Mildura to Goolwa - Murray River Trails

Firstly I was very excited to meet SARK recently in the city. SARK is an inspirational author and artist and one of my heroes.

22 Jan we all flew to Mildura to visit the Whytes and of course Eric their Danish exchange student. Merryl, my other favourite author and dear friend had a special birthday.....
Here she is as Courageous Australian of the Year 2010/2011. She inspires me with her ideas, creativity, love of books and writing as well as her involvement in supporting other women in the community. What a woman - a succulent woman as Sark would say!
There was a dinner for the girlies combined with one of her friend's Michelle.

The special birthday girls. Merryl and I.

The dinner and the cakes and flowers...

The following day we went on a paddleboat called the Melbourne. An interesting time to see the Murray River as it was rising. They were expecting it to peak a week after we visited.

A very high river and hello out the window for Rohan & Elise.

Merryl with Elise and Rohan.

The girls have a go at steering the wheel of the paddleboat.

Graeme takes a picture of us all in front of the boat.

On Monday we piled in the 2 cars and followed the Murray River down to where it starts in Goolwa in SA.

Here are the kids at the Goolwa Wharf where there were some more Murray Paddle Boats on display.

Here is my Godson Cam at one of the parks.

We took one of the old cockle trains to Victor Harbour.

We walked on the jetty over to Granite Island and then walked around the island.
They still have a tram lead by a clydesdale horse but we felt sorry for the horse lugging the tram.


Some very good shots taken by Eamonn of the rock formations - he is quite the scientist!

Isla got to meet some of her fairy pengion friends on Granite Island.

Alarming to find out there are only 143 left on the island down from 1-2 thousand only 10 years ago. Fish quantities are are low in surrounding waters so some of the seal population are nabbing them as well as dogs coming over from the mainland and people even steal the precious little creatures. Hope they find a way to breed and protect them!!

Here is a seal who happened to swim by the island and put on a show for the crowds!

Gisele adored Tilly - the Whyte's family dog (just below her in the pecking order being the youngest) We played at Horseshoe Bay.

We also visited the mighty Murray Mouth and there were flocks of pelicans (scenes from Storm Boy where shot here)

Here are Merryl and Gisele having a cuddle goodbye at the airport. We loved our time in Mildura and Goolwa! Thanks Whytes and Eric for inviting us on your holiday!!

Here is a picture of Sean facing his 1st birthday

cake for the impending 40th birthday. Not long now...

Canberra for New Year

This is the outlook we had from our accommodation outside of Canberra near Hall at the Riverview Homestead - just so beautiful and peaceful.
On Dec 28 we went south to Canberra to see Sean compete in the NS14 national titles.

Canberra Yacht Club was actually a great place to view the races on Lake Burley Griffen and there was a huge grass area with plenty of trees in front of the club so the girls and Nova had a great time running around. The teenagers adopted Nova as their mascot so she lapped up all the pats and attention. Canberra is a fantastic place for families - plenty to do and lots of parkland.

Here is Elise on Canberra's famous merry go round. We feed the birds at the aviary (Isla met some fellow bird friends)

We had a great day at Questacon. Here the girls are playing vets in the 0-6year old section. A favourite activity.

Some water play for Gisele - look at her face. Very expressive - will be booking her into acting classes I think!

Here is our outing to Cockington Green. Elise loved the train ride and the

tiny villages were very interesting.

Sean got 5th place which was a great effort with not much training or competing over the last few years. His crew also dislocated his shoulder on the invitation race so someone previously unknown from the shore kindly stepped in for the rest of the regatta. Thank you Anna. They got 2 wins and we were actually there to see him win a race - Elise was gobsmacked!

Our hearts and minds are with the now australia wide flood victims. So much devestation and such a BIG job ahead. Our lucky country has the determination and the resources to rise to the task!!

We are heading off this week to see the Whytes at Mildura and celebrate Merryl's birthday.

Christmas Festivities

Happy New Year to All.
I am finally getting around to loading up our photos from christmas 2010.
Above is a picture of Sean and I dressed up (high heels and all - a rare occurence!) for his office's christmas party. Off to Catalina at Rose Bay. Very Very Yummy Food!!

We had a lovely time catching up with a few of the Bannon side just before christmas. Aunty Maureen, Uncle Ned, Jodie and the kids Tom & Ellie from Cootamundra were here to visit David & Lucy and family at Lane Cove. Lisa and Graham have moved to Sydney from the UK so we were glad to see Lisa again and meet Graham. Lots of blondies in the family. Above is a picture of the girls making milkshakes with James and Ellie. Next to it is a picture of Archie Thomas Miller growing tall- looking a lot like David!

We had christmas at home for 2010 which was relaxing for us. Megs, Nige and Nate came to visit. Here are the girls on christmas day with some pressies...Elise with Tinkerbell outfit from the Sparrows and Gisele with her baby penguin from Santa. She named it Isla.
We went Clifton Gardens for a christmas day picnic lunch. It was a gorgeous day and as you can see the ice cream truck made a fortune off all the picnickers!! The kids even had a swim.


On boxing day we took the keen shoppers into the city for the Boxing Day Sales...
Nate loves the train and Gisele was keen to take baby Isla for a day out.

Here is my beautiful sister....Choo choo the train goes Choo choo!!

Here is Natey Boy in the cubby - waving with Elise
On the 27 Dec we had a gathering of the Baldwin family (My nanna's family on mum's side) on the Central Coast. The Haysoms were up from Adelaide as Anastasia, Sami and Ella were visiting from Finland) Leonie, Kerry, Kimmie and Grandma Crowe were amazing hosts and we had a huge yummy spread. Gotta love the christmas time and summer time desserts.

Some of the gatherers and soon to say goodbye to Aunty Meg. Don't Go!!

Everyone together and then the girls power - matriachs. I have to say there is a lot of wonderful strong female energy in this family!