Melbourne to Daylesford

First week on the road (well sort of) and as expected, things have not really gone to plan.  Packing up the house and organising everything has been pretty stressful.  We have had a bit of a shaky start, but after one week away, Nick and I are very excited to be where we are, we are all ready for the trip to begin in earnest!
But let me tell you where we began.  Monday morning and we thought we were prepared to pack the last few things into the car, finish the cleaning and off we go.  Well, the last few bits and pieces took hours!  Flynn was not a happy kid and time was ticking by before the new tenants came knocking on the door!  Tensions were high and we were both exhausted after being up late scrubbing the kitchen and bathroom.  We were about an hour late to depart, but we got there in the end.  I was in the front passenger seat with a mountain of stuff under foot, the back seat was the same, as was the caravan.  We had resorted to just throwing everything in, and we were in an absolute pickle!  We literally got into the car and looked at each other and said 'where to now'.  So a few phone calls and off we went; about 20 kms down the road to Warrandyte- thats right!  Warrandyte!  A last minute dental appointment and Nick was told he needed a root canal- 2 procedures a week apart.  So we were out of the house, but didn't want to go too far from Melbourne.  It actually was a great opportunity to test the van out properly.  And we discovered a few issues- mainly that Aidan hated his bed and Flynn was the only one having a decent sleep for a few nights until we sorted that one out.
We stayed in Warrandyte a few nights, long enough to sort out the mess we had created when we left home.  Then it was off to Daylesford.  Packing up that morning we broke the awning and luckily, we were able to have it fixed on the way, but it delayed us a little.  Then a stop to Bunnings, feed the kids and pick up some essentials that we didn't have.  Then a few other jobs- pick up my bike then to Beaurepairs to have some hub caps fitted to the caravan.  Phew!  5PM and we weren't even on the freeway yet.  So we held the boys off until Bacchus Marsh where we all needed to stop to have dinner, then off again to Daylesford with the boys soundly asleep.  We arrived at about 8 PM, to a fairly grumpy caravan park owner who wasn't impressed that we were novice caravaners, which meant he had to direct us into the spot.  Im glad Nick was driving because the instructions on which direction to steer the car were very military like.  Saying this he kindly helped us to unhitch the van.  He was very unimpressed when we couldn't find our torch and I produced a mini mag light that was almost flat about 10 minutes too late.  Luckily he had his huge, industrial strength spot light torch for us to borrow.  Ok, we have learnt that lesson!  And thank goodness we stopped at Bunnings for those few essentials- we needed them and proudly produced them when instructed by caravan park owner!
Daylesford is beautiful at this time of the year with the trees changing colour and Flynn has loved playing with the leaves that have fallen.  We have had a lovely time in Daylesford, with a visit from Matt and Jan, and two dinners with Kristy and Danny at their cosy, warm house out of town.  Nick treated me to a facial and massage for Mothers Day.  We have had a taste of meeting some lovely people who are also travelling- Hi to Mick and Jo and their two gorgeous little girls.  Flynn has played with lots of different kids already and had a fantastic day riding bikes with two older boys- he came back with mud from head to toe and in awe of the big boys!
We took a drive out to Malmsbury and had one of their famous vanilla slices- delicious.  We popped into the post office and with no one around decided to put Aidan onto the scales as he hasn't been weighed for a bit.  Our big boy- almost 9 months is 10.8 kgs (and just started proper crawling).  Of course we got sprung weighing him and the postie proceeded to quote us $15.20 for postage back to Melbourne.  So nanna Trishy, if you miss the boys there are options!  And a big thank you to Trishy for the heater and chicken soup care package!  It is very cold in Daylesford, but cosy in our little van!
Thats all for now, off we head to the Grampians for some more adventures.