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

 

Pests and Peculiars

We hiked in the Apline National Park this weekend and came across 5 copperhead snakes (the 7th deadliest snake in Australia) but they were all small and got away from us as fast as they could.

Small Copperhead (probably around 9 inches long)

We also saw a large (~5 ft) common brown (the #1 deadliest snakes in Australia) crossing the road! We were safe in the confines of our car. The only other snake we have seen our entire stay was a smaller common brown DEAD on our road.

Far more bothersome have been the Australian bugs. And they seem to prefer the females in our family. Cady was bit by a bull ant on her foot (inside a water shoe), Maren got a bite on her arm at school (bug unknown), and I was bit/stung by a buzzing bug – likely a European wasp – on the forehead as I was riding my bike. The side of my face was swollen for a week.

Swollen E

The bugs that really bug me are the spiders! I’ve stopped leaving any clothing or bedding on the floor for fear of having an unwanted friend creep in. We’ve disposed of 4 white tailed spiders (the 6th most dangerous spider in Australia), 2 huntsman spiders (9th most dangerous), and had numerous orb weavers (10th most dangerous) in our yard. The orb weavers create these HUGE webs – seriously over 6 feet across – across sidewalks, I stick to the roadway for morning walks/runs. Of course we have to document all of these.

Small but aggressive white tailed

UGLY and BIG (about the size of my palm) dead huntsman

Orb weaver hanging across sidewalk

There are also cool looking other bugs that Asher asks me to take a picture of whenever he sees them. I’ve got a phone full of these.

Stick bug and moth with Asher’s hand for comparison

The other type of picture that is taking up large volumes of space on my phone is signs. The peculiar street signs and funny things people post make us smile. Some good ones:

Watch out for old people!

And for kangaroos, wombats, and the lyre bird because, you know, there are other things to beware of besides snakes and spiders...

Anyone need fertilizer?

Finally, there is the legend of the “drop bears” that locals like to tell. This one was posted at a warming hut in Alpine National Park.

Myers Visit

My parents came to visit! They spent a few days in Sydney before coming to us for a short 5 days and then got onto a cruise boat bound for New Zealand and again we cried.

We started our touring in the Beechworth historical museum (kids were in school) where I learned more about Ned Kelly than I ever needed to know but we got to try on a cool Ned Kelly replica helmet!

We introduced Opa and Oma to all of our favorite places and foods including meat pies, rail trail burgers, and “death by berries.” We also tried a new hike at Mount Buffalo National Park up to a large rock monolith on a high overlook. It was a fun hike with evidence of wombat activity everywhere (did you know they like to leave their droppings on high points?) and amazing views.

They planned their visit for a holiday weekend – the kids had Monday off of school for Labour Day. It also happened to be the weekend of the Myrtleford Festival! We had no idea what awesomeness awaited us: citywide garage sale, BMX competition, sausage sizzle, local bands, festival princesses (and crowning a queen) and a parade! The school had a float with a Dr. Who theme so I googled “easiest Dr. Who costume” and found something for us (Asher asked me to walk with them).

Myers listening to music at the town sausage sizzle:

The "silence" and a couple of normal kids who have seen the silence:

Myrtleford P-12 College parade walkers, "We are the time travelers":

We ended their stay with a relaxing afternoon at Al and Marg’s farm – an absolutely beautiful day with a picnic on the lawn and the kids moving the cattle to different paddocks. 

The day they left, Maren came home from day care asking for “bapa” and looked in all the bedrooms for him. She has been trying to imitate Opa’s “Hoppe hoppe reiter” (lap riding poem) with all of us since they left.

Opa with two "reiters":

Who will come visit us next? Please come!

Ordinary Fun

We have been involved in activities that are worth remembering, although probably not with their own blog post so I’m throwing them together as an “ordinary fun,” ie: another rather boring, post. Things will get more exciting next week as Grandpa and Grandma visit!

Swim lessons: All three kids are in swim lessons and we now understand why the Australians are always a fierce presence with swimming events in the Olympics. Swim lessons start at an early age and are serious business! But now we have a 21-month old who is comfortable getting around the pool on a noodle and knows how to hold her breath under water and older kids who are perfecting their form and learning new strokes.

These skills came in handy for Cady for the school’s Swim Carnival last month. Years 1 through 6 spent an entire day at the pool with students divided into three houses and competing in races to earn points for their house. Cady was in “Barwidgee” house and swam freestyle and backstroke. Eric and I stopped by around lunch to watch a few heats. I could not believe how quickly the year 1 (6 year olds) could get across the pool.

Horse-back riding lessons: We are surrounded by “farms” – mostly cattle for meat but also heaps of sheep and horses. The older kids started horse-back riding lessons and now want a pony when we get back to Ohio (hah).

Asher’s favorite horse is a Shetland pony named “Shrek” who likes to drink fruit cordial straight from the nearest glass (watch out!).

Even Maren enjoys brushing the horses and occasionally gets to be in on the action (sitting on Shrek).

Toy Library: Each of the communities around here operates a “toy library” that is much like a real library except with toys. The idea behind it is brilliant – kids love playing with new (to them) toys but tire of them quickly – and it has been a godsend to us as we were not able to bring many toys of our own. Our town toy library is located at the senior center where the indoor toys are stored in a large closet and outdoor toys in a shed. The library is open for a few hours each week for check-out/return of toys. We paid a small ($10) annual fee and I have volunteer duties as the “librarian” for 2 hours once quarterly. We have borrowed some really fun toys and games; even an electric keyboard (going on 2  months of loan) so that Cady can keep up her piano lessons (although she is not a fan of piano teacher mom).  There are government grants available to communities for purchase and upkeep of the toys but the libraries rely on the members to keep them going. If I had more motivation, I’d love to start a toy library back in the states. 

Even Eric found some toys to keep him occupied: