Australia Day races!

This year we enjoyed celebrating Australia Day (January 26) at Uncle Tyden and Aunty Anne's house and even though it was a bit wet (thanks to ex-tropical cyclone Oswald!) we still got into the spirit of things. Eli was incredibly excited about the prospect of toad races, but the wait was killing him (strangely enough noone else seemed quite as excited as he was), so he and I found about a dozen snails and decided to host our very own Australia Day races.

And then the race was on! There was a bit of a pile up at the starting line, with quite a few snails caught in a nasty tangle, but one in particular (aptly called 'Australia') was "quick" out of the blocks and went on to win the race (it had to slime it's way across three of the planks to win)! The snail called Melbourne came in second and China was third (Eli came up with these names, not me!), with Sydney failing to finish - he turned around and headed back towards the starting line. Most of the snails in the original pile up ended up getting pulled along by the lead snail in that pack - a tremendous show of strength but sadly lacking in pace.  Given the speed (or lack thereof) of snails, the snail race was able to occupy Eli for long enough that he forgot about the toad race (at least for a little while).

Of course after his snail races were run and done, Eli quickly got back onto the idea of the toad race and began pestering Debbie, the race organiser. Fortunately, he was somewhat placated by the fact that Glenn had donated one of his racing toads to Eli - this meant that Eli had to come up with a name and he actually had a toad to cheer on. Glenn had glued an Australian Flag onto the toad's back (all toads needed to be decorated and be identifiable by the race stewards). After some deliberation, he decided to call his toad 'Yoko', in honour of our crayfish that evaded our turtles for a long time (before getting crunched!). He decided that Yoko the toad was a very fast toad and that he would surely like vegemite - like all good Australians. Curiously enough (for those of you who don't know), none of the racing toads are actually Australian - they are a declared pest species that was introduced to control a cane beetle (which did not work) but have since spread far and wide and caused great havoc with our native wildlife, either by eating it (this includes bugs, worms, frogs, lizards and even small birds and mammals) or poisoning it (the cane toad has poison sacs either side of it's head that can kill dogs and native animals). Needless to say, after the races the cane toads were due to be disposed of...but I digress. The rules of toad racing are pretty simple - you place all of the toads in a box or bucket, turn it over and let them go! The first toad to cross the finish line in any location (the finish line is a garden hose arranged in a circle around the racing arena) is the winner and the winner took home a trophy (which was a taxidermed toad with a little plaque). Here's a video of the official Australia Day toad race:

Eli's toad fared quite well, but a large and particularly ugly toad (belonging to the family of the race organiser!) won the race. A second race was then run (with no prizes on offer) and Eli sped off after one of the faster toads that made a dash for the pool. Some of the other kids tried retrieving it, but only Eli could scoop it up (what can I say, he's a natural!). The excitement of the toad races was soon over, but then Eli caught wind of the fact that a few other prizes were also up for grabs. The first was for the 'ugliest toad' and the second was for the 'most popular name' for a toad. Eli went straight into his lobbyist/campaign mode and was very keen to learn the result of the 'most popular name' competition - I'm sure that Debbie had had quite enough of him by the end of the day. After surveying all 19 kids and 15 adults (with the exception of those that were too young to contribute meaningfully), Debbie tallied up the votes. It was a close call, with 'Red Racer' receiving a lot of popular votes, but in the end 'Yoko' was announced the winner of the 'most popular name' competition. Eli was thrilled! His prize was a squirter bottle (plus chemicals) for chasing toads away. I don't think we'll be using it, but just being announced the winner was enough to put a big smile on Eli's face. And he's already talking up next year's event, suggesting that we need to search high and low in our neighbourhood for a super fast toad...something to look forward to in January 2014!

The 'real' stingray alley

Uncle Tyden and I recently took the troops - Eli, Alora, Oliver, Harrison and Charlie - to the sandbank. As soon as we arrived Eli had them all marching up and over the nearest sand dune and investigating whatever they could find. It was really very interesting watching Eli lead this merry little troop - they all followed his lead unconditionally.

Aside from a few crab burrows and some dune flowers, the dune wasn't nearly interesting enough, so off we went to 'stingray alley' in search of crabs and whatever else we might come across...and it wasn't long before Eli found a few crabs and I spotted this little fellow - my favourite tidal zone worm - the green paddle worm (Phyllodoce novaehollandiae). All of the kids liked watching it move and burrow and all of them held it too (after Eli had done so).





After jumping in muddy puddles (which form in the depressions made by stingrays when they feed on the sandflat) for a while, the troops continued on their way. Since the tide was so low Eli and I decided to test our luck in the 'real stingray alley', which is a deeper channel that connects to the original stingray alley. The name alone struck fear into a few of the other explorers in our group, as you can see from their varied reluctance to wade into the water. Poor packhorse (er, I mean Uncle) Tyden then had the job of variously coaxing and carrying his kids so that our adventure could continue.

It turned out that the real stingray alley was perfect for the kids - it was wadeable along it's length and after an exhaustive search Eli and I were able to report that it was also currently stingray free...so the other kids could relax a little. Eli and Alora found one bank that was a little steeper than the rest, so they had fun running and jumping into the water. All of the kids also enjoyed crawling/swimming along the alley, pretending to be crocodiles or sharks, or some crazy combination of both...

The only downside to this adventure was the fact that the boys (excluding Eli) got a bit tired of swimming, wading and treking around, so Uncle Tyden was once again required to 'saddle up' to get the boys back to the boat.

Finally, after chasing some seagulls (because I wanted photos of them in flight), Eli, Alora and I then had a lovely swim in the river before we headed back to the beach house - it had been another great adventure visiting the sandbank.

Making a splash this summer!

This summer has been a bit of a watershed (pun intended) one for Eli's swimming. Starting with a renewal of swimming lessons in September and frequent pool sessions at school in term 4 of Prep, he has really started to nail his swimming. His improvement has been aided by some healthy competition from some of the older kids at school and the fact that Eli has finally decided that he can open his eyes under water and that it is fine to do so... These first two photos show what Eli loves doing most - bomb dives with Alora!


Fortunately Eli has also been keen to practice his swimming skills and this has been aided hugely by a hot summer and an Uncle and Aunty with a pool! Here are some underwater shots of Eli practicing his 'rockets' across the pool...

Eli's swimming has improved so much that I'm now comfortable out of the pool while he is in it, which is a major step forward...of course I'd still rather be in the pool with him, but it's nice to know that he can manage without me.




Eli's three younger cousins, Oliver, Charlie and Harrison, won't be far behind him either - they're all pretty comfortable in the water come swim time!











It is all smiles from Eli when he's swimming and bomb diving in the pool. I'm sure he'll be swimming lengths of the pool by next summer...and then after that, well the pool might not be big enough (but we'll still be over for swims!)...

Eli the body surfer!

Now we all know how good Eli is on the boogie board these days - see the video above if you can't remember - but of much greater significance (in my mind) is the fact that Eli has started trying to body surf this summer. In fact, on Christmas Eve (before the stitches incident), Eli caught his first wave (without a board). I don't have any photographic evidence of it, but the image is indelibly etched into my memory - it was great. So, fast forward a week or so, and Eli was once again able to try his hand at catching a few waves. Unfortunately the surf wasn't as good (for him) and he had to try and catch broken waves, which is far harder than unbroken waves. Here are a few pics of him trying his hand at body-surfing - I'm so proud!

After catching a few waves Eli resorted to his other favourite activity in the waves - smashing them with his fists and body. He didn't always come out on top in this pursuit, but he was pretty good at regaining his feet and getting ready to take on the next wave that came his way.

All I have to do now is remember that the combination of salt water and lots of glare brings an early end to our surfing, so more early morning and late afternoon sessions will be on the cards over the coming months - stay tuned!

Stream of consciousness

Eli and I have recently been talking about a a whole range of things, covering issues like when you feel in a bad mood and how you need to fight, with your thoughts, against the bad feelings to overcome them. We have also discussed how the human body fights infections and bacteria and how your brain is the 'King' in terms of organising the defence against all sorts of 'baddies'. So, one morning when he was feeling a bit 'weird', he decided to deliver an impromptu stream of consciousness speech to his body...and here's what came out...

Hike to hell and back

Eli and I decided to kick off the New Year with a big hike in the Noosa National Park. Our goal was to walk all the way from the park entrance to Hell's Gates and back (and then back to Noosa for a gelati if we felt we could go that far). It was a hot day (32 C) and a long hike (something in the order of 5.7 km) and yes, it is true that Eli wanted me to carry him at one stage, but in the end he did a great job (fuelled by Minties!) and we made it all the way. It's such a picturesque part of the world that the view (and the accompanying sea breeze) certainly helped.

 Here's Eli, at Hell's Gates...

...and this is the view of Hell's Gates, looking towards Alexandria Bay...

The hike back from Hell's Gates went surprisingly quickly, in part because we were aided by a tailwind (not much physically, but it helped mentally!)

The surf at Tea Tree Bay was awesome, with a surfer on every wave of every set...just perfect.

After a very long walk, here's Eli tucking into his reward, a chocolate and strawberry gelati from Mossimo's.

Lots to like at Little Cove

Little Cove is both Grandma and Eli's favourite beach. Grandma likes it because it is usually pretty tame (in terms of surf) and it's also such a beautiful setting. Eli likes it because of the surf (small swell suits him just fine) and the life on the rocks (limpets, chitons and his favourite, the sea squirts). Whenever we go there, Grandma takes photos and Eli and I go in search of life in the rocks (so everyone is happy). On this particular occassion, the swell was bigger than normal (much to the dismay of both Grandma and Eli) and we couldn't even get out to the main rock outcrop where the sea squirts live. We did find a few to 'squirt' closer in, but it's not the same. We also found plenty of limpets and chitons, but they're not exactly active creatures (at least during the day). Still, it was a beautiful afternoon to be at the beach (Grandma took loads of photos).

Here are some of the limpets (left) and chitons (right) that we saw amongst the rocks.













Our exploring done, Eli and I finished off our visit to Little Cove with a run on the beach, a few waves in the surf and then we walked down to Noosa for a gelati! I'd say that would have to be the perfect way to finish off 2012!

Art class at the beach house

 

Grandma and Grandad gave Alora a rather complete set of pencils, pens and paints for Christmas and one day, after an early morning trip to the sandbank, both Eli and Alora were keen to try their hand at creating a few masterpieces.













Eli really enjoyed creating images using the watercolours (Grandma was amazed, she didn't think he'd be interested at all!). He started by just painting colourful swirls, but soon wanted to paint a range of creatures. Grandma and I helped with sketching out the image and then Eli went to work. Here is putting the finishing touches on a particularly colourful beetle (left) and declaring his blue-spotted stingray complete (right).

Eli was so in to the watercolouring painting that he did one (or more) most days - even after Alora had gone home. Thankfully Grandma had her own supplies of paints and watercolour paper for Eli to use.










By the end of our stay at the beach house, we had unearthed a new talent and Eli had compiled an impressive portfolio which included a few abstract pieces, plus paintings of an octopus, a beetle, a stingray, a rainbow lorikeet, a shark, a coral, a koala, a crocodile and someone catching a wave! Here he is posing with his paintings - I have no idea why he posed quite this way, but I do like how he makes our floor look like a wall...

The 'speed' boat

As a bit of a treat one day (when the tide was too high to visit the sandbank), we travelled up-river to a park. We've done this trip before, but this time our trusty Captain (Uncle Tyden) took us further and faster than ever before...and the kids loved it! There were lots of screams and yelps (the excited kind) and thankfully I was right at the front of the boat and didn't lose my hearing.  Here's a windswept Eli, enjoying the ride.



Charlie and Harrison were in on the fun too!

Alora and Eli were having a blast (literally) and everyone squeeled with glee (yes, that includes me) when Uncle Tyden pulled some very tight circles up in the water ski section of the river.

After such excitement on the river, the park wasn't as exciting as it has been in the past...in fact the kids were pretty excited to get back on the boat to speed back to the beach house!