Adelaide Zoo - now with 200% more Panda Bears

Thursday, 24 December 2009

I really like Adelaide Zoo, it's pretty low key and relaxed but it's also got heaps of great exhibits, it's easy to get around and to get to, it's cheaper than Taronga and now it's even got Pandas! We didn't think we were going to get to see them as you have to book ahead but the nice ticket lady gave us some passes to get in. The 30 minute queue was worth the wait as they put on a pretty good show.   We also saw lots of other stuff, and Jon had to chase down a goat that a dorky parent managed to let escape from the double gated petting zoo. In fact it was lucky we didn't all get stampeded in the rush of animals leaving the petting zoo - I think they know what to do when they see dorky parents and open gates as suddenly bambi and the gang were up and hustling to get out.  Happily only the one goat escaped and Jon didn't get sprung by a zoo keeper as it might have looked like he was making off with an alternative Christmas Lunch.

Spare me please.

Tuesday, 22 December 2009

One of my least favourite school activities is the Final Year Assembly - the kids sing funny christmassy songs, the teachers say nice stuff, other people get thanked and it's all fine and dandy (if a little long) EXCEPT for the grade 2 kids 'graduation' ceremony thing which I just can't abide by.  Ok so the school only goes up to grade 2 and  the eldest kids are going on to different schools which a big event but this whole graduation thing (which ALL the parents and other kids have to watch) really leaves me squirming - as it seems completely over the top for what is a small milestone on their educational pathway.  Anyway this overly long assembly means I'm generally unpleasantly derisive of the whole thing much to the annoyance my good-cheered fellow audience members (i.e. Denny and Jon) and I walk away feeling like the biggest scrooge in the land and they walk away thoroughly sick of me and my bad attitude.  

Today however I'm feeling a slight bit of redemption having read this article in the SMH. Maybe the author can be my new best friend and we can send our kids to the same school and mutter obnoxious comments under our breaths at the back of the audience together and be thoroughly disliked by everyone else.  Except of course when our kids are graduating and we will insist on them receiving every bit of the fanfare the previous years kids have had..

Walk #7 - Wellington Falls

Tuesday, 22 December 2009

Wellington Falls can be reached by a fun flattish Mountain Bike Ride and then a 2km walk out and back, or a 4 hour walk from The Springs via Dissapearing Tarn (unfortunately it had dissapeared the day we did it) then back to Neika where we had left a car. It went through every sort of terrain possible yet managed to be relatively flat for a mountain walk.  The track crossed boulder fields, marshy swamps, through tall trees and into pandanda forests where it was hard to hear over the buzz of the bees in the flowers. The  mountain offers something for everyone I tell you!   And just to prove that I have actual friends you'll see these photos feature my two walking buddies. Ok. So maybe one is my sister.  oh ok so what that the other person is one of her friends - what's your point? sigh. 

Walk #6 - Alum Cliffs

Tuesday, 22 December 2009

Starting from the north end of Kingston Beach, the Alum Cliffs is a nice (undulating) 40-45 minute return run, or walk out to a lookout and back. It used to just be a series of steep ascents and descents but it's been re-routed so it's much more walkable and runnable.  The views along the way are really nice. The only drawback for dog-o-phobes is that it starts from the Kingston dog beach, so you normally have to put up with a few dogs for the first few minutes. 

Walk #5 - Coningham

Monday, 14 December 2009

I was a bit tired of the mountains so today I decided to do a coastal walk starting from Coningham Beach - 15 minutes drive south of here.  The 80 minute walk goes along the foreshore, up a great big bugger of a hill, then back down to the beach again. This walk is pretty runnable - although it is a bit of a slog up the hill. 

Walk #4 - Organ Pipes Track

Monday, 14 December 2009

There are tonnes of great tracks on the mountain but I'll try to limit myself to blogging 3 or 4 good solid walks. Yesterday I walked the Pinnicle track which links to the Organ Pipes track, which then drops down to Hunters Track and returns via the Lenah Valley track. It sounds more complicated than it was.  Once again it's undulating but most of the uphill is done in the first 30 minutes. The views up and down are fantastic and it took me almost exactly 2 hours including some drinks and photo stops. 

I'll have to remember to do this walk around Christmas time again next year as there were tonnes of flowers out so it was even nicer than usual.

Walk #3 - Nierinna Creek

Sunday, 13 December 2009

Starting from the back of Margate this walk is a bit of a track to no-where (and back) but it's still quite pretty and a nice way to spend 75minutes without being too far from home.  It' is undulating and there are always a few walabies around (no snakes though - phew!)

Christmas Traditions

Sunday, 13 December 2009

On Thursday we upheld one of the McComb Family Christmas Traditions (Est. 2008) and went out to Pittwater Dunes to hunt down our own Christmas Tree. As usual they weren't putting up much of a fight so we soon selected a smallish one which turned out to be too tall for the living room. It's funny how they look so modestly sized out in the open, but when you bring them home they are huge.

Scorpions

Thursday, 10 December 2009

Zali is pretty good at handling all kinds of bugs and removing spiders from the house.  Happily though, she does draw the line at handling scorpions - and the other day  Jon unearthed a huge one!  We've had quite a few small ones around the house this year (something to do with the wet weather I think) but  this one was massive in comparison - check it out - ugg...  Tasmanian scorpion stings aren't fatal or anything but they are creepy.   

Catastrophy

Thursday, 10 December 2009

Cat-astrophy - get it? Hillarious. Anyway - The other day I had to do a set of figurines fishing with their cat next to them. The fishing bride and groom was fine, but I ended up spending a rediculous amount of time on the cat and I was never really happy with the results.  The first cat looked more like a mouse (and turned out to be the wrong colour) and all the other variations tended to look like dogs or wolves or wallaby's with cat heads or gargoyles or just blobs. In the end I went with the cat 2nd from the left but you can see it has a bit of a dogginess about it. 

Lounging Around

Thursday, 10 December 2009

Normally Jon and Jett are  home alone together on Thursdays and Fridays. Today I am crashing their party and we've been out to the library, off to swimming lessons, to the bakery for rolls for lunch, now we're having a cruisy few hours before heading off to get Zali and the gang from school.  This is Jett at the library after an exhausting game of chess. For non-tasmanians that's Mt Wellington in the distance.

Walk #2 - Cathedral Rock

Wednesday, 9 December 2009

This walk starts only a ten minute drive from our house and even better, the drive takes you past the legendary Bush Bakery in Leslie Vale. The walk itself took me just over two and a half hours and after the first half and hour it is really pretty steep for the rest of the way.  The views from the top are fantastic of course and the track is really good.  On the way down I had stare-offs with two snakes who were sunning themselves in the middle of the track.  After a few moments of of glaring at eachother I remembered that I had the ultimate advantage in this war of wills... arms - so I threw a few sticks at them and they moved along.   I also saw numerous wallabies (or pademelons or potteroos or some other sort of stunted kangaroo) and a very cute echidna.  This walk is was fantastic but my next walk is going to be flat!

Raspberries - only $34 each!

Tuesday, 8 December 2009

Excitingly some of our raspberries have made a comeback and today I ate about $68 worth (i.e. two). They were good though.  On the other hand our strawberries are going pretty well - it seems the more we neglect them, the better they fruit. 

101 ways to get away from the kids..

Tuesday, 8 December 2009

Or something like that. Astute observers will notice I've created a new page on my website called '20 walks near hobart'. Basically my aim is to have a section on my website for my own amusement which features all the walks you can do in and around hobart while the kids are at school - or at least being babysat by people you don't have to pay.  I've done one so far but I recon I might be able to find 20 interesting ones.And when I am able to edit photos again in a more sophisticated manner than printing them out and shrinking them on a photo-copier I'll be able to illustrate my walks - but for now it will have to be a text only page - boring.

Walk #1 - Truganinni Track

Tuesday, 8 December 2009

This is a steep walk that goes from Suicide Bend in Taroona, up to the Mt Nelson Signal Station and back.  Walked briskly with only minimum time taken to pause and cough out a lung, it can be done in a shade under 55 minutes.  If you run it you should try and get to the top in under 20 minutes if you want to be respectable. When I was young I could do it in like 7 minutes. or something like that - my memory is a little hazy.
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2009summary
Adelaide Zoo - now with 200% more Panda Bears Thursday, 24 December 2009
Spare me please. Tuesday, 22 December 2009
Walk #7 - Wellington Falls Tuesday, 22 December 2009
Walk #6 - Alum Cliffs Tuesday, 22 December 2009
Walk #5 - Coningham Monday, 14 December 2009
Walk #4 - Organ Pipes Track Monday, 14 December 2009
Walk #3 - Nierinna Creek Sunday, 13 December 2009
Christmas Traditions Sunday, 13 December 2009
Scorpions Thursday, 10 December 2009
Catastrophy Thursday, 10 December 2009
Lounging Around Thursday, 10 December 2009
Walk #2 - Cathedral Rock Wednesday, 9 December 2009
Raspberries - only $34 each! Tuesday, 8 December 2009
101 ways to get away from the kids.. Tuesday, 8 December 2009
Walk #1 - Truganinni Track Tuesday, 8 December 2009
So.. Monday, 7 December 2009
Back to the Gee Wizzer Saturday, 28 November 2009
Kids - Not just for 39 Christmases Thursday, 26 November 2009
Don't try this at home. Wednesday, 25 November 2009
Ali Baba and the Forty Cats (who all needed herding) Saturday, 21 November 2009
Big Night Out Saturday, 21 November 2009
Show Day Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Black and White Sunday, 8 November 2009
Paving Sunday, 8 November 2009
Thou must not covet thy neighbours raspberries Sunday, 8 November 2009
Technology problems Thursday, 5 November 2009
Useful Friday, 30 October 2009
Mum is a Make Caker Wednesday, 21 October 2009
The Blues Wednesday, 21 October 2009
Freycinet Adventure Tuesday, 13 October 2009
Waratah Update Tuesday, 13 October 2009
Struggling Wednesday, 7 October 2009
Weather Report Monday, 28 September 2009
Serious Runners Sunday, 27 September 2009
Summer Days` Sunday, 27 September 2009
Stripey Cupcakes Thursday, 17 September 2009
Garden Stuff Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Happy Anniversary to Us Tuesday, 15 September 2009
Fathers Day Sunday, 6 September 2009
Jett's Boat Trip Sunday, 6 September 2009
Shell writing Saturday, 5 September 2009
Boronia Beach Saturday, 5 September 2009
Cool things Sunday, 30 August 2009
More Mud Wednesday, 26 August 2009
Muddy Puddles Wednesday, 26 August 2009
Murder Mystery Sunday, 16 August 2009
not quite spring Thursday, 13 August 2009
T-Shirt crazy Sunday, 9 August 2009
Sunday Crafts Sunday, 9 August 2009
Christening Cake Friday, 31 July 2009
Cupcakes Take 2 Friday, 31 July 2009
Birthday Cupcakes Take 1 Friday, 31 July 2009
visions Wednesday, 22 July 2009
Yum Wednesday, 22 July 2009
Paint Facing Saturday, 18 July 2009
leaf cupcake x 200 Thursday, 16 July 2009
happy birthday to me! Tuesday, 14 July 2009
snowday Sunday, 12 July 2009
Moon Tuesday, 7 July 2009
Fairy Bread Sunday, 5 July 2009
Muddy Sunday Sunday, 5 July 2009
This close to perfect Saturday, 4 July 2009
Some sporty cakes Saturday, 4 July 2009
Random thing #4 Sunday, 28 June 2009
Random thing #3 Sunday, 28 June 2009
Random thing #2 Sunday, 28 June 2009
Random thing #1 Sunday, 28 June 2009
Midwinter Dinner Wednesday, 17 June 2009
Black and White Saturday, 13 June 2009
and Friday, 12 June 2009
blast off! Friday, 12 June 2009
Just ask Cathy Wednesday, 10 June 2009
and on the subject of telecommunications.. Friday, 5 June 2009
It's not personal.. Friday, 5 June 2009
Logo-Jamming Friday, 5 June 2009
Job Title Thursday, 4 June 2009
Gnocchi Thursday, 4 June 2009
Week of firsts Friday, 29 May 2009
the ANZ Bank Thursday, 28 May 2009
Outrageous! Thursday, 28 May 2009
One of these kids.. Tuesday, 26 May 2009
Newspaper Cake Sunday, 24 May 2009
Sticking to the brief Sunday, 24 May 2009
and the cake.. Sunday, 17 May 2009
cool weekend Sunday, 17 May 2009
Couch Life Tuesday, 12 May 2009
Little Moment in Craft #5 Thursday, 7 May 2009
Little Moments in Craft #4 Thursday, 7 May 2009
Little Moments in Craft #3 Thursday, 7 May 2009
Little Moments in Craft #2 Thursday, 7 May 2009
Little Moments in Craft #1 Thursday, 7 May 2009
this is why Sunday, 26 April 2009
great friends, good weather Sunday, 26 April 2009
Bicheno Babes Thursday, 23 April 2009
Jett get's his wings Thursday, 23 April 2009
The Endless Tassie Summer Wednesday, 15 April 2009
Cake in a day Saturday, 4 April 2009
Science Saturday, 4 April 2009
Culture Saturday, 28 March 2009
Happy Birthday Jon Tuesday, 24 March 2009
I'm expecting some calls.. or maybe not. Tuesday, 24 March 2009
NOW Google has all the answers Sunday, 15 March 2009
Just a photo Thursday, 12 March 2009
Lovely Jett Wednesday, 11 March 2009
Camping with the kids Tuesday, 10 March 2009
Saturday Mornings Tuesday, 10 March 2009
Friday Afternoons Tuesday, 10 March 2009
Stupid Foot. Monday, 9 March 2009
My favourite day Wednesday, 4 March 2009
Ties R us Monday, 2 March 2009
reduce, reuse, recycle Tuesday, 24 February 2009
A long time coming Saturday, 14 February 2009
Orienteering, Ultimate Frisbee and now... Sunday, 8 February 2009
Cupcakes Sunday, 8 February 2009
Wooden Boat Festival Sunday, 8 February 2009
Zali's big week Friday, 6 February 2009
Big Week Friday, 6 February 2009
Safety in numbers Thursday, 29 January 2009
Why not me! Thursday, 29 January 2009
on the mountain Sunday, 25 January 2009
Groom self destructs on way to wedding! Saturday, 24 January 2009
Tasmazia Saturday, 24 January 2009
Start of a long weekend Thursday, 22 January 2009
before & after #17 Monday, 19 January 2009
before & after #16 Monday, 19 January 2009
Being tourists Monday, 12 January 2009
Lovely Zali Monday, 5 January 2009
Lovely Jett Monday, 5 January 2009
All grown up.. Friday, 2 January 2009
Tasmania - beautiful one day... Thursday, 1 January 2009