If you know me, you know how much I love a treasure hunt! All those SURVIVOR party (*) skills come in handy in parenthood!!! And with such an amazing garden to explore and with Josh still obsessed with pirates, a treasure hunt was a must for the boys!  So amongst the branches of a privet tree we had just felled (to give more sunlight to our veggie patch), I hid a rather authentic (if I do say so myself) looking treasure map.

The map led us through the orchard, around the tree house, across the volleyball court, twisted us through the formal front gardens till there, half buried in perennials was the treasure!!!

The treasure was a book each for the boys – a gift from our new home.

These books are gorgeous AND eco-friendly. Printed on recycled paper with environmentally friendly inks. I found them at the Yellow Shed in Bellingen. They have lovely messages about exploring nature and the wonderful world of animals. Tomas is obsessed with them… we often have to read them over and over and over again and he can now finish off most of the lines himself! Isn’t the learning to read process so beautiful and fascinating!

(*) NOTE – SURVIVOR PARTIES – My gorgeous girlfriend Ewa and I have spent many mischievous months planning SURVIVOR parties for our friends over the years. They are BRILLIANT! Complete with tribes, challenges (physical, mental… and edible!!!), costumes, treasure hunts (of course!!)… we even have tribal councils! Thanks to Ewa and another friend Steve, Darryn and I managed to incorporate a SURVIVOR event into our own wedding celebrations!! Hmmmm… I feel another party coming on… SURVIVOR SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS??!!! WATCH THIS SPACE!!!