Audrey, Annie and the Armadillos

We paid another visit to the Botanic Gardens this weekend, together with our friends Kim and Mark and their lovely little boy Rory. It was a beautiful summer evening and there were even more people there than the week before.

Here's a video clip of Audrey getting down to the music.




On Sunday I went to watch Wolves game with Bristol City. It was a shame it finished 2-2 as Wolves really deserved (and needed) the points. The game was noteable as it was played in some of the worst weather I have ever seen a match take place in. The TV kept focussing in on a ball-boy sat huddled by the corner flag as the freezing horizontal rain whipped him and the supporters around him.

By contrast when I left the pub where I had watched the game, the outside temperature was 28 degrees C and me Amy and Audrey then spent the afternoon in an outdoor swimming pool in nearby Phillip.

Baby Scan

I know these things look a bit like Rorschach inkblot tests, but they are actually pics of baby no.2 due in early May! Looking back at Audrey's scans it looks like the Polish ones gave us a bit more of a 3-D impression!

We found out from the scan that we're having a little boy!

If you go down to the woods today...

Here's a pic of Audrey enjoying a teddy bears picnic!

Summer concerts on the Eucalypt Lawn

During January the Botanic Gardens in Canberra host a series of summer concerts on Saturday and Sunday nights.

The three of us took a picnic along and listened to a really great band play bluegrass and country music. It was a lovely warm evening and the lady accordian player who lead the group was superb.

Audrey loved the music - and also enjoyed wandering between the other picnic-ers and seeing whether the food they had bought with them bettered ours.

The Eucalypt lawn is a lovely venue too. There are (believe it or not) over 700 species of Eucalyptus native to Australia and many of them are on the large undulating lawn.

Unnervingly though I had learnt at our last visit to the Gardens, that one of the species of Eucalypt is known as 'widow maker' as the tree frequently sheds large branches without warning. The knowledge of this, put me on edge throughout the night. Fortunately though no catastophes occurred to us or any of the hundreds of picnic-ers there!

Christmas Quiz (the Answers)

If you took part in the Christmas Quiz I published in December please find answers by clicking here

A Zed and Two Noughts

Besides the mass of flagpoles scattered round the city, one of the things I've noticed since we've arrived in Canberra is the prevalence of the word 'National'.

It seems if your organisation is in Canberra then putting 'National' in the title of the building/event/company makes it somehow more prestigious. It gives you an excuse for pretending to be substantial while at the same time not really meaning anything at all.

Hence we have The National Gallery, and The National Museum (ok, fair enough)

But there are also some decidedly questionable uses of the phrase;

The 'National' Carrilion (the 55 bells the country clearly turns to when they are in need of a bell recital)

The 'National' Rose Garden (really is this the best Australia can do?)

Radio National (hmmmmm a bit dubious)

There must as a result be a lot of disappointed diplomatic visitors to Canberra who return to their home country thinking they'd seen Australia's biggest and best when in fact they'd just been conned by the misuse of the word 'national'.

I added a new one to my list on Saturday The 'National' Zoo.

It wasn't that the three of us didn't have a good time, but to describe the small wildlife park as the 'National' Zoo, seemed a bit comical. Like most zoos, it contained the usual array of demented animals pacing their cages, narcoleptic lions, and overweight zebras who would be ridiculously easy prey if they ever got within 500miles of their natural environment. At $26 per person (they even wanted us to pay for Audrey) entrance was a bit steep as well.

Still, Audrey seemed to enjoy herself. She always loves the aquarium (I guess it's the bright colours of the fish) and we had trouble dragging her away from the giraffes.

I guess we should be honoured to have the 'National' Zoo just 5 minutes drive from where we live, but I'm not sure we'll become regular visitors there. Even the cage containing kangaroos stood empty and if you can't do kangaroos in an Australian zoo then the 'National' mantle is a bit rich isn't it?

Audrey enjoying the giraffes

Happy New Year!

We brought in the New Year watching a great film (The Kite Runner) with Amy's parents. We made it till 11.45pm before heading off to bed. There, me and Amy listened to probably one of the funniest pieces of radio I'd heard since Brian Johnston - two local ABC radio DJs trying to describe the midnight fireworks display in Canberra centre.

DJ No.1: 'Ooh there goes a blue one!'
DJ No.2: 'Ooooh a red one!'
DJ No.1: 'Oooh another blue one!'

It wasn't intended to be funny, but I guess fireworks weren't really designed to be described over the radio.

On New Years Day we headed to Cotter Dam for a picnic. It was lovely weather and we enjoyed a feast of sausages before taking a short walk along the edge of the river. Audrey walked a fair distance which was pretty good considering she'd already spent a lot of time running around with her Pop!

Happy New Year Everyone!