A week of contrasts

I can't quite believe how the weather has changed from last Sunday to this one. Last Sunday was a hot and sunny 34 degrees and we spent the day on our speed boat (part owned with some friends and fortunately bought just before the current financial crisis, as I don't think we could justify it now). We went up to Pittwater (about half an hour away) with the Kelly family: Deb, Ben, Sara and Dan. It's a great way to spend a very hot day, as you can find some deserted coves where you can fish, swim or just read a book. Later in the afternoon, after nearly being swamped by a wave as we crossed the mouth of the harbour (I think Ken, who was steering, was delighted to get home in one piece) we went to the Basin.  This is an idyllic little inlet with a beautiful lagoon where you can moor the boat and go ashore to mess around on a large open grassy area (most of the land around Pittwater is covered in thick bush). Unfortunately it is not undiscovered and is often quite busy, but it has a great atmosphere and the kids love it (Ben even caught a few fish off the bow of the boat.)

The weather changed on Monday.  After weeks of hot, sunny weather the clouds rolled in and it began to rain, and it rained and it rained and it really hasn't stopped much since.

Olivia has been making friends at school.  This is Georgie (who was in James' class last year) and her sister Lucy (who is in Olivia's class).  They came over after school on Tuesday and had a great time, if the laughter coming from Olivia's room is indicative.

James enrolled in AFL (Aussie Rules) during the week.  (He's in the green near the front).  This means we have a busy weekend of winter sports ahead, with James' soccer on Saturday mornings mornings, Ken's soccer on Saturday afternoons, and James' AFL on Sunday mornings.  Olivia does do something but fortunately during the week - ballet on a Wednesday after school.

The weather has been so lousy this weekend it's been a quiet one, with the exception of going  to the Star Wars exhibition in the city (we've been watching all the films in order since Christmas).  The kids had a great time looking at all the costumes, seeing the models the films were made with (though I'm not sure they really understood this) and playing with the interactive exhibits, including making robots and 'flying' trains.  We had a great time, though Olivia was scared of quite a lot of things and hence refused to have her photo taken.

First days at school

It's been a big week in the Reid household.  James started Year 1 last Wednesday (minus several teeth).   He was still recognised by his friends and seems to have settled in very quickly. The school mixes up the classes each year, but he's still with some of his good friends (Tommy and Noah) and he likes his new teacher, Mrs Rimmer, who although shouts (though not at him of course), lets them take their shoes off.  This seems an exceptionally simple. but very popular ploy, and should be recommended to all new teachers (though may not go down so well in the UK in a cold classroom - it's bee over 30 degrees all week here).

Olivia started school on Monday and went with far less fuss than she ever did to pre-school. Her new teacher is Mrs Lear mouth and according to Olivia is "very pretty and beautiful" - a key kindie qualification. She has Tess in her class and I think that has made it very easy for her to settle in. though she is getting tired and we had several breakdowns in the evening at the end of the week.

My week was one big breakdown. I had no problem keeping myself busy - 6 years worth of chores to do - things I have been putting off until they were both at school. But I miss them and the guilt free trips to the beach, zoo, aquarium, on the ferry etc. I have been very lucky to be able to spend so much time with my children and doing such wonderful things and in such a beautiful place (where the sun usually shines).

 

This is Olivia's sport uniform and  I think she looks exceptionally cute in it (though she does seem to have very big feet).

The Big 40 for Ken

"I love this place called Coolendel, my haven from the norm, it's here I come to recharge my soul, just to relax and not conform." - words by a lesser known Australian poet and I'm not sure about the conforming bit but it's where Ken decided he wanted to spend his 40th birthday (we'll hold a joint party at home later in February). 6 other families - 14 adults and 15 kids, at last count, joined us to celebrate (or commiserate depending on the number of grey hairs and wrinkles) and enjoy a long, hot and sunny weekend away from Sydney (Ken's birthday conveniently coincides with Australia Day). 

Coolendel a private campsite about 3.5 hours south of Sydney and the last half hour

 is along a dirt track. It's called a wild life refuge and is teeming with peacocks, wallabies, goannas and wombats (reportedly the largest in NSW) although the biggest draw card for us is the river and the rapids which have some great rocks for jumping.

We arrived at about midday on Friday - Lenka and I took the four kids down early - and we put up our tents in about 35 degrees heat - I was puce coloured by the end but a swim in the river and a few cold white wines restored me in time for an evening around the campfire - not needed given the temperatures but atmospheric and essential for toasting the obligatory marshmellows.

Our days quickly took on the rhythm of breakfast, swim, lunch, swim, relaxing at the camp, swim, dinner, wombat and wallaby spotting, stories around the campfire, bed. It was incredibly relaxing and having that many kids makes life much easier as they can fall out and there is always someone else to play with.

We had one very relaxing afternoon in which a group of us took lilos down to the far side of the campsite and spent a very relaxing 2 hours

 meandering down through untouched wilderness with high limestone escarpments to the main swimming spot. It was total bliss (though possibly not for Ken who had to cajole a very tired James through the shallow patches where he had to walk). (James insisted in sleeping in his own tent, very grown-up, but this meant he had

 free reign to get up very early in the morning and was hence, exceptionally tired later in the day.)

The following morning we decided we needed some real exercise ) to work off all the marshmellows), so encouraged by the campsite owner we set out on an hour and a half walk.  Parents with littlies (the under 4s) turned back after about 20 minutes, but the rest of us plodded on.  Along the river bank, up a small creek, sometimes filled with water which necessitated some interesting scrambling, and on and on and on. 

No-one believed me that we (Lenka and I) had been assured that the walk was only an hour and a half, and Lenka had turned back with Tess and Tom so couldn't verify my account. Despite the heat and uphill climb along the creek the kids all did amazingly well.  Olivia developed awful blisters on the heels and had to be carried by Ken (which you can imagine he was delighted to do), but overall there was minimal whinging (even by James).  We were very relieved to eventually find the road to Coolendel (particularly as we'd spent about half an hour going "I can hear a car, we're nearly at the road" but never seeming to get there.) 

Once at the elusive road a picture had to be taken at the "Don't despair, you're almost there" sign - very apt.  We arrived back at the campsite 3 hours later totally exhausted but with a few extra tales to embellish around the camp fire that evening.

What the kids like best about Coolendel is just mucking around in the river.  There are some fantastic rocks for jumping off and Olivia had a lovely afternoon jumping off a metre high one with Tess.  That, of course, was not sufficient for James, He headed straight the the highest rock (about 5 metres in height) and dived off (we did know it was deep enough from previous visits, but were not expecting him to dive). It was terrifying to watch, though even worse when I went up there with him (I was convinced he was going to fall backwards over the rocks as you have to stand on a very narrow ledge on the top and James didn't always seem to be paying attention to what was going on around him.) After that I chose to watch him from the water.

 

On Sunday it was Ken's birthday and Burns night so we celebrated with haggis, mash and swede followed by a lamington birthday cake - a nod to all the nationalities!

It was a lovely weekend - good fun, good friends, good wine and food - no doubt we'll be back next year.

Our new blog

Hi everyone

As I'm so useless at keeping in touch I thought I'd try and 'hit' everyone in one foul swoop with our new blog. No promises as to how often it will be updated but I'm attempting an ambitious weekly post, so keep watching.

It's 2am and Ken's away in melbourne, so I think I really should try and get some sleep but I'll attempt to post some news in a couple of days (once Ken's home and showed me how to upload some photos).

Lots of love Emma