The Nut - Stanley, Tasmania

Yesterday evening we took the boys to another Parks & Wildlife Service (PWS) activity - a 'creatures of the night' tour of The Nut (remnants of a volcanic plug) at Stanley. It was again led by Discovery Ranger Jess who shared her passion and extensive knowledge about the native wildlife (and scatology). After a short but very steep walk we viewed the beautiful sunset over the water. We then did a circuit around the plateau and got to see some pademelons and short-tailed shearwaters (muttonbirds) flying in to their burrows. The group even spotted a muttonbird egg as well as an echidna.

(Did I mention that it was a steep walk? Steep! And coming back down in the dark with an 11 month old wrapped on my front was certainly interesting! It was after midnight by the time we got home and we had 4 very tired boys!)

Go Fish...

Shmoo and Loo playing Go Fish with science cards.

Tasmanian Pademelon

 

Our little pademelon friend has taken to stopping by quite regularly and The OH has named her Bridie. The other morning Bridie brought a friend along to breakfast with her and The OH was thrilled to see that Bridie also had a joey in her pouch. This evening she was back and we were able to get a good look at her adorable baby.

Tasmania Parks & Wildlife Service - Devil Detectives

 

   

  

  

As part of their education service, the Parks & Wildlife Service runs a Summer Discovery Ranger Program. We took the boys along to the Devil Detectives session at Sisters Beach. The enthusiastic Discovery Ranger Jess used fun games and activities to teach the kids (and adults) some interesting facts about Tasmanian Devils and we learnt how to track Devils as well as some other animals. Among other things, the kids got to see some animal skulls and poo; learn how to identify various tracks; make their own plaster cast of a devil print; and check out equipment like motion sensor cameras and traps.

Check out the free summer activities that are held all over Tassie!

Happy New Year

Took the boys over to Burnie, had a late night picnic and they watched their first ever fireworks display from the boardwalk...

 

 

Beach Picnic - Penguin

 

  

Merry Christmas

Kids up super-early and tired and overstimulated by lunch time...

   

There were the obligatory battery-operated noise makers from grandma and grandad for the little ones. Shmoo (thankfully the worst of his cold has passed) was absolutely thrilled with the remote-controlled helicopter from the grandparents and Hot Wheels walltracks from Aunty. Loo got a battery-operated triceratops from Aunty, Beanie a toy cash register, and Baby got a little dangly activity toy.

The big 3 all loved the iPod Shuffles that The OH and I bought for them as well as the waterproof camera that they're to share. We gave Baby Bear a lovely wooden rainbow set. He loves it, as do the older kids. It's the simple things that are often the best!

Santa visited overnight and filled their stockings (although I did have to have a grumble at the mess of half-eaten carrots his reindeer left in the driveway). They each got a new bath duck and bath mitt. The older 3 also each got a wind-up torch, a little wooden animal stamp, a wooden compass, scratch & sniff stickers, a few chocolates, and a little tumbling gnome. Santa gave Baby Bear a little wooden jingly bell rattle.

They've also got some money from Granny to spend next time we go shopping. Hopefully we won't end up with too much plastic, noisy crap!

And hopefully we'll all have a good night's sleep tonight. Baby Bear's restless with his top teeth on the move and he has started sitting and crawling about in the middle of the night.

ETA: Scrap the good night's sleep. Beanie's caught the cold and has been coughing terribly, poor thing.

The Bad Government

Over lunch one day The OH and I were discussing Tony Abbott and detention centres. Shmoo and Loo wanted to know what we were talking about. We explained it to them and they were perplexed, they couldn't understand why anyone would want to treat other human beings like that. And Loo's comment...

"Everybody has to fight the bad government!"

Concert, Carols and Christmas Lights

Shmoo and Loo had their final 2 performing arts performances yesterday. The first was a Christmas family concert and The OH had to act as a fill-in Santa.

Then it was on to the Latrobe Christmas parade and carols where Shmoo and Loo performed with their TPAC group. Beanie even got up on stage when the mayor called all the kids up to sing a couple of Christmas carols!

 

After that, we took advantage of the late night and did our annual tour of the Christmas lights on the way home. We saw lots of lovely displays, like these homes in West Ulverstone.

Vintage Electrolux Vacuum Cleaner

 

The other day Shmoo's singing teacher kindly gave him her old vintage Electrolux vacuum cleaner. He is in heaven. I don't think Santa's going to be able to beat that :) We don't know much about it but will hopefully be able to track down some info on it for him.