Winter holiday at the beach.

Spent a morning down at the Whale museum down in Eden and then could not go past the Eden Wharf and get fish and chips and watch the boats coming in and out. A favourite spot of ours to visit when in Eden. Pelican at Eden Wharf.

Tahlia at Eden beach.

Ben Boyd Tower.

Renee and Nige.

Tahlia and Nige

Don't mess with me seagulls.

Winter Holiday at the beach

We were lucky to spend some time up in Merimbula for a week as a family. Time to get away from daily routines and tasks. Was lovely to walk along the beach and look for shells and other items washed up on the beach. Nate has a new phase and that is fish. He is very interested in heading down to the piers and watching the men fish and loved to look at the information boards at the begining of the piers with all the different fish you can catch. His favourite fish is the "pancake fish". Can't remember it's actually name as we kept calling it the pancake fish all holiday.

Tahlia having lunch at a park in Bairnsdale.

Stayed in a 2 bedroom unit for the week and had a great deal, was cheaper then the caravan park. Merimbula is a lovely coastal town just over the NSW/Vic border, and a very popular place for retiree's and in summer tourists come in for the sun and surf. So was nice to be there when it was quiet. We have done day trips there in Summer (when staying at Mallacoota) and it is very busy in the Summer time.

Tahlia.

Left around 8am in the morning and got to Merimbula by 5pm. Stopped at Bairnsdale for a much needed break so the kids could run around and we could have some lunch before we started the next leg of the journey. A talking book is a great way to travel, we like listening to Morris Gleitzmen.

Our ticklish boy.

Nige was lucky enough to celebrate his birthday while we were away. Don't we all love birthdays. Had a quiet day walking around Merimbula and Renee and the kids made (before we went on holidays) a yummy chocolate mud cake (his fav) for his birthday.

Took all 3 of them to blow out the candles.

There is a lovely place called Oaklands in Pambula and we took the kids there one afternoon as we heard it had a barn that had farm animals in that you were able to feed and pat for free. It had very noise piglets, rabbits, baby rabbits, calves, kids and goats, lambs and sheep, birds, ducks, 2 camels, and a beautiful old draught horse.

Tahlia and her little friend.

Nate had a toy camera and had to take it into the barn and try his luck at photography. Wonder if he is any better then mummy and daddy.

Photographer Nate at work.

Beautiful Tahlia

Renee has a photo of her on her dad's back hiking down at Wilson's Prom at the same age Tahlia is in this photo. Brings back memories.

We did a lot of beach walking, and such wonderful weather for the beach and taking long walks. Looking for shells and things. The kids had a ball on the beach and was nice to be able to walk and not worry about traffic or the kids running off. The kids had the run of the beach.

Another week. Sorry not many photos at all this week. Been getting to slack. No really Renee has been taking the kids for a lot of walks. Nate loves to walk, and these have been 1 1/2 hour walks where Nate pretty much runs in front. And if you know the area where we live there are not many flat spots... Just a lot of hills... so if you go down you certainly have a hill to climb!

Nate is learning his numbers and letters and really enjoying it. He now knows his own name and everytime he sees the letter "N" he gets very excited. So when out walking he had to stop at every letter box and ask the number. Of course he knows the #4 as he is 4 (so he keeps telling us).

Both kids are coming out with funny little says. Nate told Renee that she is not allowed hiking, and the reason why? Because she is not a boy. Nige went hiking over the long weekend with Keith (Renee's dad), Neil (renee's uncle) and good family friend Kev. So when asked why Nate was not there his answer " i can go when l am taller".... so now Renee has been banned from hiking by a 4 year old. Will have to stick to the local streets then.

Renee took the kids to church on Sunday and they were just full of beans but had to laugh at Nate's comment to a male friend. He was sitting in front of us and Nate leaned over and asked (quite loudly) "Excuse me, why do you have a hairy face". The answer he got was "it's a man thing"....

Tahlia is also getting cheeky and this was the best comment for the week (one to go in the comment book)... Nate was asleep (after a hard day of play) and Nige and Renee were in Tahlia's room. She asked to lie in her bed and gave us cuddles. Nige asks "do you love me" to Tahlia and her reply was "No l love mummy" ( a mummies girl). So he pretends to cry. Renee said to Tahlia "oh you made daddy cry, give daddy a cuddle". To which she starts stroking his face and then comes out with "Daddy stop whinging".... The cheeky monkey.


Tahlia after eating chocolate mousse

Took the kids to Kinglake on Queens Birthday Public Holiday. Nige had come back a day early from the hike as it was too wet and Keith had not been to well. Kinglake was pretty much wiped out in the Black Saturday bush fires this year. A lot more people died in the fires (compareed to Marysville) as they were trapped trying to escape. It was shocking to see how far the fire traveled that fateful day. Stopped at the bakery and got some yummy goodies. It was freezing there and made us sad to think people have lost their homes and some are living in tents and caravans while they rebuild their homes.


Nate after eating chocolate mousse

Has been colder here now and winter has really set in. This morning it was a chilly 3 degrees and we were sure there was snow in the nearby hills. Has been raining on and off all day and is only a chilly 7 degrees (at 1pm). But good to see the rain falling.

Well till next week.

Over the weekend we spent the afternoon down at Marysville or what is left of the lovely little town after Black Saturday. It was surreal being there, and hard to get your bearings with most of the town wiped out. We wanted to head to Stevenson's falls and headed up the road that we thought took us there. Or thought it was. We headed to a place we had never been to before called Keppel's lookout. It was quite eerie up there, driving along a dirt road with blackend trees surrounding us. Not a green leaf or bush in sight.

Got to the top of the lookout and got out to have a look. The kids were asleep so Nige and Renee walked around the still blackend ground, crunching under our shoes. Even the rocks were speckled with black specks of soot and ash.


The car stands out against the background.



Nige checking out the view. We believe there used to be a platform that you used to stand on to admire the view.. all that is left is the wire netting that was part of the platform you know the stuff to stop you slipping over when wet.. Hard to imagine where Nige is standing once would have been full of trees, ferns and plants and nothing left other then black trees.




Regrowth.


Next we walked around the town which has been cleared of the rubble and what is left is surrounded by those temporary fences. Hard to even imagine what was there for those tourist but still very raw for the town folk and families. The bakery is one of the only things left in the town with the buildings surrounding it all gone. Tourists gathered around the bakery in support for this once beautiful little town at the foot on the snow hills.


The rest of the photos we took of around and near the town. We respect those who have lost their homes or loved ones in the fires. We hope none of the photos upset anyone.

Till next week!