The Cotter

"Going to the Cotter" (along with going to Tidbinbilla) was one of the only entertainments we had in our early days of living in Canberra. But with so much else on offer in more recent times we hadn't been back to the Cotter in YEARS!

But all the travel restrictions have made us look more local for adventures, so back to the Cotter we went yesterday!

We found this view of the Reserve hadn't changed much over the years, the site of many picnics and outings with family and friends (and school groups) - but although a lot of people were around, everyone was following social distancing rules yesterday!

 We checked out the new (for us) Cotter Dam wall from the lookout platform. It was finished in 2013, increasing the dam capacity by 200 times (and Canberra and Queanbeyan's stored water supply by 36%).

 We walked a good part of the Cotter Dam Discovery Trail which pays close homage to the heritage aspects of the Cotter River, its importance to the local Ngunnawal and Ngambri people, and its contribution to the new city of Canberra.

 In recognition of our much more locally focussed adventures for the next little while(?) we bought ourselves a pair of ugly outdoor chairs yesterday - and tried them out at the Cotter for the first time. Although ugly they are very comfortable - and a big improvement on sitting on a rock or the grass!

 Next time we'll do the 5.2klm round trip Honyong - Cotter Walking Track and get a much better view of the dam itself. We didn't have the right shoes yesterday!

Tidbinbilla

With the blessing of her teacher we took Abi on an excursion to Tidbinbilla yesterday - the last day of her COVID-19 "school at home" stint (which started 9 memorable weeks ago!!!)

We knew Abi would enjoy a day in this beautiful nature reserve - only a 30 minute drive from where she lives in Tuggeranong and only just reopened, after months of closures due to drought, bushfires and then the pandemic.

On the road to Tidbinbilla we had the excitement of cow, sheep and horse sightings... then an emu as we entered the reserve ..... and these lazy kangaroos chilling out near the carpark..... a perfect start to our outing.

 Tidbinbilla has a beautiful nature discovery playground ........ that was our first stop...

 But once we got further into the reserve Abi's wildlife warrior soul emerged. She loves all things in nature ...... and especially kookaburras...

 .... and is so good at observation, identification and tuning in .......

 She loves using my camera to capture things she sees... and she's going to be a great photographer too I think - as she's a great observer - and knows about keeping the lens clean!

 She found a little bandicoot at the entrance to the (wetland) sanctuary and quickly had it under her spell.

 The wetland sanctuary incorporates some quirky artwork too that Abi found intriguing .....

 and water is always a magnet for her attention ......

 Rob and I get confused about what's a duck and what's a goose sometimes - but we think these are geese (and they had a very loud honk!).

 Abi spied this gigantic pelican on the other side of the pond and she just raced off from us, cross country, with great excitement, to start befriending it.......

 It took her a while...

 but she worked out a way to attract its attention, that it couldn't resist........

 She decided it's name was Bob and spent AGES being entranced by its every move ........ Bob looked similarly entranced by Abi in the end too.

 Rob and I have visited Tidbinbilla many times since we've lived here (nearly 50 years - yikes!) but we've never enjoyed it or got as much out of our visit as we did yesterday with Abi!

Being 13

Ella turned 13 this birthday - a teenager at last - but in the age of COVID-19 that meant no big party plans were made. Instead, she celebrated with a quiet night at home with the family (including us!), and in these (just out of complete lockdown) ISO times she and Abi both wore their favourite pyjamas to the party on this cold Canberra night. 

Ella had started school this week (year sevens only at ACT government high schools) and her friends had given her some cute and funny presents for her birthday. One of her them had unearthed an original 70s LP "40 Great Accordion" hits - which caused a lot of hilarity.

  Abi took this lovely portrait of Ella on her birthday - conveying her beautiful, open, serene and sunny personality perfectly!

 But family presents this year were all geared towards Ella's love of devices.... this is the look of a girl opening her long awaited AiPods (Pro).......

 ... and an Ultimate Ears Boom 3 portable speaker (from us) - Yay!

Abi had spent a lot of her school at home day (she doesn't return to school until next week) preparing for the "party": blowing up balloons, decorating with streamers, making a cake AND THIS BEAUTIFUL CARD..........

Ella had requested nachos for her birthday dinner .......

and Abi had helped make the cake and done all the icing ....

 Happy birthday darling girl!

 Abi had worked hard all week at her school at home. We were astounded at her information piece about her beloved "Shire Horses" - and her fluent reading about this topic she is currently fascinated by.

 On this night she was pretty fascinated by the flame too ......

 ..and finally mastered the finger through the flame trick!

 We ended the night in typical Ella style - all happy sparkles

Staying in the region

We're able to meet in groups of 10 now so we celebrated how well we're all doing by organising a picnic today at a place a little way out of Canberra that we haven't visited in a l-o-n-g time (maybe never?).

First stop was Uriarra Crossing - on the Murrumbidgee River - which is almost on the outskirts of Canberra now, and only about 25 minutes drive from Campbell. But I don't think we'd been here since the 70's!!

 An hour or so on from here, along Mountain Creek Road and then a left turn on to the Wee Jasper Road (just before we hit the southern tip of Lake Burrinjack) we found a perfect picnic spot on Wee Jasper Creek in the Billy Grace Reserve (which was officially closed still in these Covid-19 times).

 A picnic feast emerged on the tray of Jurgen's ute in lightning speed and the obligatory glass of aperitivo ..

 We even had a small (portable) fire to make things more convivial........

 Our location led to talk of the Hume and Hovell Walking Track which does wind its way around parts of this region (and eventually on to the Hovell tree in Albury).  Maybe that walk (or parts of it) can provide inspiration for future visits?

 There's beautiful sheep country in this region; in fact we were not too far from the historic Cavan Station, owned by Rupert Murdoch's family.

The land looked a picture today, especially the beautiful properties along Mountain Creek Road....

 .... and not just sheep either ......

 Isolation, border controls and bans on extended travel are teaching us all to appreciate each other more and what we have here close to home.