Popping up

Don't you love how flowers just pop up out of your garden?

These guys were popping up and down too!

Red sky

The sunrise this morning was so red and beautiful, but it was gone in the blink of and eye.  It was very uplifting and calming and it reminded me of a red sky I once saw in February 2003.  We had been down to Jindabyne to look at some land and were going to camp in Canberra (to do what we finally just did), but could go no further than Cooma, a town just south of Canberra.

It was 3pm, the sky was dark and red, a thick heavy orange/red.....the air was red, and ash was falling from the sky.  It was as if a volcano had errupted and was spewing volcanic ash and fire all around us but it was quiet, very quiet.  

The road north to Canberra was closed.  The Canberra fires had consumed the outskirts of the city and devastated many families and their houses.  We had no clue as to which direction the fires were coming from or going to.  It was still a long way away, but the intensity of the sky and air was amazing, beautiful and scary.  I can't imagine what the people in the Victorian bush fires are still going through.

So we headed to the coast in our faithful old van and camped there.

I pray that the cool southerly change comes through today to dampen the fires still roaring in Victoria.  Our boys pray every night that the fires will stop and the people and animals won't be harmed.  I will always remember Cooma and how red the sky was.

Canberra trip - day 3

Donald made breakfast for us of pancakes and bacon, but everytime he tried to cook a pancake on the pan it burnt, not necessarily through Donald's fault (cause Donald makes great pancakes) a combination of the thin dodgy pan, the shake and bake pancake mix and gas stove top.  So every time a pancake was cooked the fire alarm went off.  It went off about 5 times.  I ended up standing on a chair fanning the fire alarm with the Canberra travel guide.  Needless to say only 5 pancakes were made.  I'm suprised the neighbours didn't complain or the manangement come out in their pj's to see who's cabin was on fire.

Anyway we packed the car and headed for Parliament House (PH) again.  This time we got to tour through the inside.  On my school trip in year 7 we got to visit inside the old PH and attended morning tea with Flo Bjelke-Petersen, so the new PH was astonishing.  What an amazing place with lots of incredible details inside by Australian artists and designers.  


My favourite things to see were, the inlaid wooden designs of Australian flora all around the entrance of PH, 

an Arthur Boyd painting (I'm rather partial to an Arthur Boyd painting)... 

...that was created as a design for this magnificent tapestry, a bit blurry sorry.  

The silky oak benches everywhere, I wanted to rip one up and take it home with me.

 

Donald was our tour guide, as he'd been here before on his way down to Moto GP, so we toured the building and various parliamentary rooms with commentary by Donald.  

The Green room, House of Representatives

The Pinky/Red Room, The Senate

The Throne room

Sorry about that one, that just slipped in there, the throne room from PH.  We also went up on the roof top for the spectacular views of Canberra.  

The old PH in the distance

Crazy kids

Kids getting in trouble

Kids in various stages of "time out"

To be continued.....

Canberra trip - day 2

Our main purpose for visiting Canberra was to visit the Australian War Memorial. I hadn't been there since my year 7 Snowy Mountains/Canberra trip back in 19somethingorother.  It is an amazing place full of Australian military history, memories and days gone by.  We spent 5 hours there.  Not only is it a war memorial but it has a huge museum inside.  Donald and the boys were in heaven when we spotted the tank and the Amiens gun.

The boys had an incredible time watching, reading, learning and dressing up (me too).  I think my boys look good as peace keepers or how about nurse Lisha off to tend to the wounded soldiers.

My favourite parts of the war memorial were rather moving and beautiful.  The Roll of Honour and the specially placed poppies, the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier with tiled mosaics and stained glass windows, the sandstone walls and arches looking up to the Roll of Honour and the gargoyles sculpted out of sandstone of the Australian People and Animals.

Beds and Cupboards

This is how the boys went to bed both nights while we were in Canberra, Toby jumping on the top bunk and Sam and Ethan sharing (wrestling) down on the bottom bunk.

This is what we woke up to both mornings, finding one or all three of our boys hiding in the cupboards. It was a novelty as the cupboards were empty, unlike our jam packed cupboards at home.  A perfect hiding place.

Canberra trip - day 1

We have been promising ourselves a trip to Canberra for a couple of years now and we finally did it.  We packed the car Friday, took the boys out of school early and headed south for our Nations Capital.  Now a trip with the Walkers is never complete without some car trouble or other.  Nothing major this time just more bits and pieces falling off the Millenium (Horrendous) Falcon.  Our car is literally held together by black tape....all except those bits which fell off.

Nothing like a little interlude on a family car trip, trees to pee against, pine cones to discover and views as far as the eyes can see.

Late Friday afternoon we rolled into Canberra.  Our first stop was Parliament house.

We spent a little time walking around and talking a little about why Parliament house was so important, Donald is a wealth of information and the boys listened attentively.

.......and then the boys went running up the grass hill that covers the side of Parliament House and we enjoyed the view of the old Parliament House and the War Memorial in the distance.

Then the boys ran down to the bottom and Donald attempted a roll down the hill.  The grass was just so soft, I walked down bare foot thank you very much, I didn't fancy throwing up at the bottom from rolling down.

Singing in the rain

On our walk last Sunday morning Ethan asked me why we were carrying our umbrellas, it was cloudy but not rainy when we started out.  This is why.......

The rain bucketed down on our way home.

Ashley James

My cousin Kerri (who had the lovely baby shower last month) and her husband Mitchell have had their first baby.  On Monday February 16, Ashley James Corn was born and I got to see him today.  What a little cutie.  He's a very peaceful baby and he's just delicious!  Kerri and Mitchell are doing fantastic too!