Splatter Party in Sydney

Amy and I headed up to Sydney for Jocelyn's (Bill's cousin) Splatter Party. It was at and art studio in North Sydney. There were about 12 of us and we had to wear old clothes and  we got to create our own paintings using the splatter technique- that is put paint on your brush and flick! We also helped create a masterpiece for the birthday girl, using syringes, paint brushes and water bombs filled with paint. There were a few other activities, including doing helicopters with our paintbrushes around the birthday girl. Lots of mess and lots of laughs and lots of fun! Amy's painting is the yellow one and mine is the one next to it. Afterwards when we had cleaned up a bit we went over the road to a Thai restaurant and had a very yummy dinner. We had a great time!

The shower cap look! Not the most glamourous but kept paint out of the hair but not the face! 

Below is the art work we created for Jos.

Chris wore an old suit, he added a bit of dignity to the the occasion- however it didn't take long to add some chalk artwork to it- started by his cousin Amy!

The splatter room!

Bush walk to Mt McDonald and Cotter Dam Lookout

Late Saturday morning Bill and I went for a walk on Mt McDonald. I ride past the start of the walk once a week and have wanted to check out the lookout at the dam so we finally got around to it. It was a lovely day for a walk, checked out the Cotter Dam Lookout and got lovely views across the valley back towards Canberra as well. We then hiked up the hill and got to the top of Mt McDonald which gave good views in all directions. Bit of climbing but certainly worth the walk.

Taking the Creatures for a Walk

We have had wonderful weather over the Easter break. Late in the afternoon on Good Friday Bill and I took Luna, Lyra and Jack for a walk- I must admit we are a bit of a crazy sight!

Good Friday Easter Picnic

 We had our annual Good Friday Easter Picnic again this year, it was a beautiful autumn day down at Lennox Gardens. We missed Simon, Bindi, Mia, and Charlie as they are in Dublin for the next three years! We seemed to cope okay, had to recruit our neighbours to come this year, they had a a 7 year old, 12 year old and 14 year old- we needed some kids for the Easter Egg hunt!

Everyone had fun looking for the eggs, probably not as well hidden this year without Simon to find the tricky spots to put them.

This is Mya, she was the youngest so got a head start in the Easter Egg hunt, she wants to come back next year but is not going to invite anyone that is younger than her as she wants to be first to start!

We had the egg throwing competition again, I must work on a recipe to make my hard boiled eggs more fragile than they seem to be- takes a lot to crack them!

Team Building- Cooking Class

A couple of weeks ago at work we had a Team Meeting and then headed out to Three Seeds Cooking School at Fyshwick for a team building exercise- we had to cook our own dinner. We were divided into 4 groups. One group did chicken and chorizo paella, one group did rib eye fillet on the Weber BBQ with asparagus, mushroom and a sweet potato puree. I was in the group did the herb macadamia crusted salmon and the desert group which did orange almond cake with roasted rhubarb. It was a great afternoon, learnt quite a bit and then got to sit down and have a very delicious dinner. Lots of fun.

Warburton

We drove from Marysville to Warburton over the hills past Lake Mountain. It was the long way and quite a narrow and windy road, but the forests were just beautiful. It was windy, and the last 5 km into Warburton it started to lightly rain and just as we got to our accommodation there was quite a down pour.  My first impression of Warburton was that it was a bit run down and disappointing, but after our two days there I could easily go back, it was a good base and there was plenty to do and an excellent visitors centre. Just 100 meters from our little cottage there was a lovely walk along the Yarra River which was very pretty. We did several walks along the river.

There was a lovely mural painted on the steps up to the Visitor's Centre, where the staff were very helpful and lots of information.

There were a series of about 40 murals at the back of the Visitor's Centre depicting various scenes from around the area.

We headed up to the Rainforest Gallery, which was a lovely metal board walk along the floor of the rainforest. Magnificent Mountain Ash and Myrtle Beech trees.

We then headed to Cement Creek and eventually managed to find the Redwood Forest Plantation, about 1400 trees planted back in the 1950's, pretty magnificent trees and a lovely place to wander through.

We then headed back into Warburton and across to Healsville and then the outskirts of Yarra Glen.- took about an hour, mum thought it was a long way to go for a hot chocolate at the Chocalitier, but after we got there and shared a quinoa and roasted vegetable salad, followed by a hot chocolate each and a wander through the shop, she could see why Amy and I like calling in here! It was a lovely sunny afternoon and very pleasant temperature.

After the chocolate place we checked out the Yarra Valley Dairy which was about 15 minutes away at Yering, where we got to sample some lovely goat and cow cheese, we had a gourmet afternoon! We then headed back to Warburton for the night.

After a bit of a rest at home, mum and I went for a walk along the Yarra River again, upstream this time.

Wednesday morning we packed up and drove back to mum's, it was just over and hours drive through Cockatoo and Upper Beaconsfield. It was a pretty drive through the forests. Dropped mum and home and spent and hour or two there before heading to the airport, dropping off the car and flying home to Canberra. It was a lovely trip and a nice break away.

Marysville Enroute to Warburton

After 3 nights with John and Judy we set off Monday morning, loaded up with a lovely packed lunch from Judy and headed to Warburton the back way through Alexandra and Marysville. It was a lovely drive and nice and quiet on the roads as it was the back roads and a Monday morning. We had a brief stop at Alexandra and then headed to Marysville which was very pretty. Marysville was pretty badly burnt out in bush fires in 2009. We called in at the visitors centre and worked out our plan of action. First stop was the Steavenson Falls which were very pretty and so lovely and green.

It was an easy walk to the falls so mum waited at the bottom while I did a quick walk up to the top of the falls.

After the falls we headed to Bruno's Sculpture Gardens where we wandered around the lovely gardens and looked at the sculptures scattered throughout the gardens. The gardens and sculptures had been burnt in the fire, throughout the gardens they had photos of some of the burnt out areas and damaged sculptures. Bruno had been able to restore a lot of the damaged ones. It was very peaceful wandering through the gardens, we sat at had our lunch at one of the picnic tables. 

Locksley Farm Stay

After 2 nights in Maldon we headed across to central Victoria to stay with friends of the family- John and Judy Thomson who live on a farm between Seymour and Euroa. We had a lovely time with John and Judy and they looked after us so well. We got to see around their farm, meet their pet sheep Cindy, and see the dorper sheep they run on their property. These sheep are for their meat, and they shed their wool/hair so don't need shearing. It is quite flat leading up to their property then you head up the hill and get lovely views across the plains. We had a fantastic time staying with John and Judy.

The view from their house.

Cindy the pet sheep, who wanders around the yard near the house and is a bit like a pet dog!

John, Pam and Judy- we went for a wander along the creek bed.

They used to have a small creek running through their property which runs usually 8 months of the year. In January 2016 they got 100mm of rain in 2 hours which turned their creek into a raging torrent 25 meters wide and 4 meters deep- it wash away lots of soil and sand and left them with a pretty amazing gully that runs through their property, John took me walking and rock hoping up the creek bed- was a great walk.

The house that John built- pretty amazing man and what he can do! John always told mum that he wouldn't come to her funeral unless she came for a visit, so she had been for her visit- so a seat will be reserved!

March Road Trip With Mum

I went on a road trip around central Victoria with my mum last week, we had a great time. Our first stop was Maldon out near Castlemaine, one of the earliest Gold Mining towns, a place mum had wanted to go for ages. I flew down to Melbourne, picked up a hire car and drove to Berwick, picked up mum and headed back out past the airport to Maldon- it wasn't all that far about an hour and a half from Melbourne. We stayed in a lovely house on the edge of Maldon that  had everything we needed- could have easily stayed there for a week! Maldon has beautiful old buildings which they have tried to preserve. We walked up and down the main street and later did a drive around the rest of the town to see some of the historical buildings.

There were lots of lovely verandas and wrought iron.

The main street

One of the lovely Aussie Bush scenes

One of the views from Mt Tarrengower where you can see a fair bit of Central Victoria. According to the Maldon visitors center Maldon is almost the geographical center of Victoria.

Mum on the front porch of our lovely home for two nights.

 Early morning view of Maldon from ANZAC hill