Hidden Valley.

What to you call a bunch of teachers that walk into a valley on a weekend? I am not sure, but I did ponder it as I made up the rear party of an afternoon outing to Hidden Valley or Mirima National Park on Sunday. This park is on our doorstep practically, I drive past it every day and despite being here a year, we have never been for a walk in it! So we packed our towels, snacks and drinks and took a 30 minute trek to this.......

A beautiful pool. Deep enough to jump off into. See that figure in the white top on the left clapping as the others jumped in?? Notice how there is a gap in the ladies jumping off, almost like the person in the white was supposed to jump in too but at the last second stepped back and said "No WAY!" Well that chicken is me! Just couldn't do it!

There was a smaller ledge that the girls were happy jumping off.

I jumped in off this one just fine. :)

First Day of School for 2011!

My what a difference a year can make. This time last year at the start of the school year, Grace was less than impressed as you may remember from this blog post. And now look at her this morning! Very confident and more than eager to go. One if the perks of working at the same school your kids attend is that you know who their teachers are, so we knew all throughout the holidays that Grace had Mrs H and Milly had Miss W who was the same teacher she had last year so she was extra happy. Milly is in year one this year and Grace is in year three. Being a big year three kid, she didn't want me to hang around and see her in the door this morning, lucky I got to chat to her teacher in the staff room about how it was going. Milly let me walk her to her room and come in for a few minutes, then I was shooed out of there too! We have two happy confident kids so should be proud of that. 2011 is going to be a great year for both of them.

365 days ago...

A year ago today we moved here to this town called Kununurra that we now call home. Stepping off that plane, dazed, immediately wrapped in a warm blanket of heat and humidity. Welcomed by strangers that have become friends. Our thoughts ranged from "What have we done??" to "How exciting!! What an adventure!" We think we are pretty lucky to have scored Kununurra as a placement, such a beautiful corner of Australia. I can see us staying up here for awhile.... To celebrate 365 days here, we went out this afternoon to Middle Springs. We had been here once before, but this time we went to the same place but somewhere a little different.

We walked up the side of the falls, followed the stream. It wasn't a hard walk, 10 minutes or so.

Took in the sights along the way! We have had a few decent days of rain this week and so the waterfalls are flowing.

And up the top is a collection of flowing pools. Some where waist deep, others knee deep, others a few meters deep. All connected by the stream rushing through. I tried a self timer shot but couldn't get back in time! Yes, I am wearing shoes in the water, we all wear them, our trekking shoes we call them. My camera battery died after I took the first photo in this post. The pool in the first photo was on the other side of the pool above. The water fell into the next pool, it was so beautiful up there. I was cross my camera battery died, we will just have to go back again.

Black Rock

We have taken advantage of the rain and having our own 4WD and getting out and seeing some of the waterfalls around only in the wet season.

This one is Black Rock which we have been to a few times before. It holds a special place in my heart as it was the first place we ever visited when we came up here.

The Gold Coast Holiday - Part 1!

We have just come back from a two week holiday catching up with family and friends in the Gold Coast. I took a lot of photos as to be expected, so thought I would break the posts up for the blog. It's usually a sunny part of Australia but at the moment large parts of Queensland are flooded, its the wettest summer in 150 years or something like that. We had a few days of sunshine... Our accommodation was right on the foreshore so we could walk to the beach.

Little bit different to our days on Rottnest. Lots of people, lots of different languages heard as you walk along the sand and the lifeguards! And shadows from the skyscrapers on the beach.

New Years Day saw us all heading to Australia Zoo. It was great and raining but we brought a $3 plastic poncho at the shop and everything was okay. The rain actually kept the crowds down so that was good for us. We had come such a long way we weren't going to let some rain dampen our spirits! I was excited, the girls were excitied just as much! We walked in the gates and up the first path straight into the elephant feeding. Grace was there popping carrot into his trunk and exclaimed afterwards it was like a big vacum cleaner!

We then headed to the Crocoseum. It was amazing! Terrie, Bindi and Bob were all there. Bindi sang a few songs, Bob then sang one and then the show with the crocs started.

Terrie feed him......

And then Bindi feed him too. Note the flying bit of meat mid air! We did see Bindi later walking through the grounds with a minder giving some boy and his Mum a private tour, no photos of that, we were to star struck and only managed to say "Hi Bindi" as she walked past and to her credit she said hi back and smiled at the girls.

Then we went and saw the Tigers which impressed Grace so much she has decided to be a tiger handler when she grows up.

And also Grace managed to pat a koala's bum! It was a busy day, we were there all day and it was fantastic. the grounds and animals are all immaculate, I'd go back there in a flash. Next blog post, Seaworld!

Santa 2010.

There is no Santa Photo Booth at the shops here in down town Kununurra. Hard to believe but true! There was a small ad in the local paper the other week saying sorry no Santa photos this year due to an impending birth. So what is a Mum to do? I have to have my Santa photo, have had one every year since 2004. During my recent whirl wind trip to Darwin while wandering around Kmart, I found a Santa Suit for $7! $7???!!!! So I brought it just for this photo shot. The girls weren't fooled at all about it being their Dad. "When is the real Santa coming Mummy?" Milly asked, soon sweetheart soon.

We will be going here on boxing day for 2 weeks so I'll be taking a blogging break while we are away. Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas, looking forward to sharing 2011 with you all.

Grace's Art Exhibition.

We went to the school's art exhibition last night. Grace had a few pieces on display. Despite being less than impressed on the first day here, I am proud of how well she has settled in. She does enjoy her art classes!