Happy New Year!

Under current Covid conditions we abandoned our usual open house invitation and instead had a small gathering of friends (and their pooches) to help bring in the new year. It was a balmy evening on the deck for BBQ and drinks while the 3 pooches mostly entertained themselves in the backyard. Of course the only photos we took of the night were of the pooches - all vying for human attention!

No longer interested in seeing in the new year, our friends had all departed well before midnight. Despite this it was a tiring night for some!

Room Reno (again)

Katy decided that she no longer liked her loft bed - the getting up and down had lost its shine! Successfully selling it online much quicker than expected, Katy was then required to sleep on a mattress on the floor until a new bed was purchased.

Searching was undertaken with many options however these were whittled away in finding the right bed with the perfect dimensions. Eventually an ensemble from Ikea ticked all the boxes. Unfortunately a trip to Ikea revealed there were no ensemble beds available in Australia (thanks covid)! Back to the drawing board. Katy's next choice was a simple wooden frame from Snooze. The bed was ordered but would taken another 6 weeks before it was delivered.

With a few spare days before New Year's, Katy (with our help) got busy. Patching, sanding and painting of all the walls and ceiling thanks to the blutac stains. 

Good bye to the mint and hello to a little splash of caramel. A clear out of treasures and stuff, purchase of new bedding and a few more new plants all created a new beautiful space Katy was very proud to have.

Forging A New Trail

We've been tracking the progress of a new trail that connects Guthega to Charlotte's Pass. The trail is a section of the Snowies Alpine Trail - a 55km multi day walk which traverses the high country mountains between Guthega to Thredbo.  Today seemed like the perfect opportunity to explore this track with the whole gang.

The running group - Andy, Patrick, Susie, Josh, Mia and myself headed out with the aim to run to the end of the trail (9km) and returning back to Spencer Creek to meet the walking crew of Ella, Katy, Nana and Grandpa!

It wasn't long before the old ladies of the running group were dropped by the young guns and old lads. They were nice and occasionally waited for us on the way out. It was a different story on the way back!! Anyway Susie and I enjoyed the scenery and running through the snow gums as we chatted away.

Arriving back at Spencers Creek, we find the walking group had arrived several minutes earlier. Dave in particular was keen to inspect the highest and newest suspension bridge crossing the creek. As the day was warming up, we were all keen to cool off our feet in the chilly waters below.

The 3.5km return journey to Guthega saw Katy and Ella join the running group while Susie and I were happy to walk back with Sandra and Dave powering ahead. Once back at the lodge we were all more than happy to lounge around and relax the afternoon away. Sunset treated us to another spectacular displays of colour and interesting cloud formations.

Merry Christmas!

Our day started with an early morning Christmas run for those keen. After yesterday's mountain climbing adventure we chose the flatter waterfall loop for our run. 

While we were out, Ella loved creating the table setting for Christmas lunch including placing Josh's plate on the floor near the door??

Post showers and Christmas lunch prep it was time for presents!

Christmas lunch was delicious and filling and as usual the rest of the afternoon was spent lazing around - napping, reading, checking out new presents and a little trip to Farm Creek. We were treated to a beautiful sunset with many stunning colours - a perfect finish to Christmas Day!

High Country Christmas

Once again we headed to the mountains for Christmas along with 3/4 of the Hogg Family members - Cathy and her family were absent after deciding to spent Christmas in Tassie. 

Finding a dog sitter turned into a drama this year. The student who was very keen to have Indi pulled out 48 hours before our departure date. At first we thought it was ok thinking we had several other options, however these all fell through one by one. A last minute plea to our neighbours was successful - not only were they home for Christmas but their 17yr old daughter was more than happy to come and have sleepovers with Indi!

Due to this stress, Andy and I postponed our departure time by a day. We originally were going to leave after I finished work on the 23rd Dec. Instead we sent the girls up with the grandparents on the morning of the 23rd and we joined the family at midday on Christmas Eve. This arrangement had many advantages - allowing more time to have a transition between crazy work with too many patients, enjoy a relaxing dinner at the local pizza place and get organised with food, presents and stuff!

The drive up was quiet and we arrived at Guthega around lunchtime. The girls were happy to see us! Post lunch, we decided to go for a short walk up the Paralyser taking advantage of the glorious sunshine.

Starting along the trail to Illawong, we crossed Farm Creek and climbed up the other side. Here our route left the trail to follow the ridgeline up to the trig point. Today we were minus Ella, who was not at all interested in a walk plus she was currently fending off a cold. Instead we were joined by Susie, Patrick and Mia (Josh also deciding to hang out at the lodge too.)

As we began the walk we reminisced about our attempt to summit the Paralyser back in December 2015 (see blog post here). My memories were of the girls tackling chest high heath and then melting down halfway up! Anyway we weaved our way through the scrub, the heath seemed manageable or maybe it was that Katy was bigger?

                                     Back in 2015                                                              2021

 

Ambling along making good progress we came to a steep, thick rocky outcrop. Katy in her shorts (! yes were did have some long pants in the bag but they were too hot apparently) found this section tough and it was!

Andy convinced us the trig was only 10 minutes away just over the crest. Katy persevered. The trig was not over the crest but Andy convinced us it was just over the next crest and it wasn't long to go! Katy kept going. Eventually the scrub opened up into a grassy meadow and there we could see the trig in the distance. Spirits were lifted and we were soon clambering on the rocks at the trig point soaking up the 360° views.

Our 'short' afternoon stroll was 7.5km long with 450m climb and took us around 3 hours to complete. All in all though a lovely walk and well worth the effort! There was no relaxing once we got back to the lodge as it was our turn to cook dinner for the gang of 10. The butter chicken, vege dhal, rice and flat breads was gobbled up by the hungry adventures and the Finnish Christmas Stars made by Katy were a great choice for a delicious dessert.