The Weekend That Was: Our First Geocaching Adventure!

I'm not someone who can just laze about on the weekends. I need to be out and about doing something after working inside all week - so I'm always on the lookout for new things to do. 

This weekend, Jesse and I discovered a new hobby; Geocaching! 

We'd heard about it before but never tried it for ourselves but on Saturday morning, we rugged up and headed out in the cold for our first geocaching adventure and now we're definitely hooked!

So let me tell you all about it! >> 

The Weekend That Was: Radioactive and Full to the Brim

Why hello, friends! I thought I'd share a little snippet of our weekend with you - and Trixie is all ready and waiting at the door to welcome you in. 

Our weekend started off pretty slowly with much of Friday evening spent snuggled up to the puppies and reading a book whilst Jesse was hanging out with some friends. 

I haven't had much time at all to read lately as I've been so busy so it was lovely to sit down and finish a book.

Oh and coffee was involved too... of course!

On Saturday morning we did something totally out of the ordinary. We went on a science tour at ANSTO - the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation.

We had "Nerdy Date" in our DIY Alphabet Dating Book and when we were driving to the Illawarra Fly Treetop Walk for one of our previous dates we'd driven past ANSTO and Jesse asked me what they do there - of which I had no idea about - so we googled and saw they had free science tours and booked in for the next available one!

It was actually really interesting - albeit a little bit of an information overload for this non-science girl.

The nuclear reactors they have there are low energy ones, solely used for research and the creation of nuclear medicine and changing silicone into what is needed to create computer chips and the like.

But, did you know the most radioactive foods are potatoes, bananas and brazil nuts? Don't stop eating them though - our bodies actually require small amounts of radiation (helloooo, sunshine!).

After we got home, Miss Chanel had a bath which she wasn't too pleased with (though she loves the attention).

I then pottered around the garden, tending to my compost bin and realised a few things; 

Number One: Our garden is seasonally confused. 

That tree was previously covered in beautiful Autumn leaves the other day (see here) but now it's bare (spare a few leaves here and there) and ready for winter.

Meanwhile, our Japanese Maple Tree in the backyard just woke up and realised it's Autumn and has only just now started to show signs of changing colours. 

But then the baby maple tree on the other side of the backyard is completely orange and fall-like. 

And whilst I was pottering around in the garden, I spotted these... 

BANANAS! 

My neighbour has a banana palm and this year they've got two huge bunches of bananas. 

I am totally jealous.... oh the things I would do for a banana tree full of delicious bananas. But I once wrote an article on growing banana trees and that seems all too complicated for my black thumb of a self. 

Speaking of black thumbs, I still don't know if my pineapple is actually growing... or if I'm completely fooling myself and have literally just stuck the top of a pineapple in some dirt and it's just not turning brown so I think it's alive. 

Who knows. 

My Mum is convinced it's grown... but I don't really know. 

Oh, and Trixie is still here.

If she's not on my lap or by my side, she's shadowing me and following me around with this cute happy face. 

Which is lucky, because it means I always have company - especially if I'm sitting in the sunshine eating lunch or reading a book. 

And whilst I was outside pottering around, Jesse was inside learning how to play the guitar.

Speaking of Jesse, this past week marked five years since we were engaged! Here is how it all happened.

Next year we'll be celebrating 10 years together, 5 years married and I can't really believe it's been that long! Weren't we just celebrating our wedding yesterday?

And yesterday we wrapped up our weekend with a very busy day at church! We had our church open day where we raised money for Waterworks and put on free activities for the community. There were way more people there than expected and we ended up running out of seats and bibles.

Jesse and I took the older kids and we had 27 crazy 12-14 year olds to wrangle 😜

We're so lucky to have an awesome church family - and to be able to serve alongside so many incredible friends! 

But tell me, how was your weekend? 

What do you wish you could grow in your garden? 

And, if you feel like it - tell me what you want to see more of on SIL with this anonymous survey!

I would love an avocado tree - and to grow carrots, blueberries, strawberries and green beans... and snow peas and celery and cucumbers (again) and the list goes on and on and on. Meanwhile, our veggie patch is pretty much a weed patch... weed as in the garden variety and not the illegal type... 

    

   

Alphabet Dating - O for Outdoor Adventure at Illawarra Fly Treetop Walk

Hello, my name is Kristy and I'm an idiot. 

Okay I'm not a complete idiot, but on Sunday I must have left my brain somewhere because this date was a littttlleeeeee idiodic.  But let me back track a little bit and start from the beginning... shall we?

Illawarra Fly has been on our to-visit list for quite some time and after a few weeks of Jesse working interstate and us not getting to spend that much time together, we decided to head off on a random adventure on Sunday morning. 

And it was the perfect thing to tick off one of the "O's" in our Alphabet Dating Book!

We hopped in the car (actually, the truck... because Jesse really is a Southern boy at heart and prefers his truck over every other car) and drove the 1 hour and 40ish minutes from our house to Knights Hill - driving through gorgeous farmland and lush green hillsides. 

Soon we were winding our way higher and higher and higher above sea level - and that's when I probably should have realised what we were in for... but we kept on driving and I was pretty glad Jesse decided to take the truck as it meant we wouldn't have to do the whole 

I think I can, I think I can, I think, I can little engine that could routine.

Next thing we knew, we were at Illawarra Fly and buying our tickets for the walk. 

The admission price is a little hefty at $25 per adult for the walk ($75 if you want to zipline as well) but it's a tourist attraction and that's kind of to be expected.

The upside is, however, they're a part of the "Merlin Annual Pass" which is $99 per adult and gives you unlimited entry to Sydney Aquarium, Wild Life Sydney, Sydney Tour Eye, Madame Tussauds and a bunch of other attractions - which would be worthwhile if you're planning on visiting a few within the year.

We stopped by Dozer's house to see if their resident wombat, Dozer, was around - but alas, native Australian animals still manage to hide from me. I've only lived in Australia my entire life and have never seen one in the wild - even though I walk through a park just about every day that has echidnas and kangaroos and whatever else wandering around in there. Womp womp!

 

Then we were at the start of the walk - and I still had not realised just how high it was. 

As I took the first photo, someone came flying by on a zip line right in my shot and Jesse was green with envy because I'd told him when we were on our way there that there was NO WAY I was ziplining because I "am afraid of heights".

We walked around the first corner and I looked down and thought "HA! I'm not scared of heights anymore, this is nothing!"

Famous last words.... because then this happened....

We walked a little bit further, onto a platform that was suspended in mid-air with no poles or supports underneath and Jesse said "oh wow, look down" (actually... he didn't say wow but we'll just pretend that's what he said).

Ummmm... okay... maybe this is getting a little bad. 

The vertigo started and I felt like I should probably hold onto the railing to steady myself (and you know, cling onto for dear life in case the grate collapses and I risk falling to my death....)

I looked out at the view and thought oh that's nice and then walked as quickly as possible I could back to "solid ground" and away from the suspended-in-mid-air-platform where I had no chance of surviving.... well... let's be honest, my "solid ground" was just the metal sheeting over the grate but hey, that's what I told myself. 

Meanwhile, what was my husband doing? LEANING OVER THE EDGE... and taking photos with his phone over the edge... 

Here I am thinking "please God don't let my wedding rings fall off or my camera strap break because there is no way I'm ever finding anything that drops ever again" and Jesse's is just trying to get the best photo to share with his friends 😜

 

And if I wasn't freaking out enough already, we reached the tower which was ON TOP of the already high walkway and Jesse said "come on, let's go!". 

Um..... this is the moment panic set in. 

My heart rate skyrocketed (my fitbit went into cardio mode 😂) and my brain decided that it would completely stop my legs from moving as I climbed the 106 steps to the top. 

By the time I got to the top (which was SWINGING IN THE BREEZE), I was in full blown panic mode and begging Jesse to get down as soon as possible. 

But being the tragic human that I am, I had to take a photo first - and then I walked as carefully and quickly as possible down those 106 stairs because the swinging and heights was surely going to see my heart call it quits. 

Jesse actually took a video and you can hear me say "I'm surely going to have a heart attack..." 

I then walked as FAST AS I POSSIBLY COULD (but slow enough that I didn't risk killing myself by breaking the grates and falling to my death) to the next "safe" bit whilst Jesse took photos and looked around. 

Jesse convinced me to not just skip to the end and instead walk out to the last lookout point... where I found almost exactly the same view and felt like I'd risked my life for nothing... 

But there was a railing and I grabbed it to steady myself when the platform shook in the wind and IT BROKE. 

Snapped clean in half. 

Jesse says it was the funniest thing in the world because I felt it snap and I screamed "NOPE!" and hightailed my butt out of there as fast as humanly possible. 

I was SO done with the whole "facing your fears" bit at this point and clinging onto this random support pole with dear life because it looked sturdy and unsnappable and Jesse thought it was hilarious. 

Luckily I could see the end at this point and knew I only had to make it just a little bit further and then I was on solid ground. 

And do you want to know what Jesse said when I had 20 metres to go? 

"I swear I just felt the metal slip down under my foot". 

DON'T EVEN.

Kristy out. 

But tell me, what are you scared of? 

And have you ever done anything that turned out to be a really ridiculously bad idea?

Even Jesse felt sick from adrenaline by the end (despite his cool as a cucumber demeanour). 

I'm scared of heights and I am terrified of birds. Beyond terrified... I cry hysterically and hyperventilate if a bird flies at me and we actually have no idea why I'm so scared, haha.