Canberra - Kangaroo Valley - Bundeena

Hi again
Well here I am sitting in a superb location (After we cleaned up the poo and toilet paper from some moron) in the bush in the Blue Mountains in the Megalong Valley.

Birds are going off kids are in school and Lucy is well just being Lucy (loud).

We have had a busy time holidaying since my last post and there has been a mix of emotions from meeting great people to the lows of the War memorial in Canberra and seeing just how bad our Grandads had it over sea's and the horrors that they were a part of, to the living conditions in the mud and cold. This is a place that every Aussie should visit I spent two days there but coulde have spent longer and I would be lying if i said i didn't have a tear in my eye the whole time I was there, in fact even now just thinking back another has formed.

The national Museum in canberra was a disappointment lots of open space very little content :(.

The Zoo was pretty good with an aquarium and good reptile display, the big cats also had good open areas and I managed to get some good pics of a few of them.

I had a couple of good flights here and I had to get out of bed at 5am to fly one sight bloody crazy but good fun, the guys in the local club were great and I would love to come back.

After Canberra we ended up on the coast in Moruya and we rented a dinghy for a few hours fishing ,lots of tiddlers caught and a small amount of sunburn.

From here we went to Kangaroo Valley

This turned out to be a great move as we met some great people and had a fantastic time .

The kids made friends straight away Lucy lost her trainer wheels and the families all hit it off as well, so a great Australia day weekend was had.

There were heaps of Wombts and Goanas and I even saw two lyrebirds which was a bit of a highlight.

After KV we headed for the coast again so i could possibly have a fly at Stanwell park a famous Aussie flying site, we camped close by in Coledale which was on the beach, it had the potential to be a great spot but due to being right next door to the toilets and a truckstop it lost it's appeal as Debs and i were getting no sleep and the weather was no good for flying so we hightailed it out of there to Bundeena in the Royal Nat Park.
My cousin lives here and it was great to catch up, we had lunch one day over in Cronulla at Hogs Breath where I had a steak that was supposedly cooked for 18hrs?
The next night we rode our bikes to my cousins (Jeff , Barbara and Ollie)
They had cooked up a storm and some of the tastiest curries Iv'e had in a long time. On the way home we saw a deer as well.
After Bundeena its to our current bush camp in the Blue mountains.

Heather on an early paddle KV

Our campsite KV

Now this is unbelievable if you had have seen the rig he was using?? Maybe the fish was either stupid or had help :)

George with his prize catch

Wally the Wombat

Our Red Bellied who was around most days.

DS Party

Canberra Zoo- Olive Python

Mr Murray Cod

Mountain Lion

Tiger- Two great shots

The kids all love the Dingos

Rock Python
Canberra Pilots are a bit weird

Lake George - Sunrise before flight

Sunrise Lake George

What are we doing the sun isn't even up yet.

Stanwell Park-Bummer i never got to fly here. Awsome coast line.

The War Memorial-Canberra . These men of the 2/16th my uncle Sully would've fought alongside. The ones that never came home.

There are heaps of these figurenes of all the different battles throughout the memorial.

Stained Glass at the Hall of Rememberence

Simpson and His Donkey

The faces of all the soldiers(prisoners) killed on the Sandokan Death March- Murdered by the Japanese

Lest We Forget

A small portion of the men killed-WW1 Galvo

South Coast to Canberra

Well guys a lot has happened we had a great time in Corryong, We swam in the Snowy River, Got the highest I've ever been on my glider just over 9ooo'

Had new years eve with a load of cowboys and generally just had fun.

Tumut campsite while we were waiting for mail turned out to be a highlight, And it was a great place for our mail to be held up....

We are now in Canberra and I have had 2 short flights and have been to the Zoo and National Gallery still heaps to see and do But that's for the next post. hope you enjoy some of my pics i even braved letting go of the controls to take some pics in the air.

Steve

On the Road from Buchan to the Snowy River

Lunch Pit Stop (can do these in 15min start to Finish)

The Mighty Snowy River

The Kids Li lowing Down the Snowy River

Emu and Chicks

Snowy's

Rest Stop

New Years Eve- Corryong Rodeo Heehaw

Somewhere near Corryong

Corryong- Nice boots approx 1100m off ground, My First Climb here at 5.30pm I took to 2700m.

Corryong Launch - Clearing Left of Centre Forground-Mt Kosiosko small peak right of centre in background.

Rockflat Campsite-Tumut on Goobragandra Creek (Best to date and Free)

A Rare Moment Debs in the water, It's finally warming up Yippee

I even Caught 2 trout-Rainbow's One upstream and one Down

Blowering Dam Wall with the Tumut River in Background (Crystal Clear)

Blowering Dam

Portland to Apollo Bay-The Great Ocean Rd

Well Guys I've been a bit slack and haven't done any work on my blog ,but in my defence I've been busy having fun.....

We are now in Apollo Bay ,well actually it's our last day here after 10 days of mixed weather.

We have had a day of 80km hr winds all day,or 42knots. But that day was warm, we have had rain but only light and we have had nice sunshine with a cold wind chill.

I have managed to log a few hours of flying which I have filmed some of so stay tuned to more boring air footage ,i will try and add some good chilled music so you can fall asleep easier :).

Xmas Day was fantastic great weather hell I even got wet up to my shorts teaching Emily to Surf (Vid to come) . After the pressie thing and a huge feed of pancakes and ice cream and chocolate almonds to many coffees I ran up the hill and had a great 1hr flight, back home for light rest a couple of ales then down to the beach for the surfing lessons.

The kids got spoilt as usual but it was so good to actually be home for Xmas as last year I was offshore getting ready for a cyclone, in fact it was this day(Boxing Day) I tore my tendons in my shoulder.

So it has been a whole year since I last worked.......fan bloody tastic!

OK Mt Gambier was our next spot after Tunkililla then onto Portland. Had a great bush camp there and did some mountain biking as there was a race track around our campsite, then it was a long drive to Apollo Bay where we have been based ever since.

We have been on some rain forest walks,Koala spotting,paragliding,fishing(no luck) and just relaxing.

A highlight has been the platypus that lives in the creek right in front of our tent as this is the first one we have ever seen and managed a couple of photos last night after trying all week., boy there weird.

I'm not looking forward to packing up and leaving but we must and am keen to get to the warm weather. So it's off to Torquay near Melbourne tomorrow and the rest of the Great Ocean Rd which is truly and awesome drive and scenery is well scenic.

Galvo

The Big Crayfish

Mt Gambier Sink Hole

Blue Lake Mt Gambier

Sink Hole -Mt Gambier

On the Ground -Greys Rd Kennet River - Great Ocean Rd

King Parrot - Great Ocean Rd

Koala- Greys

Apollo Bay- Flying

Strong Wind Apollo Bay - Using car as wind block???

Grace- Cute As

Lucy- Gorgeous

Emily & Grace

Cape Otway Lighthouse

Otway Nat Park- Triplet Falls

Triplet Falls

Mountain Ash - Largest Eucalypt

The Otway Fly-I hate manmade structures and get scared of heights on them, Funny really??

From The top of tower - Otway Fly

rainforest Walk-Otway Nat Park

Run

Oops

Xmas

The Look Says It All

Water Rat

Platypus
Platypus-Weird huh

The End to a Great Day

For more adventures and pictures go here to the kids own blog, see Emily Surf the huge waves, Hear ferocious koalas it's all there.

http://littleaussieadventures.blogspot.com/

Steve