Out the Window

Katy and I finally finished the out the window project which has been on the to-do list probably for years. Initially we were keen to make drangonflies to spice up the fence but it was too hard to find the required recycled materials. Instead we settled for a bird house theme. The lilac shrub on the right should continue to grow taller than the fence and not only produce a lovely scent but beautiful purplish flowers.

Excitement in the Garden

The chickens received a new feeder thanks to Ella and Andy. Seed can be placed into the tube from outside the pen! The all love eating from it although it may need a tiny bit of tweaking. The chickens have grown lots and for some reason have decided that roosting on the roof is much better than going inside the house!



Elsewhere in the garden, I harvested the potatoes, with good results. Picked the last of the beans and the first of the tomatoes. The zucchini have had a great start to the season too!

And most proudly we had our first waterlily! It was beautiful. Hope the fish enjoyed it!

Meanwhile in the Shed

While we were all busy inside, there was lots of dust outside! The bench was coming along but needed lots of sanding!!

Crafty Stuff

The creative juices were still freely flowing at 5 Aston Cres!

Ella's world expanded into 'real' sewing which involved choosing a pattern and then material. She was ever so keen to get sewing but quickly ran out of patience with the time it took to do various bits! Luckily it was a fairly easy pattern and so the skirt was finished in an afternoon. The only problem was when she paraded the skirt, it nearly fell off as the elastic in the waistband was way too big! A quick unpick and readjustment saw the skirt finally finished. We were all pretty happy with the result.

Meanwhile Katy was busy experimenting with her tie dying christmas present. She tried dying a scarf and t-shirt. We discovered that the type of fabric really influenced the brightness of the dye and to a lesser extent the method used. Ella also joined in on the fun. The results took much longer than making Ella's skirt as we had to wait for the dye to dry, then rinse and wash before drying again!

Katy's crumple top on the left, Ella's spiral top on the right.

Inspirations from Ikea

Inspiration comes from funny places. Recently we headed out to Ikea to purchase 2 armchairs for the front room. A quick and easy purchase as we knew exactly what we wanted.

As we often find ourselves all sitting around the bench that has only 3 bar stools, we also decided to buy another stool too. This bar stool comes with a removable cover but for some reason only in cream! I couldn't cope with how dirty and stained these easily become so I found the fabric section and assessed potential options. Meanwhile Andy was taking the first armchair back home....we couldn't all fit with the 2 armchairs and stool in the car!

Once Andy returned, we were on our way out and happened to spot a couple of outdoor bench seats. Hoping to replace our outdoor chairs, a quick test revealed a poorly constructed or designed seat which was very wobbly. We continued on.

So back home, I took an old bar stool chair cover, unpicked it and instantly had a pattern! Spreading the fabric, I carefully cut the required pieces and set to work.

I think my sewing machine is magnet for the girls because as soon as it was out, both wanted to use it! So much for my productive afternoon. Ella decided to make a little drawstring bag each for orienteering. Meanwhile Katy thought Tomoki, the teddy bear needed new pants!

After a few hours of sewing, I headed out to see what Andy was up to outside. Turns out that he had begun his own project - building a bench seat from an old pallet! A task that would take much longer than our sewing craft projects, with the numerous sanding and sealing involved.

Ella's creativity continued... and she made herself numerous headbands!

I plodded along over a few days. The first cover took the longest, but after that I had quite the production line going. I'm happy with the covers and hopefully with a spray of scotch guard, they will keep a little better. Now time to contact the kitchen guy to change the bench leg from one in the middle to one at each corner allowing the bar stool to be pushed in.

New Year's Projects

Back home and a frenzy of projects began..... more on these soon!

Day 4 - Xmas 5 Days

It was a super early start this morning but not as early at poor Cath, Eoin and Aoife. With an 85min drive and start times from 8 - 9.30, we needed to pack up tent and leave campground by 7am. As it was a Big Foot event, Cath and co had volunteered for the start job and thus had to leave at 6am!

The morning went smoothly allowing us to pick up coffee and just-out-of-the-oven croissants from one of the two cafe's open from 6am on a Saturday morning in Bundanoon! Our very low battery indicators on our phones combined with failure to charge in the car, gave us a little bit to worry about as we were relying on google maps plus the online event info to make it to the event. Luckily we managed to access the stuff just as we were required to turn off the highway!

The last day was most enjoyable for the adult courses. The same length walk to the start as the distance for the blue course which also turned out to be nearly all taped legs due to the unfavourable terrain, was not particularly enjoyed by the girls. Nevertheless the volunteers who organised and ran each day of Xmas 5 Days did do a great job. We skipped Day 5 at Belangalo and headed back to Canberra, via a swim at Stuarts Crossing and lunch in Bungendore.

Natures Fairylights

One of the reasons I wanted to return to Bundanoon was to visit the Glow Worm Glen. Obviously only after dark, it's a short descent to the Glen. We set out at dusk as suggested, walking the track as the sun set so no need for torches. The Glen is a nestled within several rock faces, closely aligned with a small creek running though. There is a purpose built platform to view the glow worms.

We joined the small gathering of people and patiently waited for the light to disappear from the sky. Glow worms are the larvae of fungus gnats. The female fungus gnat lays approximately 130 eggs before dying. After 8-9 days, the larvae hatch and position themselves within tiny rock cavities where they can retreat if conditions become unfavourable. As night falls, the glow worms lure insects into their webs by their glowing tail light. This blue green light is produce by the chemical reaction of certain body fluids of the glow worm and oxygen. Once tangled in the web, the insect is reeled in to be consumed by the larvae who needs to eat enough to sustain enough energy to metamorphose and survive the next breeding season.

The wait was a test of patience but eventually tiny blueish specs were visible and slowly became brighter. As more larvae turned on their lights, the line of the rock crevices were outlined. Trying to get a photo was useless in this case and we will have to remember natures fairy lights in our own photographic memory.

Knowing that it was after 9pm, we still had to trek back uphill to the car before driving to our camping spot and we had a very early start, we decided not to linger although I wished we could in this magical place. In the end we had managed to fit lots of fun activities into the day and have many memories to treasure.

Day 3 - Xmas 5 Day

It was an early start as we needed to pack up our campsite at Moss Vale including the slackline in order to arrive at the orienteering to start before 9.30am. Luckily it was a short easy drive to Penrose State Forest, a pine forest full of interesting rock features. Both girls made large mistakes and were disappointed with their runs.

The day quickly warmed up, so we were all very grateful for post run refreshments at a cafe in Bundanoon. We had booked into Gambell's Rest campground at Morton National Park for the night and headed to set up our tents before exploring. Ever since the 2103 Highland Fling mountain bike race, where I first camped at this spot, I've wanted to come back but it hadn't worked out until now. With our bellies extremely full from a large and early lunch and our tents up, we headed off to Fairy Bower Falls.

Despite it not being remotely close to sunrise, we briefly stopped at Sunrise Point for a spectacular view over Bundanoon Creek before continuing on to the Fairy Bower Falls carpark.






It was a short but steep hike down the escarpment, 1.2km (plus 600m climb) to the bottom of the falls. Unfortunately Eoin's knee didn't enjoy bending on the steps so we left him at the halfway point, where we crossed the Fairy Bower creek above the falls.

Dropping over and contouring along the escarpment was wonderful. The steel path hugged the cliff edge at the same time as providing excellent views. 

Lots of steps led us down where we came across a 'No Access' sign placed in the middle of the path to the waterfall. Knowing that others had been down there today and the path was clear, we held a group conference and once convincing Katy that it would be ok, decided to continue walking quickly as a group watching for any signs of a landslide.Twas a little nerve wracking as we passed underneath massive rock overhangs!












As the path flattened out, the eucalypt forest transformed into rainforest with lush ferns, moss covered rocks everywhere and the sound of the water falling. A gorgeous tapestry of vines hung from the walls of the sheer cliff with the old stairs cut into the rock seen behind. Clambering carefully down the the slippery last section we arrived at the base of this beautiful waterfall.

All hot and sweaty, we enjoyed a refreshing *gasp* shower beneath the falls while the girls explored the surrounding area.

After the cool shower, we were ready for the return uphill hike and before we knew it, we had arrived  at the halfway point of the creek crossing. The girls had discovered an inventive way to dam the water by placing their bums into the water race, a groove that the water had made into the rock. They had so much fun damming the water, before jumping up and racing to the edge of the waterfall to watch the gush of water tumble over the edge. We must have spent another 30 mins or so here.

Completely drenched, the girls continued the 600m uphill back to the carpark and were almost dry on arrival. At the cars everyone was hot again and voted to find the local pool. We spent the remainder of the afternoon cooling off in the chilly water!