The Sound of Music

Letting your soul sing is challenging especially when you find yourself competing with an out of tune rendition of Old Macdonald had a Farm. No matter how far into the silent wilderness you manage to wander it is difficult to escape the white noise that is parenthood. Even in the 'wildest woods' a two year old is still a two year old, full of incessant questions and mutterings.

This harsh and somewhat disturbing realisation comes after the completion of our first overnight mountain bike trip; a two day and two night exploration of Barrington Tops National Park. At 1500m it was going to be a subalpine adventure along the Barrington Trail in an area we had never before ventured. The drive to where we would leave the car was slow and windy as we ascended some 1400m up the escarpment and onto the plateau.

Those first few wobbly pedal strokes out of the car park were satisfying indeed. We were on our way. Everything we needed for the next 48 hours we had firmly strapped and loaded on our bikes.

Barrington Trail

The Kit

You could say that it was a journey of discovery. We now know that one and a half sleeping mats between a family of four really isn't enough, that even a couple of days without coffee will in fact bring on withdrawal symptoms, that padded bike shorts are essential, that although the food gets lighter throughout the journey the nappies just get heavier and that the one time you choose to ignore Tahlia's whining in the hope of teaching her some resilience turns out to be the time that she's trapped inside the chariot with a spider crawling on her.

But we also learnt how satisfying it felt to ride into camp at the end of a long day, to be self sufficient and to know that we had everything our little family needed right there, to collect water from the tiny creek at the bottom of the campsite, to sit and watch at dusk the wild brumbys cautiously make their way towards us and to spend a few days and nights lost in our own little world. Maybe there was some music of the soul after all.

Our First Campsite

Morning Tea Time

The Tent Makes a Great Play Pen

Down and Out

We were procrastinating. The hike back up to Long Point was going to be tough. By now it was the middle of the day and we were feeling lazy having spent the last few hours chilling out on the banks of the Shoalhaven. When you climb a mountain you know that your efforts will be rewarded. Your goal is the summit and each step is one step closer to the top. Once you reach your destination the rest is easy, a downhill cajole to the bottom. We did the opposite, which I guess is what happens when you live at the top of an escarpment. The morning was spent meandering our way down a narrow and steep spur line. The views were spectacular and what was best of all was that we had them all to ourselves.

The track down from Long Point to McCallums Flat is not on your typical tourist walking map. It was perfect, we felt like we were in the middle of the nowhere but we didn't have to hike for three days to get there. The spur at times dropped off on both sides being perhaps only a couple of metres wide in sections.

The valley below slowly started to encroach and the winding river became more visible. We dropped off the side of the spur to avoid King Pin Mountain and before we knew it we were there; on a grassy flat, shaded by Casuarinas, on the banks of the Shoalhaven. Our little oasis for the next couple of hours.

After sitting in a back pack for what seemed

like an eternity it didn't take Tahlia long 

to strip off and jump into the river. 

She could have stayed there all day. 

At her age it seems the world is full of little 

adventures to be had. Wet bare feet on pine 

needles.....it's what childhood's all about right?

Eventually we had to face the fact that there would

be no escaping the steep climb back out to the car.
So we reluctantly dried our feet in the sun, dusted
off the dirt and put our shoes back on. It's worth
noting that only 1km into the walk that morning, both
of Marty's trusty old hiking boots lost their soles at the
exact same moment that one of mine also lost it's sole.
Luckily strapping tape comes in handy for all sorts of
things. It's also worth noting that Tahlia, despite being
given a talk about appropriate foot attire for such an
outing, insisted on wearing her 'pretty' shoes. Seems
that she is much more fashion conscious than her
mother and although she didn't say anything at the
time I think she was secretly quite smug that her shoes
were the only ones that actually made the journey
without falling apart!

When Left Is Not Right

We recently competed in the Highland Fling, an epic 100km mountain bike race held not too far from home. Due to our current lack of form, we entered with a friend from work as a 'Flinging Threesome'. Each of us tackled one stage of the race. While Marty lucked out with 57km of grueling hills and lots of fire trail I managed to score the final stage comprising 32km of mostly fun and technical single track.

The Support Crew

The race briefing for my section mentioned a fork in the road, you could go up to the left (short and steep with rock steps that you needed to ride) or you could go right (slightly longer but a more gentle gradient and much more rideable). I made a mental note to remember to go right. But as I waited the four hours to be handed the team baton I couldn't stop thinking about 'going left'. What was it like? Was it really as bad as they said? Would I be able to ride some of it at least? Was it even difficult to get off and walk your bike up? In the end I succumbed to the realization that I wouldn't be going right at all. Going right would mean that I'd never know what left was like. I didn't care if I walked my bike the entire hill or if I lost 10mins in the process. Left just seemed so much more exciting. How could you not? So left I went. A satisfying decision.

A similar situation occurred Friday night. We'd decided it was time for a bit of a hiking trip. Saturday we would get up early put the kids in the hiking packs and head off on an adventure. After a bit of research there were a couple of great options but we had our heart set on exploring 'slot canyon' in Bungonia National Park. It's apparently quite spectacular, being the largest slot canyon in Australia with 600m high walls. It is also very remote and only accessible via a few pretty steep and slippery walking tracks. We read numerous comments about the tracks on bushwalking sites and did everything we could to justify why we'd be fine. In the end we went for the 'phone a friend' option to ask if it was possible. I can't remember if the reply was in capitals, but lets go with that for the effect, it said ABSOLUTELY NOT. Coming from someone who knows the track well it sort of sealed the deal. It would have been an amazing family adventure and a special place to explore but it really wasn't worth the risk. So we settled instead on going 'right' and have just got back from a great hike down to McCallum's Flat on the Shoalhaven River. More of that little adventure to come. We'll leave Slot Canyon for another day when we're not carrying such precious cargo.

Before

Round the Block

With Marty on holidays for a week we decided to head off on a much overdue road trip. A quick drive round the block so to speak. A 1700km journey through Carrawarna, Tallarook, Alexandra, Gippsland, Lakes Entrance and back home via Cann River and Cooma. Our little car is now starting to feel a bit on the weary side. It always astounds us what we manage to cram into and on top of what is definitely not really your typical family car. Two bikes, two kids, a chariot, a porta cot, a baby hammock, 3 small suit cases and about 20 full plastic bags which are great for squishing into the most unlikely small space but not so great when it comes to repacking! Not surprisingly Marty wasn't at all impressed when I decided to include a kayak paddle into the mix for the return journey.

The first few days of our journey involved a 'farm stay' of sorts. The weekend was spent slowly sinking into holiday mode, catching up with family and just relaxing in general. The seemingly endless fields of golden canola were strangely enticing, I couldn't help but imagine myself riding through them on my bike at sun set, no helmet, the wind blowing through my hair, carefree - you get the picture. This never quite happened; firstly because on closer inspection I realised that this beautiful view was also the cause of my sudden onset of hay fever; secondly because a field of golden canola does not in reality make for the smoothest or easiest of rides and thirdly because with both kids sick at the time, sleep deprivation made any type of physical activity seem low on the priority list.

Our next stop was visiting friends just over the border in Victoria. Here we were able to squeeze in a day ride on the new Goulburn Valley Rail Trail. It would be our first Rail Trail experience and we thought it was also another good opportunity to test out the kid's endurance. We started early from Tallarook and winded our way along the banks of the Goulburn River about 15km to Trawool where a much needed coffee break was had. From here we had about 25km to go until the final destination of Yea. Being a Rail Trail it was smooth and easy riding with no major ups or downs, however,  the sheer distance covered and time in the saddle made it quite the little adventure and it proved to be our longest ride with the kids so far!

We returned home by first heading south to Gippsland and Lakes Entrance for a long overdue visit with family. Our temporary home here was a shed in the back yard which sounded perfect considering our recent goal of spending a month living in a tent. It wasn't exactly your average back yard shed though, the fact that it came complete with a flat screen TV mounted on the wall and fully stocked mini bar paints a more realistic picture of our 'roughing it in the backyard' experience.

This road trip happened weeks ago yet we are only managing to write about it now. The past month has been chaotic and exhausting, and unfortunately there has been no time for blog writing amidst the countless doctors appointments, ear infections, colds, teething issues, sleepless nights and stomach bugs. But things are starting to now look up and as Dr. Suess says;

"Thank goodness for all the things you are not!

Thank goodness you're not something someone forgot,

and left all alone in some punkerish place

like a rusty tin coat hanger hanging in space."

Rats in a Cage

There's a perception that going places with kids is hard. Sometimes too hard. Dreaded outings that come to mind include the weekly supermarket shop, late night dinner parties and pretty much any type of appointment whether it's with the the hair dresser, dentist or accountant. The process of getting our tax return done this year with two children in tow was definitely highly comical and somewhat embarrassing. The fact that the chariot didn't actually fit through the door into the building only added to the impending shamozzle. But it seems even a presumed family friendly outing to the local park or playgroup can quickly turn into chaos with an overtired infant and overstimulated toddler.

When what seem like simple and necessary daily outings are in fact anything but, it's no wonder that an attempt at an overnight, week or month long journey into the wilderness is viewed by many as either over ambitious or just plain delusional. Yet we seem drawn to it. Maybe it's the fresh air and natural light or maybe it's the lack of physical boundaries; the feeling of being freer to some extent. Time seems to slip away without the usual restlessness that comes with doing nothing. Life's stresses and problems appear somewhat more insignificant. In the bush the kids are noticeably happier, less demanding and content. They can entertain themselves for hours. They wear themselves out - but in a good way.

We've been thinking lately about the way in which we live. Living in a house means we are inside unless we go outside. What if we could live in a way that we were outside unless we went inside? A seemingly subtle difference yet potentially quite a profound one. So in the tradition of seeking challenge and adventure we're thinking about doing an experiment: Twenty Eight Days in a Tent.

It's not meant to be a holiday nor a way of escaping the 'real world'. We're not starting a commune and we have no unrealistic expectations that we could actually live this way in the long term...although I guess you never know what may eventuate! It would be purely an experiment to see what happens when we live outside our cage; an experiment that we dreamt up only a few days ago, one that is not overly well thought out or planned at this stage, but is nonetheless quite exciting to think about.

The Shakedown

We have now successfully made it through a 'Southern Highlands Winter' and to celebrate the first day of spring we decided to head out on our first full day ride with the kids. A bit of a 'shakedown' was in order after the arrival of some much anticipated online purchases. Since investing in racks and panniers for the rear of our bikes we now have the capability to each carry around 50L of 'stuff'. Pretty exciting .... but this also means that our bikes are heavier than ever!

Next purchase is a bike stand.....

......and a map holder

For those who are interested in such things; we decided on Freeload Racks which are specifically designed for off road riding and Ortlieb panniers which are pretty much top of the range. We figure if we are going to do the Mawson then we really need to be prepared, and I'm sure we'll be glad that we spent the extra dollars once we arrive at the end of our journey without having left a trail of broken parts behind us. 

So to put our newly acquired gear through it's paces we packed a gourmet picnic lunch, first aid, repair kit, spare clothes, picnic blanket, rain jackets and nappies and ventured into Belanglo State Forest for what was a bumpy and quite hilly 22 kilometre circuit. The kids were amazing. I don't think Zephyr made a noise the entire five hours and Tahlia coped surprisingly well over the rocky and steep terrain.

Climb a tree....check!

Being Fathers Day weekend our morning tea break wouldn't have been complete without donuts ..... Marty's favorite ....  and it was a bonus to find out that Tahlia actually doesn't like donuts - all the more for us. We then had a picnic lunch after descending a couple of hundred metres into a stunning valley on the Wingecarribee River. Plenty of lazing about and enjoying the sun was had by all here! Pity it wasn't a bit warmer as there were some great swimming holes nearby.


Although not overjoyed at the prospect of climbing back  up the valley, it had to be done, and Marty did amazingly well to ride the entire way with the chariot in tow. The track had a lot of loose gravel and so traction was a bit of an issue. At the back of our minds was always the possibility of needing to push our bikes back up out of the valley! So it was a welcome sight to round the last bend and see what we knew to be the intersection at the top.




It feels great to now have scuff marks and a little dirt on what were shiny new black panniers. I guess it's sort of like after you wear new runners for the first time. They feel like ours now; like we deserve to have them!

Risky Business

The Mawson Trail is managed by Bicycle South Australia. We contacted them a while ago to order maps and gather information about the trail. Of course it happened to come up during the conversation that we would be taking two young children along for the ride. You can imagine our disappointment when we were told that the trail was far too remote and dangerous to take children on, that we had better do some more research and ultimately rethink our plans.

Fortunately for us, research we did, and as a result not long after we stumbled upon an inspiring couple who did in fact, just last year, ride the Mawson with their two year old son. It was certainly a relief to know that our planned journey was still possible and also that we weren’t completely out of our minds!

Nevertheless, heading out on any adventure can be risky. Inevitably there will be people (and not just our Mums and Dads), who in the midst of imagining every possible danger, will rightly question whether or not the risk we plan to take is too high? Whether we may have been a bit too hasty in our initial judgment.

We’ve been reflecting on this for a while now and have concluded that chances are, we’re probably safer roaming aimlessly around the Flinders Ranges than we are at home.

Ironically, during our day-to-day lives, we are most likely in what Laurence Gonzales calls a ‘Permanent Vacation State of Mind’. The culture of plenty in which we live makes everything so easy. The sun goes down and we flick a switch, we get hungry and the refrigerator beckons, it rains so we stay inside, the temperature drops but we adjust the central heating. We really don’t have to give a lot of thought to our most basic human needs and apparently our brain draws the conclusion that our little corner of the world is safe, and as a result, decides that it doesn’t have to pay that much attention.

On the other hand (provided of course that we do in fact manage to snap ourselves out of this vacation state of mind) when we’re on The Mawson; shelter, food, water, warmth and light won’t exactly come so easy. The Flinders Ranges will be an unfamiliar environment for us and according to recent research we will have a heighted sense of awareness. Our primal instincts will return; we will be more attuned to the risks, aware of the dangers and a lot less likely to become complacent.

We weren’t going to mention the words ‘super hero’ or ‘special powers’ but if this phenomenon applies to kids too then the Fantastic Four does have a nice ring to it. Okay…. so we’ve gotten very carried away there. But seriously, seems like we’ve got to get out more; this staying at home thing is risky business!

Tahlia and Marty: back outdoors safe and sound!

Join the Club

I seem to be a club person. It appears to have begun while I was quite young, I can't pinpoint the exact moment but probably around the time I joined the Stamp Collectors Association in Kindergarten. I hate being alone and tend to get pretty bored doing anything by myself, even if it is something much more exciting than stamp collecting. Marty, on the other hand, fancies himself as a bit of a recluse, a hermit, a loner if you like. Quite happy in his own company, he's a typical candidate for doing some crazy solo adventure across the never never. We even have a term at home for when he needs some personal space: 'Marty Time'. Strangely enough this has become a more regular occurrence since children came onto the scene.

Over the years Marty has been dragged to numerous events, clubs, societies, associations and organisations and I'm glad to say that since having kids he is slowly starting to appreciate the benefits of such community gatherings. There is absolutely no doubt about it, kids look MUCH cuter when they're being held by someone else. With one set of grandparents galavanting around the world on a yacht and the other not quite ready for retirement and therefore unable to move into a granny flat out the back, we seem to be in need of community; some likeminded crazy people who will motivate us to get out of bed at 6am on an overcast sunday morning, to put thermals, gloves and beanies on, before getting lost running 10km around one of the local national parks. Luckily, such folk do exist and they go by the name of the 'Wingecarribee Bushies'; an off track running group who meet in a different location each Sunday morning for a 12 - 15km run through the bush. 

The Southern Highlands is also home to a great Mountain Biking Club and a pretty competitive Road Riding Club. Somehow this weekend we managed to squeeze in all three and we had a full on 48hrs of Bush Running and Riding. In true olympic spirit I even managed to win a Gold Medal! That's right, I'm the most recent NSW Cross Country Series winner in the 'Women's Sport' division. As it turned out it was actually a tad embarrassing, especially when I had to make a speech after winning the event in which I was in fact... the only competitor! But you've got to be in it to win it right? and I definitely deserve something to make up for the several trees I ran into and the pain my shoulder is in today as a result.

The Podium

It was really great to get out and about with other people and be surrounded by willing hands to help out with the kids. You know you've had an awesome weekend when you start off the working week in need of a holiday; thoroughly exhausted, worn out and sore all over! If you want help to get out and about with kids....Join the Club!

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: Sleep

Since our last blog, we have come to the realisation that there is yet another way in which Zephyr will be asked to pull his weight on our Mawson Journey; and that is by sleeping. Sleeping in the chariot for his day time nap shouldn't be too much of a problem.... sleeping at night.....well.... that is the question on all of our minds. If Zephyr sleeps, we all sleep, and that can only be a good thing!

All this talk about sleeping prompted us to actually visualise our 'night time arrangements' for the first time. Despite sleep, and more to the point shelter, being pretty high up on Maslow's Hierarchy of needs,  until this point we surprisingly hadn't really given it much thought. We knew we would be camping, presumably in some kind of a tent, but now that we were forced to contemplate our shelter of choice a little more seriously we seemed to have a few decisions to make.

It's tempting to imagine one of those nice, walk in, three room tents, with a large awning out the front, a sizable blow up mattress inside, a few comfy pillows and a matching doona. Getting even more carried away I can picture a couple of camping chairs, a fold up table, a hammock hung up between two trees just off to the side and why not throw in a solar panel run portable camping fridge!

Unfortunately, given the fact that we will be somehow strapping and tying everything we need for our two week journey vicariously onto our bikes, that vision is nothing more than a complete fantasy. For the stark reality is that we are probably looking at a two man tent, a tent smaller than our queen size bed but just bigger than our coffee table, the type you need to crawl into, with a ceiling just high enough that you only need to duck your head slightly when sitting up, a tent with just enough space to fit our family's four bodies, albeit, as long as at least two of us are lying on our side!

On past adventures Tahlia adapted well to the
life of a 'tent dweller'; probably because she thinks
of them as her own personal jumping castle. 

From Little Things Big Things Grow

The Mawson Trail is a 900km Mountain Bike Track in South Australia. It starts in Adelaide and finishes in the small outback town of Blinman. Our plan is to ride the northern half: from Melrose to Blinman. We'd love to do the whole trail but we will probably only have a two week window and so have opted for the most remote and scenic section. 

It seems as if there is so much research and preparation needing to be done in order for this journey to eventuate. It's a little daunting......so we have decided to split up the workload. Amanda is in charge of the route, food and transportation while Marty is in charge of equipment, bike maintenance and risk management. Being part of the adventure, the kids also have contributions and sacrifices to make. Tahlia WILL be toilet trained by next year and it would certainly be convenient if Zephyr made the effort to learn how to walk by April. It is not surprising that a good friend recently mentioned that we seem to run our family like an Outdoor Education Company!

I wish we could say that we are always this organised..... but in actual fact it may just be that a few recent experiences have led us to take a more structured approach in preparing for this adventure. There will be a few people who know that we recently took a trip to Sydney for the day and entirely forgot to bring shoes for Tahlia and nappies for Zephyr. We've since been told that you clearly can't rely on a two year old to remember their own shoes? Needless to say she is very adaptable and managed quite well wandering around The Rocks and Pyrmont Bay in a thick pair of wooly pink socks. Luckily, nappies for Zephyr were more readily purchased.

But from little things big things grow and if we can survive a family outing in the big city, then surely with a little more planning, we can survive a journey through Outback South Australia.

Still working on taking a decent one handed self portrait
while riding and towing the chariot.....

Adventure Interruptus

Some adventures take months of planning and others just seem to appear out of nowhere and surprise us.

Being a self confessed slight 'control freak' there's no guessing which type of adventure I prefer! Marty, on the other hand, being much more laid back (and can I say mildly disorganised in general), quite enjoys having his otherwise perfectly planned day turn completely upside down.

We had one of those little 'surprise adventures' the other day. The last few Wednesdays Marty has managed to take the afternoon off work in an attempt to provide me with a much needed midweek break. We usually head out to explore some local mountain bike trails, but this week we decided to take the  kids on an off road run through Morton National Park. There is a 10km Fun Run coming up and I thought it would be a good chance to get a bit of training in.....I love it when Marty's there to push the Chariot.

All was well.....until 1km into our run, when our nice smooth walking trail turned quite suddenly into a steep, rocky, rough track and started heading into what appeared to be a small gorge. We continued on; I was determined to get some training in and somehow I convinced Marty that the trail would return to normal just around that next corner. Many corners later, and well after the point of no return, I realised that my planned run had turned into an extremely slow plod, precariously lifting what now seemed like a very heavy wheelbarrow with two kids in it, over mossy boulders and small creeks.

Marty says a fun family adventure...... I say an inconvenient interruption to my well thought out training plan!

The Point of No Return

What's an Adventure Anyway?

The term 'adventure' means different things to different people.

For us, right now, at this stage of our life, an adventure is usually synonymous with a journey. A journey that takes us somewhere new, somewhere outdoors, somewhere remote. An extended journey, long enough that we can sink slowly into the natural rhythm of the environment we are exploring. The journey needs to challenges us and inspire us. It needs to 'take us away from everything' or maybe it would be more appropriate to say 'take us back to everything'.

There are many mediums through which to journey and many journeys to take. The age of our kids at any given time will ultimately dictate which journeys are achievable and when. Canoeing the length of the Murray next year with a one year old is probably a little ambitious! It seems as though cycling is probably an ideal medium with a 1 and 3 year old. They comfortably fit in a bike trailer and they don't really need to contribute much in the way of energy expenditure.

So....after much deliberating (and map reading) it seems as though we have finally decided upon where we are heading for our first family adventure. A mountain biking adventure it will be. A journey through the Flinders Ranges in South Australia with two mountain bikes, one double chariot, a tent, a stove, two kids and probably the kitchen sink!

We've told the kids, and as you can see in the photo....they're pretty excited and clearly have no idea what they're in for.....

Have Maps......Will Travel

One of the best things about having a two year old is learning to see the fun in everyday tasks. The daily adventure to the letter box is one of Tahlia's most exciting activities. Leading up to the arrival of a much anticipated package this week, we both shared in her excitement more than usual.

Like two impatient toddlers we ripped open our package to find that the Maps we have been waiting for had indeed arrived. That night was spent carefully laying them out, analysing terrain, calculating distances, identifying potential campsites and in between all that; ferociously protecting them from the destructive tendencies of Tahlia.

Our sheer delight over a few maps arriving in the mail may seem like a bit of an overreaction. But the significance lies in the fact that the maps mark our first real step to committing to a journey that we aim to complete next year.

They say a picture speaks a thousand words....well our maps wont keep quiet. It's all we have been able to talk about over the last couple of days. How steep is the route? What if we don't make it to this campsite? Has anyone actually done this with kids before? And most importantly.....where can we buy more nappies along the way?

You Can't Drag Your Kids Around in a Cardboard Box

You can't just drag your kids around in a cardboard box; despite the fact that they would probably, in all reality, quite enjoy the novelty.

For a start, it is actually highly illegal in many situations and at the very least probably irresponsible and impractical in others. Despite this being a well known fact to parents everywhere, before you have kids you just don't think about these things, or should I say we didn't.

After you've ruled out the cardboard box option once and for all (a wise but more expensive decision) the next step is to investigate what might be a more suitable option. For our lifestyle we're not really talking about the typical, everyday, baby/toddler accessories like strollers, capsules and car seats. We're thinking more about the type of specialized equipment you might use to take your kids camping, cycle touring, ski touring or hiking.

Once you delve into the world of baby carriers, trailers and sleds you realise that there's just not going to be anymore surprises on Birthdays or Christmas' and that you can probably rule out all Mothers and Fathers Day gifts for the next five years as well. In fact, Marty has just come to the realisation that he won't be receiving a Fathers Day present at all this year as Tahlia and Zephyr have given it to him early....a 'Double Chariot'..... our most recent purchase justified as an 'early present to daddy'. It conveniently converts from a jogging pram, to a bike trailer, to a ski sled and last but not least a hiking wheel barrow type thing.

It is a huge and slightly ridiculous looking contraption, especially if you're using it to merely duck out to the local shops and comparing it to the latest and greatest Mountain Buggy, which by the name sounds like it would be perfect, but is actually best suited to city dwellers on concrete paths. The Chariot I would say is absolutely essential for our purposes and we're already getting used to the odd stare from the old ladies in the supermarket! One friend recently told me that she attributes her sanity with two kids to owning a double chariot. I have to admit they work much better than a cardboard box ever could. You can check them out here: http://www.infantfreedom.com.au/collections/types?q=Chariot+Carriers

As soon as we unpacked ours from the box we loaded up the kids and headed off on the Bong Bong cycle trail; from our home in Moss Vale to the nearby town of Bowral. All up a 15km round trip and with the amount of flooding over the pathway the kids got to experience somewhat of a river crossing!  Zephyr slept the entire way and Tahlia thought all her dreams had come true! So we can safely tick the 'Kids like the Chariot too' box and believe it or not, that box, is probably the most important one!

Kids Will Change Your Life

They say your life will never be the same after having kids. And 'they' were right!

We remember many pre-kid weekends and holidays filled with climbing, hiking, mountain biking, diving, kayaking, kite surfing, skiing and the list goes on. We also remember the moment when we finally decided that it was time to have a family. We knew that this decision would have some kind of an effect on our lifestyle, we knew that it may become more difficult  to get out and about; but somewhere in our blissful ignorance we assumed that ultimately it was up to us and if we really wanted to, we would still be able to do all the things we loved, and the kids would just have to "come along for the ride".

When Tahlia arrived we slowly started to realise that although our assumptions were correct, we may have slightly underestimated the effort and expense involved in such dream!

When Zephyr came along we almost threw in the towel. He was a real game changer! For the first time we joked about the possibility of adoption.

Zephyr is now four and half months old and Tahlia recently turned two. It seems like a good time to get back on track, to get back on the bike, to get those tents out of the basement and see if we've still got what it takes. Is it silly to think that blogging our trials and tribulations will somehow help to motivate  and inspire us to get out of bed, to dress and feed the kids, to gather nappies, snacks, toys, dummy's, wipes, all in the hope of finding the ultimate family adventure? We hope not.......