JoelandKateand: August 2007

Well we're lagging a bit behind in the blog stakes but we've got a great excuse -we've been away the last 2 weekends on our first and second family holidays!!!! We packed up the family wagon (one bag each for us and 15 for RR!) and headed into the hills (about 75 min away) to visit our friends and stay at the Mount Murrindal Co-op. There are several houses on a beautiful 100acre block of aussie bush, a large shared vege garden and shared chooks. The house we stayed in was basic but had 2 of our favorite things (which are sadly lacking from our metung palace) - a bathtub and a wood heater. So we did a lot of lounging in front of the fire and had several guilt-free baths with the little miss as there are no water restrictions up there.

There were lots of kangaroos jumping around - so we felt right at home with our own little marsupial in her special pouch!

Sunrise at Mount Murrindal (yep, we were awake)

We went the weekend of the 11/12 august and celebrated joel's 31st birthday... We spent the day itself at the nearby buddhist centre (SIBA) where some of our friends live. They didn't know it was joel's birthday until we got there but still managed to rustle up a birthday cake - no mean feat considering we're currently on a lactose + gluten free diet! THANKS to DEANNE who just happened to have a L+G free pineapple upside-down cake in the freezer!!! what a woman!

clockwise: fred, neroli, viola, jampal, RR and one happy birthday boy

We went back the next weekend to go on a picnic with a bunch of locals to an amazing spot called The Pyramids. You can only get to it by going through several private properties and many many farm gates- all needing to be opened and closed. We went in a convoy and then set up camp for the day in the most idyllic spot in the middle of nowhere. Joel did the walk/scramble up to the pyramids themselves while RR and I settled for a stroll around the open areas.