Category Archives: Fun Days

Family Fun Day First Kayak Trip

27/08/2017 Charmaine Leopold

Family Fun Day

Not quiet a yacht but it will do for now.

Family is very important to me, and since we have been away for so many years its just really nice to book some time every second Sunday with the kids again. Not all the kids have been able to make some family days as Bernie’s two kids have work commitments that make it hard for them to get the time off. Poor Clayton lives all the way up Gympie so it makes it really hard especially with the cost of fuel these days.

Mia’s 20th Birthday

Today was a special get together as we were also celebrating Mia’s 20th birthday early as well. Getting to the Kangaroo Point Cliff was a little testing as we could not find parking due to the Bridge to Brisbane Fun Run. We had no idea!!! Bernie and I actually got there early to do some bouldering before meeting up for the Kayak booking. Lucky we did, as we needed a whole hour just to find parking three blocks away from the cliffs. It was crazy traffic everywhere, great of all days. lol

Paddling down the Brisbane river on a Sunday after noon.

Meeting up at Riverlife

JC, Mia and Dan (Mia’s boyfriend) all took the train in as its much cheaper and easier than driving the car all the way into the city. Bernie had bought as a surprise 5 pieces of Vegan Lemon and Lavender cake on Saturday so we could have the treat after the Kayaking. Mia (little sweetie) surprised us and made a yummy vegan Spaghetti Bolognese and homemade cookies…YUM.

Kayaking down the river

So we had a great first trip going against the current on the way down and taking the current back. Mia’s arms were hurting after 30 mins but she did really well as we were out for over two hrs. I was surprised at how well I managed, with no sore arms at all. Dan towed JC who towed Mia a little of the way back. They reminded my of ducklings all in line swimming behind a mother duck. It was good as it gave enough rest for Mia to do the rest of the way back to base.

Riverlife Brisbane

None of us realised that Riverlife do many family day activities not only kayaking. So we all started planning for the next months ahead. Our list goes something like this with ever second Sunday cycle Rock Climbing. Bike riding and roller blading are the next to do.

It was a great day all round.

Fun Days, Working on the road

Remembering Camel Cup 2016

25/06/2017 Charmaine Leopold

Camel cup pictures for 2017

Last month our current house sitters were at Uluru (Ayers Rock) for a visit and also visited the camel farm while there. It is that time of the year at the end of May when the cameleers get to race between themselves and have a fun day.

To our surprise Ken and Leanne found a picture of Bernie and I on the promotional material for this years 2017 Camel Cup, two photos in fact. Bernie and I had a fantastic day last year and it was the highlight of our stay at the farm.

We made it into the Uluru camel cup 2017 program guide.

Camels are sensitive creatures

Camels are such beautiful creatures and very patient, much more patient that a horse will every be. Yes they can occasionally vomit all over you but that is only if they are really scared. You see camels are very sensitive creatures and highly emotional, they are very perceptive to your emotion.

Last year when we were there, I decided that if I was going to work with such sensitive large animals, that best way for them to know that I am a friend and not out to hurt them was to refrain from eating meat as much as possible while I worked with them. Over the weeks, I forgot about the strict ‘not eating meat rule’, one of the cameleers cooked a delicious chicken meal for everyone in the house. The little experiment I had haphazardly decided to do came all to clear to me the very next morning.

Frustrated cameleer

I was one frustrated cameleer! For the very first time the camels were turning their noses up at me, not listening or coming to me like they usually did all the past weeks. They would not sit still and putting a nose line on most of them was much more difficult that usual. What the hell was going on?? By this stage it had not occurred to me at all that the camels very well could be sensing or smelling the meat I ate the pervious night.

When I got home I told Bernie about the odd behaviour that all of the camels exhibited towards me through the shift and how frustrating it was. I have seen them do these types of behaviour to other certain cameleers but not to me. Was I doing something wrong, did I have a new perfume or deodorant? mmm no…..Bernie just replied ‘well babe you did eat meat for the first time in weeks remember? Huh true…..well I made sure I never did that again while working there, sensitive creatures they are for sure.

Fun Days

Life’s a Beach

08/05/2017 Bernie Cross

A Beautiful Day

We would like to open our first blog with you asking yourself some important questions….

What do you strive in life to have? What’s important to you? What will be with you when you leave and will be with those you love most?

The most important part of why we are taking on this adventure is for beautiful memories…

Just this weekend Bernie and I had a beautiful time down Fingal Head & Daydream beach with two of the Rocks kids, Jc and Mia.

Bernie, Charmaine, Jc & Mia

Meet Jc

Meet Mia

Special Places

This place is very special to all of us in many different ways….We used to come here many years ago when the kids were much smaller….(Mia and Jc would have been 8 and 10 years old). You only realise time has gone by so fast when your kids comment that you are so small compared to them…actually I think they have just remembered how big I looked in comparison in those days proportionate to their size at the time. lol

It was so nice just to sit back at watch the Jc and Mia play as they used to on the beach….here is a video of them running around and having fun…

Do We Ever Grow Up

Lets hope not!!!

Another Great Day

Been at this beach had welled up a lot of emotion in us all as we sat on the beach…. it came in waves just the same as the sea, in ebbs and flows. We hugged, cried, laughed and reminisced.