Venmans

When I was younger, my family would go to a local national park called Venmans. Venmans was named after a great man - John Venman, who was known as 'Jack'. He was a great bushman & had a great love for the bush.

I can remember when we would go there & Jack's house was in the property & there was always at least 10 kangaroos lazing in his front yard. There are walking tracks around the park, which also acted as firebreaks. There is also numerous BBQs & benches which we used for relaxing morning teas/lunches.

Thankfully there were also toilets put in. Though they were those 'drop off' type toilets, which I was *always* terrified of. What if I fell down? What is spiders/snakes/something creepy came UP it? Ewwwww

Anyway, moving on ...

I have many childhood memories of walking the tracks at Venmans. We carried long sticks & used them as walking sticks. We would spot a few kanagroos as we walked along the track. We'd stop, stand real still & just watch them. They'd stare back at us, twitch their ears, maybe rub their noses with their 'hands', then gently & mostly silently hop away through the long grass.

About 18 months or so ago I took my children to Venmans for the first time. It was also the first time I'd been there since Jack passed away. I was shocked & saddened  by how much it had changed. Jack's house was gone. In it's place was a vacant bit of land with overgrown grass. It blended with the rest of the park & I was momentarily disoriented. I understand why it was knocked down, but with it gone, the homey feeling was also gone.

Besides that, there was next to no kangaroos to be seen on the property. It was rare to see any now.

Just before we found out that we were expecting baby Maximus we visited Venmans with my Dad. We were just about to leave when someone spotted a kangaroo! As we looked closer it was a Mum kangaroo with a teeny baby in her pouch! I believed it to be a sign & sure enough in the next few weeks we discovered we were pregnant!

Moving along again ...

I decided to take the kids to Venmans again today. Typically there were no kangaroos to be seen & I still didn't enjoy it as much as I had when I was a child, but the kids seemed to have a ball.

I would like to give thanks to a dedicated bushman, Jack Venman, who gave so much of his life to making such a fantastic national park. Thank you, Jack, it isn't the same without you, mate.

Peace out

xx