SUMMER | PHOTO A DAY | TWENTY FIVE

I can’t believe we drove for three hours today, just to climb on a different playground.
The whole idea was to visit Australian Garden, in Cranbourne, as they had an open day for families.  I thought the kids might be interested, but apparently they don’t do open days. Just playgrounds. Thank goodness there happened to be one around.
I didn’t really feel like I should complain though as, admittedly, I’m not really one for gardens myself.  I enjoy them, but probably don’t appreciate them half as much as I should.  And I’m a bit (ok, a lot) ignorant when it comes to plants.  Please don’t ask me to name anything that’s growing in our front yard at the moment, apart from the rose bushes.  I’m good with roses, and gerberas, and violets, and lemon trees – but that’s about the extent of my knowledge.  And if I was Jaedon, and five years old again, I’d probably much rather be climbing the rope frames than learning about the difference between conifers and paperbarks, and how to conserve water in the shower. I know, shame on me.

So we let them play, and run, and climb, and spin, pointed out the wedgetail eagle that flew overhead, and even taught them how to use the hybrid toilet, which was rather interesting.  See, they did get some educational input today after all. And after Jaedon was completely worn out (unlike Alicia-Rae, who is our very own energizer bunny) we took the long walk back to the car, spotting a ‘bandicute’ along the way.
While Nana pushed her tired and weary grandson along in the pram, Alicia-Rae danced and twirled along behind her, obviously not realising I was watching. I’m not sure who she was performing for in her mind, but I’d bet they’d have been pretty impressed.

So, three hours in the car to climb on some ropes – which, admittedly, were pretty awesome, launch ourselves (accidentally) from the gyro equiptment, watch the largest bird of prey in flight ( a little unnerving), flush a toilet with our feet (hilarious, once we got the hang of it), breathe in air that filled our nostrils with the smell of the Australian bush, and say hello to one of our cutest native animals.
One hundred and eighty long minutes in the car.  And it was worth every one of them.

Narrelle x