Ella's First TRYathlon

Ella entered the Weet-bix TRYathlon this year and what fun did she have! Attracting over 1500 children aged between 7-13, the focus on the TRYathlon was participation with the 75m swim, 3km bike and 500m run course based around the AIS.

Ella and I got to the arena early to ensure her bike was racked in transition well before the cut off time. Although there were lots of people, the process of checking in, numbers written on, helmet checking and bike racking all went fairly smoothly. She even had time to climb a tree!



There were many familiar faces but we were especially pleased to see Aoife who had come down from Sydney for the race. The 8 year old wave was second so we had a time kill and headed off to explore the village.

Ella's cheer squad of Andy, Katy and Grandad arrived on bikes, just as the girls had gone off to their briefing. Cath, Katy and I squeezed into the pool hoping that somehow we would spot the girls amongst the few hundred yellow hats! Waves of about 10 were set off every few minutes with the children negotiating a zig zag pattern down the pool.














Eagle eyed Cath spotted the girls! Aoife swam confidently ahead of the wave even catching up the stragglers of the previous wave. Ella did well too coming out in the middle of the pack. Dashing outside, we were too late with the girls already off on the bike course.

Ella returned first with Aoife not too far behind. It was another mad dash down to the finish line but this time we made it seeing both girls come through looking hot, exhausted but happy! I'm confident we will be back next year with Katy keen to have a go too!!

 

Hanging Out with Grandad

Andy was in Melbourne for the week attending the AMOS conference where he received another award. This time it was the Priestley Medal which commemorates the life-long contributions of Dr C H B Priestley to meteorological and oceanographic research. The medal is awarded  biennial to scientists in their mid-careers for personal excellence in meteorological, oceanographic or climate research carried out substantially within Australia.

So Grandad took the opportunity to come over, again slotting nicely into our school/work routine. To prevent him from being too bored during the day, we set a handyman wish list for him. As per normal Grandad brought the Perth hot weather with him limiting outside work during the day. Despite this he did a great job managing to tick off several things on the wish list as well as the day-to-day boring stuff.





We had fun at the nut playground after school...

We all tried dragon fruit for the very first time!!

We bought 8 white cloud fish for the fish pond while getting the water tested. Results were very healthy, just waiting for the algae bloom to subside.....



And Grandad showed us his expert lawn bowling technique! We all enjoyed trying our lawn bowling skills with my work colleagues. It was a great afternoon. Ella loved having a go while Katy was more content playing with the younger kids on the playground!

Helping Hand

We were happy that Grandad was able to visit us again so soon especially with Andy on a training camp conference in Melbourne for the week!! It seems that when Andy departs, some drama unfolds only this time it began the night before he left.

While us girls were out on Sunday afternoon and Grandad was yet to arrive, Andy was busy preparing his talk in the loungeroom. Now with everyone out, it was wonderfully quiet for Andy to concentrate only he heard lots of scratching noises. Convinced that a bug was stuck in the roman blinds he got up to investigate. No signs of any insects, however standing next to the window he could still hear the scratching sounds and then noticed on the outside, the constant stream of wasps disappearing into the corner of the window. Hmmm.....

On my arrival home I was shown the wasps and after googling we decided that they were European Wasps which would need to be dealt with in the morning by an expert.

Grandad flew in Sunday night and Andy flew out early the next morning. After school drop off I contacted the wasp expert who agreed to come by at 6pm once we are home from swimming.

In the meantime, Grandad and I did the food shop and assembled our new couch which had arrived earlier. An easy task without instructions although one of the timber boxes wouldn't screw together...eventually did after a few phone calls to the company.

The wasp expert arrives shortly after we get home from swimming. I learnt a lot as he obviously loves wasps! European wasps are a pest. They can sting multiple times and are very protective of their hive. Apparently the queen establishes her nest in October usually in a roof or wall cavity or in the ground. They like to build their hive in a circular shape and so if it is located in a confined space such as a wall cavity, the wasps will eat the gyprock. Thus according to our wasp expert, it is important to test the integrity of the wall.

He begins tapping up the side of the window with nice hollow sounds resonating. While I was holding the cord for the blinds, wasp expert moved to checking the section above the window and below the ceiling. He hadn't gone too far before his hand went through the wall and a few wasps began to crawl out!!! He swore, I dropped the curtain and promptly fell over the dog :) It was all a barrel of laughs...well kind of.

The girls, Grandad (who is allergic to bees) and the dog were banished to the other room. We opened the front doors but luckily the wasps seemed to be content behind the curtain trying to fly out through the window!! Wasp expert then quickly suited up and sprayed powder in the nest from both the inside and outside. The powder works fairly quickly with most wasps dying within 15 minutes. However wasp expert advised us to wait at least a week to ensure that the wasps yet to hatch would die too.

Next phone call was to our lovely builder Paul to organise for the hole in the wall to be fixed and plastered!! Thankfully we hadn't signed off with him. And now we can add another painting job to our list!!

 

Girl Power

There is no doubt that our girls will be exposed to lots of sports.

As both girls loved playing soccer last season, Andy took the opportunity to take the girls to watch Canberra United play Sydney FC in Canberra. Dressed in a little bit of green and with green zinc, the girls got into the spirit of things! Unfortunately Sydney FC were the better team on the day.

Also during January our TV was on most evenings to watch the Big Bash matches with both girls getting involved. When it was announced that the Australian Women's Cricket team, the Southern Stars were to play India at Manuka (First Test of the One Day Internationals Series), Andy proposed that they go. So after the first day of school, we met at Manuka with the Walter/Jones clan and a few grandies. A lovely balmy evening, we enjoyed a picnic dinner along with some sporting entertainment. Not sure how much the kids actually watched, they all seemed to be much more interested in exploring the stadium and playing in the water!

And a New School Year Begins

Katy is in Year 1 and Ella in Year 3!

Better Late than Never

With renos 97% complete, it was time to shop for my promised 40th birthday present - a piece of art! I had a local artist in mind so we made our way to the Kingston Markets to check her out.

Didn't take long for Andy to convince me that we should purchase one of the paintings and so we did!  Back at the car we weren't sure it was going to fit....a little reorganisation and careful arranging and we were on our way home. Thankfully the painting arrived home in one piece.








We think it looks awesome its new home and love how the paint catches and plays with the light.

 'Wild Poppies at Dawn' by Naomi Crowther.

Coastal Camping Day 3

The forecast for the week wasn't looking too crash hot with lots of showers on the horizon. Those showers seemed to have disappeared until today when they rolled into one mighty storm. Luckily for us the morning was great - ok the sun wasn't shinning but it was warm enough to swim and so we did at Pretty Beach.

Located to the north of Pebbly Beach, Andy took the 10km straight-line coastal track running option while the girls and I took the 30km road detour both arriving within minutes of each other! Down to the beach we ventured. The ocean was fairly rough so we were nervous with Ella who insisted on catching the waves and as normal pushing her physical capabilities! Katy meanwhile was much happier in the shallows jumping and surfing the white wash.

Soon however we became engrossed in a game of surf frisbee. Throwing the frisbee to each other with the intention of momentarily loosing it in the whitewash of a wave. The next few seconds were spent trying to spot the white frisbee in the wash and retrieve it. Lots of fun was had without loosing the frisbee!

Perfectly timing our exit from the beach, with drops of rain appearing and lightning occasionally flashing we made our way to a local cafe for lunch. Luckily for us the storm erupted while we were enjoying lunch. We were very glad not to be at the campsite but at the same time we were very much worried about the state of our tent and campsite!!

Emerging from the cafe, there was water everywhere but at least it had stopped raining. A quick shop for a few dinner essentials before returning to the campsite. The campsite and tents had held up well despite a few puddles. The rain began to fall again so the girls retreated into the tent to listen to the The Enchanted Wood audio book while Andy and I read under the Patrick's shelter (thankful that we had borrowed it.)

The rain didn't last for long and the girls were itching for more beach time so off we went again. The beach was lovely although the surf was still challenging. Not so lovely was the fact that our towels were still wet from previous swim.

Andy managed to light our final fire despite the soggy timber and we toasted marshmallows once again.

Our last morning we packed up and headed to North Durras for the last swim of our coastal camping trip. We have fond memories of visiting North Durras on a very hot November afternoon in 2014 where the water was tranquil, clear and beautiful. Complete contrast to today which was overcast, trying to rain and rough surf but we still had fun and smiling girls!

Coastal Camping Day 2

The morning began with more bird photography thanks to Ella. She didn't have to try too hard with all the native wildlife around the camp area being so desensitised to humans. Several parrots took up prime position on top of our shelter! Turns out that these bright orange and green birds are Australian King Parrots.

On a recommendation from a fellow camper, we began the morning with a short walk over the headland to the next bay. I'm sure this is the real Pebbly Beach. The sound of the water cascading back into the ocean is just amazing. This little beach was not at all suitable for swimming but great for impromptu discus!

After our discus practice we had a snack while discussing the options for the rest of the morning. Our persuasion of more walking and coastal exploration fell on deaf ears. Instead we turned on our heels to return to the campground beach.

So the most of the afternoon was spent at the beach!

Katy loved jumping waves and came around to liking seaweed.

Meanwhile Ella loved boogie boarding with Andy.

And of course both girls love building sand castles....

As the sun descending into the horizon, the kangaroos emerge to feed on the lush grass and the girls extremely eager to light the our fire. The previous nights efforts on fire lighting were pretty woeful - I tried numerous times, then Andy came over to demonstrate his expertise only to really struggle. I mean we couldn't even get paper to light properly thanks to the recent rain and high humidity. Luckily our friendly next-door camper noticed our struggle and offered us a handful of firelighters insisting this was the only way we would be able to get the fire going! So we were much more prepared today with a trip to the local shop for a box of firelighters and even with these it was still a challenging task! Post dinner we enjoyed roasted marshmallows.

Camping at the Coast

We continued with our tradition of heading to the coast for the last week of summer holidays when NSW and VIC kids have started school. Only this time, we chose to camp mainly because we were too busy to organise a house and stay for 3 nights rather than a whole week.

It was a very relaxed departure on Wednesday morning as we were not on a time schedule and there were no other families to co-ordinate with. So after briefing Alice, one of Andy's PhD students on all the intricacies of our pets and house, and stopping by Little Oink for a coffee we were on our way.

Normally when we are going to the coast, it's after school/work and we are trying to get to 'where ever' by dinner. Today was not the case. In fact we earmarked to stop at Monga National Park located just outside of Braidwood prior to heading down the Clyde for a picnic.

It was a short drive off the Kings Highway into the park, where we checked out the Dasyurus picnic area only to continue on to the next one, Mongarlowe River picnic area. We wandered down the short loop train through the cool temperate rainforest to the Mongarlowe River. The recent rain gave the forest a soft and relaxing feel. Ella was excited spotting and attempting to photograph a variety of interesting birds. A nice place for a picnic lunch.

 

Bird photography by Ella . Can you see it?

Before continuing on to the coast, we decided to drive a little further to Penance Grove much to the displeasure of both girls who stated they weren't getting out of the car. The very short drive took up though massive tree ferns all hints of what was to come. On pulling up we were instantly amazed by all the tree ferns with a boardwalk disappearing into the grove. Funnily enough both girls were suddenly interested!

Penance Grove gained it's name from a sad crime that occurred over 30 years ago prior to Monga attaining National Park status. One morning locals discovered that illegal tree-fern cutters had taken scores of old tree ferns out of this grove probably to sell at Sydney markets. Unfortunately as tree ferns grow only from the tip, the remaining stumps were dead looking like skeletons in the forest.  Despite it's sad history, this little grove is a special place to visit and I'm so glad we stopped by plus we even saw the largest moss in the world, Dawsonia superba, growing wild!

  

It was a little over an hour still listening to The Enchanted Wood (by Enid Blyton) which certainly kept the girls enchanted and content in the back before we pull into our campsite at Pebbly Beach located in Murramarang National Park about 20km north of Batemans Bay. We quickly set up camp before heading down for some fun at the beach despite the overcast conditions.

 

   More bird photography by Ella.