:: playing in our backyard ::

those of you familiar with my blog will know that i make no secret and no apology for my sadness at the finish of our road trip. a three month adventure that ended all too soon. an adventure that we desperately want to progress to the second installment.
given that we returned from the road trip in mid november we agreed that we would not take holidays over the christmas school break. that said the kids and i have been suffering a little dose of cabin fever. the school holiday weather has not been great and we have been somewhat lazy choosing to sleep in and potter around rather than get cracking and make our own adventures.
today was the first day that the mister has been rostered off in a long time and so we decided to go exploring in our neighborhood.
a 15 minute car ride up the calder highway landed us in the
organ pipes national park.
so named because the basalt rock formations look like organ pipes.

they formed after a volcanic eruption over a million years ago. the larva followed the natural water flow lines and quickly cooled to become the column shaped rocks that remain.
some of the formations have an interesting rosette appearance.

 the place was teaming with bird life. we even spotted a falcon nesting.

(apologies for the blurry zoomed in pic)
miss 12 was feeling quite stylish and ignored our advice regarding sensible footwear. opting instead for the strappy roman sandals and a fashionable handbag.
in spite of her newfound fashionista passion she found time to commune with nature the mister slipped easily back into the cammo gear and quickly morphed into his harry butler alter ego.
his well trained eagle eye got a workout and spotted the smallest of teeny tiny lizards lurking in the undergrowth
mr ten and his BFF were happy to clamber over rocks and search for wildlife and occasionally throw a rock into the river.
it was lovely to get back to the routine of looking and listening, exploring and discovering, even if only for a couple of hours.
we felt like we were back, until the roar of a jet taking off from the all too nearby tullamarine international airport broke the sounds of the bush. still, it was a fun day out and just a hop, skip and jump from home. 

 

Comments

[Bron]

The best kind of fun...free and close to home oh and also a place filled with natural mystery and intrigue.

[Wendy]

Wow, that is a really amazing place! Great pics! xx

[Debera Schiraldi]

That's not a backyard. That's a BAAAAACCKKKKKYAARRRD. LOL! It's been a long time since I went on a road trip with friends, and I miss it a lot. *sigh* I think I just might ask them to go with me on another road trip this spring!

[aracne]

You know how to talk to my heart, with those beautifully interesting rocks!