Katy's Back to Nature 7th Birthday Party

We approached this party with trepidation, as our memories from Ella's 7th birthday which was also celebrated in the Himalayan Cedars was still fresh in our minds. In case you missed Ella's party write up it began like this....

Luckily for Katy, the weather gods shone down and to be quite honest I don't think we could have had a more perfect day.

The meeting point for the party was halfway down Bindubi Street which borders Aranda Bushland Nature Reserve. Once all the party guests arrived, their first job was to make their own trail mix from a selection of dried fruit, pretzels and lollies.











Then each nature hiker was given their own satchel, which as described in the previous post, contained a nature journal, pen, water bottle, magnifying glass and their own trail mix goody bag. We were all ready to go!

The gang of 10 kids plus Katy and Ella, headed off down the bike path together with a group of adults - Nana and Grandpa, three mums and myself. While we were heading to our first destination in the Aranda Snowgums, Andy did a car shuffle and walked back to meet us.

Most of the kids were excited and energy levels were running high. Some were a little nervous perhaps unsure of this whole walking adventure and others were a little shy taking time to warm up. Climbing through the access gate (which was locked) into Aranda Bushlands we ventured. Obviously it was a very new adventure into unknown waters for one little person who on seeing the locked gate asked it we were allowed to go into here!!

Skirting around the bottom of Aranda Hill, we detoured down a small bush corridor providing access through leased land into the snow gums. We explore this small area finding eggs and tiny caterpillars on leaves, doing leaf rubbings and spotting the difference between the three gum tree species all the while nibbling on our trail mix.

Continuing on to the snow gums and frost hollow, we spot the resident mob of kangaroos and identify several birds and we crunch over some frost too! On our way, we find many of the items listed on our scavenger hunt.

 

Into the Cork Oaks, we wander choosing a peaceful spot to enjoy fruit and more of our trail mix. Here we pause to play What's the time Mr Wolf and Snake games.

We can't stop for long though as we still need to make it to the Himalayan Cedars where Andy was busy cooking some snags for our lunch. Beginning the final stage of our walk we spot several gorgeous red toadstools...which starts much chatter about fairy houses and fairies living in this forest...

To keep the girls laughing we start to do a variety of animal walks - frogs, emus, dogs..Here are a few of the koalas!!

The Himalayan Cedar forest is in sight as we emerge from the Coak Oaks. It is a short but steep section with amazing views over Black Mountain and Lake Burley Griffin. We enter this old cedar forest in search of our final scavenger item - a Himalayan Cedar pine cone. It doesn't take too long to spot them. Briefly we pause to check out a stick hut before arriving at the BBQ area where Andy is ready to serve us lunch.

...and then on to the final activity of the day - birthday cake! It was a sensational day and an awesome party.