Palisades State Park

This weekend is a long weekend, Labour Day weekend, which means no sporting commitments on Saturday.

We had friends from Melbourne come and stay with us Friday night, which meant a late night for all. It was great seeing familiar faces and accents from home. Their kids are ours became instant firm friends very quickly.

Their son and our boys bonded over the international language of Nintendo DS, and Ailish just loved having 2 girls to play with.

After waving the Smedley's off on Saturday morning, Callum and I spent a short time at the hospital thanks to a "snowboarding down the basement stairs" incident (just a sprain but always best to have a blue, swollen finger checked out).

We decided to spend the rest of the afternoon exploring one of the near by (30 mins away) State Parks called the Palisades.

It's about the same size as Mt Lofty gardens and is divided in half by a lovely river with quartzite formations on either sides.

There are a number of walking trails, and I do mean trails because it's mainly a worn path through the vegetation.

The trails take you to different spots by the river where you can explore. The kids climbed up the quartzite formations and also tried to see how far they could get across the river without slipping in.

On two seperation occasions the boys came into direct contact with the water and both were not happy about it.....especially Ro!

Ro essentially went face first down a huge boulder the kids were using as a slippery dip and Callum, with his finger splint and hospital id bracelets, slipped off a rock in the middle of the river.

Luckily it was sunny and we explored until they were both dry enough to be allowed into the car. Note to self....bring a towel and a change of clothing next time.

The scenery is just gorgeous and while we only spent a few hours exploring, next time we'll maybe camp at the campgrounds or bring a picnic and stay a little longer.