A Family Picnic .....

This last weekend we decided to get the kids out of the house and go for a drive.

We bought some BBQ picnic supplies and headed into the Adelaide hills.

We found this lovely spot at Bridgewater.

 

There is a lovely little playground, nice, although very slow, BBQ's, tables and a little creek running through. Public toilets are right there too and there is a Coles across the road if you need supplies.

It's right next to the Old Bridgewater Mill too. We had a look at it, talked about the waterwheel, energy and read the history that was posted on a board out front. The Mill is now a cafe/restaurant that seemed very popular.

Once we started the BBQ we were joined by about 20 hikers who were stopping for a packed lunch and then heading to Mylor along the Heysen Trail.

We discussed a little bit about the Heysen Trail with the boys. But did realise that I need to research more about this and plan a unit on it in the future.

We could see the weather coming in, so packed up quickly and only just got in the car before it poured down.

We headed for Lenswood, to our favourite apple supplier. They have apples for sale via an honesty box in a fridge at the side of their packing sheds.

We talked about the difference in the trees now, compared to when we went back in March when they were picking, how they are pruned etc.

We noticed lots of blossom on the almond and cherry trees and discussed what blossom is, how fruit grows from them, and that we believe the Almond Blossom Festival might be next weekend as it's usually around the time of Ethans birthday.

Afterwards we decided to head up to where the Samspon Flat Bushfire area to see if there was any regrowth. We last visited back in March, about a week or so after the fires were extinguished.

The boys were surprised to notice how the native gum trees had lots of new growth up the sides of the trunks on the tree and that the pines did not.

We talked about how Australian native trees have adapted over many, many years to survive bushfires but that pine trees aren't native and do no cope with bushfires at all.

We then wound our way back home after a lovely, fun, educational family outing.