Everyone seemed quite keen to leave the city, as we were all awake early and packing up before we had even finished breakfast. We didn't get on the road until 11 am, as before we left we cleaned the bathroom and the floor and topped all containers up with as much water as possible. We were heading to the other side of the Snowy Mountains and rather then take the van through Kosciuszko National Park we drove up and around the mountains which took us about 3.5 hours. The plan was to stop for lunch somewhere along the way but once we'd turned off the M31 we couldn't find a suitable stop, as the road was winding and narrow. Around Batlow every hillside was covered in apple trees and we passed a few berry farms too. Without the van it would have been great to stop and pick some fruit but it was too difficult to park. We reached Paddy's River Flat around 2.30 pm and although there were a few vans set up we found a great spot on the river away from everyone else and close to the toilets. It's a magical spot! The river is shallow but fast flowing and quite noisy so we can run our generator all day and no one can here it - not even us! The dog was quite stressed in the car and so as soon as we had set up she collapsed in the grass and slept for the afternoon. The kids made fishing rods out of sticks and daisy chains and spent the rest of the day by the river. There was no phone, Internet or TV signal so it was lovely to totally relax with a book and listen to the river. In the evening we ate dinner around the campfire (lots of free wood here!) and while we were washing up we heard Anna scream from the river. She had fallen in but was screaming because she had lost her new thong!! Luckily Katharine managed to fish it out further down the river! She warmed up in the shower and then sat around the campfire where Nick used some campfire dust given to us by the man who fixed our gas pipe valve in Lithgow. Nick told the kids to shut their eyes and wish for a genie and while their eyes were closed he threw the packet into the fire. The flames turned all different colours and the kids were quite mesmerized!! The effects lasted for a good twenty minutes or more until our fire burnt down. It was 830pm by the time we finished so the kids had a shower and went straight to bed. Katharine sat up and watched a DVD with us for an hour and then she went to bed too. We read for a while and then fell asleep to the sounds of the river - bliss!