The downside to an early night is a very early morning wake up! All four of them were awake early but they tried to let us sleep on and we eventually got up around 8am. The sun was shining so we hit the schoolbooks early to then head out for the afternoon. The kids were all on fire this morning. Concepts that Matty had struggled with just seemed to click into place; Annie finished another maths exercise book and Katharine raced through her subjects. Jonny was awesome at maths but he hasn't got the patience for English! After lunch we drove through the hills to Buchan, a stunning little town not far from the Snowy River National Park. We had planned to visit the National Park but it was closed due to bush fires that began a couple of weeks ago after a lightning strike. Instead we headed into The Buchan Caves Reserve, a fantastic park full of small creeks and walking tracks. It also has a fantastic camping area and a powered site is great value considering the location. We decided to skip seeing the caves as it was too expensive for all 6 of us and instead stayed outside in the sunshine. We walked through the Tea Trees to Spring Creek Falls, although there was very little water flowing, and then came back through the rainforest where we spied a Lyrebird. It was 3kms long and afterwards we needed an ice cream so we headed back into town and found a great little café that had the most amazing carrot cake!! We drove home along a different route and stopped in Lake Entrance to buy dinner. By the time we got home it was after 5pm so Nick made dinner while I caught up on the blog. It was dark by the time we had finished so the kids had a quick play with their friends while we washed up and then it was time for showers and bed by 7pm again to see if it has the same effect on their schoolwork as this morning!! Unfortunately no one passed out as quick as they did last night!!