Feeding the ducks

This was last Sunday. We took the kids to a nearby park where there is a big pond, picnic area and a playground. I packed lunch with us and took left over bread as well for the ducks if in case feeding the ducks is allowed at the pond. The kids were so excited for the picnic because that was our first time to visit the place. When we arrived, it was quiet with no one playing in the playground except for a couple of people at the big shaded picnic area. We spotted two men also trying their luck fishing for carp at the opposite side of the pond. There were many ducks from nowhere started to appear as soon as we got closer to the water.The kids started to feed them when they got to the edge of the pond. They were hungry and grabbing every pieces thrown into the water. When the kids had enough they started to get back to the shaded area but these white ducks followed them wanting for more and so they feed them again.

Last Sunday

This is the other place that we visited last Sunday just only a few minutes drive from Penrith. It was our first time to visit this place. The place is called the John Whitton Memorial Park. John Whitton was the one who built the railways of Penrith to Bathurst, Sydney to Albury and Sydney to Queensland. The monument was built in memory of him and all the men who worked with him.

Mt Banks

This was last 3 weekends ago when we were driving in the other side of the Blue Mountains. It was a sunny day when we started our trip but when we were in the Blue Mountains the weather was completely the opposite. It was stormy with gusty winds, on and off showers and quite cold. Part of the storm had also dropped some hail but glad it didn't last that long. We still drove despite of the weather condition to reach our destination and while on our way, we past this sign (below) and thought to drop by to satisfy our curiosity of the place.
The drive on a narrow and dirt road was paid off with the breathtakingly beautiful views of the mountain and its surroundings. It was really worth the drive. There was a small picnic area as what the sign says, with couple of picnic tables and chairs, but it was quiet due to the weather condition, except for the two people who were preparing theirselves for a trip to climb up to the mountain. With my interest to snap few pictures, I was the only one who decided to scramble out of the car, and after taking few snaps we drove off to our destination. I hope some day if time permits we can visit the place again and stay a bit longer to enjoy the beauty of nature.

A day out in the city

Me, my friends and my sister with our families decided to go to the city last weekend, our destination was the Sydney Aquarium. The kids were so excited about the trip, not only of the Aquarium visit but because they were going with their friends, the kids of my friend and their cousin, Maddie, my sister's daughter. It was a great bonding for all of us as we don't get to do this very often. I mean going to the city with them is very rare to happen, once in a blue moon, I would say. It was a glorious day and crispy with few clouds scattered around the blue sky. We catch the train going to Central station and from there, we walked down to Darling Harbour.

At the pond

We went out yesterday to one of our favourite spots on weekend to feed our feathery friends who live in the ponds of the Reserve close to where we live. There were not so many people when we arrived as it was still a bit early but as we started feeding them people started to flock in the Reserve. There was quite a number of ducks came by to enjoy the feed. The kids always have a great time feeding them. When we noticed that they started to ignore the pieces of bread we threw to them, we decided to refrain from giving them more pieces of bread and saved the rest for the occupants in the other pond. After we done feeding our friends, we took a stroll around the park to enjoy the beautiful day.

Kiting

We went out kiting at Cor Bouwer Reserve nearby. We used my little boy's blue Owl kite. We bought it about 3 years ago and it is still in good shape and condition. It was a glorious day but unfortunately at that time there was not enough wind to fly the kite. We patiently waited and waited but it seemed Mother Nature wasn't on our side. Since my little boy cannot manage to fly the kite all by himself with not enough wind, my daughter took charge of flying it and had to do all her effort to run around the ground from time to time just to get the kite up flying. It was great fun for them even though it was a bit exhausting.

At Darling Harbour

Last week, me and my friends went out to the City and one of our itinerary was to visit Darling Harbour, one of Sydney's waterfront destinations.
While we were strolling around the Harbour to take pictures, we spotted fish swimming close enough to the surface of the water as if they were desperately begging for food. We actually saw three, one was small and the other 2 were a good size. I hurriedly focused my camera straight to them but the smaller one swam down straight to the deep while the two started to display interesting swimming movements as if they were trying to catch our attention. It was just only for few seconds and quickly they disappeared. If I am not mistaken those fishes are called silver trevallyAnother creature that caught our attention was this big jelly fish swimming around slowly in the water. It was about the size of a basketball ball and my first time to see a jellyfish of that size.
And lastly, that's us together (minus the photographer) in one of the water features of Darling Harbour. This water feature is sometimes full of kids mostly on weekends and school holidays, playing the water or simply enjoying a walk around the water feature. At that time since it was a weekday, we were so lucky to have the water feature all by ourselves. :)Please visit Watery Wednesday for more watery sites all around the world.

Feeding the Dino

This is my second post about our visit to Australian Museum. Some of the attractions there are the popular Dinosaur Exhibition and a Dinosaur show. I just paid a bit of extra with the entrance fee so the kids can watch the Dinosaur show for the first time in the afternoon. The Dino in the show is called Winnie, a Muttaburrasaurus Puppet, big enough to resemble a 3 yrs old Dino in the olden days. Winnie and her keeper entertained in the show about the life of the Dinosaur. The kids were so fascinated with Winnie and curious to learn more about Dinosaur.Dorothy was so lucky to be chosen to pretend feeding the Dino along with the other kids. I saw many kids who were so eager to try that experience as there were many children hands in the air wishing to be picked up by the keeper. Dorothy was so excited and enjoyed it so much and even engaged herself in the audience participation in the question and answer portion too. David on the other hand was quiet but enjoying the show as well. I was really glad he didn't appear to be scared of the Dino's appearance and the sound effects. I saw few kids got terrified and cried the moment the Dino appeared in the scene. And sorry for the poor quality of my pics. I hope I can get better quality next time.Can you see the man's legs?

Ruby Tuesday - Mr "Ladybug"

Here is David dress up as his favourite insect, a Ladybug. The pictures were taken during our visit to Australian Museum last January 2010. I always like to take the kids to Australian Museum whenever I can grab a chance on school holidays. They have lots of things to see and do there. We always take the train going to the city and that's where the excitement starts. One of the things that fascinated my little boy during our visit was the dress up characters of his favourite animal and insect. The costumes are provided free by the museum itself and come in wide selection. We all had a great time there and the kids can't wait for the next visit.This time he is a tiger.... GRRRRR.... GRRRRR!!!If you would like to join or want to see more red please click here.

I'm back

Yes, I am back on track now after few days of being away. We arrived last Sunday afternoon. I missed my blogs and everyone here but didn't have much time to sit down in front of my computer right away. I was stacked with some works around the house that needed my attention and did grocery shopping for the things we need for the week. The unpacking is always my worst part in every trip plus the trip is over, so no excitement anymore. But I was just glad that I was able to finish it before Monday and before my laziness settles in. My garden had not been watered for days and thankfully there are no casualties occurred when I checked it out.
We had sizzling hot days during our entire holiday but glad we still managed to have a fantastic time. We stayed in a friend's house in the country side and headed off every afternoon to the beach when temperatures subsided, swimming, walking, relaxing and enjoying the sea breeze and the views around until early evening. We all had a great time and can't wait for the next holiday.

Beaching

Just to enjoy most of the winter sunshine, we took the kids to the beach again last Saturday.Going to the beach is one of our favourite ways to unwind and relax ourselves enjoying the sea breeze and soak up the views around after a busy week . The kids always love it too even if they are not allowed to go swimming yet this time. It is still winter season here and the water is still a bit cold for swimming. I am very conscious about getting them to the water like this time of the year because of the flu- like symptoms associated with the weather even if the day was a bit warmer than the average winter days. . But unlike me, some parents dont mind at all for there were kids we saw who went swimming at that time. Despite with all our "do's and dont's to them", they still had a tremendous fun playing and chasing each other on the beach.