Woke around 830am after a really good deep sleep, as there was no noise overnight at all. Nick made everyone pancakes for breakfast and we had a very slow start to the day. Eventually I headed into Portland with Katharine to do some chores. We started at the tourist information centre and found a free supply of drinking water, and then we headed into town and found an amenities block offering free showers. The shower itself was fairly grotty but you could lea...

Woke up around 730am and began a very slow pack up. Didn't feel like we could start the generator too early for coffee as the backpackers were all still asleep but by 9am we gave up and made one anyway. We were on the road by 930am and headed for another free camp site we had been told about at Narrawong Forest, just on the other side of Portland. We reached the campsite around 11am and it's awesome - a huge area with fire pits, tables, good toilets, Interne...

Nick and I were woken in the early hours by a storm that came through and the din on the roof was incredible. The annex sounded as if it would take off down the river but we were all toasty inside so it didn't matter. Before going to bed I cut up a tarp and lined the queen and double bed with it and it seemed to work. The kids slept through the storm and we all remained dry. Anna woke later on, about 4am, wanting to look in the mirror and check her nose - i...

Woke around 7ish to the sound of rain and realised we had left all the bathers and towels on the line but it was too late to bring them in. The wind was howling up from the river and the awning sounded as if it would snap in half so neither Nick or I got back to sleep. The kids slept on until about 8 and then stayed in bed for an extra half hour playing so I think the neighbours were pleased that they got a peaceful lie-in! Nick made everyone breakfast while...

Jonny woke up early needing the toilet and so got Nick out of bed. Once up, he decided to head into town and empty our toilet at the dump point there to prepare for Victoria, as we've heard there aren't many dump points in Victoria. I had a shower and started to pack up and we were doing really well until we got chatting to the neighbours, which delayed us a fair bit! We were on the road by 10am and reached Nelson around 12. The drive was quite pretty once we...