For my birthday the sweetie thought it would be nice to go away for the weekend. Actually he wanted to go birdwatching and take me along ;) Doing this as one big entry, so be patient ;)
Day 1 - Friday 14.8.26
I was hoping to leave around lunch time but we had too much to do (and I was at work til midday) so didn't get out the door until around 13:15. Picked up some beer to take with us. Got random breath tested on the Barton Highway which was pretty funny (just counting to ten). Then to KFC for a light late lunch (it's tradition!). They were super slow though. Like, I just wanted three pieces of chicken and a drink for the sweetie. Woulda taken him ten seconds to grab them, but no, I had to wait and wait for who knows what. Took like five or ten minutes or something. Ridiculous. The chicken was very nice, but the flavour was a bit.. bland.. like they'd forgotten half the spice mix.
We stopped in Yass so I could reproduce some photos of Dad's from 1964 or so. And take a few of my own.
We also dropped into the IGA for some supplies.
Then onto Burrinjuck. A relatively short but pleasant drive.
Arrived at the Reflections Holiday Park around 15:50.
Checked in, then headed down to our cabin. It was lovely! Spacious, well appointed and a stunning view!
We unpacked the car and got ourselves settled. Then we went out for a walk. I was going to go by myself but the sweetie agreed to come. I was just planning to walk around the campsite to see what the place had, but it ended up being more of a bird walk. Which would have been fine, except I didn't have my big lens with me. Oh well.
We walked past the kiosk (which was closed all weekend being off season and all) and connected to the wifi briefly (there's almost no Optus and very weak Telstra).
Wood bbq - reminded me of home when we used to fire up a bbq like this that my Dad built
We headed back to the cabin via the shore. With the dam so low (56%) it was an easy walk. Until it wasn't. Closer to the cabin it got quite steep so it was a bit of scrambling over loose rocks. But we made it ok.
Cracked out the bubbles!
And kievs and gems for dinner. I brought my own baking trays because I doubted they'd have any. I also brought my own baking paper. Which ran out after lining one tray. Whoops. What would have been handy was an oven mit - it was a bit tricky to get the big tray out with only one hand with a tea towel.
Then put on The Hunt for Red October. Annoyingly the DVD player didn't have a remote. So we could start it, and stop it, but not pause.
Grabbed one of the spare towels from the kids room to use as a bathmat because the bathroom didn't have one (or a hand towel).
Day 2 - Saturday 15.8.26
Slept okish. Stu wanted to leave the aircon on because he was cold, but I kept waking up hot. We'd put it on when we arrived and it said it had a ten hour timer. So I was thinking it'd turn off around 2:30. Except it didn't. It was more like 6:30. Oh well.
It was completely white when I first got up! This was a litte later.
Had my breakfast and did some Lego.
Went out again to look at the fog clearing and saw king parrot on the balcony of the neighbouring cabin. So I went and got the seed I'd brought and gave it a shake, and it flew over to the fence. I held out my hand and it jumped right on!!
For quite a while it was just that one and it was super cool and very civilised. Our neighbour Georgie took a heap of photos with my phone.
But then word got out. And it was on. A whole FLOCK of king parrots and a small flock of cockatoos all came down for breakfast. It was mental!! Even the kangaroos would eat the seeds, husks and all. I gave two cockatoos a chance to be hand-fed but they both bit me, so I ingored them and just played with the king parrots (I left plenty on the ground for everyone).
Left the sweetie get ready and I drove down to the "dam lookout" which is a half-hearted attempt to appease people like me. The turds at Water NSW have blocked it off in recent years so I couldn't reproduce Dad's photos from 1964. And they're not bothering to keep the trees down either so you have to get up on a rock to get a crap view.
Came back and we got ready and headed out again around 11:10.
Went for a very long, very slow walk, ~3km up the inlet to Carrolls Creek. It was actually an easy walk, almost all level along the foreshore of the dam, but it was very slow because we kept stopping to take photos of birds.
We arrived at Carrolls Creek around 13:15 and had some lunch.
Stu had been wanting to go further along the track but it was already nearly 14:00 so we decided just to head back.
The walk back was just as slow, with just as many bird stops.
Got back to the cabin around 16:15. Our everything hurt!
Had a couple of drinks and watched some Big Bang Theory. Our neighbours John and Louise (and Georgie) setup a fire and invited us over so we had some mulled wine in front of the fire which was very civilised.
Then we had some tv dinners for dinner and went to bed.
Day 3 - Sunday 16.8.26
Slept a bit crap, again waking up hot here and there. Finished the Lego I brought down.
Once the sweetie was ready I went out to find the birds. Except the kangaroos came first. A whole MOB of them. They too were happy to eat out of my hand, but they were also a bit more aggressive in wanting to rip the packet of seed open. So I went around to the other side of the fence so they couldn't get at me. Eventually the birds came down.
Georgie took this funny selfie of a king parrot on her arm
Then we packed up and went and checked out around 9:45.
Went back to the dam wall again because Stu wanted to see it.
On the way out we stopped at the Carrolls Creek Waterfall.
Then back through Yass.
Victoria Park Gate
Then the sweetie surprised me with a bridge!!! Taemas Bridge. This beautiful truss bridge over the Murrumbidgee River just before it becomes Lake Burrinjuck.
There was a stile near the southern end so we climbed it and went down under the bridge.
Awesome!
Then we headed back into the ACT. It's kinda weird to be driving through farmland in the middle of nowhere and then you crest a hill and see high rise buildings of a big city!
We stopped outside Sherwood Forest to have some lunch, then went in for a bird walk.
There was heaps of this grassland sundew around which was pretty cool
And lots of these Early Nancy flowers
Possibly Walker Hill in the foreground and Black Mountain Tower in the background
We kept walking up the hill for a while
Then decided the clouds looked too ominous so decided to head back.
We arrived back at the car at 14:30 - at the same time the rain did!
Then headed for home.
So all in all it was a lovely weekend!!
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