Dad's in Oz

My Dad's visiting Australia at the moment; spending his time between my sister in Uki, New South Wales and us in Brissie AND his wife Yvonne's family on the Gold coast and Melbourne.
He's doing a fair bit of travelling and has split his time in chunks - which I might add have worked out better for others since we got the Jet lagged dad and will be entertaining him at the end of his trip - so either way - the front and back end. So to speak.
He was quite enamoured with my sisters place in Uki - he's of the opinion that its Bohemian though in truth its just rural agricultural with sugar plantations and Avocado's - there's a theme park near Uki called "Tropical Fruit world". Sounds bloody thrilling if you ask me. But it is gorgeous.
Jack and Grandad went to Uki for 10 days and stayed in the National Park there and had campfires and played in the creek - shifting boulders and playing Frisbee. Lots of fresh air and adventure. In fact, Dad was witness to a wild forest fire and said it scared him, so he whizzed through it in the car as fast as he could. However, Jack declared he wasn't scared at all and was actually quite delighted with the spectacle - little bugger.
There was a bloke in uki too called Kevin who walked about with a red crested lizard on his shoulder - it was the size of a small dog. One morning, Jack thought he'd follow him on his bike - so he stalked the mysterious man and the lizard for a bit - like kids do - he thought he was a spy. *Laugh*
Dad got his first look at Jacob Walter - my sisters new baby and he is so proud of her and the baby which is growing fast. Sals still playing it close to home - the baby is only 7 weeks old and quite honestly - everything has that Newness of being a parent.
We went down on Sunday last and stayed over night. We decided to have a campfire and a few beers and a chat - and ended up eating an Indian curry and naan bread take out around the fire, under a full moon. A full moon so bright against a velvet sky - that the national park was lit by a grey half light - blue and black. The jungle was all around us and a babbling river in the dark could be heard too. A pretty good buzz. It wasn't that warm either - since we were in the mountains and the sky was clear with a band of stars overhead - the milky way. So perfect.
We had to search for firewood in the dark which was funny since I kept running into spider webs - yuk. We found handfuls of a leathery nut shell - a bit conker like and chucked them on the fire. They burned like fury.
Camping out in the National park over night was really good fun - though I have to confess we slept in the chalet - I cant handle a tent - too old and I like my bed...;-)
In the Morning we went on a picnic drive which to be honest was great fun - but it was too far - and we drove forever to get too a waterfall. We climbed and climbed and walked through a rainforest which had the weirdest feeling of stillness. It felt so close.
We got to the waterfall but instead of witnessing a 20m waterfall - the water had ceased flowing because of the drought. It was a bit of an anticlimax.
Jack threw a wobbly as five year old do on top of a rocky outcrop and nearly fell off - he got a resounding slapped arse for being so dumb in such a dangerous place. Then to top it all off - he marched off in a huff and fell off a bridge into the river. Agh - kids!!!