A evening meal on the Loddon River

Can you smell that smokey camp fire smell? We managed to get out to the London River on Saturday evening for a BBQ and a bit of a fish - we hope to get out here again to do some camping next month.





It was our 5th wedding anniversary on Friday too - I was taken to the Campaspe River for a romantic picnic - we meet with a snake, an owl and plenty of cockatoos - although on the Loddon we tried for fish without any success!

Finally posting about the School Holidays (which finished two weeks ago!)

This was AWESOME - the image doesn't really do it justice - but the rock formation looked like a time warp - which is were I have been in the last two/three weeks since the end of the school holidays - it is a strange feeling - like you are SUPER busy - but don't actually get anything done.


I highly recommend that you get off the Calder on your next trip to Melbourne/Bendigo and check out the Organ Pipes National Park. You could meet this great little fella.




These shots are from a beautiful family day we spent at Kamarooka, hosted by Northern United Forestry Landcare Group - great inspiration for a new project I am working on with the Bendigo Sustainability Group and the Bendigo Field Naturalists - we are putting together a Bendigo Family Nature Club! Will post more and more about this as the project falls into place!



We are having a pikelet fad a the moment - it came about as we opened the pantry and found we had no plain flour for pancakes - but two packets of self raising flour! - perfect for fluffy pikelets. J and I are having an ongoing dispute over the "secret" ingredient!


We had a fabulous long weekend in Mornington with the Waters crew
This outfit was a spot of Great Uncle spoiling!

A special lunch with GreatNan, Aunty Nj and Cousin Q and cooked by the wonderful Grandma

These last shots are by my Mum from an outing she took the kids on - while I enjoyed being kid-less - they went first to see a play and then a play in the local park.



In between all the busy activity we had some quite play - Hj right into jigsaw puzzles at the moment.

A sleep over in a magical garden

This is the garden of a very special friend of mine - who despite of lack of contact since moving on from our uni lives - we are able to fall in and out of each others worlds quite easily. My children and myself just loved her home and garden - we had a fantastic sleep over and play.

Epic Canoe Trip on Loddon River

The second day of these school holidays I booked myself (being the adventurous mummy) and my son for a canoe trip on the Loddon River. I thought it would be fun and a great opportunity not only for some good wholesome one on one time with my son, but to get into the spirit of canoeing as we plan to purchase a family canoe, when we trade in the car.

It was advertised as a two hour paddle, however leaving at 10am and arriving back at 3pm that afternoon I certainly had very sore elbows and was amazed at my deep capacity for endurance - as this is what the poorly planned trip our host provided turned into.

Thankfully Kd and I were separated close to the start of the adventure as he used his paddle to splash me and in my fumbling to work out how to paddle the darn canoe he would yell out "We're DEAD. We're DEAD!"

Should I have the opportunity again I would definitely go - it was magic being on the Loddon River so full of water, the trees, the birds and the promises that you made yourself as you approached each bend in the river.

Here is the canoe hero




This was our canoe


Our fellow adventurers

The O'Keith Trail

Last Sunday we took a ride along the O'Keith Trail - I have been in Bendigo for ten years and can't believe I haven't done this before! You can down load a map of this trail from the link above.

It runs along an old train track and has plenty of historical landmarks and relics to make the trip into a discovery adventure.



(Hj bandaid from a previous skateboarding accident)

there is a family bike riding day along the trail this Sunday - but it is 50kms - Kd not quite up to it yet (not sure I am either - but will be posting about our enduring canoeing trip earlier this week soon!)

Hj Celebration another transition in her life

It has been two weeks now since Hj decided to put her dummy in the bin in exchange for a new fairy dress.

We had been slowly weening her off the dummy - saving it just for night time. It has been reasonably easy transition with lots of celebrating and sharing her story with others in our lives, who have been very happy for her.

Here is the plan

I couldn't help myself but post about this incredible creative feat at our home.


This post is about a concept developed by a certain son of mine and then working to realise his design intent.


I think he did a pretty darn good job in realising his concept!

(do you remember bommy knockers? - that is the name of that clobbering thing he has in his hand!)

Getting to know this town (beware children at play)

I have been living in Bendigo for just over 10 years now and I had no idea that there was this fantastic bit of bush that we can visit at Crusoe Reservoir.

Just by chance I found out about it - the local council held a local National Tree Planting day out there at the start of the month & last weekend I just had to return, with husband and bikes, and have a good wonder around.






I am getting myself involved in another community group - something that I find exciting and will give to my family. It is with the biodiversity group with the Bendigo Sustainability Group.

What I would like to help organise is regular activities for kids and their families in Central Victoria - as a way to form relationship to environment. Growing up on a farm I experienced something very unique and it would be wonderful to share this with my children - limited as I am living in suburbia.

However have some great resources on hand such as the book Let's Go Outside and some America groups such as

Kids in the Valley Adventuring

Children and Nature Network

The Boys Trip to the Snow

My darling hubby and Kd took a day trip to the snow (nearly four hours away) with their bestest buddies to Lake Mountain - I was biting my nails all day - it is such a long way to drive in a day. But they came home safely to me and here are some photos of their fun.

Making that starts with the letter B - oops I mean fairy

Don't you just love autumn?

Four Days OUT THERE

Wishing that the school holidays haven't come to an end Kd stayed home from school today - he was tired and a little run down - we all needed a little bit more jammie time together. We really did pack in a lot of activity over the school holidays and having Easter in the middle of it made it even busier.

It was bliss to spend four days in the bush with The Colonial Way, camping and grandly moving from site to site with a Clydesdale horse - a very new and slowing down experience for all of us. I REALLY needed to get out of town and get into the landscape and this trip did exactly that. I had planned for a six night adventure - but right before we left we inherited gastro and in lots of ways I am glad it was only three nights as travelling with young kids and a dog in a new camping setting can prove more challenging that relaxing. J and I have started making plans for regular camping trips around our home - having lots of new free, isolated camp locations revealed to us.


This is our darling Murdoch who hauled our caravan around and all of our stuff - about a tonne in all!!!

Inside the van - very tight but manageable - can't imagine what it would be like with 3 kids in their or 5 adults as it sleeps 5.

The view from outside the caravan while on the road - we were travelling slow enough to jump in and out of the van - I spent a great deal of time walking - maybe up to 12ks a day as our dog misbehaved dreadfully around Murdoch.


Caring for Murdoch included lots of stops for rests, eating and drinking water - he just loved munching on apples.


Camp fires were a hit - revealing the inner fire bug of a certain someone


How is this for beauty?
Yep lots of fun and games

The trip for me was also about growing the love of the out doors and isolation in my children - an experience that just doesnt happen in suburbia. Kd was first afraid of the thought of camping as we would be the only ones there - (while I really can't think of anything better than having no-one around!) They both really enjoyed the trip and agree that more camping is on the agenda.