"COHUNA MATATTA" *HA HA*

GREETINGS FROM COHUNA WATERFRONT!

A very big HELLO from me to all my followers out there, and a very special hello to all the kids who like my blog too especially Georgia, Harper, Willow, Eli, Izac Jack, Emmalee and Elijah... mum calls Elijah 'her little elf' and he's almost as cute as me! (I guess their mum and dad reads the appropriate bits to them, or just shows them my pics... understandable, I am so cute!)

We all packed up from Nursery Bend 3 and drove past Cohuna and into the twin towns of Koondrook and Bahman, with a bridge crossing the Murray River and we got to a servo that had a jet car wash bay. Dad backed the van in first and mum blasted all the mud and gunk off the van, and dad did the same with his car.. although he did hit mum with the jet spray across her arm.. "Sorry!" dad cried, "yep" answered mum. So all good there thank Heavens! Although mum did give dad one of her "watch it" looks.

We arrived at Cohuna Waterfront Caravan Park and were met by our hosts Marcus and Fiona... wonderful people who helped us set up... and yes, there were frustrations again, but getting used to that now, mum really had it and threw her new sunnies, (yep, another pair) the third pair broke! and no... don't ask. Marcus put us in the best spot for shade all morning and more shade in the afternoon so, in this weather 40+ we don't really feel it. They have a fantastic swimming pool so I hope to go for a wombat paddle later.

We are right on the water's edge here and there are lots of lovely Red River gum, Willow and other shade trees, so mum and I sat dangling our feet in the cool creek water while dad put up the awning. Mum always asks if he needs any help but dad is like "no! I can do it myself!" so, we just leave him to it... oops, back to the trees! There are heaps of them that are totally fantastic for climbing and playing hide and seek, which I have turned into a priority at every camp we make. Mum finally found me first game but she had to look pretty hard, dad saw where I was and took a photo and showed mum later so she sent it to Fiona at the office, so then she wanted to meet me! (getting famous here!) She took a photo as well...of me on the counter looking at the Cohuna Waterfront Brochure and is going to put it on the FB and web page! That's two caravan parks where I will have my presence known... quite exciting, and gaining a lot more followers around the world.

We spent Australia Day at Nursery Bend but didn't do anything so I got upset and told mum, so back into Cohuna information centre where we got some free Aussie flags and mum got me ready and dad took a picture. Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! Oi! Oi! Oi! I wanted to know why mum and dad didn't go and celebrate for Australia Day, mum said it was due to the reason that the indigenous people of this wonderful land were not acknowledged as being part of the population for years due to their skin (how awful!) but it is getting better now. And many people both white and indigenous Australians celebrate Australia Day together in harmony which is a good thing. Mum said "Harmony Day" is coming up in March so she will be definitely doing something for that. Don't get me wrong mum and dad are very proud to be 'dinki-di' Aussies... but everyone has a preference I guess. Mum is one to stand up and believe in her principles and I have learned not to cross that line! Last tine I did I got a time out. *sad face*.

A bad thing that happened before we left nursery bend No 3 was a fall dad had and he jarred his back quite badly so he hasn't really been in any mood... except a bad one! So mum and I didn't bother him and left him alone, unless he says, 'you going for a swim', which in dad-speak means "I want to go for a swim, will you come too"? mum always says 'yep' and we grab our towels and make our way through the heat to the pool. Mum does awesome dives... dad half empties the pool with his bellyflops! I laugh.

I think it's funny that dad leaned to float (with mum's help) and mum can't sink! I suppose it's because she is a better swimmer anyway... although mum tells me her legs are hollow.. I think she's joking.. mum has been helping dad in shallow diving into the pool without hurting himself or doing bellyflops and it's funny! But you have to give dad an "A" for effort! Swimming is helping mum's back and neck as well so that's all good. They have a jumping castle here but has been deflated, I would have liked to bounce on it, but now that school has gone back for this year, I guess there's not much sense in leaving it up. It was too hot to cook so dad got pizza for dinner, mum had chicken, dad had a prawn one and I had alfalfa with extra clover... yum.

The next morning we took a long walk around the park, it's huge! There are a lot of permanent vans with aluminium annexes but people don't live in them, just use them for holidays, sort of like dad's fishing cabin but these have really big awnings over the top of both van and annex. Dad and mum both agreed that would make an awesome carport at home, letting the view through while still providing shade and shelter. I added it was good as a BBQ area, dad patted me on the head and told me I was a clever wombat.... well duh!
 

The other really cool thing is that the playground here is super awesome... I put my head through a hole in a sign and mum took a picture and laughed. She showed me and I laughed too. It looks like I am looking out the window of my very own caravan!, I hung upside down on the monkey bars, slid down the slide (as one does) and climbed a rope ladder, played noughts and crosses with dad, and he pushed me on the swing! When we got back? Another swim, lunch and hide and seek... (of course) dad found me pretty quickly this time, so I think he peeked! We kept on walking with many cabin owners naming them like "Frog's Pad" or "Mike's Mansion" some were funny and some were naughty! We even found one that was called "Cohuna Matatta". We laughed.

Dad keeps on looking at the weather on his ipad and it's driving mum dippy! he tells her the same thing over and over (mum told me sometimes dad's like a broken record). She told dad to please stop going over the same 7 day forecast and wait until 5 days had passed by before reading it again. Dad managed a day and a half before accessing the weather site again on the internet, mum mumbled "flog a dead horse"... dad said "what"? mum told him to forget it and went for another swim. All we know for sure is we are in for another week of high temperatures so we are glad we are here. In fact, dad has booked us for another week so we don't have to pack up on the 12th anymore! I am really happy about that as mum was able to send Alexis a birthday message and it's Tammy and Luke's 2nd wedding anniversary on that day so we can send them a message as well 'cos we get great internet coverage here.

Mum was up early the next morning to talk with her friends in Great Britain but the program was mucking up and kept on booting her which made her cranky pants again; In the end she wasn't able to reconnect at all. I went and sat by the water's edge until she cooled down.

Thursday, 6th February 2014... DISASTER! Dad said he would try fishing out the front and mum told him she would walk up to the shops to get a loaf of bread and a skim milk carton (yuck) for dad as he had run out. Mum told me she had a gut feeling about it, and when mum has those feelings she usually listens for the better, this time she didn't... I told her not to go, but she did anyway and went into Cohuna and bought the stuff she needed... but on the way back, she slipped in the clay like mud just next to the footpath and broke her wrist! Poor mum!

A lady who was at the park playground with her little girl saw mum fall and called out "are you alright?" mum said she wanted to yell back "yes! I always like to go a throw myself full tilt into mud to see how much damage I can do" But she called back.. "No, I am pretty sure I have broken my arm". The lady was flustered asked "do you want me to call anyone"? Mum said that would be great and told her we were staying at the caravan park. The lady fumbled with her mobile and said, "I can't find a caravan park!", I looked up to the left and saw the park about 100 meters up the road, "Is she serious?" I hissed angrily but mum told me to hush and be polite; mum told the lady "thank you, it's alright" as mum had by this stage managed to get up pick up her thongs and shopping bag "I'll be okay to walk back" I was scared for mum as she was covered in mud and crying. We walked back and mum went up to dad and said "I've fallen and really hurt my arm". Dad immediately wound in his line, helped mum back to the van, bandaged her arm and we drove to the hospital where mum had her arm X-rayed (yep, she broke her wrist) and the doctor put it in plaster. While the doctor was there talking to dad, mum rolled her eyes and started to giggle, I whispered "What's so funny?" Mum whispered back "look at the clothes dad has on then look at the doctors" so, I look. Hmmm what do I see? Dad checked short sleeved shirt, cargo shorts and sandals, ok I look at the doctor...checked short sleeved shirt, cargo shorts and sandals! Oh my!! if dad had left his beard on they would have been a mirror image, except dad is way taller. Mum can always find something funny even in bad situations... mum's like that. The doctor told mum she would need to be in the plaster cast for at least six weeks, Mum was so disappointed, mainly as she couldn't swim but the doctor said he would write a letter and in a week's time we were to go to Swan Hill hospital where mum would have her review and get a fibreglass cast so she could swim... mum was happy!

We drove back home and dad fussed over mum like a mummy chook, although I didn't quite understand dad soaking mum's feet. Mum said not to worry as the water was warm and it washed the mud off and it made dad feel better because I heard poor dad say "stay at the caravan park... we'll be safer!" I'm not sure but I think dad was feeling a bit guilty as if we had not stayed mum wouldn't have fallen, but mum being mum said "It's all good, and I broke it here not free camping in the middle of nowhere". Mum's friends in my home state of Tassie and Fiona and Marcus teased mum in all good fun with comments "do you need a hand?" and "hello h-armless", "I heard you had got a job in damage control".. even dad asked mum "you want to go fishing?" I thought this was a bit much and mum said some of the other comments went a bit far, but it was hot, mum was hurting and frustrated she couldn't go swimming in this heat, and yes... dad recited the weather again.

Mum and dad decide to drive to Swan Hill the next day, I have copied and pasted mum's FB post so you know what they went through... all I have to add here is that I REALLY like Dr. Barker. Oh and by the way AMCAL is a big chemist here in Australia. Overseas fans and followers? I think you call them druggists or pharmacies.

FB post: "Ian and I drive to Swan Hill, make our way to A&E with letter... ask for fiberglass cast.. "we don't do those", (sigh) "AMCAL keep those", we ask, "do we buy the cast (around $25) and bring here for you to put on?".... "I don't know". We walk to AMCAL ask for fiberglass casts, response? "we haven't had those for years!" Ian said this was turning into a nightmare..."I said if I can't swim, then I can't swim.." Ian said no.. but at least got fitted with a nice comfy sling and a huge rubbery 'thing' that allows me to shower and at least sit in the shallow end of the pool so I can cool off... lady at AMCAL told us they definitely have fiberglass casts at Bendigo hospital. I call Bendigo. Person "assisting" from fracture clinic must have had broom up her backside "you don't decide.. we do and clinic not open every week, it varies. Send through referral if it's still valid.. (about ready to rip hair out and lose it with person on phone) 'VALID? I BROKE MY ARM YESTERDAY... ARE YOU LISTENING?" I get back, "call the hospital and get them to send referral. *hangs up* I call Cohuna and talk to the nurse "oh, I am sorry, we send all the A&E reports back to the clinic" nurse gives me number of clinic, I speak to the doctor's receptionist/nurse who was fantastic... after I told her what had happened he said "wait a minute"... next thing you know I am on the phone with the Doc, apologized for our run around, said he would get a fiberglass cast expressed in and would see me next Friday at the hospital and do the xrays and cast himself! COUNTRY DOCTORS' ROCK! (hoping for fluro yellow but if I get stuck with pink... I won't complain!)"

Now we are back home, dad made us lunch, I've had my nap and now we ALL going swimming, although mum mainly floats on her back and uses her legs to go backwards down the length of the pool to do her laps... I must say she looks like a surfacing submarine so I shouted out "UP PERISCOPE!" mum smiled then made a face at me.

Enjoy the pics and videos of me in the playground! Cheers...and remember "Have a Wombatty day".

P.S. Special wombat hugs to mum for typing this as I told her... I talked slowly, coz she can't type fast.


　
Tahune xx

Dad and me at the boat ramp

"Hello from my own van! umm mum? my head is stuck!"

"Dad did you peek?"

"horsey goes up and down.. I fell off twice"

"No worries... he he he"

"Upside down!"

"One drawback of being famous.. no privacy!"

"Turn this one around and... awww dad beat me

with the top row.. let's go again dad!"

Our favourite place

"I climbed all by myself!"

 

"I made a cameo appearance on their web page!"

 

"Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee! Ouch...... AGAIN!!"







 

GOODBYE TORRUMBARRY WEIR, HELLO NURSERY BEND 3 AT PERICOOTA NATIONAL FOREST, VICTORIA

DIARY OF AN AUSSIE WOMBAT - GOODBYE TORRUMBARRY WEIR, HELLO NURSERY BEND 3 AT PERICOOTA NATIONAL FOREST, VICTORIA

Wow folks! Really playing catch up here... gradually getting to it though. The 24th of January arrived and we woke to misty rain! Nice when you can get it, although dad was concerned as we had decided on finding a free camp site in the Gunbower/Pericoota National Park and stay for another five days. I wondered why dad was concerned and mum told me it was because the roads were now very slippery and we would be going off road; as these forests and parks are only accessible in the dry season (November til May) when the parks are open to the public as they are flooded to ensure the Red River Gums survive, the dirt turns into clay with the rain making it very slippery so dad would have to take his time in getting to the new campsite.

Taking our time was right! Dad is a good driver and has done an off road 4WD course so mum and I knew that he knew what he was doing, even so, the car did slip a bit and of course, we had to be extra careful with the Penguin van on the back. If the car slid... so did the van! Funny though, when we waved goodbye and got onto the track that led us to the new campsite, ten minutes later the rain had stopped and the 'boggy and slippery bits' had gone and underneath was hard track. Having said that, there were still slippery bits and massive swerve tracks dug deep into the track where other cars and caravans had 'lost it' as dad says, and we had to be extra careful not to driver through the ruts... whatever they are! It was only 24 kms from the caravan park to the bush camp site we chose the day before at Nursery Bend 3 and it took us a little over two hours!

When we finally arrived, the van was put up and mum and dad did what they always do, dad looked after the awning and mum looked after the inside and me? I supervised like I always do on one of the camp chairs. Dad said a lot of naughty words as there were a lot of March flies that always seem to land on dad and bite the living daylights out of him. He had a dutch background and in Belgium they don't have bees, or wasps, or hornets or nasty march flies and he suffers if they get bite him. I would watch and yell "March fly dad! on your leg!" and he would jump up and down. Mum has a fly swatter that she carried and if one landed on dad she would hit him with it and yell "Swat the fly!" and laugh.... that usually made dad laugh too. I asked why anyone would laugh after being slapped with a fly swatter and dad told me before I came to live with them and when Alexis, Heather, Tammy and Zane were all little, mum and the kids came up with a funny game that he got sucked into... Dad told the rest of the story. The game was called 'swat the fly' and he asked the kids 'how do you play it'... the kids told him he had to flap around and buzz like a fly and they would do the rest. He then told me that mum had given them ALL fly swatters "so when I started to flap and buzz, they all brought out their swatters from behind the backs and slapped me silly with them while laughing and yelling 'SWAT THE FLY'! I was shocked, but started to giggle when I saw mum with tears in her eyes from laughing! Naughty mummy!

After camp was set up mum and dad set off in front of the camp to see if there was a nice swimming hole, dad went in first and thought he found a good place, mum went in and cut her shin on a piece of wood that was under the water. They stayed in the water for a while to cool off, but decided it was too dangerous for a little wombat to swim in.

It was a very pretty place, like every place we have been too and if you haven't gone off road, then I don't think you have really seen Australia! Mum found a tree and considered it to be definitely climbable and quick as a wink, mum climbed up to a large branch. Dad grabbed the camera to take a photo. I will post it on here but I am pretty sure it's her profile pic on her FB account!

Have I mentioned all the bird life that was where we camped? My goodness! Brown Tree Crawlers, Blue wrens, Green Rosellas *cousins of the crimson ones* and Cockatoos? hundreds and hundreds of Cockatoos! I took a video of them flying over the camp, it's not a very good one but I have put it on here anyway.

We all slept very well that day and in the morning another family of Vietnamese origin came to set up camp. The grandfather who spoke a little English with the first words to dad "Hello! do you drink beer?" The grandmother had a beautiful face and huge smile and waved at us... they had their two grandsons with them Kenny and Charlie, they weren't supposed to have dogs but they brought them in a carrier. Sweet little dogs that reminded mum and dad of the dogs they first had when Alexis was a baby. Two little girl puppies, "Pinky" and "Snapper" they were lovely little dogs, but the family hid them when the ranger came to make sure our fire pit was okay and to find out how long we were staying, (dad said you weren't allowed to bring dogs into a National Park). Pinky was a brown puppy but Snapper was beautiful, a kind of beige grey colour with colourings that looked like someone had poured caramel sauce over his ears and top of his head! She was so pretty! She liked to bite dad's feet but was jumpy... when dad was cutting some wood with the log splitter for the camp fire that night she jumped and peed on me! Mum said not to worry as it would come out 'in the wash'... ok mum, whatever but I'm hiding... I do not like being peed on!

The next day was much the same as the first with us fishing and playing with the dogs. The Vietnamese family went out all night on the boat and asked us if we wouldn't mind keeping the dogs with us. Both dad and I didn't mind but mum put her foot down and said 'only for tonight, as if the ranger caught us with dogs, we would get into trouble', but dad said it was fine. So they went off in the boat to fish all night and we all went to bed as well. About two in the morning we were woken by the puppies cry. Dad got up and let them out (we had the annex on by then to stop the flies getting into the van) and both of the puppies ran straight to the end of the carpet floor and pooped and peed. Dad said that was ok, as they didn't go in their crate and they didn't go on mum's picnic rug that covered the rubber matting in the annex. The puppies played and bit dad's feet for about half an hour after that, mum had long since gone back to sleep and dad and I put the puppies back in their crate. Dad said 'goodnight' to them and covered them back up as it was a fairly cold night. We ignored the puppy that continued to cry "Snapper" with dad saying in a stern voice "Enough!" but the puppy continued and five minutes later Pinky must have had enough as we heard a yap yap snap and then a yelp and then all quiet. They didn't wake up for the rest of the night and we quite comfortable. So comfortable in fact dad had to wake them up when the boys came for thier puppies, but the two pups would come over and visit us occasionally during the day. They all went fishing again that night only this time they took the puppies with them.

Dad found a fantastic swimming hole, but it was clay mud so we had to be careful not to slip getting in or out but it was really nice! Cool and clean and just behind the camp. We were extra careful because it was starting to get really hot now so snakes were an issue.

Dad went fishing and caught 5 Silver Perch the next day but as these are protected we put them back. One of the fish had sores on his fins and dad told me that they are not very 'hardy' that's why it's so important to look after the native fish. Mum caught a carp the day before and dad killed it and buried it. Mum said "that's one less feral fish that can breed and eat all the native fish habitat!" so she was happy.

The next day we all went for a drive as the temperature was starting to soar and we found out that it was a total fire ban, so dad covered up the fire pit and poured four buckets of river water on it to make sure it was totally out... did you know that if a fire is just covered with dirt it stays hot for hours? and if there is a breeze it can blow the dirt off and still spark a forest fire? but if you 'drown' the fire with water, it's out totally within ten minutes! Putting the fire out kind of made me sad as mum had bought a little campfire grill and hotplate which worked really well, I had a salad for my dinners but the food dad cooked on the open fire for him and mum smelled delicious!

We drove for about an hour through the Pericoota National Park and the Gunbower State Forest and arrived at a town on an anabranch of the Murray River - Gunbower Creek called "Cohuna" the locals pronounce it 'cue-ena', it is Cohuna but that's the strine language for ya! We went into the information centre where we met a lovely lady who showed us where the tap and hose were for caravans and travellers to fill up their tanks with drinking water. Dad told her where we were camped and spoke about the mess and the rubbish that seems to be everywhere. She nodded and said they won't put big skip bins near the entrances of the campsites and tracks, and people are lazy. I nodded because I had seen how lazy people are at two other campsites! She gave mum and dad a lot of stuff about things to do in Cohuna. Then she said something that really made me sit up! "Have you tried the swimming hole?" She told mum and dad it was part of Gunbower Creek still near the park, but the town had heaps of sand trucked in so it's kind of like a beach. We thanked her for her help and the water and headed straight for the 'beach'. It was wonderful! There was a pretty strong current so I stayed and just paddled, dad and mum went in dad came out a bit, but mum being the strong swimmer that she is swam all the way out to the middle! "It's lovely and cold out here!" Dad called back "That's nice"... but he didn't go any further.

We have one more night at the Pericoota campsite, but the temperatures are going to go up over 40 all next week (not good for a wombat covered in fur!) so after the swim we went across the bridge to Gunbower Island and to the Cohuna Waterfront Caravan Park and booked a whole week there!

Not very interesting blog I know but we did like the free bush camping, but when everything is just so dry and there is only one way out and it would only take a lazy person to throw a cigarette butt out the window and the whole forest would burn! I thought how sad this would be for all the animals like the wallabies, kangaroos, koalas and emus that would die in a fire. So it's best for all concerned for us to move as planned but this time to the caravan park and wait until the heat wave has past.

A Brown Tree Crawler, they climb up the trees and defy gravity catching

all the bugs, insects and rip open spiders nests and eat them! yuck...

The campsite before mum cleared all the leaf litter away

and dad dug the fire pit

Go away Snapper!

Yummy!

Really sticky clay mud everywhere! On and under

the car and the van....

Tiny Snapper pays a visit... those are mum's sandals

she is standing next too... I hope she's come to apologise

for peeing on me!

Setting up at Pericoota after cleaning the campsite

and yes, that's me in the chair supervising dad.

 Typical mum... straight up a tree!

 



 The Campfire site, cleaned of all litter for three meters,

fire pit one meter deep by one meter wide and long, with built up soil

all around the sides and back.. that's one regulation firepit!

 

Until next time? Have a wombatty day! Cheers!

Tahune xxxxx