The Basin Camping, Olney State Forest

Just before winter peak winter hits, we thought we would make the most of a sunny weekend and head to The Basin Campground which is about 1 hour 30 north west of us situated in the valley between Olney State Forest and the Watagan Mountains.

As we arrived we quickly discovered that most of the best and flat spots were taken. There we were thinking nobody would come camping down here in the winter and cold.

We eventually found a flat enough spot to set up for the night and we headed out exploring the nearby walking trails

The trails meandered through thick bush and vegetation passing some huge trees, pretty cool rock formations and various swimming holes, which I couldn't get down o due to my Achilles repair

Below is one of the obscure rock formations

Katie climbing down from one of the rocky outcrops

And as usual, as the night drew in, we started the fire. Katie and Heath decided to demonstrate their musical their musical talents by playing the ukulele and flute.

Old Ford Reserve Camping, Megalong Valley

Nearing towards the end of autumn and entering the winter months, we decided to do a weekend in the blue mountains before the cold really sets in. The weekend was forecasted to be sunny with a high of 22 and low of 6 at night.

The drive down to Old Ford Reserve was pretty easy. The roads were surfaced with only a few hairpin bends to navigate with the camper. Going down into the valley was the easy part, we were just worried about going back up the hills pulling 2 ton behind. Needless to say, going back up was no issues either! :)

The campground was pretty empty, in fact there were 3 groups including us in total. A few day visitors came along later in the day to go down to the river otherwise we had the campground to ourselves. 

We pitched camp pretty much overlooking the Ford below so we were able to easily access it with dogs

And Queenie could easily access it to practice her balancing skills :)

Most of the day was spent relaxing, chatting, eating and drinking cold ones :)

And of course all of this took place around a campfire to keep us warm.

It was overall a cool spot to camp. It probably wouldn't be ideal for tents due to the uneven ground but it was a nice quiet spot for all. We also encountered native possums at night as they ventured down from the trees. Both rocky and Skyler were intrigued by the sighting :)

Queenie & John's Wedding

Queenie and John held their wedding ceremony in Wooloware, which is just down the road from our old place in Miranda.

We have known Queenie since 2006ish from the UK and was reunited with her when she relocated to Australia in 2011 becoming our house mate in both gymea and Miranda .

We were introduced to John probably I'm 2012/2013 through one of the drupal community meetups in Sydney who was the introduced to Queenie

A few years later.....

The ceremony was great with speeches shortly after from the parents.

We also caught up with Quincy (Queenie's sister), whom we have me a few times prior

It's amazing how much they look alike .....

The day went well but they had the misfortune of not having sun all day, I'm fact for the best part of the day it rained, rained and rained. Fortunately the outdoor gazebo worked well for all. For the short period that the sun beamed down, the kids were able to take a swing at the pinatas.

Camping @ Chichester State Forest

Before entering Chichester State Forest we travelled through windy, unsurfaced roads, a few "river crossings" before we came to a place called "Boot Hill" which is essentially a large wire fence with one tree in the middle of nowhere. Hanging from the fence and trees were hundreds if not thousands of shoes, trainers, thongs, shirts etc. Im not sure if there is a story behind them all or what the significance of it was, but it was worthy of a photograph.

After continuing along the windy roads, we finally entered the State Forest which had a large number of camp spots to choose from. We decided to go away from the crowds and travelled up the small hill above Old Camp and stayed at Dobbie Rim Campground.

Dobbie Rim Campground was walking distance from the river and various swimming holes called "Ladies Well" So we headed on down there with the dogs.

We first came to a large rocky / boulder type area where some people jump off into the pools below.

The pools were pristine clean and no doubt refreshing in the warm weather.

Jasper (Katies dog) can get enough of pools and water and probably made the most of the time there in the water alongside Katie

We decided to follow the river and headed further down the stream to uncover even more swimming holes. We decided that there was probably too much to see here in just a weekend so we will be definitely making more regular visits to explore.

Due to my achilles tendon "on the mend" I was not able to get down to everything. Some parts are very rocky and quite steep. Skyler and I chilled and waited at the top.

Rocky seems to have "ADD" - he cannot sit still and can never chill when he is out on a walk.

Marc decided to soak up some sun on the other side of the river on one of the rocks. It is a great spot to bring the BBQ and a few beers, we will definitely be back soon.

Mckell Bushland Reserve, Brooklyn

This weekend Katie fully moved into the spare room. So now the household consists of 3 dogs and a parrot :)

Given the warm weather, we decided to take the dogs out and we explored Brooklyn which is still on the central coast but mostly consists of national parks where dogs are not permitted.

We discovered mckell conservation reserve which permits dogs on a leash. It was a pretty awesome walk along the hawkesbury river front and boat ramps with some nice views over the river.

At the top of the reserve were a number of BBQ and picnic areas which next time we most certainly will bring some food and stay for longer.

On the way back to the foreshore, we took the bush tracks as opposed to the stairs. We walked over various rocky faces before descending back to the foreshore.

Overall it was a pretty cool area and we will definitely return. Literally just down the road maybe 15 minute drive :)

Penna - Katie's Bird

We have 2 new additions to the house (3 if you include Katie).
Meet Jasper or "White Devil" who is probably Rocky's only friend haha

And Penna

After not having a bird since Joey and Pippen (budgies), having Penna in the house is fun. She is unpredictable and scary at times..... her bite hurts especially when she is getting bitchy.

However, she is nice at times and shows her love and compassion through kisses...

Strickland State Forest Walk

After a warm Saturday (30+ degrees), today was a much cooler day (24 degrees). After this mornings rain, we decided to head to the local rainforest to walk the dogs.

Strickland State Forest has 6 different walking trails and we chose the ones deep in the heart of the forest - The Bellbird and Arboretum Trails.

The Arboretum Trail starts from the lower carpark "Stoney Creek Car Park" and the track follows Stoney Creek through some of the oldest tree plantations and thick dense bush. The trail is approximately 2.2km and connects to The Bellbird Trail which adds an additional 1.1km to the trail.

Alot of the creeks and river were full and flowing which made the air alot more humid than some of the "dryer" weather.

Towards the end of the trail is the big suspension bridge over the creek. Skyler seems to either hate heights or bridges as she takes super long crossing the bridge. She was even slower than me in my moon boot!

One of the disadvantages of trekking in rain forests in hot, humid and weather is that it brings out the leaches which hang out on the wet leaves etc and catch on to you as you walk past. By the end of the walk, i took my boots off and removed 11 leaches in total. They are harmless, just annoying and your feet dont stop bleeding for a while afterwards.