Aurora atop

Aurora had mountain envy. Jakob and I go for a run up nearby Mount Ainslie a couple of times a week. Each time we arrive back happy and rosy cheeked with tales of all the kangaroos we saw. And so Aurora, who loves kangaroos, decided that she needed to run up the mountain also. For the last week she tried to latch herself onto anyone leaving the house in running attire. I played the doubting parent explaining to her that given that she has never gone for a run before starting with a one hour run up a steep little mountain would be difficult. She confidently replied she could do it. Kids are strong, especially stubborn ones, so I told her over the weekend one of us could take her along.  Sunday evening Aurora went for her first mountain trail run. Well, really her first intentional run of any kind. She came back home rosy cheeked and beaming with tales of all the kangaroos she saw and now Sophia wants to run up Mount Ainslie.

Since we arrived I have been plotting my trip up Black mountain- the other mountain next to the central business district. On top of black mountain is an also impressive cell phone tower. The tower is one of the major attractions in town as you can pay to go to the viewing deck/cafe halfway up. While it would have been easy to drive up one weekend that seemed like cheating. And since the girls really wanted to go up the tower I figured I could use it in my favor. And so I convinced them we needed to walk up the mountain to get to the tower.

Usually when going on hikes we go with Jakob who is the key to hiking success: he is fun, he carries a kid, and he tells the greatest most endless stories ever. This time it was just me and the three kids so I decided, given the few kms we had to get to the base of the mountain, I better bring the stroller. To motivate little feet we pretended we were on a mission to take over the castle at the top of the mountain. When anyone got tired or grumpy we got to blame it on enchantments coming from the castle. Tova was a little princess in a chariot being pushed up a mountain. Aurora was tired but the castle cafe was a good motivator. The trail really wasn't meant for strollers so we thanked our lucky stars we didn't get a flat tire from all the yanking and pulling over rocks and steps. Lucky for us the takeover of the castle was quite easy. Just a bit of bribery and they let us in to enjoy the amazing views.

The nicest kangaroo of all

Mount Ainslie!

Downtown Canberra with Mount Ainslie in view