News & Updates from Vicki Avcin ~ AusCrafts · Page 22

Only 3 days till my big adventure starts.

I will be going down to meet my birth mother, half sister and many cousins and then out to Thredbo to the snow fields. (first time Ill have ever seen snow!) My daughter and son will be coming with me for the trip of a lifetime.

I have been chatting non stop with the family and we are all excited as until April this year we never knew we all exsisted.

I did my DNA and a whole bunch of people came up as matches.

I messaged some of them who in turn messaged their brothers/sisters/kids and slowly we all made contact. To say I opened the proverbial can of worms is an understatement as they had absolutely no idea I existed.

My birth mother never said a word to even her brother with only her and her parents knowing the truth.

I think I was the best kept secret ever.

Well it is all exposed now and Im looking forward to meeting new family.

My daughter hasnt done any fighting for about 10 years now but I am still so proud of her accomplishments and this week saw me reminiscing when she had a clean out of things she had stored in her brothers shed.

One of the items was a trophy from one of her fights which she was going to throw out. Some of the others she gave to her nephew who is following in her footsteps doing Tae kwon do. The majority of her trophies she has left with her dojo and are on permanent display there.

She held Australian titles in 3 different types of martial arts but her main win records are in Muay Tai.

Some of her other accomplishments are holding a Committed Fighter award, Silver Na Khanom Tom Award, Gold Kai, Up & Coming Combat Athlete of the Year (2006 & 2007), Probationary 2nd Degree NI-DAN-HO,KRU Assistant Trainer,2nd Khan, as well as being a black belt.

These days she does train but for fun and fitness. Anyway I couldnt let her throw away the big trophy so it is now safe with me.

I was sitting out the back patio this morning enjoying the sun after a couple of cloudy rainy days when I heard a noise coming from somewhere in the sky.

We have a lot of noises round here what with hearing the engine testing from Amberley air base, domestic planes, light planes that are training planes, helicopters (army, Lifeflight, Rescue, polair and the odd private chopper) but Id not heard this particular noise before.

Then from out behind the trees this thing appeared. I thought it was an ultralight at first but hang on, ultralights dont have parachutes. I quickly snapped a couple of photos and then found out they are actually called powered parachutes.

A powered parachute is a personal aircraft with a propeller-driven cart suspended from a parachute, which acts as the wing.

The carts can be either three-wheeled or four-wheeled and the engines vary in power from roughly 40 horsepower up to as much 190 horsepower.

Not great if you want to get somewhere in a hurry as it was moving quite slowly.

I cant imagine sitting in it with the level of noise coming from it. Was something different to see in our skies.

I was down the yard chopping wood for the fire a few days ago and just happened to find this little fellow on one of the old stumps.

Well hes no so little really, hes over a foot (30cm) long.

It is what is commonly referred to as a Stick Insect or a Gargantuan Stick Insect. Normally they arent seen as they blend into the trees and foliage and just look like one of the branches on the tree.

I say he but it could be a she. These insects eat leaves, mainly gum and wattle and believe it or not are often kept as pets.

They make great pets and dont need a lot of upkeep. They dont bite as such but do have strong mandibles. I think he/she is a beauty of a specimen.

My big adventure which will include going to the snowfields of Thredbo in August meant getting the appropriate gear. As Ive never been anywhere near snow before I had already bought snow pants, boots, gloves and neck wrap.

I already had a big jacket that I was going to wear but my grand daughter and her partner gave me a gift card for my birthday so I decided to go all out and purchase a snow jacket to go with the pants I had.

I was also able to get snow socks as well so now Im all set and raring to go. As I wont be actually skiing (I dont think Im game enough) I wasnt going to worry about the jacket but hey one has to look the part dont they!

I tried it on for the photo. I reckon it looks pretty cool so might be a lever to get hubby to go on a holiday down there again if I like it.

Im a bit worried about how cold it will be because I hate the cold and temps this week have been round minus 7 overnight and minus 2 during the day with winds up over 30 – 60 kph as the snow season kicks off.

Snow is falling daily now and it looks magical and Im in awe as I watch the snow cams.