Full toad

The omega male in the family has been very busy in the last couple of days. (Or was it alpha? How do I always manage to get this one wrong...) Anyway, I'm referring to the one that I once kissed and who turned out to be my prince... He has replaced the busted air spring on our bus (with some help from his mechanically minded wife - what would he ever do without me, keeping a rig THIS size maintained on his own?) It took a couple of weeks to get the part shipped up here from Sydney, and even then we had to drive a hundred or so kilometres to pick it up from the nearest depot. So, with all this waiting, we've been trying to keep our calm in the meantime, practising our zen, learning to be patient. As a free spirit, I don't like the idea of being bogged, stuck in the sand, so it has been particularly hard for me to stay cool about it, but I've somehow managed. And now that the air bag is fixed we can move on to the next operation: drive the Phantom out of the sandpit onto some higher (and harder) ground!

My prince has also been working on the construction project in the camp, and chasing cows that have so far - luckily - managed to escape. I must admit that getting a clean skin killer would be a welcome addition to our almost bare meat freezer, but the thought of having to sacrifice one of those beautiful creatures that keep mooing near our camp at night, is nearly too much for me to bear. I think I will leave that to the hunter...

But although he has been busy with work and other projects, dad has also had time to take his cherubs on bush walks and for some fishing; spare time activities they all love. And there's definitely enough bushland to walk around here! I stayed in the camp with baby, getting some long awaited quiet time, but asked the girls to document anything interesting on my phone. And so they did! They discovered a beautiful billabong (or barrabong as it turned out to be, with an abundance of fish), and I got my phone back with some interesting photos. Apparently tadpoles were fascinating too, but only until the girls realised they were in fact baby cane toads, and the princesses soon lost interest. After all, who would like to kiss a toad...

- M -

Pandanus Ridge is so beautiful, it deserves a mirror image.

He might not catch a barra with this, but a fish is a fish to me.

Here they come, in great numbers...

...beware of toad invasion!

They only found tracks here, it won't give us a feed yet...

...so the great hunter will have to do with what this billabong has to offer.

When you give a child a camera, you will be rewarded with beautiful photos...

...surprising shots...

...a whole new perspective to things...

...and photos you would not have thought of taking yourself.

They arrived back home with inspiring stories and great photos...

...and some unidentified fish.