Autumn

Although it was a little strange celebrating Easter with leaves changing colors and without spring buds, we have really enjoyed the autumn festivals and cooler temperatures. We have even had to wear knitted jumpers (sweaters) a few days.

Beautiful colors on MP12 School grounds, waiting for big sis and bro to get out:

Cooler temperatures and rainfall mean that the fire restrictions have been lifted and farmers are burning off their waste piles and the land managers are scheduling prescribed burns. Eucalyptus trees contain a high amount of oils in their bark and burn easily and hot. To try to avoid large, devastating fires, land managers (government and private) burn off portions of land every year in controlled burns. These are kept low and “cool” to burn off the undergrowth – fuels that could help wildfires reach the overstory. The state forest to the north of us was under a controlled burn for about 4 days, creating a lot of smoke for us and impressive sunsets and sunrises. One night we were able to look out and see flames on the hillslope.

Controlled burn on the hillslope north of us:

Kangaroo silhouettes in the morning smoke and sunrise:

We have had to have our own fires as well. Our home is heated by a wood stove! Most homes in the area are. When night time temperatures started to dip into the 40s just after Easter we realized we needed heat. This means we (Eric mostly) have been busy loading, chopping, stacking, and moving wood.

Our friends, Al and Marg, have been kind to share wood with us and we won a raffle at the kids’ school for a trailer of wood! It is amazing how much we can go through in a week.

When we picked up the wood, Al took the older kids on a mushroom picking adventure as well.

Farm life could grow on us all:

Last weekend we went to the Giant Pumpkin Competition and Festival in nearby Murmungee. I entered a pumpkin pie but had a hard go of it – stores here do not sell tinned (canned) pumpkin so I pureed my own using the only pumpkin I could find: butternut squash and kent squash (green and orange and kind of pumpkin shaped). The judges liked the flavor but said it wasn’t orange enough. hehe.

Tuesday, April 25 was ANZAC day and the kids did not have school. This is a national holiday to remember those who have served in the military, similar to Memorial Day in the states. ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and is celebrated on the day that the ANZAC soldiers landed on Gallipoli in World War I. We went to a service held on the main street of town near the town’s cenotaph – a monument/empty tomb for soldiers whose bodies are buried elsewhere. The main street of town was closed to traffic and it was a very somber ceremony.  

Town out for ANZAC day services in the rain:

The Cenotaph with remembrance flowers:

Another part of ANZAC day is eating ANZAC biscuits (don't call them cookies). I’ve been asking around for a good recipe and tried out 2 already. This is our favourite so far but if you try it out, remember that 1 cup (metric) is NOT equal to 1 cup US – just use the weights instead of volume measurements.

http://www.foodtolove.com.au/recipes/anzac-biscuits-16607

Mount Kosciuzsko

A goal of ours whilst living in Australia was to hike to the top of Mount Kosciuzsko (pronounced “cause-ee-aus-ko”), the highest peak in Australia. It is only 2228 m (7,310 ft) at the summit but the base of the mountain is at 1365 m (4,478 ft) so it is a good distance up! We watched the weather and traveled from Canberra to Jindabyne, a small town near Kosciuzsko National Park, on Thursday with the hope of summiting the next day. Winds were supposed to pick up in the afternoon and so we asked the kids to prepare for an early start. As all epic mountain climbs start pre-dawn, ours began at 4:30am with the dulcet tones of a toddler yelling – she was ready to take on the mountain. We will be more careful what we ask the kids for in the future.

We loaded up Eric’s backpack: water, morning tea (snack), lunch, afternoon tea (another snack), bandaids, snake bite kit, jumpers (jackets), hats and gloves. I can’t believe we fit it all into one bag! Poor Eric had a heavy load. We did end up taking another small backpack for the kids to carry and transferred some of the hats and gloves to it. Then off to Thredbo, a ski resort in Mount Kosciuzsko National Park. As it was Good Friday, a federal holiday here, many people had the same idea. The resort was crowded already and our parking location easily added 2 km onto our daily walk total. We boarded the Kosciuszko Express chairlift for a 1.8 km ride up the first 560 m elevation gain of our journey. The weather was about 8 degrees C (46 F) at the top of the chairlift with some snow patches. Already, we were above the tree line and the views were spectacular. From here the trail was 6.5 km (4 miles) to the top along a walkway that was mesh in some places (especially over the boggy areas), metal steps in many places, flat rocks toward the end and covered in snow on the backside of the mountain. It was slow going for a while with the toddler excited to run around and the little boy wanting to start a snowball fight at every chance he could get. Just after we stopped for morning tea Maren fell asleep in the baby carrier and then we were able to make really good time. I’m very impressed with how well the older kids picked up the pace and marched up the last climb without a single complaint. We reached the summit around 11:30am. Although it was COLD and windy, there were quite a few people eating lunch and hanging around. We snapped a few pictures and then turned around to go back down – Maren was still sleeping, our runners (running shoes) were getting wet from the snow, and there were too many steep places for little boys to fall from. Maren ended up sleeping for more than 2 hours in the carrier and we made it down the mountain quickly– the 4:30am wakeup turned out to be a blessing. All in all I walked almost 28,000 steps that day! It was an incredible experience and when Eric and I talked about it afterwards, our favourite part of it was sharing it with our kids who really did a fantastic job. And now finally, some pictures:

At the top of the ski lift, ready to start the walk!

"Mum - I've got something for you!"

To the top of that cone shaped peak far off on the right is where we are headed (can you pick out the trail?):

Nearly there: the rock pathway up.

Success! And someone built a tiny snowman on the summit marker:

It was windy, cold, and bright at the top:

Maren still asleep, keep moving, no time for pictures!

The sleeping giant awoke and we had lunch at a trail junction:

Headed back down the ski lift with big smiles and awesome hat hair.

We spent the next day exploring Jindabyne, stretching our legs with a walk around town and then had an afternoon in a canoe on the lake. Or at least most of us did – Maren enjoyed the canoe for approximately 15 minutes and then she and I got dropped back at shore where we threw rocks into the water and took in the scenery. 

At night we joined the rest of the Easter break vacationers at a lighted sculpture show along the lake. There were some really neat entries that incorporated lights and smoke into the art pieces as well as some amazing metal sculptures of birds and bugs of the region. The kids got free beanies (knitted hats) and voted for their favourites for the “people’s choice” award.

We were too far from our church services on Easter Sunday so we celebrated at our cabin in Jindabyne and then took our time traveling home. I have become a huge fan of books on CD to keep the kids entertained – our favourite this trip was a book from the “How to Train your Dragon” series. The leaves were changing colour, the air was crisp, this really was a delightful holiday!

Canberra

One of the first things we did when we arrived in Australia was plan a trip the Whitsunday Islands of Queensland. The kids, Asher especially, have a fascination with sea life and we really wanted to get them out on the Great Barrier Reef. Unfortunately, the trip was planned for Easter break and 2 weeks before we were to leave the entire area and especially our island was hit with a massive cyclone. Everything was canceled – to took our hotel more than 3 weeks to get their power restored.

We quickly (and with many phone calls) found a new destination for the kids’ break: Canberra the capital city. We had heard great things about all of the kid-friendly attractions and it did not disappoint! We only got through half of our list of things to do so we may try to go back. This post is heavy on the pictures – they tell the story better than words.

The first day we visited Cady and Asher’s top choices: The mint (Cady) and the war memorial (Asher). The mint was actually pretty interesting and the kids got to dance with a robot named Titan who lifts 900 kg barrels of coins into a sorting machine.

Someone has some dance moves!

The war memorial was incredible – we could have spent much more time if our tummies and tired baby would have handled it. There was a kid’s zone area with costumes, and replica helicopter, submarine, and trench for the kids to explore. A large hanger had World War II planes and a mini-submarine. Outdoor areas were beautiful and somber with a wall of names strewn with poppies (the flower for remembrance).

Wall of soldier’s names

The middle of the memorial building

Tank outside the national war memorial

We pushed our luck after lunch and attempted a visit to the parliament house – similar to the US Capital building in function. The kids were rather rambunctious so we quickly stuck our heads in the Senate and House of Representatives chambers and then headed to the roof where the kids were able to run around under a huge flag on grassy slopes! How is that for laid-back government?

Huge flag on roof!

Rooftop of the parliament building.

Front view of parliament.

The kids still had wiggles so we found a fun park before going home for the night.

Day 2 took us to the zoo. It was small but really great. Maren is at the age that finds wonder in every moving animal and so we took our time at many of the exhibits. The snow leopard, white lions (roaring back and forth to each other), blue penguins (being fed), and wombat (also being fed) were our favorites. Wombat with his morning tea:

We had a picnic lunch at the National Arboretum and then spent most of the afternoon at the play pod – a series of large play structures. Play POD acorn at the National Arboretum.

The final full day we started at the National Dinosaur Museum. It was small but kept kids entertained. 

Watch out!

Then to the Cockington Green, a garden of model villages and buildings. Again, kids were fascinated and we stayed much longer than we expected (there was also a playground and a steam train ride). Some of the models of international buildings at Cockington Green:

A replica of a Norwegian church.  

Asher loved the steam train ride around the gardens.

We bid Canberra g’day and drove south to the town of Tidbinbella. Near Tidbinbella is a space museum and a nature preserve with hiking and wildlife viewing opportunities. We stopped at the nature preserve and never made it to the space center. We spotted a koala about 1.5 km into our first hike/bushwalk and watched it climb up and down trees above and around us and then finally scooted down one tree and scampered off into the woods. 

He is on the ground! We were told by one of the volunteers that koalas usually don’t go down to the ground unless they aren’t feeling well. I hope this one was doing ok.

Excited, we tried another bushwalk around ponds and ending up watching a platypus swim and dive and then numerous birds including two broglas, swamp hens and emus. There were nature volunteers around the ponds answering questions and helping us identify the different animals.  We used up all our remaining energy at a playground with a long flying fox (zip-line) before packing back in the car for a drive to our next destination: Mount Kosciuszko National Park.

Weekends

With the kids in school and starting to get involved in after-school activities (swim and soccer), we have been trying to find fun ways to explore the area on Saturdays. Sundays we attend church (a small congregation located about 40 minutes from us in Wangaratta), take naps (some of us are more lucky than others), go for a walk, write letters, and recuperate from the week.

Our church building in “Wang” with a flock of Galahs picking at the grass.

Beechworth is an old gold-mining town about 25 minutes away from us. It is also the site of the jail (spelled “gaol” here) where Ned Kelley was kept for a short period. Ned Kelley was a bushranger (bad guy) who stole from the rich (but didn’t give to the poor) and especially didn’t like police. He is somewhat celebrated in Australia and Beechworth has many tourist sites devoted to him.

In Beechworth we found a bushwalk (hiking) trail that starts at a lake and goes through an area where many old mines are located. The mines are holes in the ground (now covered with grates) that go down, down, down. We had fun dropping pebbles down the holes and trying to hear them plop.

Kids standing near one of the grates in the middle of the trail.

There was a funny tree with the trunk decorated with cockatoo feathers. I’ve been meaning to ask a local if it has any special meaning or is just a funny tree.

Yackandandah, 20 minutes away, is a small old gold-mining town similar to Beechworth that has re-branded themselves as an artist community. There are a few art studios and eclectic cafes. We joined friends at the annual Yackandandah folk festival and had fun listening to music, eating food, and watching the acts.

Maren dancing to a LARGE family string band.

Kids letting the world know how they feel.

Last weekend we drove just over an hour to get to one of the two nearby ski resorts, Mount Hotham. The resort is built along the ridge line of the mountains and all of the lifts go down from there. We checked out the resort and then bushwalked along a backcountry ski trail that goes into Alpine National Park. The trail followed a ridge and passed by a warming hut/day shelter. We veered off the ski trail to hike to the summit of Mount Loch. From the top we could see mountaintops poking into the horizon for days.

Summit of Mount Loch!

We were above the treeline for much of the hike but when we had trees they were really beautiful.

Overall we hike 7 miles and the kids did great – Asher kept pointing out that he wasn’t even breathing hard. (But he slept great that night!) I think watching out for snakes kept their minds busy :/

Good bushwalkers