Coatesville

Coatesville feels like the last little pocket of countryside around these parts.  Suburbia is suffocating this town and the beautiful old fruit tree's, roaming chickens and ramshackle farm houses are quickly being swallowed up by vast concrete jungles.  But not Coatesville, not yet.  There's not much there and that's part of the charm.   The two roadside cafes* are bustling with activity on the weekends, their carparks jam packed with shiny four wheel drives that have never had a spray of mud on them (city folk), the pony club is full of eager young riders and over the fence the chickens are scratching in the neighbours yard.  Unless you're there for the monthly Coatesville Market, you're best to settle in at the cafe for a cup of coffee, go for a wander through the paddocks and breath in that country air (faintly scented with horse poo).

*We love the Fernilea Cafe because it is super kid friendly which means you can almost drink your coffee in peace!

SIX AM

More often than not our day begins before dawn even has the chance to peek over the horizon.  We beat the birds to their dawn chorus and have had breakfast by the time most peoples alarm clocks go off.  Although there's usually a lot of eye rubbing (mine) and quiet cursing after calculating the number of hours sleep we've had, it's impossible not to share Ayana's enthusiasm as she greets us with a toothy grin and a shriek.  It also makes it surprisingly easy to stay in your pajamas for half the morning (and on the odd occasion until lunchtime).  That may sound like a luxury but it doesn't give you the most productive start to the day, not to mention the constant fear that somebody might knock on the door and catch you in such a disheveled state!

Over the past week we've been getting up, throwing some clothes on and heading straight to the beach instead. I expected that it would just be us and a few lonesome seagulls, but my goodness there's a whole 6AM crowd down there.  Muscular men in tight winter wetsuits march into the frigid water, seniors in small groups power across the sand as if to walk away their old age, dogs stop to greet their friends with eager bum sniffing and tail wagging, even the bus driver sits on the steps feeding crusts to an ever growing gang of ducks.  And here's what really gets me, the earlier you go the friendlier everybody is.  Every person you pass greets you with an enthusiastic 'hello and how about this beautiful weather!'.  They're smiling broadly and the feeling is contagious.   It's like we have this little secret that the rest of the sleeping population don't know about.  They don't get to see the radiant sunrises, or fill their lungs with those first bursts of the days sea breeze, and they just don't know how serene the world is before the cogs of daily life jump into action again.

It's a special time for Ayana and I too.  We stop to watch every dog that passes, she shrieks in delight when one comes to greet her, we sit in the sand and feel it run between our fingers, we play in the deserted playground (although she'd much prefer it full of children) and by the time we get home we're both ready for a nap.  It's just nice to have this quiet time together away from the distractions of housework, cellphones, errands etc.
What's that saying? If you can't beat em, join em.  So there we go, we've joined the 6AM club and I think we'll try and stay a member all summer long.
xx

Hitting the city and escaping cabin fever

Sometime in the last couple of months we forgot all about exploring... and life just hasn't felt right!  To be perfectly honest we I have been struggling to readjust since moving back home after our stint of 'farm sitting'.  We had established a nice little rhythm to our day which involved chickens, cows, cats, dogs, gardens and a big open house with plenty of room.  Then we moved back to our little house which is absolutely bursting at the seams.  I've almost felt a sense of claustrophobia here and I swear no matter how much I try to tidy up, things just end up topsy turvy again five minutes later.  It drives me nuts, it's an endless battle.  Anyway so we've been spending a lot of time at home... trying to tidy mostly.  Poor Ayana hasn't been loving it either.  She's been clingy and complaining a lot, she's sick of all her toys, frustrated at not quite being mobile etc.  I know, I know it sounds like I'm trying to throw us a pity party here, but I promise this is just the pretext and an epiphany is coming!
After another slow start to the morning I realised we just needed to get out of the house, and FAST!  As soon as Ayana woke from her power nap I bundled her into the car and we made for the bus depo.  I've been wanting to take Ayana on the bus for the longest time now.  I had a suspicion that she might just get a kick out of being in a big car with lots of people AND not having to be strapped into her carseat.  Turns out I was right.  We bought a day pass, squeezed the pram in between the disabled seats and Ayana flirted with the dear old ladies beside us all the way into town.  We didn't have any idea what we were going to do once we got into town and stood at the crossing for a while pondering which direction to head into.  In the end we did a huge loop and made sure to explore any strange little side streets we came by.  By the time the town clock chimed midday we were sitting under the shade of an ancient tree in Albert Park eating lunch (well I ate lunch, Ayana was more interested in licking leaves).  Let me tell you, IT FELT SO GOOD to be out, to be amongst people, to be exploring again.  I was a bit nervous once nap time came and went but for the first time ever, this little lady crashed out in her pram. So I just kept on walking and before we knew it four hours had passed.  The little Miss didn't complain once during the whole outing, I think, like me she was just bored stiff of being at home all the time.  And the best part is that we weren't home to mess up the house, so it was a lot easier to clean at the end of the day (which is why I actually have 5 minutes to sit down and post this).

The moral of the story, quit stressing so much about the silly things that don't really matter and start doing more of what we love!  I'm sure many years from now I'm not going to look back and remember the unfolded washing, I'm going to think about all those amazing adventures I took my daughter on!
xx

Mission to Library Point

Sometimes, after what feels like weeks of blustering winds, it can be difficult to drag yourself away from the comforts of home and back into nature.  It's not too unlike jumping into the ocean for the first time in summer.  You just have to take a running leap, brace yourself and know that you'll feel so much better for it afterwards.  The skies looked sinister all day and despite braving the strong gusts at the market this morning I probably would have coward inside all afternoon feeling irritable.  Thank goodness for Nic and his never ending enthusiasm!  We packed Ayana into the car (who promptly fell asleep and we ended up sitting there for half an hour waiting for her to wake up), threw the dogs into the back, made room for Thalia, turned left at the high security prison and parked up at Sanders Reserve. 
We came here once before on one of our explorations and kind of fell in love with the place.  It's rough and rugged but has something very magical about it too.  You'd half expect a troll to be sitting under a root ledge.  Anyway other than being distracted by possible troll sightings we stood admiring the progress on a beautiful carved tree trunk when a friendly local filled us in on a little history.  The tree carvings actually depict the history of the area... which as it happens has an odd twist. 
It's funny how you rarely think about how a place got its name or what stories lay behind it.  Our favourite part of the reserve is called Library Point.  Hmmm yes and what does a library have to do with a sandy little point in the middle of nowhere you ask?  Because those crafty early settlers had turned it into a 'row' by library, that's why!  Imagine creeping out of the bush once a month or so with a stack of books and your library card balanced on the end of your little boat while you paddle up stream to your local library.  I wonder what sort of things the read?  Saucy romance novels to keep them company through those long, lonely nights?  Dark and suspenseful detective stories?  Or perhaps just some nice picture books considering most people would have been illiterate.  Either way it paints an amusing picture.  I'll be paying more attention to name places now.
xx

A volcano is not a mountain

I always feel so daring and brave when I teeter on the edge of a volcano.  No matter that it probably hasn't made a peep in the last 100,000 years, but you just never know do you!  Nobody else seemed particularly bothered way up there at North Head yesterday though.  Housewives lay around in the grass sipping ciders while their darlings ran riot around the gun emplacements and fired imaginary bullets at enemy ghost ships.
It was such a delicious afternoon!  Of course just as we thought that maybe we had explored enough to be entitled to a cream doughnut from Little and Friday, Ayana decided to crash out in the ergo and we were forced to keep walking!  So we headed in to Devonport for coffee and cake there instead (seriously don't rate the Stone Oven bakery anymore, agh!). 
Yesterday was a taste of what this summer has to offer and boy did it taste good!
xx

Any given Sunday

Here's the thing about Sundays, they have to start with waffles/ pancakes covered in lashings of whipped cream  and drenched in real Canadian maple syrup.  And to wash the whole lot down there has to be coffee... strong, black coffee.  Sunday is the day for over indulging and you've got to start it with a swing. 

This afternoon we had our regular cafe catch up with family (I told you the over indulging doesn't stop) and Ayana put on quiet the show.  We had THAT child in the cafe today!  She sat on the table screaming like a banshee whilst banging a plastic glass on whatever she could find.  Every hipster in the place shuddered and pushed their dark glasses further over their mascara stained eyes.  This was a place for recovering from hangovers, not creating extra headaches!  Why doesn't this child's mother DO something?!  I thought about it, I really did, but then I couldn't really wipe the crooked smirk off my face.  She was having fun, and it was just a little bit funny to watch them squirm.  I know, shame on me.

The rest of the day was fairly quiet.  A little walk, a little sleep, a few chores and an easy dinner.
Good night. x
P.S I'm playing around with photoshop at the moment so please excuse the different styles in photos.