Liz and I took the kids into the city on Sunday for a ride on the City Cat, a stroll around South Bank, and a wander through GOMA. I’ve lived in this wonderful city most of my life, and I think I take it for granted, because I was quite surprised how beautiful it is.

As usual, South Bank was abuzz with lots of activity. This Klezmer band got my toes tapping.

We enjoyed the walk along the riverside, watching the sun bouncing off the buildings. I was really surprised to see a vegetable garden down this end of South Bank. Rather than flowers, someone has planted Cauliflower, Fennel, Coriander and a myriad of other edible plants. It’s great to see.

At the end of the day, we hopped back on the City Cat and rode back to Bretts Wharf at Hamilton.

Harrison decided he preferred to stand up the front and let the wind blow him around.

A great day. We made it up as we went along, and as luck would have it, everything turned out really well!

I took the family for a hike at Mt Mee today, along the Somerset Track. It’s a 13km walk to a sheer drop that looks westward over the valley to Somerset Dam.

Harrison’s shirt says it all: “The mountains are calling and I must go”. The only problem was, in my enthusiasm to “go”, I didn’t take into account that 13 km is a long way for some people, especially 9 year old girls with short legs:

I can’t think of any other kids of her age who would walk so far. Fantastic effort, Lilly, you’re amazing!

A goanna tries to be inconspicuous as we walk by.

I think the rangers must have been burning back recently – either that or there has been a fire because the greenery of the forest suddenly gave way to burnt undergrowth with green shoots poking through. Much native Australian flora, including these Grass Trees, regenerates after fire.

Sam and Harrison on a huge rock we passed.

The panorama from the lookout.

Lilly, darling, I promise I won’t make you walk so far again.

Liz asked me what I wanted for a Father’s Day present, and I said “A bush walk”. So today we hiked along Scrub Road. Basically it’s a big “vee” shaped road – steep down for 2km, then steep up the other side to the South Boundary Road Camp. Then turn around and repeat in the other direction.

At the bottom we had a great time hopping around the rocks in the creek looking for animals.

We stopped at the water tank / shelter on South Boundary Road for a bite to eat. Lilly thought she’d continue the camping theme by rubbing two sticks together. Thankfully no fire ensued.

About 8km in about 2 hours. A lovely walk with the family. Thanks for the wonderful present everyone

Harrison and I decided to check out Mount Joyce Recreation Park yesterday.

It’s built on the shores of the new Wyaralong Dam between Beaudesert and Boonah, and has some great Mountain Biking trails.

We really enjoyed the trails, but I made a couple of big mistakes that caused us some major problems….

After riding down some beautiful long, smooth, winding downhill single-track, we ended up at the bottom of the hill at a junction of a few different tracks. It was getting late so we thought we’d follow a service road west in the hope of getting back up the top of the hill for one more ride down. The only problem was the service road west just kept going west. After half an hour, it was getting close to sunset, I was worried about it getting dark, but made the mistake of pressing on in the hope the trail would bring me out on the road for a quick ride back.

I failed to take into account that I had an 11 year old boy, so the riding would be slower than usual. Plus I failed to factor in that these were new trails – I didn’t have any of the tracks in my GPS.

Another half hour and it was totally dark. We were in the middle of the bush, with no maps in the GPS on trails I knew nothing about, and all I had was a little night rider light and tail light. Harrison was upset, cold, and tired. All he had on was board shorts and a tee-shirt. I had a garbage bag in my pack and made a poncho out of it to keep him warm, gave him a spare pair of winter gloves that I also had in my pack and soldiered on.

Thankfully I had a Spot GPS Satellite Messenger (Mobile phones don’t work out there). So I sent an “I’m OK but I’m going to be late message” to let everyone know we were ok.

After another half hour of riding in the bush in the dark and we found a gravel road which we followed to Beaudesert / Boonah road, and headed eastwards back to the park along the main road. Since we only had one set of lights, I made Harrison ride in front of me, so my light lit the road in front of him, and cars approacing from behind could see my tail light.

It took us over an hour riding back along the main road in the dark until we reached the turnoff, back to the Mt Joyce car park, to find the carpark empty except for our van.

Freezing and hungry, we stashed the bikes in the van, and headed back to Beaudesert for a bite to eat.

We eventually got home at 10pm.

I feel bad about this because I made some stupid mistakes. I’ve attached the track log so you know where not to go. (Given enough daylight hours, it would have been a really nice XC ride) The worst thing is I put my son thru a pretty distressing experience. He was in tears, had to walk up some steep (to him) hills in the dark, and had to brave highway traffic on a dark main road. I knew he was upset, but I had to be mean and tell him that crying wouldn’t get him home, and that he didn’t have the luxury of feeling sorry for himself.

“If it is to be, it is up to me” I told him. Plus I made a few Bear Grylls jokes about eating our own poo, or him eating me if I couldn’t make it. It seemed to do the trick.

The best thing is that he did it. I’m so proud of him.

I’m annoyed at myself though.

All up, 55km, about 1,000m of ascent, 3,000kcal and 5 hours on the bike. On the tough-o-metre this one was 10 out of 10, not because of the physical difficulty, but the stress of trying to safely get an eleven year old boy out of the bush in the dark in the middle of winter on unknown terrain.

The weather forecast said “Rain” but we couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day to explore the Noosa Headland. I can’t believe how lucky we are to have this beautiful national park just over an hours drive from our front door.

We walked clockwise around the headland starting at Laguna Bay – a popular spot for surfers and sunbathers.

The track winds around the cliff-tops with some spectacular views through the rainforest trees down to some rocky secluded beaches.

Eventually we reached Alexandra Bay. Hidden away on southern side of the headland it feels a million miles away from the cares and worries of the city

The walking track follows the beach for a couple of kilometres before heading back into the forest.

I suppose you could call us a family of tree-huggers

Eventually the track passes through some denser forest with these wonderful Hoop Pines – native to South East Queensland.

All up about 9km, with 400m of vertical ascent. A beautiful easy walk. We’d definitely do it again!

Coolum in the cooler months is beautiful!

Liz, Lilly and I are happy to be back on the beach again at Coolum. Harrison is lurking in the background on the left.

Here’s a few pics of our first evening walk along the beach in a few months:

These people looked like birds on a telegraph wire as they watched the ocean at dusk.

Lil and Lilly had fun on the see saw in the playground

Looking north up the beach at Coolum towards Noosa.

Our kids had a visit from a couple of their friends this morning.

Rather than let them sit around playing computer games, we bundled them into the van and took them on a couple of hikes. (After checking that it was ok to kidnap a couple of extra kids. Thanks Renea!)

The first hike was around Camp Mountain – a beautiful forest to the south of Samford. I’ve done this on the mountain bike before, and really wanted to show everyone how picturesque it is.

It’s a big road for a small person. Lilly kept going all day. (Picture by Liz)

It’s a good climb to the Summit of Camp Mountain, with great views of the city.

Some of the wildlife at the top (Picture by Liz)

The second hike was up the Goat Track – a washed out dirt road west of Samford. I love this road because of the views and the fascinating Rock Art that has sprung up along the way.

I’ve been observing the rock structures over the last couple of months and they’re getting quite realistic!

The view from The Goat Track looking east past the Water Tower at Albany Creek, with Moreton Bay in the background.

All up we hiked 8.8km with a total ascent of 520m. I was really impressed with how well the kids coped with it – no complaints and everyone kept up a great pace (average of about 4.5km/h).

Well done team!

Bert has been in my life since I was about three years old. He was one of the wild clan of Scotsmen who had migrated to Australia in the 1950′s and befriended my parents when they arrived as immigrants from the UK in 1965.

I remember many family parties with Bert throughout my childhood, most of which would end with everyone singing traditional Scottish songs like “You Tak’ the High Road”, “Will ye no’ come back again”, “Scottish Soldier”, “The Northern Lights of Auld Aberdeen”, and a few more bawdy ones as well, which, as a child, I didn’t quite understand. One of my early childhood memories is falling asleep on a spare bed at Bert and Kate’s place while the well-oiled adults in the garden down stairs were singing “We’re poor little sheep and we’ve lost our way… Baa, Baa, Baa”.

We went on beach holidays with them – a dozen or more of us crammed into one little beach house called “Bimbo” at Moffat Beach on the Sunshine Coast – some times for up to a week.

Bert had an impish grin. Even when he was stone cold sober, he looked like he’d had a few glasses of Whisky, or if he was about to play a practical joke. One time he appeared on TV as part of the Red Hackle Pipe Band. He played the bass drum, and swung the big fluffy drumsticks grandly as the band marched. Unfortunately, while the TV camera was on him, the tether on one of his drumsticks broke, and the stick went flying through the air. Without skipping a beat, and with his famous cheeky grin, he just kept playing with one drumstick, swinging it wildly on one side of the drum and the other. For a straight faced drummer, it would have been quite a feat. For Bert it was as though he’d pulled off the most spectacular practical joke on TV and had got away with it.

He was a fan of the Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Team. One of his prized possessions what a football autographed by all the members of the 1992 Premiership Team. I know it’s authentic because I was there when they signed it. I watched that premiership game with him and about ten minutes from the end the phone rang. He just picked up the phone, said “Can’t talk, the Broncos are playing” and hung up.

Kate was the love of his life. They never had children together, but it didn’t seem to bother them. They seemed very happy together. Once they said to my Mum and Dad that the only time they regretted not having kids was when Mum and Dad’s grand children came along. Happily, all of my kids got to know Bert and Kate, and to experience a celebration at their home on several occasions.

It’s only as I write this that I realise that Bert gave me something valuable. We were a migrant family, and as such, we rarely met any extended family – aunts, uncles, grandparents. They were far away overseas. Uncle Bert and Auntie Kathy were part of our “adopted” extended family. It was this extended family with whom we spent our childhood Christmases and New Years.

I was fortunate enough to meet up with Bert a couple of weeks ago at Mum’s 70th birthday. His health was declining and he was starting to get difficult to understand. But under it all, he was still the same cheeky Uncle Bert who has known me almost all of my life.

I’ll remember him. And I’ll miss him.

It was the annual sports carnival at the kids’ school today. In keeping with the whole fitness concept I thought I’d leave the car at home and walk up to the school and back. School was a-buzz with excited kids in team colours chanting war-cries and cheering for their team.

I sat off to one side trying to sneak shots of the kids, but Harrison wasn’t fooled – he knew I had my eye on him.

Lilly scribbled in the front of one of her note pads this morning “I’m gonna win”. With an attitude like that, and her blue war paint, no one else had a chance.

Oh – this was a chook I saw as I was walking home. When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail, and when you’re carrying a camera, everything seems to be asking to have its photo taken – including chickens. As soon as I stopped to look at one of them, about a dozen came running out of the coop to look at me.

It was a fun walk. The funniest thing was I actually burned up over 1,000 calories doing it. Time (and energy) fly when you’re having fun

I crashed the bike riding down the Goat Track from Mt Nebo this week. I got some pretty bad scratches, and suffered a painful shoulder injury which will need a week or two to recover.

Rather than mope around the house, Liz and the kids agreed to come for a hike through one of my favourite mountain biking places. We drove up to Mt Tibrogargan and hiked 8.8km around the Trachyte Circuit in the Glasshouse Moiuntains.

Liz and the kids walk along one of the many trails with Mount Tibrogargan hunched over pensively in the background.

We wound our way up towards the Jack Ferris Lookout which has some great views of the valley.

Liz and Beerwah – two legendary mothers.

Harrison enjoys the view of Tibrogargan from the lookout.

Lilly checks out Mount Tiberoowuccum from the lookout.

This blue healer cattle dog was sitting eagerly on the back of a ute driving past us. Suddenly the driver stopped, turned around, let the dog off, and started driving again.

The blue healer happily ran along in front of the car – rejoicing in his dogginess.

And the driver seemed pretty happy that he didn’t have to walk while his dog got some exercise.

Harrison and Lilly celebrate finishing our walk.

Well done team. 8.8km, 548m ascent, just over 2 hours. Thanks so much for a great time.