A Beach A Day

We were Perth bound in early January for a much needed holiday and visit. Surprisingly it had been nearly 3 years since our last visit in April 2012! In order to reduce our tiredness with flight the direct last night flight, we made the decision to flight via Melbourne during the day. It was a much nicer way of travelling and the girls easily kept themselves entertained during that time.

Unfortunately the day before we left, I was diagnosed with shingles which came out in full force on our arrival to Nana and Grandad's house. For 48 hours, I did nothing much except sleep and take strong pain medication which was not a great start to the holiday.

Meanwhile Andy, Grandad and the girls visited the beach each day and so the 'a swim at the beach a day' aim emerged! It was reminiscent of our previous Perth playground challenge in 2010 which we visited 32 playground in 32 days!

As I emerged from sickness, we met Louise, Shane and family at South Beach. Just so happened that they had been on holidays too in Perth and were about to return to Sweden. It was lovely to meet their children Felix and Mathilda.

As for South Beach it became our new favourite spot - mostly protected so no big waves, a pontoon to swim out to and a cafe for reasonable coffee afterwards all within 15 minutes of the grandies house!

Sliding the Summer Day Away

As part of their holiday treat, both Ashley and Nathan wanted to go to Big Splash, the local outdoor aquatic centre which has lots of water slides! Unbeknown to them, this was also on Ella and Katy's summer wish list too! A win-win situation!

Stepping into the unknown we paid for the children to go on all the slides seeing though they all were taller than the minimum height. Whether they were brave enough only time would tell! We started in the shallow end of the big pool mucking around and subsequently bumped into Stacey, Jackson and Charlie who were there with friends! Perfect timing for me to give Charlie a cuddle (who fell asleep), while Stace took Jackson swimming.

Meanwhile the bigger girls took on the BIG slides. First was the twister which I gather was a little hairy for our young ones as they didn't want to go back. Next was the speed coaster, a twin tube ride which turned out to be a favourite and by the end of the day Ashley and Ella were riding this one together! After this they spotted the inflatable anchored in the deep end of the big pool. It was a rather long wait for their turn but both girls again loved it making it to the end and going back for more.

Post lunch, first stop was splash island an area for little people with various fountains, a cave that led to two smallish waterslides. We didn't spend too long there as the bigger family waterslides beckoned. After climbing numerous flights of stairs we emerged at the top of the tower with two slides to choose from. Katy and I went together several times down each slide before she gained the confidence to go by herself. After that I would go first and wait for her to pop out as the pool at the bottom was deep, had a strong current and it was a fair distance to the steps.

Amazingly we spent 5 hours there, only to drag the kids out of the pool to go home. It was another experience which shows how much the girls have grown and that the path to independence is getting wider.

Cooling off at the Cotter

Cotter bend is a fantastic place to be on a hot summers day. The boys (Gareth and Andy) headed off for a loop up Paddy's River while the rest of us were attracted to the water in it! Negotiating the rocks was tricky, the water refreshing, the current fun to float in and the rocks interesting to collect! We picnicked, played cricket before cooling off in the water once again while throwing around the rocket. A wonderful day out.

Chillin in Canberra with the Candys!

Annwen, Ashley and Nathan made their way over east...a great way to start 2015! This trip was a short visit made shorter by the fact that we were going to Perth however we were able to try a few new things especially with the kids growing up.

First on the agenda was a bbq enjoying the cooler conditions on our deck under the shade of the pistachio tree while the kids splashed around in the next-door neighbour paddling pool. We were joined by Gareth, Kelly and Jessica and Annwen's parents, Jan and Russell.

Dinner is always a little chaotic with so many people however once over we were enjoying catching up on each others news while the kids played unaware that a disaster was about to happen. Ashley can be seen in the background of this photo, sitting up near the top of the rope ladder. A few minutes later, while Ella is also on the rope ladder hanging nearly upside down on the lower rungs, the metal ring at the top weakens enough for the carabiner to slip out and the girls tumble to the ground! Both in tears, we assess the damage and luckily no trip to the hospital is needed this time unlike in 2012 (chickens strike back) when the Candy's were last here having a farewell dinner.

Race Day with the Rocket Boosters

Wicked Wombat is an 8 hour mountain bike race which can be ridden as a solo or in 2 or 4 person teams. Our team - Rocket Boosters - included Emily, Thomas, Rob (all very experienced riders) and me (a very inexperienced rider). Despite being a competition the ethos of the event is very much focussed on fun with friends.  The course was a  9 - 10km loop (depending on whether you took the shorter, harder A lines or not) and it was all single track. We rode the loop the day before the race so there were no surprises and I knew how to avoid the A lines!

Race morning dawned and we were in for a sunny, warm day. I had already made the decision to join the race once most competitors were through their first lap. So at 8am, with a coffee in hand, we watched the riders tear down the road and onto the single track. We cheered on the familiar faces as they came past the skills park, where we were based - Thomas and Rob were riding together, Patrick was solo while Susie was shadowing Josh.

A short while later I kitted up and was off! Super conscious of being too slow, I was surprised that not too many people passed me and when they did I was able to pull over without stopping! It was quite enjoyable actually however I decided to pull in after the first lap which had taken me about 45 minutes.

While enjoying a short break, I was lucky to see the first of the kids race! The finish area was cleverly positioned adjacent to a grassy oval area which had a small track around the perimeter. At the mention of a race with prizes most of our kids were excited well except for maybe one or 2 including Katy who fell apart at the word 'race.' With so many children ~14 or so, ranging from 12 - 2yrs, it was decided to have several races.

From our gang of children, Ella and Mia were in the first older race, while Katy, Mira, Mica and Isobel were in the second younger race. Ella rode really well considering she was still adjusting to her new bike! Katy started well despite being very unsure about the whole thing. I think the fact that Ella ran around next to her encouraging her all the way helped heaps however if all got too much just before the finish and she succumbed to tears! All the kids were happy to receive a little prize at the end. And so began the routine for the day where every 90 minutes, the kids assembled for another round of races and collecting of prizes in particular bookmarks! Interestingly Katy was much happier watching and cheering the races along with Max, while Ella participated in the older kids race placing well down in the results until the very last one when she strategically joined the 7yrs and younger group in order to win.

After watching the first childrens race, I headed out completing another 2 laps before stopping for a rest. By this stage I had engaged Josh (my nearly 10 year old nephew) in some friendly rivalry. Last year Josh had completed 4 laps and his aim this year was 7! Despite Josh's splits per lap being about an hour,  by this point he was already a lap up on me as he had joined in at the start. It seemed like I had some work to do!

Meanwhile on the kids front, between playing at the skills park (not necessarily on bikes, as seen in the balancing seesaw photo), eating, racing, cheering, making cubby houses, playing games with soft toys the kids were generally entertained for the day making life for the adult babysitters, Andy and Al a little easier!

The afternoon sunshine was bearing down, things were hotting up and the track getting dustier and dustier. I was thankful that I was in the company of expert mountain bike riders, so when I casually mentioned how my chain was creaking during a conversation at lunch, Rob said he could look after it and subsequently rubbed some magic goop on my chain before I started off! Obviously have lots to learn on the mechanical side of these races! All was quiet as I made my way around another lap with various muscles in my body beginning to make themselves known.

With a 4pm finish, organisers had let us know that your last lap needed to begin by 3.30pm. Again not wanting to be caught in anyones last ditch attempt to get another lap in, I forced myself out on the course at 3pm. Happily I rolled over the finish line at 3.40pm after completing about 50km on single track in around 4 hours of riding time without crashing and on very little training either! Didn't manage to catch Josh who finished 6.5 laps an awesome effort for a 9yr old!!

As for the rest of the Rocket Boosters, they summed up a fantastic 28 laps between the three of them which snuck us into third place in the Team of 4 Mixed category!! Needless to say we spent the remaining part of the afternoon relaxing. Andy and Al cooked a great risotto. The kids were fairly shattered after such an intense day of playing and riding. They celebrated New Years with sparklers before heading off to bed. Meanwhile most of the adults had adopted sitting in their sleeping bags in the chairs while enjoying a few drinks before also retiring early well before 2015 began. Ahh how times change!!