What a crazy weekend! The forecast was calling for 28 and 31 on Saturday and Sunday respectively, so we decided to load up the car on Thursday night while Layla was at her year 3/4 "Big Night Out" at school so we could head out camping.

After a long and tiring day of work for both Darren and Leanne at the High School we decided to hold off on leaving until Saturday morning so we could have a night to get organize and Leanne could get her 10-page paper started.

We got up and got ready to go on Saturday and left at about 10:30 headed for Balgowan to camp on the beach and play in the water all day. We stopped along the way in Maitland and had the most expensive, sub-par sandwich we have ever eaten (Layla enjoyed the best hot dog she had ever eaten) and then headed for Balgowan, hoping to get some groceries before heading off to the sand dunes to camp. We soon discovered that there are no grocery stores in Balgowan and the only store was closed for the owner's daughter's bridal shower. We decided not to let it bother us and headed to the beach. We got there and were disheartened by the large waves and wind but decided to jump in and see what it was like. I nearly drowned trying to snorkel and Leanne was freezing on the beach so we called it quits to head to Moonta where we knew it would be nicer.

We pulled into the Moonta Caravan Park at 2:30 and got a spot right on the water, right beside the stairs to the beach and set up camp. Layla and I went snorkelling straight away and saw some crabs and a fish, nothing to write home about, but it was nice nonetheless. After snorkelling a girl walked by our campsite and said hi so I told Layla to go and introduce herself. Well, they hit it off instantly and spent the rest of the night playing together (until well after dark...putting on shows on the baech with a flashlight). Imogen was from Port Pirie and we took down her address. Hopefully Layla is keen to write to her; she was a sweetie.

Headed home and unpacked the car and did a mountain of laundry for the next week. Layla and I left Leanne in peace and quiet to finish her paper and got ice cream and went to the park where we saw a white horse across the road. Layla petted him and we fed him some green grass. As we were leaving Layla said bye to Freckles (her name for him) and he bit her right on the tummy.

Overall, a great weekend with some beautiful scenery and weather. We hope it sticks around for a while and doesn't get too cold too soon!

Darren