Dreamworks Exhibition - National Museum of Australia

There's a Dreamworks exhibition at the NMA at the moment - it focuses on the incredible cartoons from the company - they're responsible for everything from Shrek through to Kungfu Panda and How to Train your Dragon.

It was really interesting learning about the art and incredible skill and patience that goes into making an animated cartoon. Throughout the exhibition you had the opportunity to look at scenes and 'tweak' it by changing the lighting or sound and there was a good array of models that are sometimes fashioned so that artists working on a computer can accurately measure elements (arms, legs etc) of a character.

At the end of the exhibition was a really good animators room where you could put together simple drawings of your own - such as this one which I drew! I think I'm a long way from being called in by DreamWorks though unfortunately.

Garlic progressing well

I planted garlic over winter. Canberra's a good climate for garlic as the temperatures sometimes drop below freezing. It's been a dry winter though and a bit more rain may have helped. It was also the first year I've tried elephant/Russian garlic (the photo is of just standard garlic) and that's grown really well too.

Acidification of the Oceans

There's a lot of press about climate change and global warming but as Audrey looked into acidification of the oceans I think this is actually one of the major issues that nobody is really discussing in the media. It is significant and can also be evidenced. Audrey explains more in this video she shot for school...

Japanese mini-food

We brought several packs of 'mini food' back with us from our trip to Japan. It's essentially mini food you can fashion out of confectionery using tiny moulds, There's hundreds of videos on YouTube and some people have gone to extreme lengths - even making miniature kitchens to make the miniature food in!

Two of our kits made noodle soup, sushi and dumplings. It was actually loads of fun and of course the kids loved eating the resulting food!

Canberra Raiders Grand Final

For the past few years (five now I think) the three of us have been Canberra Raiders members.

For the uninitiated, rugby has two codes; rugby union which has a strange and complex set of rules but is generally viewed as more of an upmarket sport, and rugby league, which is a simplified version of union, still with the odd confusing law but generally viewed as the more ‘working class’ sport .

The schism between the codes occurred in the late 1890’s due to a debate about professionalism.

League has its origins in the north of England whereas Union is predominantly south. There are differences in terms of the number of players too (15 in union, 13 in league) and points for tries and penalties, scrums etc but I won’t go into that here.

Canberra Raiders are Canberra’s rugby league side. We currently have a Union side too – the Brumbies, but whenever we’ve been to see them the crowd is so quiet it’s been akin to sitting in a library.

Our love affair with the Raiders has grown over time. The club has a highly effective community outreach programme and as well as all the home games we attend almost all of the ‘meet the Raiders’ sessions throughout the city.

The players are always polite and friendly, and the kids quickly established favourite players. Rugby league has a bad reputation for players misbehaviour – with catalogues of drug and drink misdemeanours, but Raiders (generally) has a good record in terms of that, with coach Ricky Stuart not tolerating poor behaviour either on or off the pitch.

Sadly, over time our favourite players have come and gone, but when you watch a team for a while you realise that the club truly is bigger than its composite parts. In short, the three of us genuinely do #bleedgreen.

In terms of success, the last few years following the Raiders has been a bit barren. A semi-final defeat against arch-rivals Sydney Sharks was all we had really had to shout about.

This season was different though. The club had a new spring in its step. Rough and tough English-import John Bateman was brought in at the start of the season, Josh Hodgson (another English import) had missed a lot of the previous season through injury but was now fit, Jack Wighton (who had been disgraced for fighting in Canberra town centre) had a new role of five-eighth and fan-favourite Josh Papalli led from the front piling on the distance with each Canberra possession. Raiders captain, local boy Jarrod Croker was also to be an ever-present.

I think we missed one home game throughout the season.

We realised throughout that it had been twenty five years since Raiders had last tasted glory, but after negotiating a tricky qualification (during which they defeated a very strong Melbourne Storm 12-10 and then beat Rabbitohs 16-10 in an exhilarating Preliminary final) they found themselves in the Grand Final against Sydney Roosters.

Roosters are a glamour side. Funded by wealthy Sydney businessman Nick Politis they are a team of stars and (many say) overpaid stars. The odds were against Raiders, not least as the game was played in Sydney – effectively the Roosters back yard.

The three of us travelled up to the game early. The atmosphere around Sydney Olympic Stadium was fabulous and, most notably everywhere seemed shrouded in the green of the Raiders. We soaked up the excitement then ventured to our seats high up in the packed stadium. There were just shy of 90,000 people there.

It was a terrific experience – the sort that still gives you goosebumps for months afterwards when recalling it. The Raider's fans do a 'viking clap' at the start and it was phenomenal.

We'd all decided the first fifteen minutes were vital. If Roosters got away then Raiders would never come back, but instead it was a much more even contest. An awful decision gave the Roosters the perfect start, the ball rebounding off one of the Roosters trainers but the Roosters were bizarrely given the resulting feed in from which they scored.

A penalty then gave the Roosters an 8-0 lead half way though the second half. Jack Wighton scored a cracking try and the score was 8-6 at half time. The second half was similarly tense - Roosters bad-guy Cooper Cronk was sin-binned and Raiders scored the resulting penalty to tie the scores at 8-8

Raiders didn't take advantage of the extra man, and with only six minutes remaining the referee made a howler calling 'six again' (i.e six more passes for the Raiders) then changing his mind. This gave Roosters the psychological edge and Tedesco (somewhat criminally) ran away and scored a try that gave the Roosters the Premiership at 14-8.

So we trudged back to the station. It was a sad ride home, but I was glad that we had gone along. I’m sure it won’t be another 25 years until we’re watching another Raiders final. #Bleedgreen

Floriade

Magpie Swooping

Spring is lovely in Canberra. The blossoms along the lake are always pretty and the smell of the gumtrees and the chirp of the cicadas reminds you that summer is approaching.

The only blight on the calendar is Spring  also heralds the start of 'swooping season'.

Magpies are members of the crow family, but the Australian magpie is a unique subspecies not related to the magpie found in the UK and across Asia. The Australian bird is a lot more robust with a big beak and generally quite a bit larger. Throughout most of the year they keep themselves to themselves. They are clearly smart birds but also fairly unobtrusive.

When they nest in Spring though they show their true colours!. For some reason (I'm not sure whether anyone has adequately explained it!) they hate people walking near their nests. Specifically they hate cyclists. 

I ride my bike to work and the other day was attacked. You don't realise it at first (they tend to come at you from behind) but I was suddenly aware of a flapping/pecking sound on my bike helmet. They dive you a few times before you move/ride out of their area and to be honest although it's funny, it's also fairly scary. 

I found there was a good resource to log any attacks - magpie alerts so I dutifully logged my attack.

What's remarkable about the site is the sheer number of incidents (the bird is a protected species so no revenge is permitted!) Many of the sites injure the victim and people have told me stories of ears and necks being pecked and blood being drawn. This year sadly a man even died after he veered off the path in the park he was riding on and sustained serious head injuries.

The birds typically have two young (so you usually have to be alert for at least six weeks) but I'm always grateful when the hatchlings are flying and the swooping stops!

Eli (having come from football training) helping me collect horse poo for our garden

The sign of pleasure that the job brings him is etched on his face...

School Strike

The kids took part in a school strike to protest against government inactivity towards climate change. Originally the brainchild of the Swede Greta Thunberg the strikes have become a major global movement. Right-wing governments like we have here in Australia have tried to be polemic about the concept of children missing school to attend rallies and protest. 

I was proud that my kids chose of their own accord to go. Above all else I think the marches embarrass governments and may hopefully lead to some kind of change before things are too late. Either way it is the right of the kids to protest given that they will inherit what world we have left for them. 

Just another Saturday...

End of netball season

Audrey's played netball for the school netball team (Jets) for the last couple of years. This year they reached the finals but unluckily fell at the final hurdle to CGGS. She's really developed as a player. If anything she's too polite and my efforts to teach her how to 'trash-talk' the opposition always falls on deaf ears.

I was ever so proud of her achievements and I know her Mum would have been too.

It was a bit of a watershed really as all of the girls (and two boys) will go in different directions so this was the last time they'll all play together.

BT21 cupcakes....

Bendora Arboretum

Bendora Arboretum in the Namadgi National Park was established in 1940. It comprises no less than 52 species of trees laid out in 9 x 9 blocks (81 trees per block) to assess which trees thrived or struggled in Canberra's climate.

The trees are all predominantly pines. We learnt that ideally you want your pine tree to grow quickly (and straight) but have quite hard timber. In doing so you produce a tree that is perfect for construction and useful to build the Canberra that has grown exponentially since the 1940s.

It was a short walk round the place and we stopped for a quick bite to eat. The kids found some trees to climb. The arboretum was a nice place to visit and I think we'd go back again. If you're thinking of venturing there you'll find that the terrain makes for relatively easy walking and the path round the place is only about 3km long.

Canberra had been enjoying a number of snow showers and despite the day being warm and sunny we still found a little pile of snow that had settled in the shade of one of the copses.

Getting our Potter on!

Gold Creek in Canberra' north is a strange, but interesting area. It's given over as a tourist resort with a wide variety of things to see and do. A (great) walk through aviary a dinosaur museum and Cockington Green (Canberra's own miniature village).  

Set back in one corner of the area is 'the Abbey' a large wedding/conference venue which we'd never visited before, but is actually picture-perfect to replicate the Great Hall in Hogwarts. It has a large organ occupying one of its walls and by its very nature has a bit of a gothic feel to it.

I can't remember where I saw it advertised but to celebrate winter solstice a 'Great Wizard's Ball' had been organised. Both Audrey and Elijah are hooked on Harry Potter at the moment, so it only seemed right that we went along.

The organisers actually put on two balls - an adult version (with booze) in the evening and a kids event (which we went to). Audrey and Eli really loved it. There were plenty of Harry Potter references and we all gratefully slurped our sweet tasting butter beer while we ate our food.

The time went by really quickly and the afternoon was finished off with a fire twirling display outside. It was a lovely way to spend an afternoon with the kids.

Book Week - Jet Pack and the Power Puff girls

The school's annual book week rolled into town once more. It was notable as this will be Audrey's final book week which is a bit of a strange feeling. She chose to go with a couple of her mates as the Power Puff girls. The girls organised their own costumes which was great. Eli went in a jetpack which was loads of fun to make.

Obstacool

Rather than the (rather dull) sponsored walk, this year the kid's school had an Obstacool - a series of inflatables laid out as a obstacle course. It was a stunning Autumn day and the kids had so much fun running laps of it. It was a great course and I believe quite a lucrative money-spinner too so hopefully it'll be back in future years.

Here's some photos of the kids being put through their paces...

The Art of Vision (part of national science week)

We went along to a free event at the ANU called the Art of Vision. It was a demonstration of various eye conditions and how your vision is affected. It was a fun (and very well catered!) event. It was lead by a lady from Vision Australia who herself was partially sighted.

Sight is such an important sense and we are so lucky to have it.

CFC

Eli has been playing his first season in (proper) outdoor football. He's playing for Canberra FC (Deakin). It's a good group of boys (and girls) and although he went along knowing only a handful of the other boys the club spirit is strong and he's now mates with a lot of the team.

They've had a spectacular season (winning every game apart from one draw). Although I love the sport I was never much of a player and Eli shows a lot more acumen and commitment for it than I ever did. 

It's been a good year for the Raiders

Our Raiders membership stretches back five seasons now. We were originally given a free membership, but we've continued renewing it so I'd now classify us as true supporters. Initially I think it was the kids who dragged me along but over time all three of us have grown to love the Green Machine.

The club has a fairly decent history of success, but hasn't appeared in a final for 25 years. In the five years we've been going they've got close to a final once but typically we've endured heartache and a couple of false dawns. 

Despite variable results on the pitch what impresses me with the club is their attitude to their fans. The club does a lot of sessions where you can meet the players and when you do get to chat to the players they are always courteous and kind and have a lot of time for the kids. Because of the team's commitment to the community it's easy to forgive them their fluctuating form. 

Rugby League is a simple sport (rules-wise you essentially have to be able to count up to six) but it's equally exciting to watch and Canberra has a good groundswell of support. Our family #bleedsgreen

Audrey on Pumpkin

Japan Holiday

We enjoyed a couple of week's holiday with my good friend Tim and his family. It was a wonderful time and we did and saw so much. Japan is an amazing country and my original fears that we would be overawed because of the language barrier proved to be massively wrong as we found all of the people so polite, kind and welcoming. It's such a diverse place too, from the neon light of Tokyo to the beautiful forests and vistas of Nagano and the history of Kyoto.

I hope we'll be back again one day. Here's a short slide show of our holiday pictures.

Women's World Cup

Crazy Hair Day

Gibraltar Peak

Gibraltar Peak is in the Tidbinbilla Nature reserve to Canberra's south. As I was planning our trip the guide book said that it was the ACT's 45th highest peak, which sounded distinctly underwhelming.

Actually the top part of the walk was pretty steep and (as I was carrying our picnic and a flask of tea) left me puffing like a steam train by the time we reached the pinnacle.

It was a lovely walk though. The path meanders upwards through beautiful woodland and as well as the ubiquitous gum trees there's a number of grass trees on or near the path.

We learnt that the route people now take to the top is longer (but less steep) than the previous path. The 'new' path (which I think is now over ten years old) is well signposted and there was a well situated picnic table near the top.

It was beautiful at the peak, although slightly precarious as there's no safety barriers or fences, but I don't think there's been any recorded falls, for if you did fall they'd find your broken body several hundred feet down in a tree.

It was a lovely walk nonetheless and I'm sure from the top (despite only being the ACT's 45th highest peak, you are able to see for at least 40 or 50km.