Litchfield National Park - Waterfalls

At Litchfield we did a few short walks- (thankfully they were short as we would have ended up as melted ice blocks it was so humid) and saw some lovely waterfalls. Being the end of the wet season there was plenty of water to flow over the falls. First we saw the Florence Falls and did a short walk along side the creek. Then we went to the Tolmer Falls and finally ended up at the Wangi Falls. It was a 10 minute drive between each waterfall so that gave us a chance to get back in the car and cool down in the airconditioning - thank goodness for airconditioning I say!

Litchfield National Park - Termite Mounds

One day we drove out to Litchfield National Park, about 130km south of Darwin. We got to see a bit more of the countryside and a few of those long road trains that the NT is famous for - I tell you I wouldn't want to have one pass me or have to pass one, I reckon they would be like passing 8 cars in a row!

The first stop at Litchfield was the termite mounds -there were magnetic termite mounds and cathedral termite mounds.

Darwin - A History Lesson

As we travelled around Darwin and saw the different War War Two Monuments and information about Darwin and the war I felt a bit ashamed that I was so ignorant about my own knowledge of Australian History and World War Two. I learnt that on the 19th Feb 1942 at the bombing of Darwin 242 people were killed and 400 injured. It was the same force that attacked Pearl Harbour attacked Darwin and more bombs were dropped on Darwin than Pearl Harbour. The Air Raids went on for 21 months with 64 air raids. I must admit I had no idea about the extent of the attack on Darwin. 6 months ago, Amy and I had been in Europe and had seen various World War Two monuments and damaged and rebuilt buildings, and here we were in Darwin seeing similar things!

We visited the World War Two Oil storage tunnels which were built to store oil, 2 million dollars were spent but they were never used! We also visited Adelaide River and saw the war cemetery there, after the bombing of Darwin, a military base and head quarters was set up at there. I thought the Adelaide River Cemetery was a beautiful memorial and a significant site to visit.

Darwin

Amy, Lachlan and I had the opportunity last week to go up to Darwin for 5 nights and catch up with Bill's sister and her family who have been living in Darwin for about 8 or 9 years now. Never having been to Darwin I was excited to go somewhere new. It was the end of the wet season when we arrived so everything was very green, very beautiful and very humid! We really enjoyed our stay in Darwin, the lovely ocean views and things to do. The coolest I felt was when we went on the Jet Boat Ride on the harbour and got soaked. We had a great time!

Goodbye to Sarkule

April 12 will be a sad day for the Frost Family - we had to say goodbye to our Dalmatian - Sarkule, who we had put to sleep today. He was 16 years old and had been a part of our lives for over 15 years. Amy was under 2 and Lachlan nearly 4 when we got him, so they have grown up with him! As soon as we brought our house and put in a gate, Bill was very quick to get a dog and that was Sarkule. He was 9 months old when we got him, his name was Jack, but Lachlan decided to call him Sarkule, a name he made up! Lachlan was very cross with us once he learnt to read and spell as he insisted it should have been Sarkle! I still remember the day Bill brought Sarkule home, Amy could see him through the glass doors and was scrambling up my lap in fear, however within 24 hours she was in the dog basket with him. He was such a tolerant dog and put up with lots from the kids, sat on, drawn on, dressed up, makeup applied, nail polish as well.

He was a very clever dog, though he drove us mad sometimes. We always said he had ADHD. He always seemed to sense when something was going on, he could never relax when there was food or something on the bench, or when we were packing up to go away, he did not want to miss out. He managed to get hold of a fundraising box of chocolates once and managed to eat a number of them and survive, he climbed the ladder up the cubby house once to join us as we were all up there. He was suspended from dog obedience for picking up a yappy little dog that was annoying him, he won a ribbon for the dog with the waggiest tail. We couldn't put presents under the Christmas tree containing food as he would steal them and open them. He could hear the red monster truck coming home from holidays metres down the street and be at the gate to meet us! He never liked other dogs and introducing a new dog into the family was always quite an ordeal but once he had accepted them that was it!

He has brought a lot of happiness and wonderful memories into our lives and we will never forget him and cherish the 15 years he was with us. Our mate Sarkule! Our liver spotted Dalmatian.

The Scary Bird

Over Easter Amy was watching a scary movie "The Birds" and posted on Facebook that she was feeling a bit freaked out, so I made a bird out of socks and attempted to scare her. For some reason it didn't work, though Benji knew something was up and kept barking at us all, probably because we were all in stitches from laughing! Anyway the next morning Amy slept in, and I was walking down the hall way and could smell something really horrible, I opened the door to the rumpus room and outside her room Bill had propped up a dead blackbird that she would see as soon as she opened the door. I think I was the one that got scared, I did not take a photo as it smelt too much to go near. It didn't work when it came to scaring Amy though, just me! What a delightful father she has!

Walk Up Mt Tennant

On Easter Saturday Bill and I went for a bush walk with some of our cycling friends up Mt Tennent. Mt Tennent is located south of Canberra, it was a 15km return journey and it was a lovely walk and we got some magnificent views of the ACT. I have sore calf muscles today as there was lots of stair climbing on the way up and then we had to come back down! It took us around 5 hours, we sat and had lunch up the top and just had a wonderful day. I must do some more bush walking, I have forgotten how much I enjoy it.

Which Occupant Would You Want to Clean Your Room

I wonder if naming and shaming would work in trying to get someone to keep their room tidy? Can you guess which of my two children belong to which room. Hint: The male child has the tidy room and the female child has the messy room.

You can guess why Lachlan has the job as a motel room cleaner can't you!

And the Winner Is!!!!

We always have an easter egg throwing or rolling competion. This year some of the eggs had little covers on them, which gave them a bit of protection so people with those type of eggs could throw them, while those with out covers could only roll them, so it became a two category competition. Amy was outrolled by a fraction by Mariela this year - though Bill was the judge so who knows! The Rackham boys were disappointed Lachlan could not join us this year ( he had to work) as last year they threw their hard boiled eggs at Lachlan. This year's improptu activity seemed to be lets get Amy's eggs of her - she won! Nobody was getting her chocolate eggs!

There is a lovely little Japanese type garden where we hide the eggs each year and the kids have a great time hiding and searching for the eggs.

Good Friday Easter Picnic

For the last 6 or 7 years we have been having a Breakfast Picnic on Good Friday at Lennox Gardens on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin. We have bacon and egg rolls, hot cross buns, an Easter egg hunt, an Easter egg rolling come throwing competition, feed the ducks or swans and just a chance to catch up with friends. We start at 9am -now that we have teenagers it is a bit harder, but by 12pm when we leave the park is filling up, so having it early in the morning we pretty much have the place to ourselves. Now that the kids are growing up, we need to make sure that someone has young children as that way the big kids can hide the Easter eggs, the little kids and not so little kids can squeal and find the Easter eggs and then because of my so called "communist, socialist and greeenie" tendencies as one of my brothers would describe them we pile all the found eggs into one big basket and then divide them up so there are not too many tears!

Lachlan Cooks Thursday Night

Lachlan cooks dinner each Thursday night. Last night he made pizza,a potato and rosemary one and a tomato and salami one. They were very yummy and looked so impressive I needed to take some photos! I had been at work all day, been to the gym, taken Amy for a massage and it was lovely to get home and only have to wait 10 minutes to sit down to homemade pizza.