Bailey's Rocks

I've come down with a dreaded flu overnight, or a severe case of hay fever. There seems to be more people saying they are suffering from hay fever lately, me included. I think it's just my body telling me to slow down, I've been scraping the bottom of the bucket for a while.

I will soldier on though, because I promised you photos of the amazing Bailey's Rocks today. You'll find this amazing natural formation of granite boulders, 11 kilometres from Dergholm, in Western Victoria. 

These rocks are 500 million years old! How amazing is that?! Named after John Bailey who farmed close by, and whose family used to play and picnic amongst the rocks. Rocky Creek trickles through these formations, I can imagine forging a slow but persistent path over the years.

There are free camping grounds right at the carpark, with the chance to see some of the many nocturnal animals that live around the surrounding scrub including sugar gliders. 

The kids loved exploring the rocks and the creek. A true nature playground!

Adventure into Western Victoria

Saturday afternoon our neighbours joined us as we convoyed to Penola, fifty kilometres away and crossed the border into Victoria near Dergholm.

Brett had boasted the night before about knowing where some great dams were, hidden away in the scrub, so an expedition was planned. The dams were nestled amongst pine forest and natural scrub he'd spotted while driving the truck to chippers.

It was beautiful and peaceful, as much as it could be with five kids introduced to it. They all had a ball, Summer had a little to much fun.

The wildflowers were out, so pretty and dainty, and there were loads of creatures for the kids to find.

We ventured on to the Dergholm pub (the pub in the scrub) to see if they were offering wood fired pizzas, but we were a day early. Dergholm is a small hamlet, a stones throw from the South Australian border. I wouldn't blink, you'd miss it. However, the landscape is true scrub country, worth a visit, especially with Bailey's rocks down the road too, it is a must see (check the blog tomorrow, it's amazing). Don't forget to go on a Sunday to catch the firing up of the wood oven, and the cold beer.

We arrived back in Penola just as the fish and chippery shut, but decided to drive on to Mount Gambier and catch drive through Maccas plus it's annual show's fireworks. It was a fantastic but tiring day, we all slept extremely well.

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October's garden offerings

Loads of beautiful colour around the garden at the moment. There's aphids aplenty on the roses, which has me out spraying to get rid of them. If there's one thing that loves munching on aphids, it's ladybugs, so there's a few of them about too, so I have to be careful I don't get rid of them in the process.

I have one kale plant out the back and it's starting to go to seed. I love eating the flowers, so they're ending up in the kitchen. I baked some veggies, pumpkin, fennel, garlic, beetroot, carrot with olive oil and some oregano from the garden. Mixed with spaghetti and garnished with kale, flowers, parsley from the garden. 

How I love to step out the back and pick some homegrown goodness for the kitchen.

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