In the morning Luke was up running around like a chook without a head, trying to put his little surprise trip away for the next 2 weeks together without the girls catching onto what he was doing. He already had his bag packed and in the car.
He had only just got off the phone as the girls walked into the kitchen and poured themselves a coffe.
Within an hour, both the girls had shoved their personals into their own over night bag and went out to meet Luke at the car.
Placing the bags in the back of the car, they then climbed into the car and were soon on there way.
"Where are we going Uncle Luke?" Skyanne asked.
"It's a surprise sweetheart," Luke answered.
Driving for an hour, Luke turned off the highway and headed down an old dirt road towards Lake Mc Ardle.
Twenty minutes later they pulled up in a parking bay, got out grabbed all their gear, locked the car up and followed Luke down the pathway leading to the lake. Coming to a complete,Luke stretched out his arms wide and said," Surprise! "
"It's a houseboat," both the girls said looking straight at it puzzled.
Following Luke aboard, they checked out the kitchen area, the huge T.V set in the lounge area and sleeping area.
Both Karen and Sally-Ann went and unpacked there belongings, while Skyanne went with her Uncle Luke up to the wheel house.
Turning on the engine, Luke steered the houseboat up and around a bend and decided to pitched camp there for the night, as he dropped the anchor.
Enjoying the rest of the afternoon together, they sat back gas-bagging away, laughing and joking and enjoying each others company.
When dead on sunset, Luke excused himself to go make a start on dinner.
He had put togethera lobster ith butter sause, a few morton bay bugs, prawns and a variety of different salads.
Next he made the table up, placing down a clean white table cloth the finest china , knifes, forks and 3 champagne glasses and a cup for Skyanne. In the center of the table he had placed lite candles and a ice bucket with a bottle of bubbly. Then he czlled out for the girls to join him.
Walking into the room , both girls came to a complete stop. Gob smacked, they took a look around at what Luke had set up.
"Oh my, this is absolutely breath taking Luke," Sally-Ann said as she took a seat at the end of the table.
Dinner went extremely well, both Karen and Sally-Ann throughly enjoyed it. Once everything was done, they all moved out onto the deck for a few drinks. Just watching the moonlight dance across the stilled water, they spoke about there plans for the next two weeks.
Some of the ideas they came up with sounded interesting and they put them into plan.
At the crack of dawn, Luke woke uptothe rays of sunlight shinnining through the blinds. He crawled out of his bed threw back the blinds, quickly got dressed and went to the kitchen to start on preparing things for their little outting. He made up sandwiches , packed some drinks and placed them inside a backpack.
Not long after breakfast, Luke, Karen, Sally-Ann and Skyanne got themselves ready for there day out out exploring the Lake.
It wasa pleasant day... Not a cloud, in the sky. The sun was shining brightly outside and it was peaceful.
Helping the girls into the tinnie, they soon venture over to the other side of Lake Mc Ardle.
Pulling up to the shoreline, Luke dropped the anchor, climbed out of the tinnie and went tied itto a log. As Sally-Ann, Karen and Skyanne also climbed out of the tinnie, they took a quick glance around and nodded their heads in approval.
Following a tack they soon came upon an entrance of a cave. Stopping just out the very front of it Luke said," What do you say we check this out? Who knows what we might find?" Luke said.
"Bats, thats what we'll find... dirty flithy digusting bats. Or maybe worse.... A big angry bear! No, on second thoughts - I'll stay here," Karen ranted.
"Oh come on now, dont be daft.This isn't Jellystone park and you sure wont find Yogi bear in there having a picnic ,"Luke told her.
Grabbing her hand, Sally-Ann lead her into the cave, asuring her everything would be fine.
Taking a look around the cave, young Skyanne found an old lantern and a gold minding pan.
Walking further into the cave, they explored somemore and soon came across some aboriginal paintings on the wall of the caves. Karen pulled out here camera and clicked away. She got some amazing shots and made a note to look up what story the paintings were telling.
On the other side of the cave, they stumbled across a small stream. Skyanne was curious as to what the pan in her bag was used for, so Luke demonstrated how the pan was used back in the olden days. She watched and listened to all Luke was telling her, then she had a go at it and smiled as she looked up at her Aunt who took her picture.
After having a bite to eat and a quick dip in the stream, they pondered on further till they came across an old cabin.Taking a quick glance inside they were amazed by what they found. All these really olden day stuff just sitting there rottening away to nothing. Both the girls were shocked and couldn't believe non of the items were taken to a historical village.
Back on the houseboat, Luke, Karen, Sally-Ann and Skyanne all had a quick dunk under the shower to freshen up a bit before dinner.
Luke went to the kitchento start on something simple for dinner, while the girls watched a bit of telly with Skyanne.
Once dinner was completed , everyone went out onto the deck to relax a bit before calling it a night.
As the next few days progressed, Luke did some serious fishing, while the girls did some sun -baking.
Luke had hired two jetskies for the day and went out riding on them around Lake Mc Ardle. He took Skyanne with him and Sally-Ann went along with Karen.
But as their two weeks hoilday came to an end, everyone was feeling a little disappointed about leaving.
They packed up their belongings, placed them into the car and were soon heading back home.
Within half an hour Skyanne was sound asleep with Hope curled up on her lap.
Note:
I hope you like this chapter.
Please feel free to leave a like or a comment .
As your comments mean alot to me and will help me to try and improve my writing.
Regards Shauna