All the Adventures

Remember how I spent a lot of the summer worrying about Tasmania's drought? Well, now there are unprecedented floods sweeping our poor, benighted state. The next suburb over slopes down to the river, and all afternoon parents streamed into the school office to collect their children as they were evacuated from their houses on the river flats.

Thankfully our cottage is high on the hill, and thankfully I did some actual forward planning last week (unusual for me) and brought in wheelbarrow loads of wood and stacked it up in the storm porch so I don't have to wrestle with the elements to keep warm.

Our picnic last week was such a success (that picnic spot is currently under water) that we decided to go on another adventure this Saturday. We knew that a week of rain would begin in the evening, and we decided that some fresh air for everyone was in order. This time we took some friends and all our dogs. We drove several kilometres up-river from last week's destination, to a nature reserve. We lit a fire and made smores (Australian readers - Granita biscuits and dark Lindt chocolate make a lovely smore to go with your toasted marshmallow).

Again, there are 'proper' walks to take in the area, on paths, with signs and the occasional hand rail, but no, the children went off-piste again, this time with three dogs all running in different directions. At one point, while hunting for one lost dog and a couple of missing children, we all converged on a cliff far above the river, looking out over this enchanted landscape:

Now, I have walked the official paths in this reserve for fifteen years without ever stumbling across this stunning view. One of the eleven year olds gasped, "It's like a fantasy world in a book!" and the other one said, "It's like we are in Lord of the Rings!"

Again it feels like the universe is calling, "Stray off the beaten path.. see what you can find.."

What we actually found was a glimpse of a supremely happy beagle bouncing from rock to rock down a neighbouring cliff like a mountain goat, and we all straggled after him waving and yelling. Later, on the way home said beagle threw up half a dead wallaby he had been happily chewing when we found him (a long dead wallaby). And later, Rosy found a giant, swollen leech attached to her leg. Adventures have their ups and downs..

On Sunday I nobly allowed Posy to host a house warming tea party for her friends.

We used the granny tea cups. I cut the roses that are still madly blooming in the garden, even though it is winter.

And Posy made chocolate butterfly cakes all by herself. All the adventures.