Crumpled Home

On the weekend, we all drove up to Gingin to help with the second stage of winemaking. The first stage, picking the grapes and first pressing, was already done a couple of weeks ago; it was time for the second pressing and getting the wine into vats for fermentation. We also spent time working on LR’s latest project, “The Museum of the Universes of Science” — a showcase for all the amazing animals, bones, plants and rocks that we discover up there.

Obviously, winemaking is a very serious business!

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Despite the hot weather, we made it up to Gingin for the grape harvest, but Grammy, Poppa, Kath and Brad had already picked all the grapes and crushed them the day before we got there! We made the most of it anyway, picking a lot of figs and table grapes that were ready to eat. Mum cooked up some fig jam and we had a big sewing ‘sesh’ during the heat of the day, before going for an explore out in the paddock.

Our incredibly brave**, heroic** and good-looking** dad rescued us from this marauding beast** that had been ransacking the countryside and was intent on destroying the farm.

We found this guy having a drink from the dog's water bowl. He's a bobtail lizard which are pretty common around here.

**Hyperbole employed as official privilege of the author

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Last weekend, we took another trip down south — this time much shorter, but still lots of fun. We went exploring a Karri forest, visited a wildlife park and climbed some huge rocks.

Not siblings... Just friends. These are three of the many rescued joeys at the wildlife park.

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While mum was away, dad kept the kids busy and tried to completely wear them out during the day. On Saturday, we went to the zoo. On Sunday, we went to a Wild Fairyland Festival.

We’ll be going back to the zoo again sometime.

LR goes for a close-up of a snake.

At 5 metres long (16feet), he's not a giant, but he is still impressively large.

RJ and LR get face to face with the salt-water croc.

LR takes a moment to record some observations while RJ wolfs down a sandwich.

RJ and LR stop for a moment to let Trisha get past.

They're quick, but dad's pretty fast with the shutter.

Gotcha!

The kids thought this kangaroo needed some exercise.

LR was careful to take pictures of each animal.

The wildflowers are still blooming everywhere.

On Sunday, we went to the Fairy Festival. Just look at the delight on the kids’ faces! They eventually cheered up, but it took most of the day.

Her face painted, LR is ready to have her nails done!

We tortured LR by leaving her in the middle of a tent full of fairy-obsessed 4-7 year old girls. How could we be so cruel?

On the other hand, the Drippy the Dragon puppet show was a huge hit.

RJ was pleased to have cake provided for him.

See? Sparkly nails AND face paint!

A fairy delivers some magic dust to LR so she can make a wish.