Cave Creek Trek

Blue Waterholes is located in the heart of the karst country of Cooleman Plains. Limestone has eroded and dissolved over millions of years to form the caves, sinkholes, underground rivers and gorges in this area. The largest karst spring in Australia, the water is tinted blue green as a result of the minerals dissolved from the limestone. The crystal clear water emerges from its subterranean world before flowing down Cave Creek. Although in today's overcast conditions, the water wasn't looking anywhere as near as colourful as we'd seen it before.

Our first adventure was  the Clarke Gorge 5km hike. Descending the hill from the carpark to Cave Creek we quickly came to a halt as the track crossed the creek. As it was only the beginning of the walk and assessing the lack of big rocks for a rock hopping option, we all decided to remove our shoes in an attempt to keep them dry. 

A short distance later, we were treated to an impressive limestone cliff, a glimpse of what was to come. We continued on chatting while we followed the little track. Dandelions were picked and wishes made - another first experience for Luwei!

Around another corner,  Clarke Gorge came into view. The photos definitely don't do this place justice. The steep limestone cliffs were very imposing.  We could see that the track headed across the creek before crossing back again so we decided to avoid this crossing, keeping on the right of the creek and climbed a little higher before carefully traversing a short section of cliff face.

After the gorge, Ella and Josue got bored walking the normal track and decided to rock hop down the river. We left them to it and after a few more shoes off creek crossings we arrived at the top of the falls! It was a scramble down the other side to the base of Cave Creek Falls where we enjoyed a relaxing picnic lunch.

Post lunch exploration saw Josue bravely take a quick dip and several reptiles - water dragons and skinks, were spotted sunning themselves.

The return journey was slightly quicker with numerous people succumbing to wet feet thus saving time not having to take off and put on shoes! Definitely worth remembering for the next time we are here is to bring old shoes. Not only will it be quicker but I think our feet will be much happier.

CFP Retreat - Blue Waterholes

The annual CFP (Climate and Fluid Physics) retreat, formerly known as the GFD (Geophysical Fluid Dynamics) retreat saw us venture into Kosciuszko National Park - destination the camp ground at Blue Waterholes. Leaving Canberra around 4pm on Friday afternoon, we were joined by Luwei, a PhD student from Hobart who is being co-supervised by Andy. Luwei happened to be in Canberra for a workshop and on hearing about the weekend she extended her stay to join the group and experience her first ever camping trip!!

Despite being only 80km southwest of Canberra as the crow flies, the drive to Blue Waterholes is much longer. We opted for the sealed longer (190km) route while Adele and Morgan's car headed for the significantly shorter (100km) back country roads. Although long, the drive was easy although we were a little concerned after passing Adaminaby, the rain poured down. Thankfully the front was heading away from our camping spot.

As the girls boredom was coming to a breaking point, a small group of brumbies huddled on the side of the highway provided some much needed distraction. We paused to take a few photos! A short distance later, we turned off the smooth bitumen road on to Long Plain Road for the bumpy 30km final segment. By now it was just after 7pm and we were all keen to be there already!






We discovered Kial and Kelsey who were mostly sorted with their tent up with a roaring fire at Cooleman Mountain Campground about 5km short of our destination. Turns out that the Bluewater holes campground, both the upper and lower areas, were already full! As we too began to organise our stuff and put dinner on, Adele and co rolled up. They had encountered a few locked gates in their 100km shorter trip!

Disappointing Discoveries

I was looking forward to harvesting the broad beans and eager to try out new recipes. Rather than bountiful beans, I discovered this....those pesky possums have been at it again. Last year they didn't touch the beans but this year it seems they had a feast.

With few left, I harvested all remaining beans despite their size. The result was enough beans for a bacon and broad bean risotto.

Looking around the patch, it seems that broad beans weren't the only favourite of the possums. A few of the nectarines were damaged with teeth marks. I quickly netted the tree hoping to deter any future possums attacks and preserve the rest of the crop.

The broccolini seemed to go to seed quickly but I did pick a few stalks. The cauliflower has formed a head and I'll be watching it closely hoping to pick it before it goes to seed too.

Despite these small set backs we did collect a descent amount of vegies from the garden.

As for the rest of the garden, the blooms of the snow gum and the lilac look beautiful and the strawberries out the front look like they are in for a bumper crop.

Score Finishes

Spring Score has wrapped up. The girls really enjoyed this friendly fun orienteering relay competition. Neither the early morning starts nor the commuting through Canberra's morning traffic won't be missed though.







Ella's team, Aranda Antelopes, came 14th while Katy's team, Aranda Bandicoots, were 20th out of 35 teams. A year 5/6 Aranda team took out the top prize!

Exploring the World!

The chickens were old enough for a visit to school! They were excited but mostly scared to meet all the kids in Ella's and Katy's class. The reactions of the kids varied and most got to hold a chick or two!

They also got their first visit outside. Despite being in a small wire enclosure, a currawong inflicted a small flesh wound on Clover. Not fatal but enough to scare everyone to be a little more vigilant.

Continuing with Cricket

Cricket has continued to consume our Wednesday and Friday evenings!

The training held on Wednesday is mostly handled by Andy who works from home. However I have attended on several occasions due to Andy being absent. On these days, I managed to drag Katy out for a 'run' along the parklands but mostly following the drain! I say 'run' but it barely qualifies really as it's neither fast nor continuous although we have managed to do a negative split on the return journey. On the second occasion, we convinced the sister of Ella's team mate to come along with us. During this 'run' the girls jumped across the water numerous times before investigating in the algae! Ah what fun!

Friday nights are long but we are getting a little more into a routine. Usually we leave the house by 4.15, pick up fresh turkish bread and hommus before continuing on our way to the designated venue for that week.

Last week it was a huge trek into country NSW to ...... Googong! But the trek was so worth it! The girls played on an immaculate pitch, we were blessed with beautiful views of the Queanbeyan Escarpment and Katy was in heaven with an awesome playground!

The only drawback was post match when at the local takeaway in Karabar we encountered an aggressive, grumpy local who was using lots of colourful language to abuse the owner who hadn't got his order correct. Of course he left empty handed...

Despite not yet winning a game, the matches have been really close. The girls skills and techniques have improved out of sight. They have a few VERY exciting opportunities coming up :)

Here is a few action plays by Ella including taking a wicket!

HB Andy

A weekday birthday is quite tricky to manage with life's demands however we did pull together a nice  one for Andy. Our gifts to him were difficult to purchase and instead he received homemade vouchers for clothing and a pair of all mountain terrain skis. When I was discussing the options with the girls and the idea of homemade vouchers came up, Katy expressed her concerned that the shops wouldn't accept their homemade vouchers!!!


We served Andy his favourite meal - Beef Wellington and had a birthday cake which was exquisitely decorated by Katy who after doing the A realised she was writing backwards! I told her not to worry and that that made it extra special!