Monday, October 31, 2016

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!


Sunday, October 30, 2016

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.


Wednesday, October 26, 2016

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.



Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Floriade

Since visiting Floriade for the first time in 2008 with 18month old Ella, I haven't missed a year except this year. My excuse...work/school but mainly the weather. Actually it was the first time in the 29 year history of Floriade that it was closed for two days due to....the weather.

Luckily for the girls, they got to go with Nana and when the sun was mostly shining! All the normal activities were ticked off the list - the reptile people were there, a gnome was painted, picnic lunch complete with ice cream plus a ride on the ferris wheel. Life in bloom was the theme although according to the girls the flowers weren't as good as previous years. Perhaps it wasn't too bad to have missed out??








  The new gnome making friends in our garden...perhaps not sporting that bloodied lip??

More School Holiday Moments

I feel like an old record but this weather is driving me crazy. One minute it look like the warm weather has come only for the next day to return to rain and cold conditions.

More indoor time has meant Ella's homemade damper for lunch and Katy's raspberry ice creams for dessert!













One afternoon we had a quite short intense storm with hail and strong winds which bought down many trees and power lines. Thankfully we were lucky to escape both of these scenarios. However as the evening wore on we learnt that the storm left a trail of destruction including the decimation of a large group of trees at Aranda Oval opposite the school.

Andy took the girls for a bike ride around Lake Ginnindera the next morning. The highlight of the ride was definitely seeing this family of swans. On the way home they checked out the damaged trees. It was pretty impressive - many trees uprooted, lying in the same direction. According to local sources (Jase and BA) who live across the road, it wasn't long before people were turning up with trailers and chainsaws taking advantage of the free wood!




More bike riding on the weekend saw us complete a one way ride to the Kingston Markets. It was a ride of three stages - down the hill; up and down along the edge of the lake and then finishing with a game of dodgems with the many pedestrians visiting Florida and walking central basin! Lunch was enjoyed by all at the Kingston Markets.