thekasumovics

One night, as the kids had napped during the day, we decided to visit the beach at night with our head lamps and glow sticks and run around a bit. To our surprise we discovered these rather large white crabs that Mike later confirmed were ghost crabs. Their bodies were as big as my palm! We had a great time spotting a crab in the distance, running up to it and either getting a close view if it, watching it wriggle back into the depths if the sand or our favorite…..scurrying (sideways of course) towards the sea!

So we revisited the beach a second time on our last night to play with the crabs once more!

We had another gorgeous sunny day so  we headed north for a 10 minutes drive to Monee Beach where we saw another beautiful estuary!
Mike and I actually had some relaxing time lounging on the sand, reading our books while the kids explored the shallow waters. Now that Ethan can swim, and we could see the kids from every direction, it was a pleasure to sit back and relax.

Finding driftwood to make a pretend fire pit.

Skipping stones with dad.

The next day we headed out to the Dorrigo rainforest, which was about an hour drive away. Ethan crashed out on the way, which was good as we spent all exploring the park, which included a 6.6km hike!!  Both boys walked the entire way!
What a gorgeous spot! We saw tiny  scrubwren birds that have leafy lush green nest hanging from the tree tops. A highlight for me was watching a mum bird return to her nest to feed what sounded like a while lot of chicks!
The rainforest had the most interesting plants. Epiphytes were everywhere – large leafy plants that require a host tree to grow on. The strangler fig tree was my favourite. It grows around an existing tree, slowly blocking out moisture and sunlight until the host tree dies. What’s left is a casing of a tree.

Strangler fig tree

Giant lichen and moss

We walked behind this waterfall which was pretty cool although the kids I’m sure preferred throwing rocks in the creek.

Yet another gorgeous waterfall

Tomas and inside a strangler fig!

Our first morning at Coffs Barbour and the kids are excited to explore our rather basic holiday home, however they manage to find a few boardgames: star wars monopoly and cleudo (‘clue’ in Canada) which were a huge hit! They also spent a lot of time sliding down the carpeted stairs on their bottoms!

We started off to muttinbird island – a conservation area with what could have been great views but it started raining once we reached the island so we turned back and promptly bought the kids rain coats at the mall. Lucky for us, we had an indoor distraction as there were dinosaur robots throughout the mall which the kids were thrilled about!

After some lunch we went to the butterfly house. The rain had cleared so it was great timing especially as there was an outdoor maze with clues for the kids to answer about butterflies. And once we reached the center of the maze there was a cool puzzle where you had to choose patterns of color to go from point A to B.  These were huge hits with the boys!
The butterflies were cool too. The technician showed us colourful caterpillars,  butterflies that just hatched from their chrysalis, and mating butterflies – all of which captivated Tomas. He even got to hold one. Then he spent the rest of the time waiting for one to land on him – many other kids doing the same thing!

Our next stop was South West Rocks, a small town with a beautiful estuary. After a stop for lunch where the kids kept themselves entertained with ‘magic trucks’,  the kids joined a very fit grandma and her daughter for a soccer game. Then they ran to cool off in the shallow waters before we had a chance to get their swimmers on.  In some areas the water was quite deep as Ethan found out! (And Mike had a good laugh).

This school hols we decided to brave a road trip with the kids somewhere a bit warmer after a rather long winter! We booked a house in Coffs Barbour, about 6 hours drive north of Sydney, and planned to stay one night near Taree on the way up.
It worked out quite well as we left Tuesday evening and the kids slept for mist if the 4 hour drive to our first stop. Then we transfered them to bed, they woke briefly but quickly fell back to sleep.
That first night was spent in a small fishing village along Manning river. We ate breakfast by the water while a pelican watched, waiting for any scraps. At all these fishing towns there is a fish cleaning station where freshly caught fish are cleaned and the extra bits are thrown to the pelicans.

Our next stop was Hat head national park where we drive thru windy roads to climb up the summit of the head lands in view of a giant white lighthouse. We toured around there and did a short trek where Mike spotted the smallest praying mantis, no bigger than your finger tip (which happened to be black) and a grass hopper in total camouflage.

The music program for years 1 and 2 put on a great show for us parents demonstrating what they’ve learned. For once Tomas was in the first row! I took many videos, some of which I’ll email at some stage.

What a great event at our local  Council run Environment Park – a great green space.
The kids enjoyed examining marine creatures and various specimens, a performance by a recycling magician / entertainer and paining lively parasols.

Tomas holds a sea urchin.

Table of cool marine stuff to touch.

There’s Ethan’s friend Marcus hiding behind his parasol.