Snow, snow, snow!

Monday morning dawned with the wind rattling the windows and snow falling. Talk at the breakfast table revolved around the prospects of our private lesson taking place or not. With the majority of lifts on wind hold, it was lucky that we had arranged for our lesson to start at the Burning Log, the cafe at Guthega.

Arriving early we did a few runs on Blue Calf. 9am ticked by with no sign of our instructor. We patiently waited and eventually retreated to the warmth inside the cafe. Eventually Tom, our instructor,  arrived a little late due to the unfavourable conditions!

Off the six of us went - Ella, Katy, Mia, Susie, Andy and myself, all ready to improve our skiing technique! Down the slopes we went with our every move scrutinised. The snow was deep and for those on the lower end of the skiing ability, like myself, it was difficult to ski! Nevertheless it was soft to fall in!!




Despite booking a 2 hour lesson, the little girls began to struggle keeping warm and after an hour, I headed back to the lodge with them. Andy and Susie continued for the remainder of the lesson.

The snow continued to fall and the wind didn't ease. Andy was the only hardcore skier who braved the conditions for the afternoon. Susie and Patrick tried out the snowshoes while the kids opted to build tracks and jumps for the toboggans down the steepest hill outside the lodge!!

The wind blown icicles hanging on the next-door lodge were impressive and continued to grow over the subsequent days. We also discovered trendy new icicle hair styles!! Fun times!

Annual Snow Trip

The snow nicely fell for a few days leading up to our arrival at Guthega. Leaving home under blue skies early on Sunday morning, as we inched our way closer to Jindabyne the Snowy Mountains were hidden beneath the clouds. Although this meant more snow, we were both quietly concerned about the road conditions. A brief stop in Jindabyne allowed us to purchase a few last minute groceries, enjoy lunch and meet up with Susie, Patrick and family and Nana and Grandpa with whom we'd travel in convey for the final part of the drive.

Earlier in the day, we'd checked the weather conditions at Perisher and it was advised to attached snow chains on at Sawpit Creek about 27km from Guthega. By the time we had arrived several hours later, those recommendations had changed in lieu of the improving conditions. The road into Kosciusko National Park was fine. There was no snow on the road and only a little on the edge.

The Guthega Road seemed good too but we had resorted ourselves to fitting chains on our 2WD car at Guthega power station where the sealed road changes to gravel and this last 8km involves a small climb. We wanted to be proactive and safe so on went the chains. On our approach to the lodge, the snow began to lightly fall, just in time to haul all our gear 800m uphill to the lodge... but no one was really complaining!

Science Fair - Popping Balloons

A note came home from school about a Science Fair which instantly grabbed Ella's attention! Essentially, the project was self driven where students were encouraged to design, undertake a science experiment and present the results.

Before we knew it Ella had designed her experiment about Popping Balloons!! We discussed various aspects of her experiment with her then let her get on with it. She had loads of fun popping the balloons and recording the results as she went.

The experiment was left for a few weeks, before a concerted effort was made in the formal writing up and presentation. Thankfully our impending ski trip meant this was done quiet quickly.

Along with other science fair participants, Ella presented her Popping Balloons at the school Science Fair night. A total of 60+ experiments were proudly on display in the school hall. The range of topics and obvious amount of time and effort spent by these students was impressive!

Cycling the Centenary - Part 2

Home to Issac Ridge - 50km 3hr46min

The final leg of our Centenary Challenge (see here).  Beginning at my house, it wasn't long before we joined up with the trail at the Arboretum. Exiting south from Arboretum we crossed the Molonglo River and subsequently lost the trail as we headed into Coombs. A little backtracking followed by some rough riding and we were on the bike path travelling towards Stromlo between Duffy and Wright. Opting out of the small detour into Stromlo, we rode up Eucumbene Drive to Cooleman Ridge.

The Ridge was a little more exposed but offered wonderful views of the Brindabella Range, Tidbinbilla as well as north over Weston Creek towards Black Mountain, Lake BG and the city centre. We skirted around Mt Arawang before a fast descent along Kambah Pool Road to the Murrumbidgee River with the rugged Bullen range behind.

Turning left at Kambah Pool, we enter the a 7km section aptly named Red Rock Gorge. We reach the viewpoint of the impressive steep Red Rocks much quicker than expected. Having ridden this section several years ago, I was expecting to lift our bikes over numerous gates. However we were extremely surprise to find lots of new gates which were all open! The trail was great but had many steep pinches with loads of steeper water bars, some of which got the better of us.

Civilisation came into view and we weaved our way through the Tuggeranong town centre. It was smooth fast bike path as we made our way between the suburbs of Monash, Gowrie, Chisholm and MacArthur. Eventually Wanniassa Hills Nature Reserve came into view for which we were both grateful for! Only a few km to go to our finish point at Issac Ridge but that last hill was a killer though!

To celebrate our achievement, we made our way to Fox and Bow in Farrer, the best suburban coffee shop in Canberra (according to Andy) where we were joined by both families and enjoyed a well deserved brunch!

Pink Sock Day

The Belsouth Soccer Club joined in on Pink Sport Day, an initiative to raise awareness and support those families affected by Breast cancer. Both of the girls teams purchased and played in pink socks! Katy chose to embrace the pink hairspray too!

Chilly Conditions

Winter this year has been dry and cold! There have been no cancellations of soccer so far due to wet weather. This dry weather comes with minimum overnight temperatures dropping below zero but the days have been beautiful clear and crisp.

The chilly overnight temperatures lead to the usual things...... ice on the windscreen of the car if you accidentally leave it out; clothes frozen to the washing line and any water tends to freeze over ( the chickens didn't appreciate that!)





We did forget about our automatic reticulation though which has been set to water at 6am. No wonder the tree ferns weren't enjoying life, when the water frozen on their fronds!!

Poor Pippa

A gunky eye, made us aware that Pippa had a growth on the inside of her upper eyelid. A quick visit to the vet revealed that an operation was required and day surgery was booked for later in the week.

All went well with the small operation to remove the lesion. The lesion was thought to be a meibomian adenocarcinoma, a cancerous growth in the gland of the eyelid seen in older dogs.

Despite looking a little like a panda, thanks to a shaved eye, Pippa recovered very well from her ordeal.

Close Call

With the kids asleep, we were watching tv when Andy went to stoke the fire. Unbeknownst to him as he opened the door, the pin in the top hinge popped out and the door was suddenly at an awkward angle!  I gave a yelp of panic to alert him of the imminent danger. With a glove on one hand, he stood still while I scrambled to get a few oven mits so that we could handle the hot door and rectify the situation!













The pin had unfortunately slotted back into the hole on the stove side preventing the door to close. However we managed to pop it out, angle the door back and secure it shut thanks to the three locks associated with the handle. Obviously we didn't put any wood on and let the fire burn down knowing we had a job to do in the morning.













Our thoughts of a quick fix in the morning were hampered by the fact that as the fire died down overnight the door cooled into a slightly different position to normal and initially we were unable to unlock the handle! With a little perseverance, we opened the door and reinserted the pin. Over the next few days, we kept a close eye on the movement of the pin. It soon became obvious that this was a serious design flaw and a call to the manufacturer was made.


Turns out they were aware of this issue and the solution was a simple one! Two new pins were delivered. These 'special' pins have a groove at the base into which a flange is clipped. As you can see, the pin still makes its way up but can't pop out. A great reassurance to us.  Apart for this minor crisis, we absolutely love our stove and the fire briquettes have burnt beautifully too!

Hiking Gibraltar Peak

We headed out on our last Sunday of the school holidays with Cath, Aoife and Lily to explore the trails at Tidbinbilla. Specifically we had chosen the 8.2km return walk up Gibraltar Peak. The weather was perfect for such a hike, brilliant blue skies and not too cold.

The kangaroos were out and about as we set off from Dalsetta carpark across the open grassy area to the base of the hills. Zig zagging up the hill, there weren't too many complaints as we began to peel off our layers. A quick fuel stop at a perfectly positioned bench with wonderful views of the Brindabellas. We'd stopped at this spot before, during the Spring rogaine with Grandad last year.

Through Eliza's saddle, the trail turned southwards. From here we would catch glimpses of the huge granite boulders at the top. The trail was narrowing, becoming more rocky underfoot and was the gradient slowly increasing. A viewing platform was scarcely looked at by the girls as they focussed on getting to the top! The last little pinch was lovely as we weaved amongst massive granite tors emerging at the top on Gibraltar Peak. Perched on the smooth slab of granite we enjoyed morning tea with magnificent views of the Brindabella ranges and north to Canberra including Black Mountain tower and Captain Cook Fountain!

From here Andy changed into running gear and departed on his own adventure. We were left to explore this wonderful spot, hoping not to loose anyone over the edge! The girls quickly turned their  attention to locating a nearby geocache. Cath and I eventually followed clambering amongst the granite and fallen timber to find the girls who were struggling to find the cache. No it wasn't in the crack at the based of Gibraltar Peak Ella! Eventually after reading and rereading the description and hints, the geocache was located tucked away behind a triangular rock. Luckily a trackable was inside, which Aoife claimed wanting to help it on it's journey!

Despite having no energy, the girls almost sprinted down the hill chasing Mr Bally... a tennis ball Ella had carried on the walk. The return journey took us back to Dalsetta via the  Gibraltar fire trail. Our plan was to meet Andy at the adventure playground for lunch.  Worried that we'd spent too much time looking for the cache at the top, we found Andy as we pulled up who had completed his first lap of the area. I would say perfect timing really! While the girls played we cooked snags for lunch.

Our post lunch activities involved driving to the Sanctuary in an attempt to spot a platypus or two. We arrived for the guided talk and learnt about platypus. Unfortunately the platypus were not coming out to play so we left disappointed that we hadn't seen any. Just as we were wondering off, there was a shout...one had been spotted! Quickly back to the dam we scanned the water for the tell tail bubble and ripple signs. Not convinced that we saw any though.  As we wandered around the Sanctuary, the sun was beginning to disappear behind the treetops and the temperature was dropping...it was definitely time to head home. A great day out!