Morton & Budderoo National Parks

After studying the types of forests found in Australia we headed off to Morton and Budderoo National Parks to look at the real thing.

First stop was the mainly eucalyptus forest at Fitzroy Falls. After a quick stop to look at the stuffed animals in the visitors centre we headed out on a walk to see some of the falls.

After our nature study on ferns the children were particularly on the look out for all the different types.

After our picnic lunch we headed to the expensive but enjoyable Illawarra Fly Tree Top Walk through the temperate rainforest of gums, tree ferns and a few palms. The walkway takes you up to 45m above the ground.

Lastly we headed further down hill to the Minnamurra Rainforest Centre. This area has a more tropical rainforest feel with lots of ferns, ephiphytes, huge rainforest trees- some with poisonous leaves, fan palms, fungi and strangler figs.

We saw a range of wildlife including insects, lizards and Lyre birds.

The children had a great time pointing out things they had been learning about at home and they walked amazing well - over 5km!

Thirlmere Festival Of Steam - Again

Once again we headed off to the yearly Thirlmere Festival Of Steam today. There had been lots of rain so the area was a bit on the muddy side but we had fun visiting the railway models, old cars, parade, steam engines and animal farm.

Here's a few pictures from the day.

Trick Shots

Today in photography with Dad the children took some trick shots. We had planned to do this outside but it has not stopped raining.

L a tiny fairy on mums back

Tiny R does ballet on Mums knee

Floods

Here in NSW we are experiencing very wet weather with 75% of the state flooded or on flood watch. Very close by we have Australia's biggest water catchment dam at Warragamba. This Friday the dam reached its maximum capacity and flood gates were opened to release water into the river below. This has not happened for 14 years so we decided to take a look. Luckily the bridge in and out of the area was not washed out.

BEFORE - the dam a year ago

AFTER - the dam today

BEFORE - the dam a year ago

AFTER - the dam today

Warragamba dam with all 5 flood gates open

Warragamba dam with all 5 flood gates open

R's view of the dam spillway

Several main bridges downstream of the dam are closed and the river continues to rise. We wish good luck to anyone living close to the river.

Lines Landscape

This week we are looking at different landscapes. We decided to make a hill top landscape using a variety of lines and patterns. Firstly we warmed up by trying out lots of different lines on a silhouette base. I got the ideas from smART class and Karol Ann

Lines by R

Lines by L

Next we drew a hilly landscape and filled each hill with a different pattern.

Landscape by R

Landscape by L

 Pretty cool huh?

Fern Nature Study

This week we have been learning about the rainforest biome so I bought the children this fern to study.  We examined it carefully, read the care instructions and discussed its needs. Then we did an observational drawing in our nature journals.

Fern by R

Fern by L

Fern by mum

Felt Landscapes

Today we made our own felt landscapes. For "how to" check here and here. Our creations featured sky, hillsides, trees, leaves and flowers. Here the children are laying out their wool fibres.

And the finished pieces:

Winter tree by R age 5

Fallen tree by L age 3

By Mum - age old!

The thing I love about felt making is it's so easy, even a 3 year old can do it. We may work on top of these or frame them up. I'm not sure yet. They are still drying out in our laundry.