We enjoyed church again. It was only a small congregation, but very friendly and the church had a similar feel to ours. They have a shared lunch after the service on the first Sunday of each month, which it was today. They invited us to stay for lunch, which we did. Michael and Sam went back to pick up the van while the lunch things were being heated up and set out. Hannah and Beth enjoyed playing with 2 other girls from the church. Lauren and Sam chatted for a while and then played some table tennis in the area where the youth meet. By the time we got away from church and picked up a few more groceries, it was later than planned that we were heading towards Shannon NP. It was about a 2 and half hr drive through some lovely forest scenery. We reached the lodge where we were staying about 5.30.
The place where we were staying was called Shannon Lodge. It is located in the Shannon National Park, about 50km out of Pemberton. It is managed by the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) which also manages all the NPs. It is near the campground in Shannon NP, but is quite a distance from the campsites so is very private. I had read about it in the Lonely Planet guide and thought it might be a nice break from the caravan for a few days. It is only $66 per night which is less than what we’ve paid at some van parks. The down side is it is not powered, but there is a power inlet so that a generator can be used to provide power for short periods if necessary. Since we have a generator, this would be our backup. Also, the kids (especially Hannah) thought it would be fun to stay in a house without power and use candles at night. There was a pot belly stove for cooking and a fire driven hot water system, so you could have hot showers etc.
We’d been given a code for a key box for when we arrived, so we were able to let ourselves in. Because we arrived later than planned, Michael had to get straight into putting on the fire, and I decided to do dinner in the caravan still and just use the gas hot plates. Meanwhile the kids took all the sleeping bags and pillows in to set up the bedding and then Hannah and Beth rode their bikes around for a while. It was good that it was still light until about 6.30. As it started to get dimmer, Michael put the generator on for the house. I had dinner ready at 6.30 and we ate in the house. Then we got everyone in their PJs ready for bed. Hannah was keen to turn the generator off and just use the candles, which we did once everything was setup ready for bed. There were 2 bedrooms in the house, each with 2 beds and then 2 extra beds in the family room. Michael and i had a room to ourselves,which was a treat after all these months in the caravan. Lauren and Sam had the other room tonight, but were going to swap with Hannah and Beth the next night. We all went to bed reasonably early that night, except Hannah took a while to get to sleep. It was nice and warm.