Nature Walks around our area.

In the mornings after chores and breakfast, we usually try to head out for a walk (or ride for the kids), depending on the weather, as it's Winter here of course!  Last week we spent most of our mornings checking on the rivers and the canal to see if they are flowing yet.  It's been raining quite a bit-but not enough to make a river flow. 

 Last year we spotted a crab here.  So every time we return there is always a hunt for a crab!  No luck this time though.

We live on the flat parts of our area, but there are some hills too as it's right alongside a mountain.  Jenna and Michael are still learning how to navigate the steeper ones-sometimes it's just easier to get off and push!

Michael spotted this "strong tree mommy-it's pushing up the bricks!"

Of course, going up hills means you have to come down again.....and when you don't have great brakes you have to make a plan.....

 Or you could end up in the restios!

 But if you have great brakes, you have to wait patiently at the bottom of the hill for everyone else to catch up.

Some mornings we go on a litter walk-Jenna's idea-it's amazing how much is thrown into the bushes!  We find all sorts, sometimes some are worth taking home too!

We've lived in this particular area for just over 3 years now and we walk most days, weather permitting. I've learnt so much from just walking around and observing the seasonal changes.  I had no interest in Geography at school and although I studied Biology and Science I can't say that much of it made sense to me.  But being outdoors and experiencing the seasonal changes in these past three years, my interest in my world has grown so much.  Facts I tried to understand in Standard six and seven Geography are actually beginning to make sense now!  Nature Walks are one of our most natural ways of learning.

The aloes are beginning to flower.  Our beautiful winter flowers.

 Rain puddles are such fun to ride through, again and again and again!

A field of aloes!!!

And then at the end of our road we have a Nature Reserve-it's not a big one, and as you can see it's right in the middle of a built up area.  This particular morning we spotted Springbucks and Ostriches up close for the first time.  We usually only get to see the Springbucks up on the mountain side far away in the distance-so this was a super treat!

And then it seemed like all the wildlife came out on display for us.  Here are two of the male peacocks we spotted.

And over head our resident heron flew over.  He comes and sits on our neighbour's roof sometimes.

And just as we were about to leave we saw these little buck.  I think they're Klipspringers, but they weren't close enough for us to get a good look.

We love being out in nature.  I love the relaxed way in which we can learn about the world around us in our own time.