The Mary River

A couple of weeks ago, we went camping. There's so many beautiful spots within one hour's travel from home.

One of the reasons we went is that at school, Ruby is learning all about the unique life forms that live in our Mary River habitat. She asked us if we could go check it out, so she could draw it accurately for her project. 

Seemed like a good excuse to extend it into an overnighter.

Some years ago, this region, including a lot of the smaller townships in and around, were under threat of being sunk under a huge water catchment. Luckily, at the eleventh hour, this plan came to nought, and so these beautiful places have remained intact. The Mary Valley people, unfortunately, didn't escape unscarred. A lot of people were bought out and moved on; it's caused permanent emotional scarring and change. That's another (long) story though, for another time.

Back to camping...

I'd actually booked at a place we'd not been to before. When we got there, none of us liked the look of it! We drove around and quickly exited before we were committed. Maybe not exactly the right thing to do, but we'd driven past some gorgeous camping grounds, including this one at Kenilworth. We didn't actually stay here this time but it's on our to-do list for a long weekend. Next time!

We set up on the bend of the Mary River, at a place called Little Yabba. 

The girls put up their own tent now. Such independence! They may or may not spend the full night in it, but it's their spot to read and hide away from us. They squirrel away the lamp and some snacks; it's delightful.

Late afternoon, the fire was lit; darkness fell quickly and so did the thermostat...

In the morning there was frost and mist; it was quiet and still and just absolutely mesmerising. 

As the sun rose and we warmed up, layers were shed and a meander up the river was in order.

It was chilly, but not too cold for a dip. The water was cool and clean and green and there was no-one else in sight. At all. 

We checked out the rocks and the pools, all in the name of research. 

Best school project ever.

Looking forward to our next camping adventure, in just a couple of weeks.

Have a lovely week, everyone xx

other April highlights...a month in pictures

April always starts off with Ruby's birthday. It's one of my favourite months. Not just because of the birthday celebrations, but because it's Easter, school holidays and the weather here on the Coast is usually always close on perfect. This year was no exception.

It came and went in a flash. No time for blogging, really. So I'm just diarising it in pictures; highlighting some of my favourite parts.

Easter: 

I like to chuck in a little something handmade. This year I just went with a very simple bunny template, old fabric and some ribbon. Perched on the end of a kid's bed on Easter morning with some chocolate eggs; perfection.

Still on the Easter theme: the egg hunt. Obviously best carried out in undies and an oversized jumper...

The booty. I keep this part of it pretty small as we tend to get swamped in chocolate once the extended family has arrived.

Goodness, we had some lovely weather this April. My Dad has been getting into his sailing since my parents relocated to the Coast. At Lake Cootharaba over the break we took a picnic and had some fun times with the family.

We seriously spent a lot of time on the beach. You know, we have so many people around over Christmas, but right now, they seem to just drop off. I never get it. The beaches are sublime, you can be down here for longer without frying and it's so much easier to get a park. At Christmas, you won't find me down here on this busy beach, no indeed. But right now? Everyday.

This game of finska was a Christmas present and great fun on the beach.

We took the surfboards, surf mats and PK's handcrafted surfie: something for everyone.

We were down on the beach in the morning and back again in the afternoons for some awesome surfing sessions...

Back home we made use of left over party bubbles.

There was some silliness at the local park.

We had two lots of foster kittens through April. So, so very cute! They're never popular with our cat though; she moves outside while they stay with us.

Who can resist a pile of fluffy purr-iness? Not me, that's for sure. Not the girls, either. And not even PK, although he may pretend otherwise.

Cat whiskers...just delicious.

More beach. We just couldn't get enough.

My niece came to stay and tuned out to be a super-surfer.

Long shadows and glorious sunsets. Bliss.

Hope April was good around your parts of the world, wherever that may be.

the long summer holidays

This has been the best type of holiday. Constant streams of family and friends passing through to share days on the beach and at home with us. The weeks post-Christmas have disappeared in a blur of brown bodies, laughter, good food, good wine and good company.

There have been late nights and lazy sleep ins with the constant whir of fans to try to counteract the oppressive mugginess of our subtropical summer.

We don't have air-con in our little beach house; just old fashioned windows to open wide.  Our trampoline and hose have been getting a good work out on these hottest of days.

With the girls heading back to school tomorrow, I've put a few happy snaps together; just for me to look back on. To make me smile and remember all the fun stuff.

Late, late afternoon post tennis dip in the river with my Mum, sister and kids. There's nothing quite like a wallow after some strenuous sweaty activity!

Beautiful paper bags decorated by two crafty and gorgeous little girls.

A pop-up craft stall in our driveway on a Saturday morning. Featuring these beautiful thumbprint art cards.

Three best buddies...friends for ever.

The hit of the summer has been these retro style surf mats which have been in use almost every day, often twice a day. Gosh, we've all had a blast on these!

This place underwent a makeover, so the girls and I did a country detour on or way to Brisbane for an organic juice and delicious chocolately brownie. Well, that's what they had. Coffee for me...

First ever Pop-Up Adoption by the RSPCA was a resounding success. It was great to see some of our long term Noosa residents find their forever homes. Check out Facebook here for some feel-good stories.

I always love to hang at GOMA with the girls in the holidays. So much to see and do. Actually most of our time is spent eating; in between sticker-ing.

Sometimes I gotta catch the art while the kids have some escalator fun! Not many escalators in our little pocket of the world.

Enoggera Reservoir just opened up for swimming. This is just over the back fence from my sister's place and seriously one of the highlights of our Brisbane trip.

o

Oh, and this little kid just melts my heart. Jack is growing up!

Ruby's giving me a manicure.

Those freckles...xxx

Hope your holidays were all that you needed.

What have you been up to?