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| School of Distance Ed Kids. |
Sooo be prepared for a big photo drop! And yes, you should be amazed or proud even that I've managed TWO posts in one month! But I do have an awful lot of catch up on.
I decided I would once again do my phone photos first and I actually think they might be in the right order for once!! These are from the Clarke Creek Campdraft. Kids competed in two drafts, one on each day. First day they both got rainbow ribbons and second day kaka got third and won the cut out. They both got some lollies and feed buckets, so we are grateful for the kids having an entry, because without them we wouldn't have brought home much as dad and I didn't fare to well.
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| Checking for lollies. |
Nanna doing the babysitting.
This image is from Snazzy's Dream Photography and you can find her on facebook. Kaka's horse was a bit quick to follow the beast out of the camp and Stew helped her to stop. I would love to know what they were talking about here.
Tanya Lindley also had a special birthday at the draft and we got to celebrate it with her. I was very cautious try to make and transport the cake there, but I'm please to say that it made it, without any fatalities. There are about 8 blocks of chocolate in this concoction.
Brumby Spam.
More brumby spam. I was totally in love and convinced that they were dead quiet, until this dude tried to buck me off yesterday. I'm so grateful that he wasn't successful cause I think he would have very quickly learnt that I'm no bronc rider!
But, in hind sight, despite the fact that his first ride was completely uneventful and rather boring, I had wormed them, fed them and left them for over a week. So he was probably feeling rather full of himself. I gave him another rather small ride this morning that was uneventful, so fingers crossed, we are over that little hiccup. He did buck with the saddle the day before too, so anyone else might have taken that as a sign that I needed to go back and do some more ground work. But anyhow, we are still learning.
Silky... this was before I had even caught her or put a halter on.
Kaka's kindy session.
Some marshmallows were sacrificed.
All our trees, are just LOADED with flowers!! It's amazing! The citrus are particularly pungent.
Bobby.... everyone favourite. He is starting to slowly put on some weight. He got a bit skinny on us there for a bit, but he's improving now!
It that the face of a happy horse?
So as I mentioned, I gave the brumbies a week off... and went on a vegan yoga retreat!!
Now I know what you're thinking..... wtf is a grazier doing, going on a vegan yoga retreat. But let me tell you, my abs are still sore from all the laughing we did! Pretty much as soon as mum and I got off the plane we started laughing until there was tears and then on the plane ride home, even being an hour late, we were still laughing. Was the best fun ever!
It felt like we did nothing but eat and talk about food... and the result of food was also a major topic of conversation.
The first night we stayed at this gorgeous little winery Sirromet Winery and it was gorgeous.
Just in case you're wondering.... I'm taller than mum OK!!
We arrived early at our retreat, and we ran into another couple of ladies who had also arrived early. When we told them we were on the same retreat as them, they go, "Really", with a very quizzical expression..... I have no idea why.
This pose is actually called "happy baby", but I just call it butthole sunning lol
Our group, we were definitely not the usual crowd! I was trying to work out how to tell them what I did for a living... I eventually settled on 'grass manager'.
Whale watching. We saw a few but they were a long way away.
It was like this ALL the time! We were laughing at mum who was taking photos, and they were taking lots of shots really quick and she was telling us that she had a fat finger.
These pair weren't really feeling the fire ceremony vibes.... we all got laughing because we are heading to the ceremony and mum and I are offering to help carry the wood. The lady goes, "no it's ok, it's only a ceremonial fire". So when we arrive on the beach and Sheree starts dragging over this huge log for them to burn, we all got the giggles again@
Turns out that my Zen place is actually behind a camera lens! Who would have thought!
We made a new friend, Susie, who is a mountain biker and was recovering from numerous broken bones in her leg. She hung with us while we avoided some of the chanting and womb opening rituals.
The final day at the retreat, and on the Stradbroke Island and I woke early.... as seemed to be my annoying trend, the whole time I was away, however I was rewarded by seeing some dolphins! Was a bit bitter-sweet as once again I did not have my zoom lens and I swear that this is the last trip I'm making without it!!!
Back on the mainland and straight to the cafe for an eggs benny with bacon!!
I actually expected the vegan food to be really good, but I found it a bit bland.
I can actually make vegan food taste really nice with a vinaigrette or balsamic dressing or even a bit of lemon, but I was a bit disappointed with some of the meals. Although their desserts and a particular cake they made was delicious.
One of them was saying how she ate nothing but bananas, I want to say for 6mths, but maybe we will go with 6 weeks, cause surely no one would eat bananas for that long. I think one of the them only ate fruit for 6 years. Just mind blowing when you're raised in the environment that I was.
The was seriously soooo good after 4 days of vegan food! Luckily we snuck in some chocolate and mint slice biscuits to tide us over.
Macaron gift for my birthday and I'm currently eating one.... they are hiding in the freezer away from the kids!
Got a pedi AND a massage!! BEST birthday EVER!
Our last night together and we all went out for a big steak!!! OMG, nothing like going without for a while to make you really appreciate some yummy food!
And we were in fits of laughter with Aunty Wendy. Drawing a lot of attention to ourselves.
Mum and I waiting for our plane ride home. Somehow I reckon airport shandies are pretty good!
From My SLR: in reverse order of course SMH
Sheree made a friend from Fiji. He's with CSIRO looking at mangrove management/ regeneration.
These rocks were so pretty I would love to know what is in them to make them that colour, whether they have element of copper or something in them.
Being at one with the ocean and getting into the flow of it.
These were from the morning of my birthday and I was so grateful for the beautiful sunrise that had enough cloud cover that I could capture these images.
This was one of the Dolphins that I saw.... yep, still kicking myself for not having my zoom!
They were even surfing for me! I should have got closer to the water, but I was just so stunned to have seen them!
Birds, dolphins, dog.. all in the one pic.
Bit hard to see in the above photo but they are a heap of little jelly balls. Similar to the big one below and the sun was shining through them which was pretty cool!
Stradbroke Island is special in that you can watch the sunrise, and the sunset, over the ocean.
Also forgot my tripod.... grrr.
This mum and her two daughters were so lovely. These girls were just so wonderful and well mannered and just generally really lovely, polite girls. Very refreshing.
This pair of conspirators!
Some interesting antics around the campfire.
I love this one of Sheree.
It's not really the usual size of fire that we are accustomed to.
Our leaders Kath and Sananda.
Sheree was our token mascot as she rose to the occasion and was our stand in for a lot of meditation exercises that we weren't that inspired to participate in. To be honest, I don't 'mind doing meditation, and I will sometimes do guided meditation, but I just couldn't seem to switch off.
We did the gorge walk which was very pretty. We are so spoilt here though I think, living so close to our friends that have private beach front.
Jess and her other half also go out on the boat and they see whales and dolphins, so she wasn't that excited about seeing whales vaguely off into the distance like we were.
I must say the yoga on the beach was really lovely.
So that was our retreat. I can tick that one off my list now. I think the next adventure is a horse trek/ pub crawl. So bit of yin and yang! But you gotta expand your horizons sometimes.
Here are a few from the Clarke Creek Campdraft that I took. I did take more from the mini draft, but there are hundreds and I'm not going to double up by putting them here. They are on my facebook page if you wish to view the others.
Once again, I've love to know what this conversation was about.
Luke
Dusten
Jason Lindley
I would like to point out just how white this pony is!!!
Not sure who he was looking at, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't the cow!
Lexie
Luke, I think this was he winning run.
Jackie (Dusten and Lexie's mum)
What I need is a little speaker box that I can attach to his horse, that just goes around on repeat, saying, "hands down, knees in, back straight..." I can hear my parents saying it to me so clearly now.
Sarah
Owen
Justin having his run, he almost gated the beast, but he just run a little time poor.
I honestly find taking campdraft photos rather tedious. But when you get a couple like these pair, I find it a bit amusing.
So that's a wrap! We have been flat out! It's taken me about 3 days to try and get this post together, working on it, a little bit at a time. Between trying to get some work into my brumbies and house chores and we are meant to be mustering and pregtesting this week, and visits from friends. Plus I have a birthday that I need to start getting prepared for, that is only 3 weeks away. And we are all going away for a horse, youth camp. So things are a bit busy this school holidays and beyond.
But I guess it's better to be busy than not.
Hope you are all well. Touch wood, the flu season seems to have eased off. I feel like we got a good dose of it. I think I mentioned in my last post that I was listening to a book called "An ordinary day, by Leigh Sales" and I got a lot out of it, very interesting.
Take care everyone.
With Love.
