A Journey into Newness

We have been spending time farewelling familiar and favourite places and friends in between sorting out our house for our impending move to Canberra.

These cygnets were swimming with their mother in the deep waters surrounding the Goolwa Barrage near the end of the Murray River.

I hope I can be as graceful as this lovely swan appears with my three sweet 'cygnets' as we move to new surroundings and search for new friends and favourite places.

Wishing you a Happy New Year, not knowing when I'll be back here.

But of one thing I am very glad, you my dear friends, will remain a part of my life in the same way no matter where I journey.

There is Water...

Goolwa Barrage 27 Dec 10

Goolwa Barrage 27 Dec 10

We are very grateful for all the water that has been around us this year in South Australia.

I found it interesting to compare the water around the Goolwa Barrage, just before the Murray Mouth, this time we visited on 27 December 2010 with the way things looked in April 2009, before all the water arrived.

Compare the two photos above with those below.

Goolwa Barrage 24 April 09

Goolwa Barrage 24 April 09

Yet we still feel for those in Queensland who are having to evacuate their homes due to excessive flooding. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

Japanese Cultural Day

If man has no tea in him, he is incapable of understanding truth and beauty.

~Japanese Proverb

We were fortunate to participate in a Japanese Cultural Day held in a nice peaceful environment. There were not crowds of people around which resulted in us being able to enjoy each activity without having to wait in queues and struggling to see.

Enjoy here a glimpse of some of what the day had to offer us.

:: trying on kimono ::

:: participating in a tea ceremony ::

:: listening to the Koto with a flute ::

:: listening to the Shakuhachi flute ::

:: having our names written in Japanese characters ::

This morning we have a commenced little unit study based around the lovely book below, A Pair of Red Clogs, by Masako Matsuno which is set in Japan.

Already we have had so much fun learning more about Japan, their flag, the country's location, a weather-telling game for children, differences in culture around the dining table, elaborate hairstyles, dressing up in dressing gown kimono with our hair in plaits, pretending our crocs are clogs and playing the weather-telling game.

The girls also surprised me with some of their own origami, their own design. We enjoyed making some simple pieces yesterday with an older Japanese instructor and her Australian teacher offsider so it was lovely to see them being creative with paper today. They made hats, fish, wormies and another special creation of my little Eee's.

Tomorrow I might give you a peak at some of our favourite dolls from the Dolls of Japan Exhibition. Would you like that?

If anyone knows of any lovely Japanese literature I should be exposing my 6 and nearly 3 year old to, please do share. Another we have enjoyed is One Leaf Rides the Wind, a counting book by Celeste Davidson Mannis. Great for little Eee.

**As you can see, Ess is now quite recovered and enjoying life as a little girl should. Thankyou for your care and concern.**

The Farm Game

And that's the wonderful thing about family travel: it provides you with experiences that will remain locked forever in the scar tissue of your mind. ~Dave Barry

Our hills drive today was made even more enjoyable and delightful as we shared in The Farm Game. It was a new game I was describing to my dear Generous Gentleman. Ess listened with interest and was soon creating her own farm.

The idea is to acquire items for your farm which you see out your window as you travel along. It needs to be out your window only to create greater interest in each individual farm.

I commented that I was sure to forget what I saw on my farm over a long distance travelling. So we came up with the idea of drawing our farms. Ess got out her paper, pencils and textas very quickly and was drawing her farm, quite symbolically.

For instance, rather than drawing more and more horses as she saw them, she kept a tally as she added more until she decided that 21 horses were quite enough for her farm.

Ess was very fortunate to see three deer (above) out her window also. Quite a rare find for us in Australia.

Other things we put on our farms included a bull and cow, trees, chocolate (yes we had an enjoyable coffee break in Hahndorf at our favourite Chocolate No.5), lake, bridge, eucalypts, rolling hills, alpaca, donkeys, apple trees in fruit, kangaroo and a tyre swing.

We are due to travel a 4000km round trip across our country so we have no doubt this game will prove useful. I can't wait to see the farms we create as we travel this great distance. What a wonderful way for the family to interact as we journey to see new places and new sites as we visit family in eastern states.

Many thanks to a friend of mine who shared this game with us. They have extended it by returning all the items they gathered as they return, yet as we will be taking a round trip we'll simply be able to keep accumulating and growing our farms.

Postcards from the Limestone Coast: Mannum and Meningie

Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind. ~Seneca

Tranquil waters of the Murray River at Mannum, South Australia

We have just arrived home from the most fabulous road trip around the Limestone Coast, in the south east of South Australia. We found beautiful places of both serenity and wonder. So fasten your seatbelts and come along for the ride if you'd like to see some of this amazing part of our country through our eyes. We travel thoroughly! We drove almost 2000kms in 2 weeks taking in so much in only a small part of our amazing continent. We travel simply! It is not only our dear girls who delighted in the smallest of things such as pretty shells on a remote beach and wildflowers blossoming quietly, hidden in the bush.

Heading eastward, we drove through the Adelaide Hills towards the Murray River at Mannum (see top picture).

We crossed it...

and drove further along the river until we rested by the tranquil waters of Lake Albert, one of the lakes which the river flows into before it meets the sea.

Our residence in Meningie was The Cottage No. 12 on North which delighted and surprised us and set a very high standard for all our accommodation to meet on the rest of our trip. It was so homely, relaxing and filled with things to delight our girls and my Generous Gentleman as he became nostalgic finding pots, books and stereos in the home which he once owned himself.

The delightful garden at The Cottage No.12 on North, Meningie

We three girls enjoyed playing in the garden while Dad prepared some delicious Coorong Mullet. If only we could have dined on this fish each night. Mmm!

Enjoying sunset by Lake Albert, Meningie

As dusk fell, we wandered across the road to the birdhide and then down towards Lake Albert for a beautiful springtime sunset.

We were sad we couldn't linger longer here. We had only booked one night.

Sunset over Lake Albert, Meningie

The Coorong and Robe were beckoning.