Cape Byron Adventure

Have you ever seen a Real Live Lighthouse?!? We have!

We went to Cape Byron in New South Wales. This lighthouse, the Most Easterly Lighthouse in Australia, is located on the Most Easterly Point on the Mainland.

It’s such a pretty lighthouse, and it was late in the afternoon, so the light made it glow.

Aren't the scrolls cute? 🙂

On the way to the lighthouse, there are a few houses. They’re SO cute, and I took lots of photos. One thing about them that I liked was the amount of chimneys. Four! We thought it was very extravagant! We don’t have a fireplace in our house, so they’re a bit of a novelty. 🙂

four chimneys - lucky people!

This is the view we had, approaching the lighthouse. I like the bit at the front, the way it’s made to look like a castle. 🙂

Cape Byron Lighthouse

This one’s taken from the bottom of the steps…

this is the 'castle' part at the bottom

I tried to take a picture of the door – it was so beautiful!  But I couldn’t get rid of the reflection.

the lion rampant

I just like this one. 🙂

through the lighthouse window

I couldn’t get rid of my shadow in this picture, so I decided to let it make itself useful, for once. 🙂 The other, smaller shadow beside me is Miss 11, who wouldn’t get out of the photo!!

I don't know what this is for- any clues?

Daddy has a picture of himself, holding the top of the Taj Mahal. It looked fun, so I tried it with the lighthouse. It worked!!! 😀

Holding the top of the lighthouse

After I’d taken this picture we had to go home, and everyone was cranky at me for making them wait while I took the last ones.

It was a lot of fun. 🙂

Yee-ha!

Isn’t this a creative letterbox? One of the things I like best about holidays is all the interesting mailboxes we see!  🙂

Pigs Might Fly

Recently we went for a drive, and saw this mailbox. It’s the second pig mailbox I’ve seen so far. 🙂

On holidays we go for very long drives, and often see interesting letterboxes. I like to take pictures of them and post them here as a tribute to the creativity of rural Aussies. 🙂

Woolly Adventures

These pictures were taken in a little touristy shop in New Zealand. The shop also had possum hats, jackets, rugs, and possum and merino wool jumpers and yarn. 🙂

I saw some hand spun wool here, and I just couldn’t resist taking some photos. 🙂

It looked so cute! 😀

Here is some more yarn.

Fun in the Snow

On our last holiday, we visited New Zealand. We had LOTS of fun!!! 🙂

We went to the snow twice: once to The Remarks, and once to Coronet. These photos are from the second time. This is picture of my father about to SHOOT me! 😉 😀

 

We also had a go at building a snowman: he didn’t get very big, though – the snow was too hard. 🙂

This is Miss 7 with him. 😀

 

After that my father decided it was nap time! Miss 11 and I told him he would fall off the edge and never be heard of again, but he was UNMOVEABLE. 😀 😛

 

 

 How We Dried Apples! 

A few days ago we dried apples. It was great fun!

First, we filled a sink with water, and washed the apples. Then we cored one, using Grandma’s new apple corer, and watched it twirl around and around, making spirals!

We had a bit of a play with it, making it   s t r e t c h.  🙂

Next we dropped it into a cup of lemon juice, so it wouldn’t get brown. We let it soak for a while, and cored another apple while we waited. After we thought it had been in there long enough (we’d finished coring the next apple), we took it and laid it out on a lemon juicer, and dunked the next apple.

After it had drained long enough for us to core another apple, we broke the first apple into rings, and arranged them on the dehydrator, being careful not to put them on top of each other.

When we finished the apples, we put the dehydrator on, and cleaned up. We like dried apples crunchy, so we left them on a little longer than the recipe said. They were delicious. 🙂

  

How to Make an Upside Down Telescope

This telescope doesn’t make the stars any bigger, but it is good fun for viewing things around you, and Miss 10 enjoyed making it.  

 

What you will need:

Two magnifying glasses, the same size

Glue

A ruler  

A pencil

Tape

Scissors

A large sheet of corrugated paper, construction paper, or thin card

                                              

 

Instructions:

Measure around the circumference of a magnifying glass, then add about 3cm.      
                  
Draw a line up the paper, making a large rectangle, and then cut it in half. Make sure you cut the paper in the direction it wishes to roll.                                                                             
Put some glue on the outer rim of a magnifying glass and roll the paper around the rim, where you put the glue.

Cut a small slot in the paper to fit the handle in. Place a  piece of tape around the rim, then stretch a rubber band around the circumference to keep the card in place while the glue dries.

Put tape across the full length of the paper tube to keep the long ends together.
Let the glue dry. 

Repeat the steps to make another tube; however, be sure that the end (which will slide inside your first one,) is smaller, so it will fit. 🙂

You can decorate the outer half, if you wish.

 

Slide the tubes in and out to focus on objects.  If you want to view things up the right way, you can add extra tubes and magnifying glasses.  Even numbers of magnifying glasses will give you an upside down picture, odd numbers will be right way up!