Australian Wildlife Encounters No.3

At Cotter Dam we spotted a tree full of Black Cockatoos (yellow tailed Black Cockatoos I believe). It was pretty exciting (for me!) as I'd never seen them before. Unfortunately they were quite high up in a tree so mine is a bit of a poor picture, the one on the left is what they look like if taken by a decent photographer..

Happy Christmas!

Amy's parents (Ivor and Wendy) are visiting us over Christmas. It's been really nice to see them and they've enjoyed spending time in Canberra and seeing Audrey (and hopefully us as well!)

We've taken them round some of Canberra's many sites. We had a lovely picnic on Boxing Day in the Botanic Gardens (one of my favourite spots in the city) and spent yesterday at Cockington Green a minature village just north of the city centre.

We also took in the new Portrait Gallery. Audrey particularly enjoyed racing around the galleries 'talking' as she went while me and Amy took turns in pursuing her. Note to self: investigate reigns!

The weather has been lovely over the Christmas period with temperatures in the high 20s but still with a nice breeze. We've also had a couple of big storms that have kept the plants growing.

Audrey, Amy, Wendy, Ivor and Trevor by the edge of Lake Burley Griffin

On the hazards of sleeping on a blow-up mattress when your in-laws come to stay for Christmas..

Our blow-up bed has sprung a leak, so they’re lying when they say,
It gives you rest that is unique, aren’t they?

.

Canberra Storm

Just in case you think it's always sunny in Canberra I thought I'd include this to balance things out a bit, it shows a big storm we had a couple of days after Christmas. The thunder was right over-head.

Audrey Opening Her Presents

Here's a short video of Audrey opening her presents on Christmas morning. It's not really an acadamy award winner but never mind. I'm sure the excitement around Christmas will build as she grows older (at 16 months old she doesn't really know what's going on other than seeing that a wilted tree has appeared in the corner of the room)

Ho Ho Ho!

Today was Audrey's playgroup Christmas Party. The group met at Edison Park in Woden in a nice shady spot under a tree. It was lovely for me to see everyone again (I took half a days leave from work) and the party was held in beautiful weather (it's forecast to be 30 degrees C for Christmas)

Everyone was in the mood for Christmas. People brought lots of tasty bites to eat and the kids really enjoyed charging around the park together.

One of the highlights of the party was the arrival of Father Christmas who delighted/scared the children in equal measure. I'm not sure how he found Edison Park en-route from the North Pole, but he looked kind-of familiar. I was especially surprised to find that he had an English accent!

Christmas Quiz 2008

Last year I did a Christmas Quiz, which a few readers enjoyed. It'll help pass the time during Christmas day, just before watching Live and Let Die for the fifteenth time. Here is 2008's offering - you should be able to print it from here...
Christmas Quiz No.2

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Hobby fun quiz

Alternatively you can view it here...

Christmas Quiz No.2

If you have no joy from either of these routes, then drop me an e-mail and I'll send you a copy.