Light is streaming into small but charming former miner's cottage in Captain's Flat where the nine children of Claire and Mark Hooker are happily playing. Yes, nine. All aged under 11.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The couple has eight girls and one boy - Michael, the youngest, is one.
The girls are Georgina, 10; Charlotte, 9; Franchesca, 8; Abigail, 7; twins Elizabeth and Catherine, 6; Rose, 4 and Matina, 2.
And what's more, Claire, 32, home schools the children. She also manages to write a successful blog called This Tribe of Mine and has 12,000 followers on Instagram - @thistribeofmineofficial.
Originally from England, Clare is bright and bubbly and completely relaxed as her children fire questions at her, before going back to their colouring in or reading. She is entirely unfazed by the sheer scale of her family.
"I just enjoy it. I like keeping busy," she said, in a major understatement.
"I enjoy watching them grow every day. It's very fulfilling and empowering to be a mum of nine. I feel like we can do anything and we are a strong and united tribe.
"I often get called a supermum and I am very flattered, but I honestly feel that all mums are supermums no matter how many children you have. Don't feel sorry for us because we are living the best life.
"I love to say to people when asked about our family, 'Yes, they are all mine.'
"We have a full house and a house full of love"
Claire and Mark, 36, will be celebrating Mother's Day with a special dinner at a restaurant in Canberra as Sunday is also their 12th wedding anniversary.
They met in Kent, England. He is also English and now works at the Canberra Airport, and is just a little camera-shy. Claire says her husband is incredibly supportive and "works so hard for us".
"I always wanted a large family," Claire said.
"Being a Catholic family, we are still open to more children in the future. Never say never. They are lovely."
Claire says she has to keep well-organised. She shops once a fortnight at Aldi and keeps the shopping budget at $450. Each shop includes 48 litres of UHT and fresh milk. They have their own chickens for eggs and Claire sticks to meal plans.
"Two nights a week we have fish nights, or we make a huge cheese omelette. We also like to have a taco Tuesday, curries on Thursdays, or spaghetti bolognese, stews," she said.
"On busier days, we have pizza nights, pie nights and on occasion, we buy a takeaway."
Claire puts money away each week in a Christmas club as well as for a holiday to the coast.
"If we need something we buy it. If we want something we save up for it," she said.
"We are not penny-pinchers, and we are not big spenders either. We always make it work no matter what."
Their house has four bedrooms - bunk beds are the key. They only recently added on a second bathroom. They ferry the kids around in an old school bus.
She does two to three loads of washing a day and has a heat pump dryer to keep costs down.
A typical day starts for Claire at 6am when she tries to have a coffee alone before the children wake up. ("I never liked coffee before I had children," she laughed.)
Mark leaves for work in Canberra at 7am. Home-schooling for the six oldest children is from 8.45am to 1.30pm. They even have their own Earn and Learn box at the Woolworths supermarkets at Queanbeyan and Jerrabomberra under the Captains Flat Home School.
The afternoon is spent finishing off school projects, going for a walk or doing some housework. They do taekwondo in Queanbeyan once a week. Claire organises school excursions, too, for the kids.
She is proud to have done something for herself and lost 23 kilos in the last 10 months after adopting a keto diet.
"I feel so much healthier and stronger," she said. Claire has also been enlisted by a mums-only promotion agency which helps mothers collaborate with companies.
Claire says she is "blessed to have good kids".
"They have their moments, every kid does but they are well-behaved," she said.
"We have pretty solid rules. They know what's right and what's wrong.
"Sometimes life throws some difficult challenges our way, but I would not have it any other way."
She's in bed by 9pm or 10pm. She'll maybe read to relax.
"We don't watch much television," she said.