Lees Paddocks with 4 Year Old
Posted: Mon 07 Mar, 2011 10:31 amI spent Saturday night in our tent at Lees Paddocks with our 4 year old daughter. It was a very memorable walk, with many special moments between the two of us. We had planned and postponed this trip several times during the summer, as I was only going to do it with her if I was confident the weather would be good - I didn't want any avoidable problems during this first big tenting bushwalk for her.
As expected, the actual walking was psychologically difficult for both of us, but not in quite the way I expected. She didn't complain or ask "are we nearly there yet?" as often as I expected, but she walked a lot slower than I expected. She literally dawdled all the way, walking at nowhere near her own normal walking pace. I found this to be exceedingly frustrating. I was prepared to walk extra slow for her, but I had at least expected her to walk at her own normal pace.
However, it's not until I realised about half the way in, that all the fern fronds that I don't usually notice brushing against my legs, were right at her eye level, so she was constantly being brushed in the face by them, but never once complained about that. So I think it was probably a combination of that, and the rough ground, and all the interesting things to look at that caused her to walk extra slow. She was certainly quicker when holding my hand, and I think that was largely due to the confidence that she wouldn't fall, rather than any forward pulling I was doing.
Singing songs, and finding things to talk about certainly helped to distract her from the tedium of just walking for hours on end. We made up several songs along the way home, as well as using some old familiar ones.
Of course she also frequently stopped to look very closely at things that I've long since taken for granted, so it's good to be reminded of these marvels of nature again (even though it slows down the trip even more). Every toadstool was noticed, and moss got a lot of recognition, as did quite a number of sticks and pebbles. She found a great rock full of Fenestella fossils to take to show and tell at Kindergarten. She also noticed some things that I've never seen before in my life that I was very glad that she pointed out to me, including some tiny blue toadstools, and an insect with very large antennae that looked like fern fronds (and which she named a "fern hopper").
Although our aim was to get to Lees Paddocks, I was prepared that this would possibly not happen and we'd have to camp somewhere along the way, but we did eventually get all the way there, including detouring to both Lewis Falls and Oxley Falls along the way, which she loved. It took us about 5 1/2 hours to walk in, including detours and lunch/rest stops. On the way out we took about 4 3/4 hours. I was very proud of my little girl in the end.
As expected, the actual walking was psychologically difficult for both of us, but not in quite the way I expected. She didn't complain or ask "are we nearly there yet?" as often as I expected, but she walked a lot slower than I expected. She literally dawdled all the way, walking at nowhere near her own normal walking pace. I found this to be exceedingly frustrating. I was prepared to walk extra slow for her, but I had at least expected her to walk at her own normal pace.
However, it's not until I realised about half the way in, that all the fern fronds that I don't usually notice brushing against my legs, were right at her eye level, so she was constantly being brushed in the face by them, but never once complained about that. So I think it was probably a combination of that, and the rough ground, and all the interesting things to look at that caused her to walk extra slow. She was certainly quicker when holding my hand, and I think that was largely due to the confidence that she wouldn't fall, rather than any forward pulling I was doing.
Singing songs, and finding things to talk about certainly helped to distract her from the tedium of just walking for hours on end. We made up several songs along the way home, as well as using some old familiar ones.
Of course she also frequently stopped to look very closely at things that I've long since taken for granted, so it's good to be reminded of these marvels of nature again (even though it slows down the trip even more). Every toadstool was noticed, and moss got a lot of recognition, as did quite a number of sticks and pebbles. She found a great rock full of Fenestella fossils to take to show and tell at Kindergarten. She also noticed some things that I've never seen before in my life that I was very glad that she pointed out to me, including some tiny blue toadstools, and an insect with very large antennae that looked like fern fronds (and which she named a "fern hopper").
Although our aim was to get to Lees Paddocks, I was prepared that this would possibly not happen and we'd have to camp somewhere along the way, but we did eventually get all the way there, including detouring to both Lewis Falls and Oxley Falls along the way, which she loved. It took us about 5 1/2 hours to walk in, including detours and lunch/rest stops. On the way out we took about 4 3/4 hours. I was very proud of my little girl in the end.
- All packed and ready to go.
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- At Lewis Falls
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- In "the paddocks" - Mt Massif (I think?) and Mt Pelion East in the background. Still a little snow on Mt Massif.
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- Happy Camper
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- She found the concept of dipping a cup in the river and drinking the water to be very exciting, and just had to keep dipping and drinking and dipping and drinking. Here she is returning with a cup full of water on the one occasion I let her go near the river by herself (while watching her like a hawk from close by).
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- It was quite a warm afternoon, but when the sun started going down it cooled off a bit. But not problem, she LOVES clothes, and was happy to put nearly all of them on (which was probably not really necessary).
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- Tiny blue toadstools she found in the rainforest on the way out.
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