a little day trip.......

we took a little day trip to Halls Gap on Saturday....

we were going to have a little wander to Venus Baths, 

which Brian had visited last year on a school trip 

and wanted to share with us....

however, because we were away for all of December and January, 

and therefore missed out on most of the rain that fell in these parts, 

we missed out on a lot of information about flooding too....

from all accounts Halls Gap was hit pretty hard by 

mighty rainfall and flooding rivers..... 

trees were torn down by the rush of water and lots of bridges, 

roads and footpaths were made unsafe......

so instead of a nice gentle stroll through the woods 

and along the stream, we found this message:

and could see upstream that, indeed, trees were where they shouldn't have been......

we couldn't even take a drive up to McKenzie Falls 

which is a bit of a favourite of ours because the 

road up from Halls Gap was closed off......

goodness.... 

we really were out of touch...... 

we were unaware that the wet weather was creating so much 

havoc while we toasted our marshmallows and watched the snow

 fall silently outside our 'holiday home'........

there was however a silver lining to lift our spirits..... 

unbeknown to us a Jazz Festival was happening in Halls Gap 

at the weekend so we were treated to lots of great music 

as we ate our picnic lunch....

and then as a little treat we visited Coolahs ice cream shop 

and managed to fit in a little bit of this.......

well, that was for me.... 

the children had more modest affairs......

and we listened to a little bit of this......

and just enjoyed some time by the river.......