Nanga Challenge 2017

Inspired by Rich Bannister’s efforts in the UTMB, Dave decided he ought to get off his bottom and do the Nanga Challenge. Rhys was already entered so the Marshalls, Jameses and Smiths headed to Nanga Mill Friday afternoon in time to set up camp before the race on Saturday morning. For some reason Andy was not racing and was team mascot instead.

We camped at Nanga Mill in Dwellingup which is fast becoming a regular spot. There is a creek at the bottom (where the kids love to build dams and get as many clothes wet as possible), Turner Hill is not far for a 10km MTB loop and there is plenty of dirt for the babies to eat.

The race on Saturday morning consisted of a 15km river paddle (7.5 downstream then back up again), 30km MTB and a 12km run. From what the boys said it will probably not be redone as the courses were less than exciting, but at least the Murray has now been paddled.

We had a jaffle contest for dinner Saturday night. Rhys, as usual, went all out and produced a beef Wellington jaffle! It was excellent though I was very happy with my rather less labour intensive Camembert and bacon. Ellis of course went cheeseless and had beans and mushrooms.

There were dessert jaffles too with apples, cinnamon, raisin toast and rhubarb etc. the kids were happy toasting marshmallows over the 2 fires we had going.

Sunday morning Sara and I went for a bike at Turner Hill. Andy and Dave had bets going that we would not find it. What a fuss over nothing; we found it with no difficulty at all and there was only one comedy stack by Sara thanks to some pea gravel and a black boy!

JP and Helen arrived Saturday morning with Roman and Byron to add to the feral kid count. Only one (Paw Patrol) toy lost to the river and only one Freddy brick eaten by Alfie the dog!

Thanks everyone for a great weekend.

Wellington Dam

4 families headed off to Wellington Dam for some winter camping. The forecast was cold and a bit damp but we decided to go anyway. 

Ben and Amanda made an awesome boeuf bourguignon over the fire for Saturday night. JP made damper to whet our appetites and Sara and Andy made a fab berry crumble.  Dave and I were on salad duty which somehow got forgotten on the night but I don’t think was missed by anybody!

The kids had a great time pedalling around the pump track Saturday morning followed by a short trip down to the lake to burn off some energy before devouring marshmallows toasted on the fire. 

Sunday morning we all got packed before heading off to the MTB trails. The girls went first and had a super ride before relieving the dads of kid duties so they could have a short pedal. 

A bite to eat at a local brewery finished off the weekend before we all headed up home for work and school on Monday.  We left wishing that we were staying longer which is always a good sign when away for a weekend. 

Thank you to the Fords for providing us with a yummy BBQ dinner on our return to Perth! We brought sticky date pudding for dessert (Sara put the idea in my head over the weekend and nothing else would do). 

Easter 2017

9 families headed south to Dunsborough for Easter weekend. We were an impressive presence at the Dunsborough Lakes Caravan Park until the Tuesday after Easter. The kids (all 20 of them) had a great time biking, playing mini golf and riding the float with the Easter bunny!

When not wrangling an army of children the adults and older kids did some MTBing at the Pines in Margaret River. At the top of the new tracks we spotted some unsavoury wildlife… 

Luckily there were no kids playing in the mound when we found it. 

After Dunsborough most families left to return home. Three of us stayed on and went the 8km down the road to Yallingup Beach. It was a very relaxing part 2 to the holiday. We went on walks, did more biking and of course visited a couple of  wineries!

The boys did some supping and Kristie, Kate and I went on a rather exhaustingly sandy trail run!

Van celebrates his 7th birthday in Yallingup so of course there was cake to round the day of biking off. 

Until next year!

Dwellingup, March 2017

After last weekend’s overnight success camping at Lake Leschenaultia we headed to Nanga Mill campground at Lane Pool Reserve with the Marshall Clan. 

Ellis, Freddy and Lara collected Dave from work in the Delorian and managed the 1:30h drive without needing to stop and feed 5.5 week old Freddy. 

Andy and Sara found a nice flat spot near the stream for the trailers while Ellis and Sam had their first adventure for the weekend. 

There is so much to do with the (older) kids down there and we tried to cram in as much as possible!

Saturday morning we all headed for a 2.1km walk which the kids did without any whinging! 

Dave then took Ellis for a MTB ride while Freddy had some more milk. 

Sunday Ellis went on the treetop adventure which she loved, going on each course 3 times. 

And Ellis also gave some (very small) Rapids a go!

It was a fab weekend and we are looking forward to a repeat adventure!

Freddy

Then there were 4!

Frederick Wellesley Tadeusz Smith joined us 4 weeks before due date and one day after the originally planned cesarean. 


He was a healthy 2.8kg and after 22mins of CPAP we were able to go into recovery and back to the ward. I lost 1.3l of blood which left my already low iron levels even lower. 

Freddy needed to go under the grill repeatedly as his body temp kept dropping below 36’C despite multiple clothing layers and hats!

We were allowed out on Saturday 11th Feb which meant celebrating Ellis’ 6th birthday at King Eddy’s!

Holland Track

Spent 3 Days driving the Holland Track.  This track was originally cut by John Holland a Gold prospector in the early 1900’s.  We headed off from Hyden after checking out Wave rock and drove for the next 3 days through the Bush.  We had mud, water and sand in equal measures along the way.

Two awesome camp sites with decent camp fires and the odd beer.  No one got stuck, no one broke any thing.  A very enjoyable weekend, Jim i think is still scared from picking up stuff he shouldn’t have.  Now all i have to do is clean the car…. it may take some time.

 

Nearly flattened this little fella, to his dues, he stood his ground and won the game of chicken!
On top of Mount Holland, 360 degree views, a whole lot of nothing!
View from the Top of Wave Rock in Hyden
my chafing skills. baked potatoes with cheese in the coals, steak, corn on the cob and corguette
Pete leading the way
Clever people build small walls around the rock all slowly leading to a reservoir to collect water
Coming towards Gnomma Hole
us at the start
Jim coming down from Mount Holland
Pleasant to wake up to
climbing the trig point and drinking beer, seemed an amazing idea at 11pm
gives you a sense of how big this country is!
i was squealling inside
the three cars
The plaque at the start showing Props to John Holland who pioneered this track in the early 1900’s

Merrit Award

Ellis received a Merrit award today at school! Very proud moment. 

   
    
 

Off to Blighty

Dave dropped Ellis and I at the airport for our trip to the UK. Ellis has been excited since she found out we were going and the days have meticulously been counted down!

Everything went relatively smoothly once I had activated my bank cards to work outside of Australia. Not the best organisation on my part. Luckily I had my laptop so was able to sort it out in Dubai (after eating all the food we had ordered I did wonder if we would be doing washing up). 

Ellis also managed to spill her Soup and her Noodles all over the place on two seperate occasions. The noodles were not so much of an issue as they went in the seat pocket in front of her. The newly presented soup however went in her lap and all over Ouioui and the seats. She was covered. After we stripped the hot clothes off her and gave her a wipe down in the loo I got her the spare t-shirt and undies. Unfortunately I didn’t think she’d need a new skirt so she had to wear my jumper round her waist for the rest of the flight. 

We had a lovely reunion at the exceptionally busy Gatwick with Mum and Dad and trotted off to find the car. Luckily it was at this point I realised I had left Ellis’ booster seat on the carousel. Thanks to a very helpful member of Gatwick staff we got it back rather quickly. (No thanks to the totally unmanned information desk with phone list of unobtainable numbers). 

It is now 6 am. Ellis has pretty much slept since we arrived at 1pm other than to eat some Spaghetti Bolognaise. Good girl! 

    
    
   

Update: 7:15am

Turns out she didn’t sleep all night. Poor Grumpsy ended up downstairs after she was talking to Granny for an hour at 3 in the morning. On the plus side Granny got lovely cuddles in bed. On the down, Grumpsy slept on the sofa with Rommel. 

Easter Weekend in Denmark

Dave and Ellis took Thursday off to head down to Denmark for Easter. We travelled the 400+km without a hitch and only one pit stop at Kojunup for coffee and a play. We spent most of the day driving and setting up camp along with the Edwards, Jameses, Hudsons and Marshalls. Luckily at the camp site there was a great play park and bouncy pillow to keep the kids entertained while the adults drank beer and got sorted. 

   
   
The kids were great and spent much of the time entertaining themselves. There was also a birthday party with pin the tail on the donkey!

We had a great walk to Monkey Rock which provided excellent views and very nearly a heart attack for Kate with kamikaze Dylan at the top!

  
We also paid a visit to Ocean Beach where we recreated the beach olympics but this time to music (thanks Rhys). 

   
 Saturday was rather wet but that was not any issue once we agreed to jumping in puddles! 

  

How to make orange juice

How to make Ellis orange juice.

Step 1. Climb tree in back garden and shake as hard as you can  

 
Step 2. Collect oranges into bowl and looked pleased about yourself

  
 Step 3. Get Dylan over to help you squeeze them 
Step 4. Hug Dylan and drink juice