Warrumbungle National Park

Back in early July we did a VERY  quick visit to the Warrumbungle National Park. A lot of the park was still closed due to the fires that recently devastated the area in January of this year.  We had intended to visit the park at that time but the fires obviously put our plans on hold.  It is a shame we did not see the park as it was but there was a beauty in the recovering landscape that was very inspiring all the same.

Regrowth is evident and in places the green growth frames the burnt areas in a reminder that nature is a cycle. This provided a lot to talk about with both children as we walked about and saw the evidence of the fires everywhere.

Siding Spring Observatory. This is a must see kind of place.  I was not sure what to expect but it was very child friendly with lots of hands on activities that made science fun.

You could stand on the scales to see what you would weigh on other planets.  I think I was about half a tonne on the sun but thankfully earth's gravity is different ;)

Then you could see what 1 litre of milk would weigh on different planets depending on their gravity.  Some were lighter and some you could not lift.  It was great and a wonderful way of demonstrating the concept.

Both children had fun and it was wonderful that there was so much for them to do so I was not having to tell them to not touch everything every two minutes like some places. 

The telescope was well worth the look too.

Whitegum Lookout was an easy walk that is sealed for ease of access.  This was a great walk to see the signs of the bush fire up close so that we could discuss it with the children.

Burbie Canyon was an easy 2 km return walk along a stream.  The children had fun walking (and running) along the track, scrambling and jumping the stream.

The lookout and Burbie Canyon walk were the only two walks open when we went.  I think more of the park is open now.  We will go back and camp one of these days so we can explore more of the tracks and the rock climbing too.

Taronga Western Plains Zoo - Part 2

Never mind the fact that these photos are from LAST school holidays and I am obviously so far behind in everything that I despair of EVER catching up; here are the rest of the zoo photos as promised in Part 1 some time ago...

My children are part monkey, they HAVE to climb on everything!  Thankfully the zoo caters for children such as mine and there are plenty of things for them to scramble on.

I love the zebras.  They are one of my favourite animals.  I love the distinctive stripes and the fact they are like fingerprints; all different.  I also think I like their similarity to horses.

We sat and watched the zebras standing in the warm sun for awhile before moving.  There was a baby foal that was very new but the mum was smart enough to have the foal in the middle of the big yard as far away from people as she could get.

More climbing...

This was a highlight.  The Galapagos Tortoises were under the heat lamps in the shed with the exception of this fellow.  He not only braved the chill but came over for a gentle pat.  The children loved it and it was very awe inspiring. 

Such wonderful animals with their wizened eyes.

There you go.  Given we visited way back in July this post has been a long time coming.  I have a lot of other things to catch up on too but I don't want to rush these things..!

Testing, and a bit about Lego

This post is to test* an app called Pages which I downloaded from Apps gone free.  I have been so busy lately that Blogging has flown out the window so when I saw this app I wondered if it would help.  

For three days the children upended my husbands lot of Lego and mixed everything up.  I was worried things would get lost and only wanted them to play with one unit at a time but The Mr said it was important for kids to play and use their imagination in order to learn so he let them play as they choose.

They created, mixed and had so much fun so The Mr was obviously right.  At the end of three days we have lost small gear stick but that seems like a small price to pay.

*the post drafting phase went well and access to my iPad photos was easy enough.  I think for good photos from my camera my computer would still be the way to go.  I will have to see how managing the comments goes from this point; also, I can't work out how to do labels... 

I went to publish and it told me there was an error as my photo was still uploading.  There is no progress bar to tell me when this should happen which I find annoying.  Then, when I came back in to edit all my line spaces were out.  I remember when Old Blogger used to do that and it was annoying.

Edit: there was a progress bar and an outbox!  I missed them in my haste.  Also, it easily let me in to edit this post so I have to say that given this is the first time I have ever used this app AND it is early in the morning and I still have not finished my first cup of coffee I am going well.  They say more haste, less speed so perhaps I was the problem when I first hit publish.  I also found the tags under the little 'i' so I can't complain about anything in the drafting and posting phase yet.

Jamie Oliver HomeCooker {Mother's Day}

I was spoilt this year.  Normally not much happens to mark the occasion on Mother's Day but this year I put in an order and was given the Jamie Oliver HomeCooker.  Jamie Oliver is so wonderful and his cooker is just as good as I would expect from a product underpinned by him.  

I got the Cooker with cutting tower and also the pasta and steamer trays.  This lot cost me $300 on sale at Harvey Norman and there is also an extra $30 to come off that via a promotional cash back deal running right now.  It all made it such a great deal.

The big difference between this machine and the Thermomix, other than the price, is that the HomeCooker does not have built in scales and the cutting tower is used instead of having the built in cutting system.  I can live with that when you consider this was $1700 cheaper.

I have used it a lot as I may have opened it before Mother's Day, I just couldn't wait!  It really does make tea time so much easier, put ingredients in, press button, beeps when something else needs to happen or stirs until you are ready to eat.  Simple!

The whole thing is dishwasher safe too which is a big plus in this house since we recently put a dishwasher in.  It is easy to assemble and clean and so far I have not found anything I don't like about it.

I love the Jamie Oliver cookbook too.  There are more recipes online and because I registered new recipes get emailed to me.  It is not hard to cook most of the foods we like using this system so a lot of old favourite recipes are being cooked as well.

I had originally wanted a Thermomix but I am glad I didn't rush out and buy one as there are now a number of similar products about.  I won't claim they are exactly as good but I do think this goes close and if value for money is important this is a much better option for us.  

Questacon

Over the Christmas break we found ourselves in Canberra briefly.  We had enough time to stop and visit for a couple of hours only so we decided to head to Questacon.

The children, despite being quite young, had an absolutely fantastic time.  There is so much to do, a lot of it hands on even for their stage although there was also a lot for older folk.

The children keep telling me they want to go back.  It is a shame we live so far away so they will have to wait until we are next on the road south. 

I cannot recommend Questacon enough. We all enjoyed it and will go back.

Tillytom ~ Tilda Sash Skirt

I forgot to blog the wonderful Tillytom Tilda Sash Skirt I was lucky enough to test the pattern for awhile ago.  Yes, that is right, a pattern!  You can buy it and make as many of these simple and adorable skirts as you like yourself.

Possum loves hers and the pattern was well written making it a quick and enjoyable sewing experience so I love it as well.  The pattern is for size 1 to size 8 so it is good value if you have a little girl to sew for.

Happy Sewing!

{fifteen} polly pratt

I was really lucky to meet Anna of Polly Pratt at Sew it Together earlier this year.  Polly Pratt was one of the sponsors of the event which makes me very happy as you may remember I bought one of her dresses there and wore it to the children's Christening back here.

Then there was a sale and I picked up another shift dress.  I love this vintage style horse print on the linen!

Then there was another sale...

I don't feel guilty because Anna is lovely, and she sponsored a great event.  And I love great clothes and am a sucker for a sale too!