May's Weekend Excursions

Here are a few things that we have been up to in May!

On Mother's Day, we packed a picnic and headed to the coast. We went to Shell Harbour and found a secluded beach to play around on. McKenna a Brookie went into the water up to their knees, chasing waves and trying to find shells. Blakely and Mommy went for a nice long walk  on the sidewalk along the water while McKenna made a great sand castle!

 The girls found some beautiful flowers to  pick. It was a great picture opportunity.

my personal favorite picture :)

 We packed up and headed down the coast a bit to Bass Point and went exploring on the rocks. The tide was coming in as we walked all around the area.

My girls and I - Mother's Day 2011

Blakely our little outdoor girl!!

After coffee and smoothies, it was time to head home. All three girls fell asleep in the car for the crazy drive back up the escarpment!

Another adventure saw us heading down south-west to Binalong. We went to stay with David and Robyn Sykes on a large, beautiful, authentic AUSTRALIAN SHEEP FARM!! (in caps because it was such and amazing experience!) They have roughly 12,000 sheep and a lot of amazing farmland to graze them on. When we arrived we went for a ride in the ute (pickup) to check things out.

This is David and Robyn down by the river!

This sheep was all by himself in a field so sheepdog Jill brought her down and then the sheep was tied up and put in the back of the ute and transported to a different field. It was all very dramatic!

The next morning David and David got up and went out to the fields to muster up some sheep. Close to 800 to be exact! It was a definite highlight for David to be dirt biking around rural Australia...reminded him of back on the farm growing up!

Jill the sheepdog on the back of the bike.

This is where they brought the sheep; they were going to be sheared the next day.

Some wool in the shearing shed.

McKenna got to help muster the last 300 sheep up the road. She said it was awesome!! She even got to bring some wool home to show her class during "NEWS".

Here are some random pictures of the girls and beautiful scenery pics that David has taken.

Formal Winter uniform.

I'm a big girl now!!

Picking lemons in our back yard!

Tree in our front yard changing colors.

Carrington Falls

Hard core surfing beach known to locals as "the farm".

The time has been flying...hard to believe we are almost half way through! Miss you all, you are in our thoughts and prayers daily!

Queensland Part 3 - Daintree Rainforest

On our last full day in Queensland we rented a car and went further north to the Daintree Rainforest. The first stop was Mossman Gorge. It was beautiful, with a suspension bridge over the gorge and a great walk through the dense vegetation.

We love the rain forest!!

We continued deeper into the rain forest and had lunch at Daintree Village. We also booked a ride down the Daintree River on an electric boat. We saw several beautiful birds and were lucky to see a crocodile lurking in the water along the edge of the bank. He was very hard to see, just the top of his head poking out. It looked something like a piece of wood floating in the water except for the large yellow eye!! You could also see a shadow under the water indicating how large he was....huge!!

We crossed the river in our car on a ferry and headed up towards Cape Tribulation. It is here where they say the Rain forest meets the Reef! Here is a view from one of the lookouts on the highway.

We stopped and did another short walk through the forest. Again, amazing. You feel so small and inconsequential when surrounded by the varying density and layers and foliage. It is peaceful yet alive with natural sound. We were definitely in awe!

Looking up into the canopy.

Overall, this was the best vacation we have had as a family!! We are now refreshed to start another term of school :)

Thanks for tuning in! Hope you enjoy our pictures and commentary. Keep in touch!

Basisty Family