Gone Bush

We had a curriculum day today so instead of heading to school, we headed bush. Out to Werribee Gorge State Park to be exact.

Look around... This place is awesome!

We went wandering along the river track for a few kilometers, making heaps of detours along the way to look at interesting things, to imagine what lived in the caves or to throw rocks across the river.

For one section if the track we had to scrabble along some rocks at the bottom of a rocky cliff. We had to hold on to the cable that was attached to the rocks to make sure we didn't slip and fall into the river.

The best (and the trickiest!) part of the walk

It really wasn't that tricky but nan would have freaked out just watching us!

Just past the scrabbly rock area we found a nice little beach area to rest.

A beautiful place to rest, if you have time for rest!

Well a nice area for mum to rest for a few seconds before we found boulders we could use as stepping stones to get us to the other side of the river! Mum decided to come and see what we were up to. I don't think she was worried about what we were doing, but she did have her camera out just in case one of us fell in!

Jumping from one side of the gorge to the other

Luckily we crossed over the river and back (a few times) and didn't even get wet feet.

We could have spent all day exploring the gorge, it was amazing but we had to head back to the city - we had a dentist appointment to go to. Really, who schedules a dentist appointment on a day off school? I guess we will just have to come back and explore some more of the gorge another day.

Love Princess George

PS - I think we walked about 3kms each direction, plus another k of wandering (and trying to round up some sheep), 7kms - not a bad effort for a day off!

The Labyrinth

A public holiday and with school about to go back, it was the last day we were all likely to be home together for a month or 2.  It was the perfect reason to get out and about.  Dad planned an adventure for us to go exploring around the Yarra, in the Fairfield area.  We jumped in the car and headed out to have some fun.

Dad's plans went out the window when we saw a signpost that said 'Labyrinth' with an arrow pointing in the opposite direction.  Naturally we ignored Dad's directions and headed off to find the Labyrinth.

Now I don't know about you, but until now, all I knew about a Labyrinth is that it is a movie that is kinda scary, where everyone gets lost in a ginormous maze.  (I probably should watch the movie again now that I am older, hopefully it won't be so scary!)

Luckily the Labyrinth we found was nothing like that Labyrinth.  This Labyrinth was made from rocks and was a single pathway that we followed around and around until we made it to the middle.

Follow the Path

I tried to relax and enjoying the slow wander through the Labyrinth, but I don't wander slowly very well.  We are kids so going slow really isn't what we do.  In fact, we went through the Labyrinth twice and still managed to get back to the start before mum!

Getting there

Almost to the middle

One of the biggest challenges was to stay in between the rock walls instead of jumping over them!

We had a great time exploring the Labyrinth.

The Wishing Tree and the Labyrinth

Sometimes it is great to change plans at the last minute, to see what surprises are just around the corner.
Happy exploring,

Love Princess George

Cute and Cuddly on a Girl's Day Out

We had huge plans that we would spend Boxing Day relaxing by the lake but it wasn't very warm.  All the grown up boys went to play golf so the grown up girls decided to go for a driving adventure.  They asked if I wanted to join them but I decided that it would be more fun hanging out around the house so I said no thanks. 

Now that they are back home (and bragging!) I really wish that I had joined them, they found koalas.

Apparently there is a koala up in this tree ->, it is up really high in the tree, close to the top of the photo.  

They must have found koalas that were closer to the ground to see one up close like this.

They even found a koala with a cute little baby that was hanging on tight.

 I can't believe that Judy has only been in Australia for a few days and already she has seen koalas in the wild.  Maybe next time that I am invited for a drive I will join them.  Even better, maybe nan and pop will take me on an adventure to koala-land next year!

Love Princess George

Mansions for Millipedes

Normally when we go geocaching we spend our time running around looking for actual geocaches.  Today when we went geocaching we were looking for earth caches - we were learning about geographical features of the area.  We figured that as we were learning about how the different rock formations were created we would have a closer look.  By the way, all of the different rock formations in the area were created by lava flows about a million years ago.

As we were looking at the tessellated pavement we found heaps of millipedes.  Now of course these millipedes all needed somewhere to call home so we went millipede house hunting.

There are so many places to look for millipede mansions.

There could be some over here.

This millipede mansion is so big it could be a 5 star millipede resort.

Just so you get an idea of what a millipede is looking for when it is investing in real estate, I will show you one of our favourites.  This was one of the best millipede houses we found; plenty of places to rest, lots of rooms in the little holes in the rocks.  What makes this millipede mansion so impressive is the swimming pool with its own and the garden!  Who wouldn't love to live in a mansion with a beautiful swimming pool set in a garden that has plenty of dappled shade so that you don't overheat if the weather ever warms up.  We estimate that this millipede mansion would be worth about a million millipede dollars.

Have you ever been looking for millipede mansions?  It is heaps of fun, you should try it some time.
Love Princess George

Hunger Games

Have you read the Hunger Games series or even watched the Hunger Games movie?  I have and I have to say the books were awesome, so was the movie!  I'm not the only one who loves the Hunger Games, it is the most popular game to play at school.  The Hunger Games are so popular that some of my friends organised a Hunger Games birthday party.   

We all had to go to this big property in the bush where the games were held.  We split up into teams to represent each of the districts and then off we ran, up and down the hills and through the bush, trying to zombie-afy one another.  (Instead of killing one another and being out of the game, anyone 'killed' became a zombie and tried to create even more zombies.)   

We all had water guns, weapons made from paper or sticks we found as we ran through the bush.  I managed to get the coolest water gun from the stash at the cornucopia to use in the games.  (Hey Santa, I think a water gun like this might just make it to the top of my Christmas wish list!)

There was so much room to run wild, even little sisters and brothers were allowed to join in the games.  It meant there were more players to make into zombies!

I just have to say, that was the coolest birthday party EVER!  I had an awesome time and managed to survive the games without becoming a zombie.

Love AJ Pickle

Sundays in my City #19 - Serenity

Some weekends are just more fun than others and despite being super busy (again) this one was fun.
Yesterday, in between the busy-ness, we were hoping to catch up with friends.  Instead of going home to wait to hear back from them, we went exploring.  We went back to a fun place that we had explored a year or so ago to see what we could find.

We were hoping to rock hop across the river to find a geocache but with all the rain of late, the river was up an the rocks were all completely submerged.  Instead we headed uphill and had some fun playing Ninja Kicks before we made it to the temple at the top of the hill and then some rock jumping on the way back to the car.

I had forgotten just how beautiful a Buddhist temple can be and I love that this Buddha is perched on top of a hill yet remains hidden from most of the world.

Peeking out over the hill

Surveying the surroundings

Serenity

Whispers

I love re-finding hidden treasures in the neighbourhood.

If you want to join in the fun of Sundays in my City too, click on over to Unknown Mami.

Ninja Kicks

Ages and ages ago, we went wandering and found a really great place to explore and we were (almost) in the area again today, so we decided to go back there and see if we could find any geocaches.  There was only one cache in the area and it was the other side of the river.  We wandered down to where there was a ford so we could get to the other side.  Unfortunately, the river was slightly flooded and the rocks we would normally jump across were completely underwater.  We really couldn't get to the other side without swimming so we had to find something else to do.

Ready to Ninja Kick!

Then dad reminded me about Ninja Kicks, the giant thistles that were all dried that were along the path - they were perfect for kicking!


They flew for miles into the air.

Ouch!

It was great fun kicking the dried heads from the plants, the only problem was when you kicked too hard and slipped over - you landed in the thistles!

Have you ever played a game like ninja kicks?

Love AJ Pickle

Sunday's in my City #5 - Cape Schank

So today is Mothers Day but instead of being at home all day with my children, I was here, with the man who helped me become a mother.  We had a great day yesterday celebrating the wedding of our friends and spent the morning relaxing and exploring Cape Schanck before heading home to the family.

The lighthouse in Cape Schanck, before the dark clouds rolled in and the winds picked up.

Lighthouse

Walking to Pebble Beach.

On the boardwalk

Being chased by the ocean spray.

A little too close to the waves?

The storm clouds are rolling in, the wind is picking up but it is still beautiful.

Dark clouds and rising seas, beauty in the turmoil

Thank you for sharing this parenting journey with me, I love you 

If you want to join in the fun of Sundays in my City too, click on over to Unknown Mami.

Sunday in my City #3 - Climbing Mountains

We are joining in with Unknown Mami and Sunday in our City again and this time we are actually showing you what we did today.

Milla had soccer and it was an away game, far far away, out in the country.

Milla is #23

The best part of going all the way to the country for soccer is that we had a chance to catch up with grandma for lunch and then we went hiking.  Mum goes hiking out here all the time and today was the first chance that we had to climb Mt Macedon with her and some of her trekking friends.  It was a great walk, about 7km all up, we hope we can go hiking together again soon.

Family adventures are fun :-)

Now I know we complained that we had to go all the way out to the country for our adventures, but really it was only an hours drive away from where we live and we had great fun.  It is great exploring the countryside but we always love coming back home to Melbourne!

Magical Melbourne from CityLink

If you want to join in the fun of Sundays in my City too, click on over to Unknown Mami.

At the zoo with Sonal

Remember how mum went to India at the start of the year?  Well some of the friends she made in India came to Melbourne to learn and explore.  We were lucky enough to be able to spend time with Sonal at the Melbourne Zoo.

Of course we had to visit the Australian animals to make sure that Sonal had a chance to see them all before flying back to India… 

but mum also insisted that we visit the tigers as she didn’t get to see tigers in the wild when she was in India.  

I hope that one day I can go to India to visit Sonal.  Perhaps we would be lucky enough to see a tiger in the wild.

Love Princess George

Bring it on!

We have been trying to do as many American things as we can during our holiday here.  Trick or Treating last week was awesome and very American; it was just like we have seen on TV.  Today we tried another typically American thing - we went to the football to see the Brookline Warriors play the Milton Wildcats.

I have to say that I am not a big fan of football and I had never even heard of American Football before but since the rest of the family were going on an adventure I figured that I had better go along too.  I am really glad that I did, not because of the football but because of the cheerleaders.

In Action

The cheerleaders were way more interesting to watch than the football.  They were really friendly too, they lifted me over the fence onto the playing field so that I could have my photo taken with them.

Milla is a Wildcat :-)

It was like being a part of Bring It On.
Maybe if AJ moves to America to be an ice hockey player, I can be a cheerleader.
Love Princess George

Treasure Hunting in Boston

After the Duck Tour we had seen some pretty cool places that we wanted to visit properly but since we had 'seen' heaps of the typical touristy places we decided to explore and geocache at the same time.

Armed with the iPad for directions and co-ordinates, we head out on our treasure hunt.


There were muggles everywhere so we had to be pretty careful to find treasures without everyone else finding them.  Some we sat by for ages and ages before we had a chance to sneak in and grab the cache.

We managed to find a cache hidden in a church...

There was another one in the middle of Boston Common, right near this big monument...





But by far the nicest location for cache we found was by the banks of the Charles River...

If you haven't tried geocaching, you really should, it is the perfect way to explore a city!
Love AJ and Milla

Boston Ducks

So after the saga of finding a place to stay in Boston, we decided to sleep in a little before heading out to explore yet another new city.

When we did go out exploring we realised just how cold it was.  You can bet that mum reminded us a million times that 'it was a good thing we went shopping in Niagara!'

Yep, it's as cold as it looks!

OK, so she was right but that is not the point.  We were glad that we were rugged up and we continued our time exploring Boston, looking for some ducks.  Just up the road from where we were staying was Boston Public Garden.  It was a great place to wander but a few too many signs telling you too keep off the grass!  Luckily there were plenty of paths to follow.

Chilling with the Mallards!

Eventually we saw some ducks.  They weren't the kind of ducks we were expecting but they were pretty cute - statues of Mrs Mallard and their ducklings Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack and Quack.  They were the characters from the book Make Way for Ducklings that was apparently written about a family of ducklings who lived in Boston.  We haven't read the book yet.  In fact we hadn't heard about it until now but having seen the statues, finding the book is something we need to do.

Once we said goodbye to the ducklings we kept on exploring, looking for more ducks.  Finally we found the ducks we were actually looking for - the Boston Ducks.  We had read about the Boston Ducks on the internet and it sounded like a fun way to see a new city without having to walk everywhere for a change.

Look, it is our Duck :-)

The Ducks were funny little amphibious vehicles that drove us around the city streets to see the sights and then, can you believe it, straight into the river!

Once we were in the river, the driver decided that he needed a break so he let me drive.  It was pretty cool driving down the Duck down the river.  Eventually we convinced Milla to take the Duck for a drive too.

Duck Driver AJ

Duck Driver Milla

Us and our duck

  
The Boston Duck Tour was a great way to get around.  It showed us some pretty cool places that we can wander back to and explore some more.

It looks like Boston will be a great place to stay.
Love AJ Pickle