Scott's Head

Escaping Canberra's winter for a week of the school holidays was a great choice! Scott's Head in on the north coast, about 7.5hr drove from Canberra. It was a tight squeeze in the car as we had extras - Ryan and Indi!

Our holiday house was perched on the top of a cliff with wonderful ocean views! Sunrises and sunsets were beautiful! It was a real relaxing holiday - swimming / surfing, playing games including chess, going on walks, reading and generally lazing around. 

The surf beach was about a 10 min walk so we ended up driving down each day. The water was cold so wetsuits were used when it was longer than a dip. ! Waves were great although the swell died down in the second half of the week while we were there. When the sun was out it was a glorious and warm even though the temperature was only 20C.

Indi enjoyed walking along the beach and having a swim in the local rock pool! And after 14 hours in the car finally got comfortable with sleeping in the boot with an hour left of the trip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aths Business

 Ella's Little Aths business is going so well that she has employed Katy on a casual basis to help coach!

Snoozing

 Indi is very cute when she has a post walk snooze in the car!

 

Missing Out

Recently both girls missed out on teams they were hoping to make. 

Ella missed out on the JWOC team. She is determined to try again next year. 

We did enjoy the live tracking of the JWOC team as they competed in the various events. Then last week we also got to watch a few friends compete at EYOC!

Katy had a tight tussle with her bestie Mira for the last spot in the ACT ASOC team and missed out. She finds competing very stressful and is going to have a break from orienteering.

Cock-a-doodle-do #3

Unbelievable...8 months are having the chickens, another begins crowing! Disappointingly it was the Araucana, Beyonce. Again, he found a new home very quickly.

A Freezing KBIII

Another long weekend of orienteering with the KBIII. Dropped off Indi who was going to spend the weekend with Mokoko and Bekele. Two days were at Kahli's Rocks located between Blayney and Bathurst, with the final sprint race in Bathurst itself.

The weather was freezing! Organisers had made running in a thermal top and rain jacket mandatory in the days leading up to the weekend! We packed all our warm gear and hoped the for best!

Top daytime temperatures were around 5°C. Rain threatened during the first day but held off for the actual race. It rained heavily that afternoon and into the night raising major concerns about access. The morning dawned cloudy, grey and at one point snowing but access was granted!! Day 2 was on!

It was so cold in the arena that I had to retreat to the car to wait for my family members to return. We spent the afternoon trying to warm up in the cabin.

The weather didn't improve much for the sprint and we left as soon as our last family member had finished! A weekend to remember, not for the orienteering but for the weather!

  

Birthday and running for Katy

Katy has been busy with the Saturday series beginning and Interschool Northside Cross Country where she ran well finishing 4th behind her school friend Lily. 

 

Katy also celebrated her 15th birthday hosting a craft afternoon followed by pizza down at the local pub.

Ella also had decided to continue her 18th celebrations by inviting a handful of friend over for pot luck dinner and drinks on the deck!

 

Andy did well to manage both parties while I was down in Melbourne enjoying au ultrasound conference and squeezing in a visit to the theatre to see Hadestown with a work colleague (whose daughter was helping Ella celebrate!)

Cock-a-doodle-do #2

Not long after rehoming Soup, another chick decided to start crowing. This time it was the grey Australorp, Penny. Thankfully we found him a new home too before the neighbours could complain!

Indi and Mokoko

Indi was really unsure about Mokoko. You could see her thinking who is this unpredictable yappy fluff ball and what does he want me to do? At least I'm safe on the couch...for the moment!

We left Indi at Cathy's for the weekend while we drove to the Central Coast for another set of orienteering races and the NOL dinner. We had Gemma staying with us and Andy also joined us as he returned from his overseas work trip.

The weekend was wet and muddy but fun! Our accomodation was...interesting...with a big frosted glass bathroom taking up one side of the girls bedroom! Not ideal but hey what can you do?

Little Aths Wrap Up

I think that this might be the end of the road for Katy competing in Little Athletics. I believe she will be more interested in coaching (and earning money) of the Under 6's group! Ella took the opportunity at the presentation afternoon to launch her coaching business - offering to coaching children on Wednesday and/or Fridays. Fingers crossed she gets some business!

Time for the Fire

As the leaves begin their beautiful journey of changing colour as the temperature drops, it means the first fire of winter is close by.

Meeting Mokoko

We were all very excited to meet the newest furry member of the Hogg clan - Mokoko! He is so cute and Bekele is very patient.