Happy Australia Day

Happy Australia Day - what did you do for Australia Day 2010?

We had a day of geocaching - we walked around Bendigo with our GPS and solved puzzles to search for hidden treasures.  We discovered some interesting places that we didn't know existed and we have been living here for 20 years!   Then, when we were exhausted,  we came home to some traditional Aussie burgers on the barbie.  How about you - do you celebrate Australia Day?

Heidenreich Family reunion at Salt Creek, SA

We travelled to Salt Creek, in the Coorong, SA for a Heidenreich Family reunion.   It was great to catch up with my Dad and my sister, as we didn't get to see them for Christmas.  It was also nice to catch up with my Mum's family - there was a  huge gathering of cousins and aunties and uncles .... 65 of us in total.  We booked out the Salt Creek caravan park and it was a great location.  Days were spent on the beach,  4WD driving on  sand, fishing and climbing the sand dunes.  The nights were spent sharing stories  and memories.

What do you think of Jim's Mulloway??  And yes it is true that we got bogged in the sand.  Twice.    But we managed to get out by ourselves with only a little bit of pushing by Carol and Helen, and letting the air out of the tyres.  I think Jim gets bogged on purpose because he enjoys the adventure.

If you have never been to the Coorong, it's definately a place to put on your bucket list.  It is an amazing place, unlike anywhere else that I have seen in the world.  The wind is ferocious, the shifting sands are soft and unpredictable and it's not a place to get lost.  But the colours and the scenery is spectacular.  Well worth a visit and only  10 minutes drive from Salt Creek.

Do you like Spiders

One hot  summers night, I happened to wander outside and I was amazed and startled to find the plethora of spiders that were busy doing what spiders do on a hot night - make webs and catch bugs.  We walked around the house with torches and my Dad was here too - he loved it.  I got a few photos of the spiders and the webs and I resisted the temptation to spray the fly spray around (except when it comes to the Redbacks - there's no mercy with Redbacks).  I think I can tolerate spiders outside the house, but not inside.  Apparently they have been identified as Garden weaving spiders - they are actually quite colourful up close  (on the computer that is - not in real life!), and they don't like coming inside anyway.  Perfect!

Do you have spiders like this at your place? What do you do about them - is it peace or perish?

Soar with the eagles

We had the pleasure of a visit from a pair of  Eagles.  Is there a collective name for a group of Eagles?  They are such graceful birds and they are amazing in size - they look like little dots in the sky, but when they are up close, they are quite intimidating.   We enjoyed watching them flying around, and they seem to have settled in a nearby tree as we have seen them several times since then.

Enjoying life at home

We had a quiet Christmas and New Year's Eve and it was nice.  We enjoyed the sunsets and had time to catch up with family and friends, and to contemplate the year ahead.  There is a lot to think about. And when you have spectacular sunsets like this one - right in your backyard - there is much to enjoy about contemplating.

Geocaching - Hiding our first treasures

We have been geocaching for about six months and really enjoy the challenge of working out the cryptic puzzles and finding ourselves in new and interesting places.  This week, we have started to hide our own geocaches and have released two out there.  We have been working on them for  a couple of weeks, and researched the locations around the caches. It was fun and turned out to be very interesting. 

We have one called Woodvale Railway Hotel and  this cache is hidden across the road from the site of the Woodvale Railway Station Hotel - every town has a Railway Hotel, but this one was special. It was established during the gold rush, and the railway line was extended to Woodvale in 1882. It was originally called the Baden Baden Hotel (based on the German bathing / spa town) and the name was anglicised before World War 1.   In the gay 1920s, the world had seen the end of the war and the local soldiers were home from London and Paris. A Saturday night dance at the school hall was tame indeed, and many men travelled to the Railway Hotel on a Saturday night where nude table top dancing was the fashion. One local scandal involved a police raid and a well-known respectable Bendigo patriarch bolting naked from the Hotel.

Another is hidden near the site of the old  Woodvale Railway Station. The railway line was extended to Woodvale in 1882 and it provided a new opportunity to receive goods from Melbourne in only a few hours, rather than several days. Originally, this area was called Sydney Flat Railway station and was adjacent to the crossing which is a little south of here, opposite the Railway Station Hotel. In 1912, the Railway Station was moved north and is now just near Nuggety Creek. A large mound of dirt, bordered with Sugar Gums marks the site of the old platform. A violent windstorm blew the station down and it was rebuilt, before being closed and removed in 1931.

It's been fun and we have learned so much about the history of the town we have lived in for the past 15 years.

Christmas 2009

We had a quiet Christmas this year.  It was my first Christmas since my mum died and I didn't feel much like celebrating. We had a lot of offers for Christmas lunch, however we decided to stay at home for lunch and have a cold seafood and salad lunch.

It was great. We made phone calls in the morning and caught up with various family members across the country and have a leisurely lunch that needed little preparation.  Helen was happy with her fish smoker, and Jim got a fantastic multi-purpose torch/ radio/light.

For Boxing Day we travelled to Point Lonsdale to catch up with Jim's family. We took the dogs and Rocky (the new puppy) was well behaved and slept most of the way. We had a great day and it was nice to catch up with the latest news.

Here is  a family  photo of us all on Boxing Day, and our dogs - Reggie and Rocky.  Rocky was exhausted by all of the excitement!