Will definitely do again when its a bit drier.
I love you Dalli. Still. I can’t see it changing. You are totally great. So are your kids.
A+ dadding.
SO good!
Yes! Perfect spot to take kids! Good one!
With the purchase of the 5 person Yosemite tent I’ve now got two UL family tents so I did some enabling on the weekend. Took a friend and his two girls out to Bunyip on Saturday night. Original plan was for me to take all 3 kids but number 3 woke up on Saturday with a bit of a temp so she got left at home, which she was not annoyed with but not as annoyed as my wife who was looking forward to a kid free 24 hours.
We made the mistake of driving in from Gembrook, I’d forgotten how rough the road was. The old V40 Volvo wagon struggled a bit but more disastrously so did the QR on my roof rack bike mount and after one pot hole Lucy informed me my bike was outside her window. One of my fork dropout had bent and I though we were going to have to pull the pin before we’d started but I managed to mostly straighten it with an adjustable spanner.
Ride in was good my kids really liked having other kids around and enjoyed being able to show off the fact that they new where we going. We arrived to the surprise of someone else being there, the poor bloke had got himself a night off from his 4 kids at home, expecting a night of solidarity only for 4 kids to rock up at his remote campsite, but he had setup at far end of the clearing and I don’t think we caused too much trouble. Another walker arrived around 9:00 as well.
Usual shenanigans of setup, camp fires, marshmallows, jaffles, and two minute noodles. We gave the kids a bit more freedom and sent them off for firewood and water collection as a group. Unfortunately we had another cloudy night so no stars again.
Ride home was good until the final bigish hill down to the carpark. Last year the oldest girl we were with knocked her two front teeth out on a gravel road stack so both her and her sister were pretty timid going down the hills. My girls (probably taking after their dad) decided to be show offs and zoomed down as fast as they could, they got to the bottom of the hill find, I looked down the road briefly and when I looked up somehow (probably taking after their dad) they’d managed to synchronised stack it about 30 metres apart from each other. Tess pulled up OK but Lucy face planted and gave herself a fat lip and a sore head.
A few happy snaps
My kids got me a ‘World’s Greatest Dad’ mug for Christmas. There’s a picture of Dal on it.
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Great job Dal. Look forward to next installment.