Another Grandad Installment

Grandad arrived a week later than expected, so unfortunately missed the tail end of the school holidays. Nevertheless it was the usual 24/7 action station here when Grandad arrives. Katy was pumped to have Grandad staying in her room. She loves waking up before the sun, climbing into Grandad's bed for a snuggle and chat. Some morning they count the possums on the fence before they both drift off again for a second sleep! Reading is also a favourite pastime too!

It was school routine as normal although the girls skipped afters on Thursday afternoon opting to spend an afternoon with Grandad which almost always includes an ice cream!

Little Aths season began and Grandad watched the girls complete their various events. We had a minor panic as we discovered Katy had put her last season aths top on! A quick ride home while they were doing the warm up fixed that small problem!! Here are some action shots taken by the club photographer who does a great job each week snapping the athletes in action!

 

Saturday night the girls had invited all the grandies for a dinner and movie night. The girls recently purchased Alice Through the Looking Glass and were eager to watch it. The movie was great although it didn't follow much of the original storyline.









The following week the early mornings were taking a toll on everyone. Grandad fell ill with a tummy bug on Tuesday. Thankfully it was only a 24hour thing and he was back to normal by Wednesday.

We visited the library to stock up on books. With an unlimited borrowing rights, a month's return date and a love of reading, the girls tend to choose lots of books. They of course love scanning their own books. After the library on Friday afternoon we made a last minute dash to check out Weber barbecues. Our trusty 4 burner barbecue, has seen better days, especially the hot plate which was loosing it's coating.

And 40 minutes later, we walked out of the shop with a Family Weber Q! Thanks to Grandad and Nana for the birthday/christmas present :) Back home and the boys went straight to work building it. Goodbye old barbecue, you've had a good innings.

Unfortunately Grandad flew out the next afternoon and was unable to sample Andy's roast chicken birthday dinner which not only looked awesome but tasted divine. No matter I'm sure there will be plenty more opportunities in the new year.

Happy Birthday Andy!

It wasn't the greatest start to the morning for Andy on his birthday as the girls decided to have a large argument over who knows what! Luckily they sorted themselves out by the time he returned from a short run.

So we started the morning again...Ella cooking eggs and bacon. Meanwhile Katy (with a little help from Ella) had made a treasure hunt for Andy to find his birthday present. His first clue just happened to be located under his plate. From there the route took Andy all over the inside and outside of the house.

Finally he located his present in the garage - a new water jerry can for camping!

The final surprise was to do with the girls newest extra curricular activity - piano lessons. We've been wanting them to play a musical instrument. The lessons offered at school (in the afternoons) were too hard to get into. So thanks to a patient recommendation, we enquired at Canberra Music Tuition, had a trial lesson and began this term.

Anyhow, Ella secretly taught herself how to play Happy Birthday...just for Andy!

A celebration dinner, a roast chicken cooked in our new Weber, with Andy's mum completed the day.

Flying Visitors

Recently we've had a few new visitors to our garden. It was a first ever sighting go the pair of Gang gangs.

As for the King Parrots, they visited before school one morning and were so friendly that Ella was almost hand feeding them! Definitely made the morning routine a happy one!

Recently I read somewhere that it was National Bird Week and that Birdlife Australia was holding the Aussie Backyard Bird Count.

From 17th - 23rd October, people were encouraged to count the species and number of birds over a 20min period. The survey aims to find out about the common species that live where people live. It also provides a snapshot of Australian birds at the same time each year thus allowing trends to be identified.

Ella was keen to participate however I only found out about it on the 22nd! Despite this she managed 2 x 20min counts - one in the backyard and one while having coffee at Little Oink! Will have to mark it on the calendar for next year.

Returning Home

Sunday morning was fairly relaxed. We had breakfast, played more frisbee golf with a seriously broken frisbee and packed up.

As it was the last day of the school holidays we didn't want to arrive home super late, so by leaving Bungonia mid morning allowed us a coffee stop at Grandma's Bakery halfway home. We also detoured via the Kluth household to meet their new additions - Leona, Twinkletoes and Sparkle! Very cute!

The Green Track

Our adventure for the day was to amble our way around the easy/moderate Green Track 'scenic walk'- a 6.7km trek that ventured along the edge of the escarpment with many opportunities to view the Bungonia Creek Gorge from above before looping back through the forest.

We packed lunch as well as plenty of snacks. The weather looked good - dry and cool as we began our journey. The small undulating single track was rough underfoot and it wasn't long before we made our first stop to play on a rocky outcrop.

Leaving our first and only selfie spot, our first glimpse of the gorge quickly came into view. Following the green trail markers we continued on to Jerrara Lookout giving great views of Paddy's Castle and a small waterfall.

Next Adam's Lookout, the platform which provides fantastic views of the steep limestone cliffs of Bungonia Slot Canyon. A truly impressive sight. At the lookout we vowed that we would return to complete the Red Track - a 3.8km walk through the Slot Canyon that comes with an estimated walking time of 5 hours. Might need to wait for the girls to be a bit bigger for that one!

Onwards we trudged with the incentive of visiting Mass Cave which wasn't too far away.....although we didn't know exactly how far that was. The girls we getting tired and hungry by this point. Thankfully a few songs and a game of In my awesome zoo... got us by and we soon stumbled across the sign showing the detour to the cave. Clambering along the small track we arrived at the grate door of Mass Cave.

The path into the cave was steep and slippery. Holding tightly on to the chain rope we descended. At the bottom we emerged into a small cavern a popular place in the 1950's for church services and weddings! Despite the sun filtering through several cracks above, the girls weren't really happy about being underground. As a result, we were in and out very quickly!

Continuing on we took the first picnic table we saw at the David Reid carpark. A short lunch break was essential if we were to complete this loop. Post lunch, another detour to another lookout via the Molly O'Neill nature trail. This 250m trail is named after the amateur botanist who passionately dedicated herself to exploring and researching this area. The numerous information boards kept everyone entertained for this short trek to Lookdown Lookout.

The Lookdown Lookout is a narrow walkway jutting out from the edge of the plateau high above the Bungonia Gorge. Can't say that I really enjoyed looking through the floor grating to the long drop below. The girls thought this was hilarious making me go out for a second look!! To the left, the other end of the Slot Canyon was just visible. To our right were superb views over Bungonia Reserve to the Ettrema Wilderness area in Morton National Park.

From here our route took us away from the gorge and into the dry eucalypt forest in search of koalas. Unfortunately none were to be seen although we did venture off track for the last time to explore Grill Cave. At the mouth of this cave Ella managed to brush her hand on a stinging nettle bush. Needless to say she wasn't very happy. Inside Grill Cave, it was dark as there were no cracks in the roof to let sunlight sneak in. Despite this the girls were much more willing to explore deeper.  We resorted to using the light on my phone to explore this cave descending one at a time down a ladder. It was slow going making our way around in the dark amongst the slippery rocks. At the top of the second ladder trying to peer down we realised the phone battery was rather low. Not wanting to be stranded without any light source we to turn around and head back out.

It was a short hike back to the campground from Grill Cave. By my garmin the round trip was 9.5km and had taken us just under 5 hours! With not much of the afternoon left, we relaxed, Andy introduced the girls to frisbee golf before showering and cooking dinner.

Finally Escaped!!

The last weekend of the school holidays with fine weather forecasted and dog sitters back in town we managed to escaped Canberra! It was a snap decision we made on Thursday night booking camping at Bungonia National Park for Friday and Saturday nights.

Why Bungonia? Neither of us had been there, looked like an awesome place with a spectacular gorge and it's only about 1.5 hours from Canberra (very important as Andy had a meeting at work finishing at 4pm on Friday afternoon).

Turns out that I wasn't needed at work on Friday which worked well as the girls and I organised and packed in the morning. We drove out along the Federal Highway towards Goulburn passing Lake George which actually looked like a lake - at least the rain is good for something!! Records show the last time it was full was in the 1990's.



We arrived at the campground in the light a bonus of daylight saving returning! The options of campsites were plentiful with only 2 other sites occupied. Ella and Andy scoured for the best spot and found our site at an area known as the Greater Keyhole! Post bbq dinner, the temperature dropped significantly and without a fire (prohibited in this campground) it was an early retreat to bed.