It's interesting how we all know about global warming and environmental concerns, but how little we actually bother to offset our carbon footprint. I am definitely not one of those environmental fanatics, the number of children I have already over exceeds the desired one or nil child policy that most of the environmental parties are demanding these days. I do try every now and then to turn things down a notch, and I must admit I enjoy my little "luxuries" whenever I can.
However, under the constant reminders from my husband, I have started to turn things down a notch. The brightness of our lights and my laptop have been dimmed a little. I try to hang the clothes out to dry rather then use the dryer. We switch off the power points when not using our electrical appliances instead of leaving it on standby. We changed from petrol to diesel. We also tend to spend our family evenings in one room, so as to minimize the lighting needed. When we do switch on the air conditioning, it is only when the heat goes over 33 degrees, and we only have it set to 28 degrees. This all helps to not only conserve energy, but also helps lighten the expenses.
With Earth Hour happening on the 29th of March, we are all asked to minimize our carbon footprint by turning off all non essential lights and setting our appliances from stand by to off, for one hour from 8pm. This should prove to be interesting, as I will be on holidays in Great Ocean Road on that day.
Do stop by the official webpage and join up, even if you only intend to turn down your music, or the brightness of your monitor, every little bit helps!
Join here and be linked to me! http://www.earthhour.org/user/WxzU
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Friday, March 14, 2008
Road Trip 3 part 1
Date & Time of Departure: 1st March 2008 ~8.27am
Duration of travel: 4hrs 22 minutes
Distance travelled: ~205km
Time of Arrival (back home): ~8pm
Fuel Consumption: 9.2l/100km
This weekend trip, we headed out with my parents along for the day. We were heading up to Marysville, famed for its mountain ranges and magnificent , cascading waterfalls. Setting off with the car filled to the brim with the usual breakfast sandwiches, bbq utensils and assorted picnicware, spare clothes and shoes, lots of water and seven people, we headed to the first stop point, Healesville Information Centre.
I love information centres. Even if I have fully researched a location of the place we are going (which not everything is satisfactorily explained in detail online anyway), I like stepping into a building, fully dedicated to stacks and stacks of gleaming coloured brochures. I like flipping through them, looking at the pictures and reading about things I can do or things I can buy. I always inevitably come out from said centre with a pile of brochures so heavy that I have taken to bringing a shopping bag solely for putting the brochures in. Jeffrey however, is happy to take a few brochures, and when he is done with reading and "memorising" it, throws it into the recycling bin. I however, am an hoarder and tend to have way too many "collectibles" ("rubbish" is his description), littered all about the house. Its been about 4 road trips now, as I m writing this blog (road trip 4 write up - coming soon), and already I have 2 shopping bags full of brochures and leaflets. The great thing about information centres is, they don't only have information about surrounding areas, but gives me ideas of where to go next. I even have some brochures for Adelaide and Tasmania that I nicked from Healesville.
Back to the road trip. We left the information centre in Healesville and headed for our breakfast stop at Beechworth Bakery. I was considerably more cheerful with my armful of brochures. The helpful information centre man had enlightened me as to why there were so many cars and people about Healesville. Rochford Wines were having their "A Day on the Green" concert this weekend, and their performer was none other then Rod Stewart!!
Beechworth Bakery was a sight to behold. A huge building standing by itself, it was all windows with a light airy atmosphere. The smell upon entering was heavenly. Being in a bakery, for me, is like a child in a sweet shop. A sense of euphoria from the smell and the sight of all the yummy delicacies laid out in their glass cases and I was lost in indecision over what to get. The only thing that could top being in a bakery is being in a chocolate factory! I was happy to discover that Beechworth Bakery was having its annual Beesting Sale! A Beesting is a little bun like confectionery with almond and custard fillings. A description of what it is wouldn't do it justice, it just tasted yummilicious! The best thing was, with the sale, u could get a second beesting for only 5 cents when u got the first one at normal price ($3.50). Beechworth Bakery proved to be a popular place in town as an endless stream of customers continually trooped in and out as we sat savoring our morning tea. A group of Harley bikers even stopped by, much to my father's delight, being a big fan of Harley Davidsons.
Our tummies full and appetites temporarily satisfied, we headed back on the road. Our next destination was the Maroondah Reservoir. I like reservoirs. The tranquil waters just seem so peaceful. I can easily picture myself, seated on a deckchair next to the waters, book in hand, enjoying nature in its splendour. Then I remember that there are no electicity power points and my laptop would be dead within an hour, and there is no internet connection. What would I do without my electronic gadgets?
Anyway, the Maroondah Reservoir was a beautiful site, with the water levels at 48.1%, although its capacity was only 22,000 ML as opposed to the Cardinia's (Road Trip #1) 287,00 ML. We stopped at a viewing area to have a look at the Reservoir and did not actually attempt to get nearer as we did not plan to actually walk along the treks. With the constant reminders that water levels were depleting and that our next generations could be seriously deprived of good quality water in the coming years, it is nice to have a look at our reservoirs every now and then, and see that all the effects of our water restrictions have made a difference in helping this worth while cause of preservation for our children.
Back on the road, we took the Black Spurs drive past Narbethong to Marysville. This scenic route was absolutely enchanting, with its majestic Victorian Ash trees lining the path, towering above us. The winding road was also a challenging drive for Jeffrey, although it was less harder for the passengers to enjoy as we swayed back and forth at the back. Nonetheless, the beauty of the trees, and the whole idea of how long the trees have been on this earth and what it had endured and seen as it grew ever so stealthily towards the blue sky made the drive thoroughly recommendable.
The pictures taken by my father cannot convey the true splendor of the trees and surrounding forestry, but hopefully, it would give u an idea of its size.
Heading past Narbethong, we made it into Marysville and I proceeded into the Visitor Information Centre to grab a map to Steavenson Falls. I was advised that I could actually hike up to Steavenson Falls from our current location, but a 5 km walk with 3 kids were out of the question. We decided to drive up, but ventured into the town area to have a look at the shops, while the kids enjoyed the playground.
In town, there was a toy shop, Manical Mechanicals advertising a Meccano display. We used to have Meccano set when we were kids, they were the predecessors of Lego, and my parents decided to have a look at it although it was only in 3 rooms. The man who made all the displayed items started when he was about 12 years old, and till this day at over 80 years old, still adds to the display. There were buttons to start up the displays, as most of them were set up to twirl or move forwards or backwards. The display link above has photos of examples of the meccano builds, but we took some photos of our own as well.
to be continued.......
Duration of travel: 4hrs 22 minutes
Distance travelled: ~205km
Time of Arrival (back home): ~8pm
Fuel Consumption: 9.2l/100km
 |  |
This weekend trip, we headed out with my parents along for the day. We were heading up to Marysville, famed for its mountain ranges and magnificent , cascading waterfalls. Setting off with the car filled to the brim with the usual breakfast sandwiches, bbq utensils and assorted picnicware, spare clothes and shoes, lots of water and seven people, we headed to the first stop point, Healesville Information Centre.
I love information centres. Even if I have fully researched a location of the place we are going (which not everything is satisfactorily explained in detail online anyway), I like stepping into a building, fully dedicated to stacks and stacks of gleaming coloured brochures. I like flipping through them, looking at the pictures and reading about things I can do or things I can buy. I always inevitably come out from said centre with a pile of brochures so heavy that I have taken to bringing a shopping bag solely for putting the brochures in. Jeffrey however, is happy to take a few brochures, and when he is done with reading and "memorising" it, throws it into the recycling bin. I however, am an hoarder and tend to have way too many "collectibles" ("rubbish" is his description), littered all about the house. Its been about 4 road trips now, as I m writing this blog (road trip 4 write up - coming soon), and already I have 2 shopping bags full of brochures and leaflets. The great thing about information centres is, they don't only have information about surrounding areas, but gives me ideas of where to go next. I even have some brochures for Adelaide and Tasmania that I nicked from Healesville.
Back to the road trip. We left the information centre in Healesville and headed for our breakfast stop at Beechworth Bakery. I was considerably more cheerful with my armful of brochures. The helpful information centre man had enlightened me as to why there were so many cars and people about Healesville. Rochford Wines were having their "A Day on the Green" concert this weekend, and their performer was none other then Rod Stewart!!
Beechworth Bakery was a sight to behold. A huge building standing by itself, it was all windows with a light airy atmosphere. The smell upon entering was heavenly. Being in a bakery, for me, is like a child in a sweet shop. A sense of euphoria from the smell and the sight of all the yummy delicacies laid out in their glass cases and I was lost in indecision over what to get. The only thing that could top being in a bakery is being in a chocolate factory! I was happy to discover that Beechworth Bakery was having its annual Beesting Sale! A Beesting is a little bun like confectionery with almond and custard fillings. A description of what it is wouldn't do it justice, it just tasted yummilicious! The best thing was, with the sale, u could get a second beesting for only 5 cents when u got the first one at normal price ($3.50). Beechworth Bakery proved to be a popular place in town as an endless stream of customers continually trooped in and out as we sat savoring our morning tea. A group of Harley bikers even stopped by, much to my father's delight, being a big fan of Harley Davidsons.
 |  |
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Our tummies full and appetites temporarily satisfied, we headed back on the road. Our next destination was the Maroondah Reservoir. I like reservoirs. The tranquil waters just seem so peaceful. I can easily picture myself, seated on a deckchair next to the waters, book in hand, enjoying nature in its splendour. Then I remember that there are no electicity power points and my laptop would be dead within an hour, and there is no internet connection. What would I do without my electronic gadgets?
Anyway, the Maroondah Reservoir was a beautiful site, with the water levels at 48.1%, although its capacity was only 22,000 ML as opposed to the Cardinia's (Road Trip #1) 287,00 ML. We stopped at a viewing area to have a look at the Reservoir and did not actually attempt to get nearer as we did not plan to actually walk along the treks. With the constant reminders that water levels were depleting and that our next generations could be seriously deprived of good quality water in the coming years, it is nice to have a look at our reservoirs every now and then, and see that all the effects of our water restrictions have made a difference in helping this worth while cause of preservation for our children.
 |  |
 |  |
Back on the road, we took the Black Spurs drive past Narbethong to Marysville. This scenic route was absolutely enchanting, with its majestic Victorian Ash trees lining the path, towering above us. The winding road was also a challenging drive for Jeffrey, although it was less harder for the passengers to enjoy as we swayed back and forth at the back. Nonetheless, the beauty of the trees, and the whole idea of how long the trees have been on this earth and what it had endured and seen as it grew ever so stealthily towards the blue sky made the drive thoroughly recommendable.
The pictures taken by my father cannot convey the true splendor of the trees and surrounding forestry, but hopefully, it would give u an idea of its size.
 |  |
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Heading past Narbethong, we made it into Marysville and I proceeded into the Visitor Information Centre to grab a map to Steavenson Falls. I was advised that I could actually hike up to Steavenson Falls from our current location, but a 5 km walk with 3 kids were out of the question. We decided to drive up, but ventured into the town area to have a look at the shops, while the kids enjoyed the playground.
 |  |
 |  |
In town, there was a toy shop, Manical Mechanicals advertising a Meccano display. We used to have Meccano set when we were kids, they were the predecessors of Lego, and my parents decided to have a look at it although it was only in 3 rooms. The man who made all the displayed items started when he was about 12 years old, and till this day at over 80 years old, still adds to the display. There were buttons to start up the displays, as most of them were set up to twirl or move forwards or backwards. The display link above has photos of examples of the meccano builds, but we took some photos of our own as well.
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to be continued.......
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Road Trip 2
Date & Time of Departure: 24th February 2008 8:18am
Duration of travel: 3hrs 52 minutes
Time of Arrival (back home): ~6pm
Distance travelled: 202km
Fuel Consumption: 8.9l/100km
Song playing at departure: Bad Day by the Chipmunks (Alvin and the Chipmunks The Movie Soundtrack)
This write up is long overdue, and has been asked about for too long for me to put off any longer. Road trip #2 came about when I said, "Let's go pick some strawberries". This quickly turned into a full day's trip encompassing a winding trip up to Arthur's Seat, a tiring trek through a few mazes, late lunch, and finally a scary, harrowing (for me) climb down some creaky boardwalks at Cape Schanck.
So, we headed off at a little past 8 in the morning after our friends, Don and Winnie arrived in their car. It was drizzling as we left, and the skies were overcast. We arrived at the Dromana Visitor Information Centre, where I grabbed a whole heap of brochures about the area around Mornington Peninsula. The rain had stopped by now, so we crossed the road from the centra and decided to have a look at the sea.
The beach was lined with little colourful cabins which I initially thought were there for people to change into their swimmers, but to my surprise a little bit of rowdy laughter from Don and the kids resulted of one of the doors of one of the cabins swinging open to reveal that someone was actually living inside! I do not know if that was true of all the cabins, but we didn't go knocking to find out. The wind was not too strong, but after standing around for a bit, we felt it was time to head to Arthur's Seat and our breakfast.
So we stomped our shoes and got back into our cars, and after a few wrong turns, and harrowing moments when we encountered unsealed roads, which Don's porsche was unable to travel on (not without breaking stabbing his heart at every moment, anyway), we finally made it onto the right road to travel up to Arthur's Seat. The winding road had me gripping the seats as Jeffrey made twists and turns at a speed much faster then I would have gone up in (a snail's pace). We stopped midway up the "hill" to take some pictures of the view at Chapman's Point. I must say, the view is much more breath taking then my amateur photography can encompass.
After making our way to the top, we sat on one of the picnic tables and munched away on our sandwiches, Roti Kaya for the adults, Cheese Sandwiches for the kids. The Arthur's Seat Chairlift remained closed, and although the operators had hoped to reopen them late last year, no plans have yet been made to repair the doomed ride. I myself would pass on this flimsy looking seat suspended over such heights, even though the ride would afford breath taking sights. With our light meal over with, and a quick stop to the restrooms, we headed back down towards our strawberry picking session at Sunny Ridge.
Its been quite a few years since we went down to Sunny Ridge Strawberry Farm. The last time we went, my oldest was my only child, and he was about 2 years old. I remembered the rows upon rows of strawberry plants overflowing with big ripe berries, and that we were told we could eat as much as we liked, as long as we either bought a minimum amount of strawberries each (which I couldn't remember how much now), or we paid an entrance fee. I had all these images in my memories of Gabrial running along the rows plucking handfuls of strawberries for a while, until he grew tired and just laid next to a row of plants and just grabbed the nearest strawberries to eat.
Upon arriving at Sunny Ridge, I discovered it had changed a little. Groups of families were huddled inside the cafe area eating their strawberries out of little plastic containers, presumably from having just finished collecting them. Upon enquiry, I was politely told that I could eat the strawberries off the plants, but they highly recommend that we put them into our containers and after weighing and paying for any excess not included in the "picking entry" price, we could then sit down and eat them after first washing them. I was a little disappointed in this, but since we had made the trip, we finally decided that I would take the 3 children into the picking area while Jeffrey sat waiting with the others.
The kids excitedly grabbed their little containers, and we headed into the back farm area. Rows upon rows of greens awaited us. The strawberries were in hiding, or else had already been picked off by the earlier arrivals, but we soon found some nice looking ones. The 2 boys headed off by themselves, while Kaitlyn walked ahead of me, excitedly picking little red berries which seemed to burst in her fingers. She was also excited to find "green berries", since her favourite colour was green.
It started to drizzle not long after we started our tiring chore. It wasn't easy bending to search for nice ripe strawberries amid the green foliage, especially when the pathways were slippery with mud. After 15 minutes of walking up and down the rows, Xander and Kaitlyn gave up looking and waited at the side for me to fill their containers. No way was I living without getting out weight's worth of strawberries!! It took me quite a bit of time to fill each of the kid's 250g containers, and i was aiming for slightly more then my 500g one but was disappointed to find upon exiting that all my hardwork amounted to just 100g over my 500g minimum. A quick wash up of the strawberries, and a change of clothes for Kaitlyn (she had fallen down onto a puddle), and once we had cleaned the shoes, we hopped into the car for our next stop. The Ashcombe Maze and Lavender Gardens.
There were 2 Hedge Mazes, a circular Rose Maze, a Lavender Maze and a alot of gardens, water features and trees, trees and more trees. We headed into the hedge mazes first, and it started to warm us up even thought the drizzle was still falling on and off. With the kids running ahead, we had to jog to keep up or lose them in the many turns and possible routes. It was with great relief we came to the end of the maze and into one of the water gardens. The tight growing hedges were a bit claustrophobic, and with images of crazed clowns holding chainsaws in my mind, I was glad to be out of the maze.
The kids had been given a little clipboard and pencil at the entrance to hunt Gnomes and Faeries inside the area, and once we had finished the 2 hedge mazes, we started to hunt them down. They were little gnomes and faeries tied to trees with a red board next to them with their names on it. All the kids had to do was hunt them down and write down their names. Simple? Not! We spent a lot of time wondering about looking for them, and here were some that we found, as well as pictures of some of the gardens, and ornaments littered about the 25 acres of lush greenery.
The Rose Garden was just a circular iron maze which just leads to a special center area with seats. All along the path were roses, roses and more roses, all with beautiful aromas and deadly thorns. There were more then 1200 bushes of roses, with 217 varieties. It was a little scary though, especially with Kaitlyn tearing through with not a thought or care that the thorns might scar her pretty little face for life. I had enough heart dropping moments to counter her cavalier behavior. I don't foresee a return trip to see anymore roses.
By the time we got to the Lavender Maze, we were pretty tired, and a little hungry as we had done a lot of walking, sustained only by our earlier sandwiches. The lavender maze didn't seem to be growing in abundance, possibly because it was not flowering season? We walked about it for a bit but soon resorted to blatant cheating to get to the middle!
After the maze, we wandered about a bit trying to complete the gnome hunt as well as the faeries, which we had yet to spot. We didn't go very far as we were all hungry by now. It was after 2pm and the fresh air and exercise had taken its toll. Don "collapsed" on the ground and Kaitlyn attempted to "shock" him with her fake electric paddles. She kept shouting "CLEAR!" and rubbing her palms, then placing her palms on his body.
After a quick laugh and a rest, we headed towards the exit. The kids had only found half the gnomes and 2 faeries, but they each got a lolly for their effort. We got back into the cars, and headed down to the coast to find a bbq pit to have our lunch.
We drove down to Shoreham and went past a few crowded beaches full of surfers. Eventually, we came upon a quiet semi deserted bbq area with children's playground. There was a fantastic view, free clean electric bbq, and a nice picnic table area. We soon had the sausages and burgers sizzling on the hotplates, while the kids ran about and played. In our food deprived state, we only had thoughts for food, and no one even thought of taking any pictures until we had fully stuffed our tummies full. After we had polished off most of the food and cleaned up, we had a look around at the beautiful surroundings. Nice and peaceful, but it was getting late, so we left for our final destination.
Our last stop for the day, Cape Schanck, is famous for its Lighthouse. This day however, we weren't actually going to the lighthouse, but rather to the edges to have a look at the beautiful view of the sea. We parked our cars and walked to several lookout points to enjoy the views. Although the wind was strong, the hike along the cliffs were sufficient enough to keep us warmed. When we got to the boardwalk, everyone was happy to walk ahead, but I was stuck to take slow careful steps down the creaky boards, clutching the sides. The strong wind did not help, and I constantly felt like I was about to be blown away. I had never like wooden boards or bridges, and it took me a while to make it to the halfway point on trembling legs. The view was definitely worth enduring the harrowing climb down and the laughter of everyone else as they watched my descent. After spending a few moments savoring the view, we headed back up towards the car. The climb up was definitely more tiring then the way down of course, but a little less frightening.
It had been a long journey, and by the late hour we reached home, we decided to end our little road trip with Pizza and strawberries. As it was Eugene's birthday, we had a little fruit cake to celebrate. It was a simple affair, but we were all tired out from the long day and had an early night.
Duration of travel: 3hrs 52 minutes
Time of Arrival (back home): ~6pm
Distance travelled: 202km
Fuel Consumption: 8.9l/100km
Song playing at departure: Bad Day by the Chipmunks (Alvin and the Chipmunks The Movie Soundtrack)
This write up is long overdue, and has been asked about for too long for me to put off any longer. Road trip #2 came about when I said, "Let's go pick some strawberries". This quickly turned into a full day's trip encompassing a winding trip up to Arthur's Seat, a tiring trek through a few mazes, late lunch, and finally a scary, harrowing (for me) climb down some creaky boardwalks at Cape Schanck.
 |  |
So, we headed off at a little past 8 in the morning after our friends, Don and Winnie arrived in their car. It was drizzling as we left, and the skies were overcast. We arrived at the Dromana Visitor Information Centre, where I grabbed a whole heap of brochures about the area around Mornington Peninsula. The rain had stopped by now, so we crossed the road from the centra and decided to have a look at the sea.
The beach was lined with little colourful cabins which I initially thought were there for people to change into their swimmers, but to my surprise a little bit of rowdy laughter from Don and the kids resulted of one of the doors of one of the cabins swinging open to reveal that someone was actually living inside! I do not know if that was true of all the cabins, but we didn't go knocking to find out. The wind was not too strong, but after standing around for a bit, we felt it was time to head to Arthur's Seat and our breakfast.
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So we stomped our shoes and got back into our cars, and after a few wrong turns, and harrowing moments when we encountered unsealed roads, which Don's porsche was unable to travel on (not without breaking stabbing his heart at every moment, anyway), we finally made it onto the right road to travel up to Arthur's Seat. The winding road had me gripping the seats as Jeffrey made twists and turns at a speed much faster then I would have gone up in (a snail's pace). We stopped midway up the "hill" to take some pictures of the view at Chapman's Point. I must say, the view is much more breath taking then my amateur photography can encompass.
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After making our way to the top, we sat on one of the picnic tables and munched away on our sandwiches, Roti Kaya for the adults, Cheese Sandwiches for the kids. The Arthur's Seat Chairlift remained closed, and although the operators had hoped to reopen them late last year, no plans have yet been made to repair the doomed ride. I myself would pass on this flimsy looking seat suspended over such heights, even though the ride would afford breath taking sights. With our light meal over with, and a quick stop to the restrooms, we headed back down towards our strawberry picking session at Sunny Ridge.
Its been quite a few years since we went down to Sunny Ridge Strawberry Farm. The last time we went, my oldest was my only child, and he was about 2 years old. I remembered the rows upon rows of strawberry plants overflowing with big ripe berries, and that we were told we could eat as much as we liked, as long as we either bought a minimum amount of strawberries each (which I couldn't remember how much now), or we paid an entrance fee. I had all these images in my memories of Gabrial running along the rows plucking handfuls of strawberries for a while, until he grew tired and just laid next to a row of plants and just grabbed the nearest strawberries to eat.
Upon arriving at Sunny Ridge, I discovered it had changed a little. Groups of families were huddled inside the cafe area eating their strawberries out of little plastic containers, presumably from having just finished collecting them. Upon enquiry, I was politely told that I could eat the strawberries off the plants, but they highly recommend that we put them into our containers and after weighing and paying for any excess not included in the "picking entry" price, we could then sit down and eat them after first washing them. I was a little disappointed in this, but since we had made the trip, we finally decided that I would take the 3 children into the picking area while Jeffrey sat waiting with the others.
The kids excitedly grabbed their little containers, and we headed into the back farm area. Rows upon rows of greens awaited us. The strawberries were in hiding, or else had already been picked off by the earlier arrivals, but we soon found some nice looking ones. The 2 boys headed off by themselves, while Kaitlyn walked ahead of me, excitedly picking little red berries which seemed to burst in her fingers. She was also excited to find "green berries", since her favourite colour was green.
 |  |
 |  |
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It started to drizzle not long after we started our tiring chore. It wasn't easy bending to search for nice ripe strawberries amid the green foliage, especially when the pathways were slippery with mud. After 15 minutes of walking up and down the rows, Xander and Kaitlyn gave up looking and waited at the side for me to fill their containers. No way was I living without getting out weight's worth of strawberries!! It took me quite a bit of time to fill each of the kid's 250g containers, and i was aiming for slightly more then my 500g one but was disappointed to find upon exiting that all my hardwork amounted to just 100g over my 500g minimum. A quick wash up of the strawberries, and a change of clothes for Kaitlyn (she had fallen down onto a puddle), and once we had cleaned the shoes, we hopped into the car for our next stop. The Ashcombe Maze and Lavender Gardens.
There were 2 Hedge Mazes, a circular Rose Maze, a Lavender Maze and a alot of gardens, water features and trees, trees and more trees. We headed into the hedge mazes first, and it started to warm us up even thought the drizzle was still falling on and off. With the kids running ahead, we had to jog to keep up or lose them in the many turns and possible routes. It was with great relief we came to the end of the maze and into one of the water gardens. The tight growing hedges were a bit claustrophobic, and with images of crazed clowns holding chainsaws in my mind, I was glad to be out of the maze.
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
The kids had been given a little clipboard and pencil at the entrance to hunt Gnomes and Faeries inside the area, and once we had finished the 2 hedge mazes, we started to hunt them down. They were little gnomes and faeries tied to trees with a red board next to them with their names on it. All the kids had to do was hunt them down and write down their names. Simple? Not! We spent a lot of time wondering about looking for them, and here were some that we found, as well as pictures of some of the gardens, and ornaments littered about the 25 acres of lush greenery.
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
The Rose Garden was just a circular iron maze which just leads to a special center area with seats. All along the path were roses, roses and more roses, all with beautiful aromas and deadly thorns. There were more then 1200 bushes of roses, with 217 varieties. It was a little scary though, especially with Kaitlyn tearing through with not a thought or care that the thorns might scar her pretty little face for life. I had enough heart dropping moments to counter her cavalier behavior. I don't foresee a return trip to see anymore roses.
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By the time we got to the Lavender Maze, we were pretty tired, and a little hungry as we had done a lot of walking, sustained only by our earlier sandwiches. The lavender maze didn't seem to be growing in abundance, possibly because it was not flowering season? We walked about it for a bit but soon resorted to blatant cheating to get to the middle!
 |  |
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After the maze, we wandered about a bit trying to complete the gnome hunt as well as the faeries, which we had yet to spot. We didn't go very far as we were all hungry by now. It was after 2pm and the fresh air and exercise had taken its toll. Don "collapsed" on the ground and Kaitlyn attempted to "shock" him with her fake electric paddles. She kept shouting "CLEAR!" and rubbing her palms, then placing her palms on his body.
After a quick laugh and a rest, we headed towards the exit. The kids had only found half the gnomes and 2 faeries, but they each got a lolly for their effort. We got back into the cars, and headed down to the coast to find a bbq pit to have our lunch.
We drove down to Shoreham and went past a few crowded beaches full of surfers. Eventually, we came upon a quiet semi deserted bbq area with children's playground. There was a fantastic view, free clean electric bbq, and a nice picnic table area. We soon had the sausages and burgers sizzling on the hotplates, while the kids ran about and played. In our food deprived state, we only had thoughts for food, and no one even thought of taking any pictures until we had fully stuffed our tummies full. After we had polished off most of the food and cleaned up, we had a look around at the beautiful surroundings. Nice and peaceful, but it was getting late, so we left for our final destination.
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Our last stop for the day, Cape Schanck, is famous for its Lighthouse. This day however, we weren't actually going to the lighthouse, but rather to the edges to have a look at the beautiful view of the sea. We parked our cars and walked to several lookout points to enjoy the views. Although the wind was strong, the hike along the cliffs were sufficient enough to keep us warmed. When we got to the boardwalk, everyone was happy to walk ahead, but I was stuck to take slow careful steps down the creaky boards, clutching the sides. The strong wind did not help, and I constantly felt like I was about to be blown away. I had never like wooden boards or bridges, and it took me a while to make it to the halfway point on trembling legs. The view was definitely worth enduring the harrowing climb down and the laughter of everyone else as they watched my descent. After spending a few moments savoring the view, we headed back up towards the car. The climb up was definitely more tiring then the way down of course, but a little less frightening.
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It had been a long journey, and by the late hour we reached home, we decided to end our little road trip with Pizza and strawberries. As it was Eugene's birthday, we had a little fruit cake to celebrate. It was a simple affair, but we were all tired out from the long day and had an early night.
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