Bouldering with Friends

Joined by with Alia and Aoife, we visited for the first time the Blochaus, a relatively new indoor bouldering centre in Canberra. The girls has heaps of fun expending lots of energy!

Mostly on blue rock holds, the girls explored and climbed many different routes on a variety of walls. When they got bored or tired of those, they headed on over to a kids cubby house area that included a fort with tunnels, rope swings, monkey bars and another mini rock wall.

There was also the tightrope which was very difficult and so I spent many minutes walking back and forth providing support to whoever needed it! A great afternoon out and I imagine we will be back.

Public Holiday Happenings

Andy snuck off with fellow skier Paul for a first and last of the season cross country ski. It turned out to be a warm day on the main range. Arriving at Guthega by 9am, they began their adventure in t-shirts by climbing Guthega Trig. Dropping well below Consett Stevens Pass, the boys crossed Guthega River before climbing up Mt Tate. Descending down Tate East Ridge they were VERY lucky to find an ice bridge, possibly the only one, over Pound Creek. After crossing the suspension bridge across the Snowy River, Andy bumped into friends who happened to be staying at Illawong. From here, it was a long traverse through the snow gums back to car at Guthega. By all accounts an excellent day out.

Meanwhile back at home, I dropped off Katy at her friends house where they braved a dip in the backyard pool. It must have been only 25°C! She enjoy having a sleepover too.

So that left Ella and I to entertain ourselves. At Ella's request we resumed painting the chicken playground, fence and coop....

Construction Progress

Work continued.... Ella, Katy and their assistant (me) painted the structural posts. Andy recycled and adjusted the old fence to use on the front. To continue the fox proofing, we placed a pine log under the bottom of the fence and wrapped wire around extending it forwards 30 cm (as per fox proofing guidelines.) The area around the lime tree was landscaped as well.

Ella was busy on the inside too making the chickens an adventure world! It consists of a swing and a series of varying height posts on which they can perch!

Circus Tricks

The first week of the school holidays saw the girls attend a circus holiday program. Organised by the Circus Warehouse out of Kaleen High School, the 4 day program ran each day from 9-3. We were slightly nervous signing the girls up as there was no option but to enrol in all four days to an unknown program. Our anxiety was instantly dismissed at pick up on the first day when they both exclaimed to absolutely love it. Did I mention that cousin Mia was also there. Anyway each day we listened to the tales of trying different activities. 

On Friday afternoon, I arrived in time to watch the 'show.' The small group of 6 each performed a series of moves on either the trapeze or on the silks. Katy and Ella both chose the trapeze, while Mia was on the silks.

The next part of the show involved the group completing a few adagio moves.

The final segment of the show was interactive with the audience! The kids were encouraged to teach the adults some of the skills they had learnt. Thankfully we were not allowed to go on the trapeze or silks. Ella was off improving her unicycle skills. Katy took me through poi (spinning balls in socks), diabolo, hula hoops, devils sticks all while Ella continued on the unicycle. She was impressed with  her record of riding the unicycle continuously for six circuits of the hall! Lots of fun and I'm sure the girls will go again in the future.

Katy's Secret Project

For sometime I've been toying with ideas about sprucing up the timber fence directly outside Katy's bedroom while providing some privacy from next-door without blocking the afternoon direct sunshine. It's a difficult spot - shady and narrow. Exactly a year ago I planted a Wolf's Lilac after having the same thoughts. We were going to make dragonflies out of recycled material however their wings proved to be too tricky to make. With our recent outside adventures constructing the coop, I inspired Katy with a new idea which she liked.  With a little help, her first house is coming along...

Under Construction

We have sufficiently recovered from the loss of our chickens, to discuss and begin the construction of the new 'fox proof' coop. We thought we'd have Grandad over as project manager but he wasn't able to get a flight for the dates required and so we set about the task ourselves.

First job though was to deconstruct the old pen which Andy and the girls did one Wednesday afternoon. The original coop version 1 and 2, were constructed purely out of recycled material we had lying around. Most of the posts Andy discovered were rotten and required very little force to remove (they snapped off at the base!) All the while Andy was mentally redesigning.

Along I come and so does a long weekend - woo hoo! More work was required clearing the site including removing lots of rich soil to drop the level back to the top of the bricks. During this time the girls floated in and out randomly helping then loosing interest and as we know all work no play isn't that fun so off down to Oink we rolled for a coffee break and more discussions regarding the new design.


Eventually we agree on the new coop design including size and materials. After measuring lengths, widths and heights we head over to Bunnings where further discussions occur before finally purchasing the necessary timber and bits 'n' pieces.

Progress occurs slowly with checking and rechecking of lengths before cutting timber to size, concreting and screwing it in place. We're happy with the results so far. Next weekend will involve another trip to Bunnings to allow for the stage 2 of the construction.