{big day out}

Rory had work off today. The kids didn't have school. I took the day off to be with them !
What an amazing day it was too !
You all should know by now that we love bush walking.

We've been wanting to climb Mount Coolum ever since we got here but just haven't.

Today ... we did !!

We didn't check the clock when we
started
up the mountain
but we know it took us less than two hours
because
we know what time we left home
and we factored that into the time we finished.



Here's Rory checking out the view about 3/4 of the way up.



And the kids taking some photos.
I was taking photos of them and trying not to die.
Seriously, I knew I was unfit before we started up but sheesh ....



Good thing there were beautiful flowers along the way,
breathtaking views, and a family to walk with ... otherwise, I'd have turned back !





Getting to the top was such a sense of accomplishment.
And though I'd love to climb other mountains you will never find me
doing the big climbs because if the mountain has snow on it ... I'm OUT !



We got so dirty !!
On parts of the climb down, we had to sit on our bottoms and slide.
It was steep(ish) and quite slippery.
Still ... I preferred the going down over the going up !!



A portion of the view.
As Alia said "You can see the whole world from up here !"

How cool would that be ?



Trail Mix.



Note to self : Do not put choc chips in trail mix on hot day ...



Us ... at the top.



And on the way down ...
Do you see that fellow in blue ... in the photo above ?
He walked past us on our way down.
He was all decked out in climbing gear ... and had some sticks that looked like ski poles to me.
My guess is he was in his 60's.
I said to him "You're almost to the top."
And he said something that made me know this wasn't his first time.
I said as much and he answered "I try to climb this mountain once a week ..."

What an inspiration he is !



We were about 10 minutes from the bottom, on our way down, and Alia slipped.
She wasn't hurt badly, just grazed her knee.
But, of course, there were tears.
I told her to get a cuddle from Daddy (who was closer).
She did.
But the tears still persisted.
I told her to have a seat on a large rock so Daddy could pour water onto her knee.
But Jono sat down on the ground, pulled her onto his lap and said
"Here Alia, sit on me ..."

Rory and I looked at each other and just smiled.
We love our kindhearted boy !!



Here's a shot I took of the ocean on our way down.
I wish I could have taken hours and hours of photographs.
Maybe when I get a proper DSLR (and a bit more fitness), I'll do the climb by myself
so I can spend hours and hours taking photos !



And I just loved the way the same shot turned out when I was playing around with it in GIMP.



We topped off the outing with a trip to the beach.
The kids played in the park for a bit and then climbed the magnificent tree
that Rory and I were sprawled out under.
They had a bit of a play in the surf ... but not for too long ... it IS still winter here, folks !
We demolished shared three pieces of fish, a medium serve of calamari and chips too
before heading to the car to make the trip home.

We are all exhausted ... ready for a good nights sleep and back to work/school tomorrow !!