Polishing Floorboards….Go Camping Instead

It has been a while since I have had any time off work. This past week that changed and I had a week of annual leave. The break was more so the result of a small home project which inadvertently turned large than an actual planned holiday.

The other week, Melinda found a tear in the carpet in Grace’s closet. On further inspection she found that there was hardwood floors under the carpet. After listening to Mel tell me what she had found, I decided to have a look as well. From what I could see, Mel was right and there was hardwood floors under the carpet. The temptation to pull up the carpet and have a proper look was too strong. After initially planning to only rip up the carpet in the closet, I ended up pulling up the carpet in the girl’s rooms and this then led to me tearing out the slate and tile floors in the hallway, kitchen and living room as well.

We called in “Val” to come in and sand and polish the floors, while he was doing this we needed to leave the house for the week. Rather than staying at a hotel, we decided to go camping at Cumberland River just past Lorne on the Great Ocean Road.

Here are a few before and after pictures below of the floorboards and some of the camping we did in-between during the sanding and polishing.

While the nights were a bit chilly and we had to get the kids in their thermals at night – overall the weather was great for the time of year. The added benefit for us as well was that because we went before the summer season, we almost had the campgrounds and facilities to ourselves. One of the interesting people we did meet, was Pat and Jenny Kennedy who were travelling back to NSW after spending a few days at Wilsons Promontory and Phillip Island. Pat does some ad-hoc writing for the magazine “Caravan World” and had some great stories to share.

Over the course of the week, we did get a few hikes in and the kids had a great time exploring the area. We did see a Koala, a Brownsnake, an Echidna and just about hit a Wallaby on a logging trail that we were driving on one day. Some of the hikes we did were Erskine Falls, Cumberland River, The Otway Treetop Walk and a few other short ones as well. The kids kept up pretty well and in between a few breaks on the way a few well-timed bribes of treats kept them moving when they needed it.

By the time we got back to house the floorboards had been sanded and polished and look fantastic. The house still smelled strongly of varnish, so we set up the tent in the backyard and spent the first night back home still in the tent.

The good news is the tent held up great and everyone is looking forward to our next adventure.

 

Night (Day Actually) At The Museum – What Value

It is a long weekend this weekend in Melbourne, we have Monday off work in recognition of Anzac Day. Our original thinking was to throw the tent in the back seat again and set off for another few days of camping with the kids. While this was our intention, the weather did not really seem to want to cooperate as the forecast was for rain all weekend. The weather forecast was actually spot on – and on Friday it was raining so we decided not to take the kids camping.

So yesterday on a wet rainy Saturday with three kids running inside the house, making a mess and getting into mischief – we instead decided to pack the kids into the car and take them to the Melbourne Museum in Carlton.

Our final impressions at the end of a day at the Melbourne Museum far surpassed what our initial expectations of the museum were. For families (especially with young children), the Melbourne Museum offers a great day out at a fraction of the cost of many other attractions. Not only does the museum offer value for money, the kids loved the day and may have learnt a thing or two on the way.

Only Mel and I had to purchase tickets which were $8.00 each, kids under 8 (I think that was the age) were allowed to enter for free. So for us we had all day access to the museum for our family of five for $16.00. To put into perspective what great value that is – for that price that barely covers the cost of a half hour swimming lesson for one child.

The kids loved the ‘dinosaur exhibition’ and the ‘living forest’, they also really felt that they were exploring the museum as it is very kid friendly and has a number of settings set up with kids in mind. For Mel and I, it was a great way to spend the day with the kids in a family friendly environment that was both fun and educational (well I am sure they learnt something somewhere along the way). There are a couple of different playgrounds where we could sit down grab a coffee and kick back a little bit – what else could we ask for.

Ok, we are not going to the museum every weekend, but we will definitely go there again and we will definitely recommend it onto others. If you are stuck in the city when you should be out camping – a day at the museum will fix up any rainy day.

 

Trying out the New Tent at Wilson’s Promontory

For the first time in quite a while I took last Friday off work and Melinda and I packed up the kids and took them down to Wilson’s Promontory to give our new Tent for a test run. Two weeks ago we went Tent shopping and picked up a new 12 man tent with 3 separate rooms which we thought would give us more than enough room (and surprisingly it does).

We left on Friday morning and what should have been a two hour trip ended up taking more like three and half hours – the time difference can be explained by the joy of travelling with three kids under five! Anyway once we arrived we got our tent set up pretty quickly and made some lunch. I don’t think it was more than half an hour before a giant wombat came visiting our tent. He didn’t stay long but he did come back that night and got into the tent of some people who were camping down a bit from us.

The kids ended up staying up much longer than they should have, but they had a great night in their room and this was despite the fighting between who should get the flashlight. The next morning we took them on a walk up on the Lilly Pilly (sp?)Trail and then up and around to Squeaky Beach outlook. They kids did really well as we were not sure how far they would be able to hike, but we took our time and we did pack some biscuits which kept their motivation up.

Joshua is still sleeping in a cot so packing the cot to take away took up a fair bit of space in the car but we were surprised how easy it was to camp with him still sleeping in it. Before now I think he was probably a little bit too small to take him camping, but now I think camping will get easier as he grows out of his newborn baby phase.

All in all we had a great long weekend and are looking forward to our next Camping adventure.

 

Christmas in Country Australia

Ok, so the holidays are over and I am back at work.

Even though I have been living in Australia for a number of years, I still cannot get used to a “Summer Christmas”. For Christmas this year we went up to country Victoria to visit the inlaws. The kids had a great time catching up with with their cousins and swimming at the lake. Christmas was a lot of fun with the kids as they are starting to understand what the holiday season is all about (now Mel and I just need to make sure they focus on giving as well and not just receiving!!!). Of course they were spoiled by their grandparents and had too much sugar and stayed up way too late, but now that we are back home we are getting them settled back into a routine. You know the kids have had a good time when you look in the back seat on the drive home and see all three of them asleep.

Once again Melinda worked out what it was I got her for Christmas present – that is 3 years in a row now and counting that she has worked out what she was getting. I thought for sure this year I would surprise her, but she put on her CSI hat and figured it all out.

With ‘Nan’ and ‘Pop’ looking after the kids Mel and I actually got a chance to go out golfing and spend some time on our own – we didn’t set the golf course on fire, but we had a good time and it was good spending a morning with Mel by ourselves.

Speaking with everyone back in Canada, I know it has been cold and the last picture is more what I am used to at Christmas. To everyone back home, if it is any consolation – the heat over Christmas was too hot to spend much time outside in the afternoon (although we still went to the pool or lake after 4:00 pm).

 

What Does Gardening have to do with Social Media??

What does gardening have to do with Social Media?? For me, it has absolutely nothing to do with Social Media and that is one of things that I enjoy about it the most. I am sure there are prolific gardeners where the connection between social media and gardening applies, but for me I enjoy gardening mostly because it is not only time well spent with the kids but also for me it has no social networking connection.

Anyone need a Gardener??

Stepping away from the kids for a moment, I spend a large portion of my working week online and using various social networks in my role. My involvement in the Social Media space has grown over the past 3-4 years that I have been using it as part of my role. As I mentioned on the Oracle Recruitment Blog the other week I think it is important to find a work/life balance. Similarly, I think it is important to find a balance between social media activities and other activities as well.  It can be easy to get caught up in all the noise on many social networks – we have seen the statistics of how many videos are uploaded on YouTube every minute or how many Tweets are happening every second. It can be all time consuming. By no stretch of the imagination am I a green thumb (I am actually surprised the kids and I have not managed to kill the garden yet), but gardening for me is a good reminder to keep social networking in perspective and make sure you are spending time on many things not just connecting with people and communities online.

The gardeners and I

From a work perspective this can mean making sure that you do not forget business basics and think business issues can magically be fixed by “social media”. The things that made you successful in the past likely will continue to make you successful in the future – this can be a good work attitude, great sourcing skills or great accounting skills, etc… Social Media/Networking Tools can act as a fantastic tool to the work you do but it is not meant to replace it. I think with all they hype it can be easy to forget this.

Am I a social media enthusiast – yes, but I like to make sure I keep myself balanced as well – it reminds of an old proverb “too much water drowned the miller” – I am hoping to keep myself from drowning!!!

 

A Few Days at Wilson’s Promontory

It has been such a busy year with the arrival of Joshua in January, we have not had much time away to just get the chance to relax and take things easy for a few days. Last weekend we took the chance to go down to Wilson’s Promontory and have a bit of a look around. In our life before kids Melinda and I use to regularly go camping down along Great Ocean Road. We never had been to Wilsons Prom before and we are glad we took the chance to have a look around.

The kids are just a bit too young to be spending the night in a tent just yet so we had to rent a house for a few nights. We also spent the weekend with friends and their kids.  Marissa and Grace enjoyed the weekend and I think the favorite part was the fact there was a bunk bed in their room. Besides that they also enjoyed seeing the kangaroos, emus, and wombat but not so much the rosella that stole their biscuit.

There are plenty of hiking trails at Wilsons Prom ranging from short walks to overnight hikes which is suited for all types of people. On Saturday we walked down to Squeaky Beach which was a 5 km hike round trip. Getting there was no problem at all, but the hike back proved difficult for Marissa and Grace especially after they both ended up wet after playing at the beach. It was good to get out and stretch the legs a bit and everyone slept well that night.

I am hoping by next summer we can start using the tent again as by then the kids should be a bit older, but until then we are hoping to get out a bit more often and get some more hikes in over winter.