My little (or perhaps not so little anymore) boy celebrated turning 10 with a football party with his mates. It was a beautiful sunny day and the coach was excellent. The kids feasted on sausages afterwards and they whacked a football Piñata with a fabulous stick which Audrey had spent hours, clipping and sticking in Wolves colours.
Eli's birthday football shirt (thanks Robin) and Dybala celebration
I think it's fair to say that I love the Namadgi National Park. It's right on Canberra's doorstep, but is often so deserted that you can feel like you are hundreds of kilometers away from the nearest civilisation. The kids and I (plus one of their mates) took a day trip out to Nursery Swamp in the Orroral Valley.
It was a beautiful walk and although the first couple of kilometers were uphill we managed the 8.5km return trip pretty easily. The walk ends up at Nursery Swamp - a fen - that stores water high up in the mountain. The fen is so named because early European settlers used to calf and lamb their stock there, taking advantage of the abundant water and wild grasses. For thousands of years before Europeans arrived it was also a place where aboriginal people lived and their existence can still be found by some rock art (which unfortunately we couldn't locate). I could totally appreciate why someone would make this place their home.
The diversity of landscape we walked through was amazing, from long board-walks to pretty copses and huge mountain boulders. Because there had been rain a couple of days before our walk a lot of things were green - we trod carefully at some spots because the chance of snakes increases in sunny but damp weather. When the walk concludes (well ok, I guess when you're half way) the view when you reach the swamp is stunning.
We only saw three other people on our walk. It's such a shame that more people don't recognise the sheer beauty of these places, but then I guess if they did it may detract from the beauty itself! 10/10
Sometimes you come across things that are completely counter to the globalised society we live in. Sometimes they seem nonsensical, but things like Arnott's ginger nut biscuits is actually fabulous in how quaint (or perhaps pragmatic) in the way that it feels.
Arnott's is Australia's national biscuit manufacturer. In the 1960's a series of amalgamations and take-overs meant that different state based biscuit manufacturers came under one banner. The organisation tried to launch the New South Wales (NSW) version of its ginger nut biscuit nationally, but people turned away from it. As a result the company now produces no less than four varieties (only available in their own respective State/Territory).
I made a lady at work aware of this fact and, inspired by the information she organised for three packets to be brought from locations around the country and we taste-tested them for a morning tea. The winner was a bit inconclusive (probably Queensland came out on top) but it was interesting that everyone looked for something different whether it was the crunchiness or gingery taste. If you want to learn more here's an article from the ABC
Rodney's Easter egg hunt is always a winner. This year they had 3,000 Easter eggs and they closed registrations at 100 kids. Audrey and Eli were pretty happy with their stash. We had a lovely breakfast there afterwards, it's always a nice spot to visit.
The rugby league season rolled around again - our fifth as dedicated Canberra Raiders fans. It promises to be quite a decent season for our team as they've made some good player acquisitions in the close season and Josh Hodgson (Raiders English hooker) who was injured for most of last season is now completely fit again.
What keeps us coming back I'm not sure, but it's pretty exciting when there's a decent crowd at Canberra Stadium and the Raiders are winning.
We usually head along to 'Meet the Raiders' sessions. The club does excellently with its community engagement and the kids love meeting both their favourite older players and new players alike. All the players have loads of time for the kids and it really does make you feel part of the Raiders family.
Canberra's light rail system has been discussed for years. Various routes proposed, budgets bandied about and opposing ideas put forward (one of which included a double lane cycle track as an alternative!). Finally after years of debate and seemingly even more years of road works and detours, the light rail launched.
Initially it's on a rather limited north-south, dogleg line from Gunghalin - Canberra's 'new' sprawling northern suburbs, into the city (Civic). In total there are 13 stops along the route.
As the route currently stands we'll not have much cause to ever travel on it. This in itself has caused considerable angst as people (who seemingly forget we live in a community of 400k+ people) argue that because they don't have a stop right outside of their front door should be excluded from paying the proportion of rates that fund the network. It's obviously a ridiculous argument.
Personally, I would have looked into a trolley bus system, such as the one in Mexico City - that way we could have started with four times the network (there's no need to lay track therefore reducing costs considerably) and then 'filled in' the network with trams in busy sections. I'm not a transport expert, nor a trolley-bus buff(!) though, so perhaps I'm wrong.
Either way, now light rail is here I'm sure Canberra will embrace it. Stage two of the system DOES come near our house. Hopefully it won't be too long before it's built (there's no specific time-frame as yet).
I was lucky to be chosen (via a ballot) to be one of the first couple of hundred people to ride the train. To be honest it was fabulous. A couple of days later at the 'official' launch I travelled again, this time with the kids. It's a whole new view of Canberra - and as you look out of the window as the carriages fly past stationary cars you realise that the Bush Capital is growing up.
My facebook post - echoing Christopher Pyne. (I'm not sure anyone got the gag other than me)
I even got to travel a couple of stops on a completely empty carriage - how exciting!
Eli has signed up to play for Canberra Football Club (CFC). He's really enjoying it - training is twice a week (for 1½ hours each session) and they played in a pre-season tournament at the weekend. He's got some good players in his team and they're gradually starting to play as a team. He really loves it. It'll be interesting to see whether his enthusiasm is dampened as the weather turns colder, but it's great watching him play.
Feel the Magic is an amazing organisation. They offer camps (Camp Magic) for kids aged 7-17 who have experienced a bereavement, whether sibling or parent. My kids had attended one a couple of years ago, but incredibly the organisation decided to run its first camp in Canberra. I suspect we were one of the first to sign up.
Founder James Thomas (pictured below) is an inspirational guy. Despite running on an absolute shoestring, the organisation provides 40 kids with an amazing time where they learn skills to manage anxiety and cope with the frankly shitty situation they are in. It's very grounding talking to some of the other parents who have often had to endure sad and complex lives. Sadly 30 kids were turned away from the camp because Feel the Magic didn't have the money and resources to host them. Nearly 100 people volunteered and gave up their weekend to support the kids that did attend.
Audrey and Eli love being part of it. The mentors that they were matched with were incredible and I am so grateful that an organisation like this exists. It's benefit and impact on children and their future is so powerful.
I celebrated my birthday with some kind Dads who took me go-carting and then to a pub in Manuka. I vaguely remember being in an Uber at the end of the night.
Thursday was a day of swimming. Eli qualified to swim in the SW Swimming carnival (which selects the ACT swimming team). He wasn't successful but swam ever so well. The difficulty is that the kids are out-competed by squad swimmers who, (usually courtesy of kind grandparents) can attend swimming sessions three or four times a week.
Audrey swam in the afternoon at our local outdoor pool. Despite being April the weather is so mild so she had her usual Thursday afternoon swim. Numbers in the pool have thinned as the weather has grown colder though and this was most likely her final session until Spring arrives and she can start again in November.
