Doorack Work Party

The Doorack work party is normally a family affair, however this year the rest of the family decided to go orienteering instead! As I am still stuck watching from the sidelines, I decided I could be of more use at the lodge joining Al, Rob, Max, Alma and Cath who were all going.

It was a cold weekend in the mountains with single digit max temps! Back in Canberra was not much better - a little warmer but very wet! 

The work party team had several goals - wood stacking (3 tonne of firewood) which took a few hours; room renovations - Room 5; corridor renovation - downstairs; stores stock up (Al's job) plus a few plumbing problems to sort out too.

It was all hands on deck on Saturday - we steamed ahead trying to finish as much as possible. The wood arrived earlier than normal so it was a downing of tools almost before we'd even started to stack for nearly 2 hours! Thankfully the rain held off during that time.

It was a full day's work (no time for photos) and we all enjoyed nibbles and drinks at the end of it. A lovely way to socialise.

Sunday dawned and there were more jobs required to be completed than we'd expected. As a result we left much later than anticipated. Basecamp sadly was not open for lunch therefore we drove to Jindabyne and stopped at the Parc cafe.

Meanwhile Andy and at the girls participated in the orienteering relays at Campbell Park. The weather was atrocious and both girls didn't have enough clothes for the freezing wet conditions. Both were nearly hypothermic and I'm not sure if any of them finished!

There wasn't much time for resting once back in Canberra. It was a quick dinner before heading off to enjoy a few tunes by Patrick's band who had a gig on in town. A nice way to chill for a few hours.

Sweet 16

 Wow it's been a big year - L plates, boyfriend and turning 16! Where has our little girl gone...

It was a low key birthday being mid week and all. Sleep over and movies with friends all organised by Ella was planned for the weekend.

Walking with Indi

 Lots of beautiful sunsets recently during my evening walks with Indi.

Changing Corner of the Garden

The winter seedlings are growing well as are the weeds and grains from the chicken soil. 

Preparation of the area for the new chicken pen has started. I began by removing a few plants and lots of violets. Quite a few buckets of soil was taken over to add to the raspberry bed before half burying concrete pavers against the fence as a barrier. 

Finally supplies purchased and the frame building slowly began. It's great to get going on this project.

Weekend Activities

Relaxation was short lived as Ella and Andy headed off to Brisbane for the Australian Athletics Under 20 Nationals. Ella qualified for hammer and had hoped to be to be chosen for discus and javelin but team selectors thought otherwise.

Competing in only one event meant that it was a quick visit - flying up on the Saturday morning, watching friends compete in the afternoon, then competing Sunday morning and back home by the evening.

Ella threw 37.55m on her first throw and had two no throws after that. Her one legal throw (well below her PB of 41m) placed her 11th out of 18. Interestingly there were lots of fouls - 3 girls unfortunately didn't record a throw and 5 from the remaining 15 only recorded one legal throw! Ella enjoyed the competition and hanging out with her friend Mia.

 

Meanwhile Katy and Indi were responsible for providing birthday cheer for me! They did a great job - flowers and hand cream for presents followed by pancakes for breakfast. Once Andy and Ella returned we all ventured out for dinner. Birthday celebrations continued with flowers arriving on Monday and lunch at work on Tuesday :) 

Building Progress

We returned home from an exhausting Easter and relaxing Guthega to find progress on next-door! The frames had partially been erected. Over the next two weeks the frames were completed and wrapped. Bricks had been delivered too with the brick layer beginning their job too

The view from our kitchen window was changing too!

Post Easter Recovery

We retreated to Guthega post easter for a few days of rest and recovery. Original plans involved inviting the West/Dufty and Pass/Braid families to hang out and explore the region. Unfortunately the Rachel and Amy caught covid over easter so that put a halt to any of their plans.

On our arrival the main range was beautiful bathed in soft pastels as the sun dipped behind the snow dusted mountain tops and the clouds creeping in. On the first night we had a fun and chaotic evening with 3 orienteering families joining us - the Meyer clan Dave, Emily and their two little ones; the Dent clan Fel, Jules and their 3 medium size kids and Prong in solo dad mode with his 3 medium size kids. Ella and Katy floated in and out of the crowd of kids. Andy and I enjoyed relaxing, watching the dramas unfold and reminisced of those busy times!!!

The next morning birthday girl Ceri, Graham, Kate, Lachlan and Rohan joined us. The weather was not favourable for any of the bigger walks and so we resorted to walking up to Illawong and the suspension bridge. The kids took off and we ambled behind chatting away. The chilly conditions meant we didn't lounge around too much on the rocks on the banks of the snowy river.

Back at the lodge we thawed out over lunch before our guests departed - they had more birthday related activities planned for the evening.

The weather deteriorated with rain setting in for the remainder of the afternoon - perfect weather for chilling out. We had a slow influx of new (non member) people. The evening and next morning turned out to be interesting - the gathering of people we soon realised were coming for a yoga retreat. By what we could infer it was a business opportunity and we felt not really in the spirit of what the lodge was about. We later found out it was not appreciated by the board either...

Easter - The remaining days

Day 1 & 2 were on the same area, a new map called Highlands, about 15km from Nimmitabel on the Great Dividing Range sitting at an elevation of 1100m. Unfortunately the weather forecast was abysmal for the next two days. Maximum involving a single digit, rain and possible snow! Eeek not what we had ordered.

I arrived before sunset on Friday to find the course setters and controller planning the blue start. Glad to run into them as I didn't actually know where the arena was having never visited there before! I also heard that both the pink and yellow starts were up and ready! Secretly my anxiety levels reduced a little. Still once Day 1 with its three starts (2 remote and the other involving a mass start) were over, the sooner my life would be plain sailing!

And despite being super organised, things always pop up. For example, the start lists were not fully printed and the clocks (according to some) were not synched correctly - both of which needed to be done the morning of the event.

So my arrival at the blue start was a little later than expected and we were slightly under the pump. The start area was exposed and the windy conditions created havoc on the control descriptions. When the competitors started to file through we realised the pre-start  and start clocks were displaying the same time!! In hindsight,  the problem arose, when the clocks were synched by the tech team this morning, they had put them back in the wrong boxes - so the blue start had two pre start clocks and the yellow start had two start clocks! Unable to change the times on these without a computer, Andy luckily happened to come by with the 4WD and took off to retrieve the start from the yellow start. It wasn't long before he returned and we were back on track again. Apart from that hiccup, we had lots of people who missed their start arriving late as the drive and walk took them longer than expected. By 12.30pm all the 800 competitors had filed through and were out enjoying the snow gums and moss covered boulders in wild conditions.

From there, the car was packed and I drove to Day 2's start (one and only!) It was on located on a fire trail and protected by the surrounding forest. All was set up by the time Cath returned from her tasks of organising for Day 2 and we drove to the now deserted arena. No one keen to hang around in the freezing conditions.

Together with Maurice, we all sat down for a breather and compared today's tales over chips and beer. Cath, Andy and I all keen for a shower and warmth, drove into Cooma to where Eoin and the girls were staying. It was a quick clean up before heading out for dinner at a local pub. Food was delicious and we heard about the girls adventures on their courses and day in general.

 

Back to the arena, it was a cold night, with sleep disrupted by the sounds of rain / sleet hitting the tent fly adding to my worry levels and wondering what tomorrow would bring. I needn't had worried, as the start ran like clockwork. Our start team was now like a well oiled machine! We all knew the drill and what to look out for! Competitors were braced for freezing conditions turning up in thermal and beanies and we still had fair few late starters. However the starts were wrapped up again by 1pm. I arrived back at the arena while there were still people there! From reports, the weather at the arena was terrible - hail at times; cold and very windy. I watched the finish tent nearly get blown away. The finish team did a fantastic job in such trying conditions to keep the computers dry and functioning!

After a bit of lunch, I once again hit the road traveling via Cooma to Day 3 - Teapot Creek where a set up crew was being organised by Valerie. I had the wonderful help from a lovely family who drove their ute up through the rough paddock tracks to the start. We laid out as much as we could with the equipment we had all before sunset!

From there I continued on to Jindabyne where our family was converging! I was looking forward to a hot shower, nice dinner and warm bed and generally being out of the elements.

Day 3 dawned with sunshine! Al and I drove out together to the event. Andy and the girls came out too, in the 4WD ute which we would need to get the remainder of the equipment to the start.

The final days starts were slightly complicated. All at the same location but a normal start for the majority and chasing starts for the M and W 21 E and Sledge. Again the start teams were amazing resulting an an efficient smooth start.

The start was located on on a grazed hillside, and with the sun mostly shinning was almost warm! It was nice to catch moments - gaze out across farmland and to the Snowy Mountains in the far distance while reflecting on the start coordinator role, the ups and downs, stresses and the wonderful crew by my side whom I was grateful to work with.

The start was packed up and we were back in the arena before the presentations had started. I was glad to unload and deposit all of the start equipment at Maurice's truck. My job was done! Time to eat, drink, relax and soak up the last of the carnival atmosphere. 

Was lovely to see Katy win the W14 class. Ella placed 13th in the W16 - not running her best with two sizeable mistakes on Day 1 & 2. Both enjoyed the event.

Easter

The Easter 3 Days Orienteering Carnival was run by ACT this year. Sometime ago Andy volunteered to set the courses for the Long Day (Day 2). His planning and subsequent visits out to the map were all under control as time ticked by.

After an Easter meeting in January, Andy said the organisers were still looking for a person to run the starts and as I can't run that perhaps I should volunteer. So I did. With 7 weeks til Easter I joined the organising team and after the first meeting had offered to also make the arena mud maps which escalated to producing the program (or Bulletin 2 as it is now know as).

Anyway the weeks ticked by, I coerced a great group to join the start team and began getting my head around the requirements for each day. Bulletin 2 was eventually signed off and uploaded (not without issues) and before we knew it April had arrived! Andy's role as course setter (with Cath as his controller) meant they disappeared on the Friday. My role as start coordinator meant early mornings and long days away from the arena. We are eternally grateful that Eoin was happy (?!) to take our girls. He was well organised by 4 teenage girls for 3 days!

The Prologue was held at ANU on Friday. First though, Al and I took the dogs out to the kennels at Yass. The drive was horrible with heavy rain and busy roads. A serious accident closed the main highway and we detoured on to the small pot holed riddled roads adding 20 mins more to our trip. Not long after turning on to this road we encountered a minor car accident. The rest of the trip was ok but the rain was relentless.

Back in Canberra I picked up the girls, packed the rest of the car before heading off to ANU with the rain still falling. Surely this front would pass?

The Prologue arena was on an oval in the middle of the ANU campus with very little protection from the elements. Made even harder with ANU requirements that no pegs, posts or pickets could be put into the grass! Between showers including one that sounded like a freight train coming sending everyone scurrying under shelter, the start area was ready. The conditions were so wet that the cricket pitch was under water creating a pool and instant attraction for the small children who kept us entertained while we waited for time to tick over.

Timing for the Prologue was slightly stressful with multiple mass starts. All went well and the public queued start event flowed even more smoothly after. Despite the weather, the rain held out for the competition period. By 3pm, the start was packed up and I was on the road settled in for the 2 hr drive to Nimmitabel, the base for the next two days.

Stripped!

Our poor callistemon tree outside the kitchen window was fine one day and decimated the next. Originally I'd put it down to the temperamental natural of native bush and climate conditions, however on closer inspection there were a few skeletalonised leaves suggesting maybe a pest was responsible.

We then noticed that the callistemon in the front garden was looking a little worse for wear with the defoliation of the crown. Looking closely we spotted the culprit - a caterpillar - not one but hundreds! A google search told me they are Long tailed callistemon sawfly larvae!

Treatment for these are to cut off affected branches and remove the caterpillars so that is what Andy and I did for an hour! These larvae are fantastic at camouflage as several times we thought we'd finish and find more!

Hopefully the front garden callistemon will be ok. The kitchen callistemon may not come back but it will be coming out anyway once the garage mudroom renos start.

Annual Balloon Spotting

Indi and I ventured to the top of Mt Painter in order to spot the balloon Aoife, Bailee, Cath and Eoin were in. They lifted off from near the Mint in Deakin, thankfully a little later than anticipated as Indi and I accidentally slept in a little longer than expected. So as we were trekking up the side of Mt Painter, the inflating balloons began peeking up over the tops of the buildings and trees.

Eventually two balloons rose into the sky and I got a message that they were in the black one. Indi and I said hi to Pippa (whose ashes are scattered next to a rock which faces the Brindabellas) before finding ourselves the best vantage spot facing south. It was a stunning morning to sit and enjoy. The sunrise colours, cloud formation, silhouette of the Brindabellas with the mist lining the valleys were all impressive and peaceful. It made me feel so grateful to live in such a beautiful place!

Indi and I watched the balloons slowly meander closer towards us wondering where they were planning on going and snapped photos of their progress and the ever changing landscape. As the balloons were tiny dots on the horizon, the photos of Indi look way better than any of the balloon ones!

The light winds meant that the balloons didn't come over our heads as hoped and over the course of half an hour, with cold fingers and a cold bum, the black balloon finally dropped out of sight as it landed at the rock garden by the edge of Lake Burley Griffin. That signalled time for Indi and I to head to the coffee shop to warm up.

While I was balloon watching, Andy, Katy, Al and Mira drove south to participate in the Tuggeranong Parkrun. A first time for them all!