Children’s Royal Botanical Garden Excursion

Every year, kinder organise an excursion and this year was to, in case you haven’t already guessed it, to the Melbourne Children’s Royal Botanical Garden. 

Unfortunately for us though, after a gorgeous sunny day on Sunday and what looked like a good start to today, turned out a really c**p, cold and wet day. I can do cold, I can do sweltering, I can almost barely do snow. From inside a warm, heat filled house. But cold an wet are my pet hates. And to top off a miserable start to the day, the little man woke up with a headache. Oh, I had so much to look forward to.

Master T woke up with a headache (start of a cold), the bus ride made me nauseous. The little man has no blubber so he was cold, simply coz bad mother that I am didn’t dress him warmly enough. I spent far too much money on hot drinks. And I only had 2. To top it all off, I wore inappropriate shoes. This was going to be a good day!

Although we’ve been to the Royal Botanical Gardens we haven’t visited the children’s garden.

 

We had no choice but to schlepp on, rain or not. We were met by one of the staff members who was to her defence, really good with the kids and they in turn showed interest. Except the little man who just wasn’t in the mood for the day really. But bless him, he soldiered on. 

We stopped at this, what I believe is, is a Coral Tree. Looks more like something out of Harry Potter, but at the same time rather quite interesting. 

This was another way further into the walk, but had an interesting feature on it. A beehive. Not just any beehive though. I bet you haven’t seen a layered one like this? Really odd.

These first few pictures were taken outside of the Kids Garden and after this we went to the herb garden. The kids had to identify symbols on the herb signs to determine whether it was a cooking herb, insect repellent herb, medicinal herb, or in some cases all three. By now the rain had picked up again and I didn’t take any pictures in the herb garden, but what I did do was help them all make pot pourri sacks. There were 3 trays, one each of dried lavender, dried rose petals and something with the word “lemonade” in it. Each child was given a calico square about 8x8 inches and put in a small handful of each, then secured with an elastic band. See, no time for pics.

We took shelter next to a pond within the children’s garden and since it was raining the adults on the excursion had to do the next bit. We were each given a small bucket and a net. After putting water in the bucket from the pond we had to scoop the net 3 times in the water near the plants to disturb the stillness then scoop up whatever into the net and empty that in the bucket. I got a picture of that!

 These buckets were then taken back under the shelter to identify any little swimmers within. I can tell you there are some funny looking swimmers in that pond! But the kids were excited to see tadpoles and those other funny looking things. Laminated sheets were on the tables to see if there was anything in the buckets they could identify from the sheets.

It was then off to learn about the worm farm, but I didn’t think pictures of worm poo and wee would be of particular interest to anyone. By now the kids were complaining they were hungry so we headed back to the shelter but via a different and more interesting route.

The little man asked if we might see a panda. Um. No, I don’t think so.  

 

And one more, simply because I was really taken with them. There was a lot of bamboo in a small amount of space, yet it felt so peaceful amongst it all despite there being our group of 27 adults and nearly the same amount of parents as well as another school group who we passed.

 

After lunch the schedule was to start heading back home, but the kids were allowed to play for a while within the garden, just in case they still had more energy to burn off and then it was back to the bus to head back to where we belong and another nauseous bus ride back home. It wasn’t the drivers fault, I just don’t do motion very well. 

I think it’s time these guys had a trim. 

We’ll definitely go back as a family to explore again and more as all it costs is a train ticket to get there. Entrance is free, which is probably why the hot drinks – and the ice cream from a previous trip – are so expensive, but it’s a stunning day out. 

When the weather’s good.

Robyn x

When Too Many Becomes Too Much

I only discovered blogging a couple of years ago when I stumbled across one by chance while looking for Christmas Cake decorating ideas. And it didn’t take long for me to become hooked. I wouldn’t have this blog if I hadn’t and it has truly opened up a whole new world out there. Now I have that song in my head. Why does that happen?

Blogging is an addiction. Not only if you have your own, but if you follow them as well. Once you start, you can’t stop. You found a great blog that posts about something you’re interested in. Through that blog, you find another, and another and another, and so it snowballs. The subscription list starts getting longer and longer and if they are bloggers who post often then the posts get more and more. This is all well and good if you have nothing to do all day and can spend all of your time reading those posts.

But I do have things to do and don’t have all day. I follow a number of blogs, all with different subjects. Some are useful and I learn a lot, some are just plain interesting. As my interests grow, so does my blog roll.

Yet sometimes I don’t get the time to sit and read all of the posts that have come through. 

When I logged on today, I had 176 unread posts. I last logged on on Friday. 

So I decided to purge my blog roll. How did I do this? Well the obvious way is to unsubscribe/un follow. Over the past few weeks when I have been signing in, I found myself gravitating to the ones I was really looking forward to reading, whether it be a blog that posts daily, weekly or every now and again. I kept a list of those, but tonight I have purged the others.

I didn’t like doing it to be honest, because even though I only have a few followers myself, I would hate to lose any of you. However, I would prefer to spend more time on my own blog if that doesn’t sound too selfish. I will still go back and visit those I enjoyed when I have time, but currently I don’t feel the need to read them on a daily basis. 

As my interests continue to grow, I’m sure my blog roll will as well, again…and again another purge will be in order.

So the hours it took me to read all those posts will now be spent on my own blog. I hope you’ll stick around!

Robyn x

Aussie Fridays: Spring Cleaning to the Side of the Road

Despite a wet and cool start to spring, Melbourne is now enjoying bright and sunny days. This means that everyone's spirits are lifted and having a warm fuzzy glow about them.

It also means spring cleaning. While I haven't really started yet, many have been working in their gardens and cleaning out the cobwebs. Or their garages, or under their houses or anywhere else they store the junk they accumulate. 

 

This in turn means that the pavements are starting to fill up. Like this. 

This is a sight often seen around here, with people clearing out whatever it is they’re clearing out and then leaving all their crap junk outside their houses on the pavement. It’s also interesting to see what people are chucking out. A very familiar site is old style tv’s. Ones in perfectly working order that is simply being replaced by a fancy flat screen.

Councils within the Melbourne Metro work differently to each other wrt pavement pick-ups. Some, like ours, allow 2 pick-ups a year. You phone them up and tell them you have crapola to pick up and they send you a sticker and then come and collect.

Others like to be more in control and tell you what 2 dates in the year they are coming around. If you miss the first date, you wait for the second. If you miss that one too you’re stuck with the junk until the following year. People also throw out good stuff. This pic above? Neighbours Paul & Lisa. The kids are just too old for such a swing and the little plastic trolley.

See? TV. Probably works just fine. Or maybe not after today’s rain. Is that a vacuum cleaner behind the tv? That chair wouldn’t look too shabby with a fresh coat of paint and a newly upholstered seat. If you’re into a set of odd dining chairs which seems to be the in thing at the mo.

Now, one is not supposed to be taking things from the side of the road and you could get into a lot of trouble if you’re caught. I have seen my fair share of folks stopping and having a good look through items and load up anything that takes their fancy. 

And I’ll tell you this for free. Some people have NO idea of some of the good stuff they are throwing out. 

Sometime soon I’ll show you what I scurried away from the pile in this last picture.

Have a great weekend!

Robyn x

Tree Ferns

When we were at Camperdown market recently, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to buy tree ferns which is something Mr C has been wanting for a while.



They grow in their millions here and are everywhere you look. While we'd love an already mature one the only way is to pay a fortune at the nursery or nick one straight from the ground. While nicking one isn't an option we gladly handed over $20 for 2 small ones. You wouldn't get a bargain like that at the nursery either.



Ferns are a protected tree here in Australia and we were warned by the seller that having them on our back seat may raise some eyebrows and even stopped by the po-lice if we happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.



No worries though, because our little ferns had a special tag on them to say they were born and raised on a legit farm and they each came with their own special serial number. No adoption papers or special names, just a number.



Saturday afternoon Miss M and I were out and when we came home Mr C and the little man had already planted them. You know when something happens and suddenly you have a gazillion thoughts going through your head at nano speed in the blink of an eye? Well that happened to me when I walked outside and there sat two perfectly planted ferns.



My shock horror moment was "blog material opportunity missed". But by the time I had re-opened my eyes in that blink, Mr C  said "don't worry I've taken pictures for your blog". Thank you! The skies were smiling down on me. He's learning!



And that brings us to the conclusion of my little story about 2 very much wanted and now perfectly happily planted tree ferns.



One thing we don't know what type these particular ones are called. I've tried to look online but without success, so if anyone knows, I'd be grateful. They have been potted so that we can take them with us when we move out of this rental and into our own place one day in the not too distant future.



They grow fairly quickly apparently, so looking forward to seeing just how fast in the coming Summer months!

Robyn x

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The Mini Golf Par-tee

Last Sunday (9th Oct) was the little man's 5th birthday party held on the day before schools and kinder went back after a 2 week break.

Half an hour before the party was due to start it was still chucking it down from the night before, but we decided to go ahead anyway. It would be more fun if the kids played in the rain! Because of this with mom's phoning to confirm it was still on, we were late getting to the venue to set up and weren't completely done by the time the players started arriving. So, some of these photo's are quick shots from the day, and others had to be taken afterward. I also didn't get a picture of the whole table once it was set out. Just so you know.

You may remember these invites I posted about some weeks back?

That was quick and easy enough to do, but now I had a whole party for 15 to organise. I wanted to stay with the green and white colour scheme with perhaps a touch of yellow or blue.

I also wanted all the kids wearing the old fashioned type golf visor hats and fortunately you could still get them at the local craft shop. But not in the colours I wanted. Oh you could get green, but in a pack of 3 with a red and yellow one as well. However I could get large sheets of neoprene/foam in white. So for $10 I picked up 4 sheets of foam, and set our overseas guest to trace around a singular one I bought for 40c and cut them out. Some hot glue for re-inforcements and a bit of elastic later and I had my 15 hats.

This is an "afterwards" pic. Hence the dirty cap. These went down very well with the kids and some even wore theirs to kinder the next day!

Bottled water had the labels canged to a golf argyle strip which is scrapbook paper and drunk with a green and white striped straw.

There was also a Watering Hole. Just plain old lime cordial. It's thirsty work playing 2 rounds of mini golf after all.

Club Sandwiches for the hungry. Simple fillings of jam, ham and cheese. It didn't take at all long for these to disappear!

My Bucket of Balls. When I was growing up a must-have at parties were rice krispie balls. Rice krispies (or Bubbles here) mixed in melted milk chocolate and spooned into small cupcake cases. I substituted the milk chocolate for white choc and removed the cases when set.

 

The bucket was bought new for the occasion, washed and lined with baking paper.

Next up, cake pops! I love making these although it's only my 3rd time. Each time I get better and am looking forward to making more themed ones soon. These were simply done with white chocolate and sprinkled with white nonpareils to represent the texture of gold balls.

And last but not least, the birthday cake. I just did a Google search for golf themed cakes and used ideas from a number of the images shown. 

The trees are Mint Leaves,  the same I used on this edible Christmas tree Miss M made for the neighbours kids last year. It was all iced in Royal icing coloured with food colouring. The "grass" is dyed coconut as I couldn't find green only sprinkles. The water is Royal icing with a few drops of blue food colouring and the sand is crushed biscuits. The ball is a too-big mini cake pop.

All in all it was a great fun party and the rain only lasted another 20 mins once it started and then it was only light. 

 

After all the running around and organising it's amazing just how quickly a few hours goes when you're all having fun.

Robyn x

Aussie Fridays: The Lottery

The South African and British lotteries I have played on in the past have been pretty straight forward. Not so the Australian lottery.

The Australian Lottery has main games, each one played on a different night. Each one with different prize money up for grabs and each one with it's own set of rules wrt number of balls drawn and the cost of each line.

Some blurb first.
Balls = the number of balls played in each game
Games = the number of games for each lottery
QuickPick = where the lottery system will select your balls instead of you choosing your own

Here's the simple version.

Saturday - Tatt's Lotto
Minimum Prize = AU$4 million
Regular Superdraws of up to and over $20 million (next one for $22m is on Oct 22nd) 
6 Balls drawn from 45 plus 2 supplementary balls
Minimum play: 4 standard games at a cost of $2.60 (your own choosing of the numbers)
Minimum of 12 QuickPick games at a cost of $7.85

Monday & Wednesday  - Monday & Wednesday Lotto (wasn't hard to work that one out was it?)
Minimum Prize = $1 million. If Monday's jackpot's not won, it carries to Wednesday's draw
6 Balls drawn from 45 plus 2 supplementary numbers
Minimum play: 4 standard games at $1.75 for one draw,$3.50 for both draws
Minimum of 12 QuickPick games at $5.25 for one draw, $10.50 for both draws

Tuesday - Super 7's Oz Lotto
Minimum prize = $2 million (has been known to hit the $20m mark)
7 Balls drawn from 45 plus 2 supplementary numbers
Minimum play: 1 standard game at $1.20
Minimum of 9 QuickPick games at $10.80

Wednesday - see description for Monday

Thursday - Powerball
Minimum prize = $3 million
5 balls drawn from 45+ *
Minimum play: 4 standard games at $3.25
Minimum of 12 QuickPick games at $9.80
* there is a second set of balls per game of which you can choose one, or have the system pick out a number for you which guarantees the winning Powerball number.

Over and above these standard games there are many more. The Pools, Super 66 and of course all the usual scratchcards.

When I first wanted to play I presumed it was the same as the UK so I duly filled in the required number of "x's" for 2 games and was duly told that I had to play a minimum of 4.

I also once filled in a ticket for a game I hadn't played before only to be told that it would cost me $1,500 to play. I'm trying to win money here, not spend it!

The Aussies have gone one better than with the other lotteries I have played with the Tatts card. When you buy your lottery ticket and you have a Tatts card, the information is stored on there, so if ever you lose that winning ticket, no problemo. Tatts will call you up and let you know you've won!

Up until now I have stuck to mainly the Saturday & Tuesday games. Those are the only ones I know what I'm doing so far.

I'm hoping that one day I'll win.

Robyn x