Milli, Jack and the Dancing Cat

Zoe's year 2 class performing a dance.

Class 2S performing.

Happy at the end of the final performance.

Backstage

The Copacabana K-2 put on a musical based on the book: "Milli, Jack and the Dancing Cat"

authored by Stephen Michael King. Zoe's teacher put the book to music and the children danced in between reading/reciting the picture book to the audience.

On the way out of the theatre.

After many weeks of practice during the school day, there were four performances. The first was a matinee for the older students and teachers/staff. Then there were two night performances and a matinee performance. Zoe was tired but happy at the end of it.

Just a glimpse.

The children were all adorable. They performed quite well. I was fortunate enough to be in the audience on both evening performances. They out did themselves in the final performance.

All performers onstage at the finale.

Nippers

Neo wearing his Copa Surf club Nippers uniform.

The cap is what under 6s wear.

Nippers is a surf/beach learning classroom for children from 5 to 14. Nippers is run through the volunteer surf clubs. We decided to join the Copacabana surf life saving club. Neo and Clara are eager participants. Zoe has attended 3 of 5 sessions so far this year. Here's the link to Nippers.

Zoe's under 9s group (red cap) practice how to swim under waves.

Clara and Zoe had to pass swim tests in the pool. Clara had to swim 200 meters in 5 minutes. She made the time, but held onto the side too many times to catch her breath. They said they'll keep an eye on her as they go out - which is good to know. Zoe had to swim 25 meters and pass a flotation test. She did fine.

Neo paddling a board in the rock pool.

On Zoe's first day at the beach, she went out the furthest she has ever ventured in the ocean. The water safety team had people stationed out and back making it very safe.

Clara does board training. Because of her age, she is beginning training to become a member of a patrol team. She has already learned CPR. Her time on the beach is spent mostly on the boards.

I took the Senior First Aid training offered by the surf club. I can tell you that CPR has changed over the years. I hope to become an active member which means I'll help to patrol the beach. Another set of eyes. Hopefully I won't need any first aid knowledge.

Neo loves nippers.

Bubbles, Book Sale & Blue Tongue

Neo and Zoe with bubble wands and bubbles

First day of October and it was a busy Saturday. Dave and I walked down to the beach for our morning date. We have coffee at the Beach Club every Saturday. We walked over to MacMasters' Progress Hall for the semi-annual book sale. We bought several books for a donation. The sale was so much fun, I took the kids over again after lunch and bought another bag full of books. They also had a dog show, which we enjoyed very much. Many dogs were wearing costumes.

Blue tongue lizard showing how he got his name.

At home, the kids observed a blue tongue lizard in the backyard. Tristan put on my leather garden gloves and caught him. He said the lizard was very strong. The rest of us petted him and took pictures. It's the first time Tristan has caught a blue tongue lizard.

Tristan said the Blue Tongue lizard was strong. He doesn't sun in our yard anymore.

Later Clara photographed the kids blowing bubbles in the backyard. They also went to a short swim in the pool.

Big, beautiful, bubbles.

Just a note about my car. The dealer provided us with a loaner vehicle for a week while they repaired the damage caused by their automated car wash. The car was restored to new condition. Then in mid-October, I heard what I thought was a stone lodged in my tire. Clara and I were driving in the car when quickly found out it was a nail...and the tire was flat. There was damage to the tire wall (tyre as they spell it here) had to be replaced. Hopefully that's it for the car dramas now.

Python in our backyard.

Speaking of reptiles in the back yard. We had a python in our backyard. The whole family was invited to come and see it first hand.

Flat Stanley does Bondi

Flat Stanley at Bondi Beach - (I like the small people above the sign)

Panorama of Bondi

Tristan's 4th grade class created Flat Stanley at the end of Term 3. Their assignment these school holidays is to take pictures with Flat Stanley in various (iconic) places. We have never been to Bondi Beach. On Tristan's birthday we went to Bondi.

Kids on playground at park by Bondi Beach

Neo watching/feeding ibis

Kids enjoyed feeding the pigeons

The day was warm with gusts of wind. We packed a lunch to grill on the barbie. While I was grilling, Clara cut the bread. She had some crumbs which she threw to the 3-4 pigeons that had come to partake of our lunch. Instantly more then 20 pigeons and an ibis descended on us. We had a fast lunch between holding our plates down and keeping the birds at bay! The kids enjoyed feeding the birds after eating.

All the kids played on the playground. Then we went for a walk along the coastal track. The Bondi rock pool is really special - 50m with swim lanes.

Big rock must be climbed.

Along the coastal walk near Bondi

Bondi's rock pool

On the way home, we stopped at an automated car wash. The car wash damaged my new car! I was so distressed. They say they'll fix it and give me a rental while they do so. We have to bring the car in next week.

My poor car!

Somersby Waterfall Pics & Video

Somersby Falls Photos and Video (on YouTube)

We recently went to the Somersby Waterfall. While the kids were busy exploring, I took many photos and a couple of videos. Here are some pictures of the afternoon.

I uploaded one video to YouTube - click for link.

Wonderful, peaceful place. Also great place to play.

Wattle Flat over the Blue Mountains

Over the Blue Mountains

Sunset over my new car

We traveled over the Blue Mountains for the first time in August.

On the way, we stopped at the dealer to pickup my new car - see previous post. It really handles well and has good power even fully loaded.

We traveled on The Bells Line of Road - a more scenic route, and we were told less road construction. In the mountains there were many apple orchards. There were also several roadside stands with fresh apple pie. The pie was delicious.

The country is very different to what we see along the coast. Open spaces. Wild kangaroo and wallaby. It was the first time we had seen wild kangaroo. We also saw many dead wombat on the side of the road. I had no idea they were so large.

The Blue Gum cabin.

Countryside

The cabin we stayed in, The Blue Gum, was wonderful. It had a really nice wood stove and plenty of wood, which kept the main area toasty. There was frost overnight. The bathroom had a whirlpool tub and a modern composting toilet. Zoe was freaked out by the toilet.

At night, we could see many details of the Milky Way. The sky was so vast and clear. Amazing!

Countryside

Sofala is a sleepy little town - but the tavern was doing a brisk business

Above - Tristan's gold spec and Chris our teacher.

We went gold panning while there. We hired an amateur geologist to teach us how. Dave and I got into it. Tristan found the largest spec of gold. I even found a few specs of platinum. The kids lost interest after a while but went down the creek to build dams.

We enjoyed our overnight in the country.

Out with the Old, In with the New

Trajet in 2008


Trajet in August 2011, just before we sold it.

Back of the Trajet - I was rear-end the day before trading it in

When we were planning our first adventure in Australia in 2008, I looked for an inexpensive used car that we could buy to use for 8 months. The car we purchased was a 2001 Hyundai Trajet. A nice little "people mover" (Aussie term for mini van). The Trajet wasn't the best looking vehicle, but the inspection came out well and it had fewer then 200k km. We learned how to drive on the other side of the road with it (which means little bumps and dings due to slight miscalculations). We drove from Brisbane to Sydney in it. It served us well for the 8 months we were in Australia. At the end of our time in July 2009, we parked the car for 13 months with our belongings inside.

When we returned to Australia in August 2010, 13 months of the car sitting out in the sun and rain had not done it any favors. The paint on the bonnet (Aussie for hood) had peeled. We got it running again and registered it for another year. It served us well. But we were concerned about the integrity of the vehicle. As we approached the end of the registration period, we decided investing another $1,000 on the car to register it ($400 for CTP Insurance, $313 for registration, and $200+ for Road Worthy Certificate) was better spent buying a new car.

Sunroof

The Kia Rondo is narrower then the Hyundai Trajet


The Rondo is slightly shorter then the Trajet too....
less storage space when all seats are in use

Meet our Kia Rondo EX- Limited. It is a 2010 dealer vehicle with 9,000 km. It has 7-seats (people mover) with a sun roof, leather, 6 air bags, and USB port. I'm really thrilled with it. We picked it up on Friday 18, August and immediately went on a short family holiday to the country (I'll make a separate post) - just west of the Blue Mountains. The car ran 800 km in the first 2 days we owned it. It still has 4 years left on the 5 year, unlimited kilometers warranty Kia provides. We also received a 6 month registration (CTP Insurance and Registration fees paid by the dealer).

I'm really enjoying the new Kia!

Putty Beach Boardwalk

Rocks below the Gerrin Point lookout

We have walked most of the paths in the Bouddi National Park and areas surrounding us. One of the major exceptions was the Putty Beach Boardwalk. Many have recommended it to us, but we were slow to take them up on it. We finally went on a recent Sunday in July and this is what we saw.


Tristan in front of a small cave on Bullimah Beach

Upclose look at the beach materials


Bullimah Beach

Our family

Rocks and waves below the boardwalk trail

Boardwalk stretches from Putty Beach to Bullimah Beach


Trolling for a sliver ?

Boardwalk

Dave

Along the way, Neo and then Zoe picked up slivers in their hands. Even so, it was a wonderful family walk and great views!