Fall in Canberra

Fall in Canberra is quite nice. I am still adjusting to fall being in March and April.  By the time we get used to it, it will be time to move back home and re-adjust again.  Below are some things we did this fall that we wouldn't normally do in Maryland:

Fall in Canberra brings with it the Canberra Balloon Spectacular. It is an annual event where balloonists come from across Australia.  Each morning, weather dependent, balloons launch from the Parliamentary triangle. This is a BIG deal here.  It is really cool to see balloons up in the air again.  

For any readers who grew up with Shannon, this is not unlike the Balloon Fiesta that takes place in ABQ each fall. It is just at a much smaller scale.  Instead of hundreds of balloons, think tens of balloons. But in some ways it reminded me of the Balloon Fiesta when it was smaller.  

We managed to get the kids up early the first day of the Balloon Spectacular and made it down to the Parliamentary triangle. Unfortunately, the weather was not right for the balloons to take off, but some did inflate to give us a sense of sort of a spectacular.  

Another thing we did this fall was go to the Embassy for the Embassy Easter Egg hunt.  Fun was had by all, and the girls brought home WAY too much candy.

Ambassador Kennedy

We also went to an Easter egg hunt put on by parents of Lauren's year five class. It was definitely different than an American Easter egg hunt, as the eggs they hid were not made of plastic, but rather just a bunch of chocolate eggs in foil. I do hope all the eggs were found, because I would hate for animals who aren't supposed to have chocolate to find them and eat them. 

The girls were visited by the Easter Bilby, a native, endangered marsupial (if it doesn't have a pouch is it even Australian?) who brought them their own Easter Bilby.

 

 

 

And in other news, we were gifted a free (hopefully not overly dangerous) trampoline from a family (with, I think, 6 or 7 kids - I have forgotten how many but a lot) that was moving to a new post and had no room for it in their new yard.  It barely fits in our yard but is a WELCOME boredom buster and exercise giver. We put it together ourselves. Afterwards, Mike tested it with his own weight, and it held up, so this thing is pretty solid.