October long weekend

Little Bay

Big jump at Little Bay

Steel Park, Marrickville with Dallas and Maya

Serious Maya

Exploding fountains

Time for the park

Going up

and up

nearly... there

Spider man

Happy with that climb

Elliot the octopus

Zoe has just completed a sewing course and one of the first major pieces was this fantastic octopus suit for Elliot. He had a great time wearing it as his friend Archer's under the sea party.

One year aniversary of Murray House

Hoopla

Egg and spoon

Fruit and custard

The Arboretum playground

We had a great time with Ken enjoying a picnic on a perfect Canberra spring day at what is possibly the coolest playground (in the Southern Hemisphere)?

Great Grandma Mary and Grandma's Birthday

Joy and Mary's birthday's are only one day apart. This year to celebrate Isi put on a spectacular hungi with every vegetable and meat you can imagine cooked underground. We, of course, traveled to Canberra to experience it.

Close to two days of work to dig the hole, set the fire and cook. The food is under there now.

Uncovering

There it is.

William, Mel, Bycen and Lou.

The two birthday girls and a couple of ring-ins, Elliot and Tahlia

A birthday girl and ring-in

Cutting the cake- made by Emily.

The Queen still attended even though Great Grandma Mary isn't 100 yet.

Nic teaches Elliot the worm

Feeding the birds

In Canberra

We drove to Canberra for the weekend a couple of weeks ago to see Grandma and Grandpa after their overseas trip. It was a nice weekend just hanging out. We walked around the Kingston foreshore debating it's pros and cons and enjoying a Brod Burger near the glass works. Here are a few nice photos- mostly taken by mum and dad.

Watching the birds

A bit of modelling

Excitement at the glass works

Wallowing on the grass after Brod Burger

More wallowing

Gordonvale and the Great Pyramid Race

After Magnetic Island we traveled back to Cairns and spent a relaxing time not doing much.

We drove to Gorndonvale near Cairns on the last day for Zoe to complete the Great Pyramid Race. Gordonvale is a small sugar town the likes of which I imagine could only exist in Northern Queensland- and not just because of the sugar. The entire town seemed to come out for the race which included a fair ground, the fire brigade hosing arcs of water of the competitors and flares firing when the first competitor reached the top. The race itself consists of 3km out on flat roads, followed by 3km up the Pyramid, practically crawling, then returning the same way. The winning time of 1 hour 18 minutes for just under 12km demonstrates how tough the climb up and the descent down is.

The Pyramid looms

Getting ready to go.

Everyone who lives in Gordonvale was watching the start

Patiently waiting for mum with fire brigade

One last corner with the peak of the pyramid in the background.

Magnetic Island

We traveled by car ferry over to Magnetic Island from Townsville. Its a nice island to visit with forested and rocky mountains, great beaches, lots of wildlife and some interesting history as well.

View from magnetic Island along the shipping channel.

We stayed in an interesting Air BnB house at the end of 20km of dirt road at West Point.

The house was off the grid with a gas fridge, composting toilet and a very homemade solar electricity system that ran out most days. It was a little post-apocalyptic.

Elliot loved playing with this swinging chair which was blowing around in the very strong south-east winds.

There were some luxuries

The beaches were nice but the wind put a dampener on snorkeling and swimming which was a shame. It was still warm and we had a quick dip most days.

Lots of relaxing.

Lots of building

Lots of exploring

Picnic Bay Wharf

Assisted bushwalking

Independent bushwalking

Partially assisted bushwalking- strong encouragement required.

A fig at Nelly Bay

A highlight was the Forts Walk which was a reasonably steep climb among a World War II battery. The views were fantastic due to the height of the command bunkers. It was Elliot's longest walk ever at around 5km. He completed almost all of it.

Going up...

...into the...

pill box.

A bit spooky- ammunition room.

Investigating the drainage system- looks satisfactory (probably modern by the way)

Selfie at the top.

Magnetic Island and in particular the Fort Walk are known for koalas. We had large one living in the backyard for a few nights.

Sun sets over the ocean are a feature of West Point. We enjoyed every evening at the beach.