Winter garden blues ... again

As usual, this blog is getting neglected in the cooler months. It's not even THAT cold here; I mean, I'm freezing but people from more southern latitudes would laugh at me!
It's so wet and soggy outside. I've been thinking about re-designing the garden beds for better access but every time I go down there it's so muddy and depressing that I just trudge my way back up to the house and dream of summer. I can't even bring myself to put up a photo of it because it's so muddily-depressive!
On a brighter note ... we've decided to take another road trip up north in mid August, so I only have to complain for a little while longer.

Cassowary Falls

Wednesday we took a drive up to the town of Daintree and went for a walk to Cassowary Falls. It was a bit of a rip-off; we had to pay $10 each to walk through private property but the falls were pretty nice and refreshing at the end. 

Indi was happy because there was a horse lazing around the front gate. She named him ‘Fortune’. 

The walk took us through an open paddock along a creek, then through some denser forest where there was a little pool and lots of big rocks

We followed this creek along until we got to Cassowary Falls. It was beautiful and green and cool, and we had it all to ourselves. We all jumped in for a swim. The boys swam all the way across to the waterfall on the other side, but I wasn’t that game! 

Indi taking in the view

Little freshwater Perch came up to greet us

The Great Barrier Reef

Snorkelling on the Reef has got to be one of the best things I’ve ever done. You really can’t appreciate the beauty of it until you see it for yourself. There are so many different types of fish and coral all combined in this magical underwater rainbow wonderland.

We jumped on a boat in Cairns and headed out to Moore Reef, which took about 90 minutes. Unfortunately we picked a windy day with a fairly decent sized swell, resulting in LOTS of sea sickness onboard! We were ok but Indi had a bit of a chuck in the last 10 minutes of the trip. I think Keanu might have felt a bit nauseous but he fell asleep about 30 minutes in so he was fine when we got out there. There wasn’t too many people on the boat--about 60 I think--and I reckon about 50 of them spent the majority of the ride with their heads in paper bags!

The company we choose to go with have a big floating pontoon on the reef. It’s great with little kids; they have a little swimming area for kids and an underwater observatory area and a semi-submersible boat that takes you around the reef. Lots of things to amuse the non-swimmers! Craig and I took turns looking after Keanu on board or in the swimming area while the other snorkelled with Indi.

Indi was AMAZING. She’d used a snorkel in the pool last summer but she kept saying she forgot how to do it. Well, she was wrong. She could hardly wait to get in the water and once she was in there was no stopping her! 

It was so funny snorkelling alongside her; at first she couldn’t keep her head down for more than a few seconds because every time she saw something exciting she’d stick her head up and tell everyone! Then she realised she could talk underwater, so she was babbling her head off while we were swimming around. 

This is ‘Wally’ the Maori Wrasse. He is pretty friendly; he comes right up to the surface and  he lets people pat him on the back. 

It was pretty rough out there for most of the day; big swell kept washing over us and filling our snorkells with water and the current was fairly strong but Indi spent a good couple of hours in the water throughout the day. Needless to say, she slept like a log last night! The first thing she said when she got up this morning was 'Mum can we go snorkelling again?'

Despite the rough water and overcast weather, it was an awesome day. There really is nothing like it. We've even been considering doing a dive course when we get home so next time we can scuba and see even more (and yes, there will be a next time!)

On The Road Again

Well we’ve driven 3000 kilometres north and it’s time to turn around. We are in the car now, heading back down. I’ve been trying to blog almost everyday but we’ve been so busy exploring that by the time we get back to the van we are too buggered to do much other than pour a glass of wine and maybe watch a movie. Since my last post we’ve spent 4 days in Townsville and 8 days exploring Cairns and its surrounds. It’s been absolutely awesome and I don’t want to leave! I’ve got lots of great pictures and funny stories to write about. We’ve got a few big driving days so I’ll be able to write a bit while the kids are sleeping, so stay tuned!  

Yeppoon to Townsville

We spent Tuesday night in a van park in Yeppoon right on the beach. They had no powered sites left which was a bit of a bummer. but at least we got to have a hot shower and get some washing done. 

We’ve been having a bit of trouble with the battery in the van. Well, not so much the battery as the wiring between the van and the car. The wire is too thin to charge the battery properly while the freezer is running. We have two batteries now and we bought the trickle charger with us so it’s not too big a deal but we’ll have to change the wiring when we get back home.

Anyway (there I go again, trailing off!) where was I? Oh yeah, Yeppoon. We went down to the beach before we left on Wednesday morning. The tide was low and I mean LOW; it’s a loooong walk to get to the water! It’s still a bit funny to look out at the ocean and see no waves.

We drove around the point to Emu Park on the way out. There is this cool sculpture out there on the headland called The Singing Ship. It’s a tribute to Captain Cook.

The upright parts are actually pipes so when the offshore wind blows its ‘sings’; a really eerie, haunting sound that is supposed to be what the wind sounds like in the sails. 

From there we drove up to another little park just north of Mackay. We didn’t stop in Mackay but it looked like a really nice town. The van park that we stayed at had this gorgeous rainforest walking trail out the back but we didn’t get any photos. By the time we set up and went for a little wander, it was dark. We picked a bad night to stay there too; the paddock full of sugar cane right next to the park was ready to be harvested so we were quite abruptly woken at the first light by the massive harvester starting up and working his way through the cane! Oh well, at least we got a good early start Thursday morning! 

We stopped at Bowen on the way through and had lunch at a cafe on top of a hill. It had an awesome view of the ocean and of Bowen (and not a bad feed either). We even saw some whales playing in the bay! 

From there we headed straight up to Townsville to see the boys. We were very happy to set the van up and be able to relax for a few days without having to get in the car! 

Beaches and Rainforests

Day 4 and about 1400 kilometres. We’ve seen some beautiful rainforest and beaches already and the weather is so bloody WARM! We’ve been sniggering smarmily because apparently the weather back home is horribly windy and hailing. 

We spent the first night in a caravan park at Woolgoolga. We’d planned on going further but it was getting dark so we pulled into a powered site. The next morning on our way out we took a quick drive up to the headland because Steve hadn’t seen it before. It’s a magnificent view, over 180 degrees; the photos don’t really do it justice.

From Woolgoolga, we headed up to Coolangatta for a quick catch up with my dad. As usual, the Turkish pizza restaurant was delicious and we left there with very full bellies! 

That night we pulled into a free camp area near Landsborough called Jowarra Park. It was really nice and shady with lots of bush turkeys wandering around. We had a little fire there and Steve pulled out his didgeredu for a little play. The next morning we followed a short walking trail through a patch of rainforest  There were some MASSIVE old figs and rose gums. The kids really enjoyed it. I can’t wait until we get up to the Daintree rainforest; they’re going to love it!

This strangler fig looked amazing;

Once the kids had had a bit of a run around, we jumped back in the car and headed towards Noosa, but we ended up at Coolum beach. Not much swell, but the boys went in for a quick surf anyway. The kids also decided that a swim was in order. 

We then drove the coastal road up to Noosa Heads; what a beautiful drive it is too. We’ve been blessed with gorgeous warm sunny weather and the ocean was sparkling azure blue. We had to head into Noosaville to buy a few things for the van; some light globes and a new battery. We had a borrowed one from a mate and it died the night before. Well, we thought it died. Turns out it was just a fuse but we needed to buy our own one anyway. 

We found another free campsite in a small town called Tiaro. It was gorgeous too; right on the banks of a the Mary River and we woke up to the sounds of the bush birds. Steve got up really early this morning to get some sunrise photos and saw a platypus! He didn’t get a picture though because by the time he’d set the lens up properly the little fella had gone. 

The kids had a good morning playing down near the river. 

Now we are back on the road heading toward Yepoon. We’ve decided to get a site in a van park tonight; I need to do some washing and we’re all in desperate need of a shower! 

We're Rolling!

Well, we are on the road! (Literally; I’m typing this from the front seat of the car heading north on the Pacific Highway) Man I’ve been busy; I’ve been trying to sit down and blog all week but there has been so much to do. But it’s been sooooooo fun packing up our little van; I haven’t been able to wipe the grin off my face all week! 

Firstly, thanks to everyone for the recipe ideas; I now have a freezer full of delicious home cooked food ready to heat up in a flash. Tonight it’s chicken and bacon casserole with rice. 

Secondly, we’ve had a last minute change of destination and decided to scrap the Darwin leg of our trip. It turns out that stepson number two, who normally resides in Darwin, is down in Townsville with step son number one doing some kind of ‘war-game’ thing so we can catch up with both of them at the same time.

We were still going to go to Darwin regardless, but when we sat down and wrote down a rough guide to driving times, we realised that we were going to be really rushed. Darwin is another 2500 kms from Townsville, so that would’ve meant 5 days solid driving, but we’d only have had enough time to stay for 3 days before making the 5 day trip home again. Somehow I can’t imagine the kids being too enthusiastic about that! Also, Craig is an interstate truck driver; he drives AT LEAST 5000 kilometres a week. It wasn’t going to be much of a holiday for him.

All is not lost though ... instead we’re going to head further up the QLD coast and spend a week or so exploring Cairns, head out to the Barrier Reef, and take a trip up to the beautiful rainforests of the Daintree. 

So we left home this morning at about 9.00 am, after a rather tumultuous evening of last minute packing and tidying. Our first stop was Hawks Nest, which is only an hour and a half away from home but the boys needed to have a surf (yes, I do mean needed. If they don’t surf they turn into grumpy trolls hehehe). They’ll probably only have three days to surf because there’s not much swell up north. 

It’s a beautiful beach. The kids and I had a walk, run, did cartwheels and just generally mucked about to expend some energy before we got back in the car. It obviously worked, because they are both asleep in the back of the car right now! We collected some awesome shells too so we can do some cool crafts when we get to Townsville.  

We grabbed some lunch at the local bakery, and now we’re doing a couple hours of solid driving. We’re running a bit later than we’d hoped, but hey, it’s OUR holiday so who cares?  Ha ha ha ha! It just means we’ll be setting the van up in the dark when we get to the campground. 

Well, that’s about it for today. Tomorrow we are going to meet up with my dad in Coolangatta and have lunch in this great little Turkish Pizza place that we’ve been going to for years, and then head up to Noosa. Stay tuned! 

Imbolc Stirrings

I was drawn outside in the wake of some heavy rain. Everything was so still ... calm before the August winds.

The sun is shining brighter everyday, slowly but surely gaining strength, warming the earth.

Stirrings in the belly of the goddess. She is awakening as the maiden and the mother, rejuvenated and youthful, ready to nurture the new life.

Slowly unfurling toward the warm sun.

Blessed be xo

Beautiful Blogger Award

The lovely Ariad from Rainbow Love Farm has awarded me with a Beautiful Blogger Award.

Thankyou Ariad!
I'm not usually one to get caught up in stuff like this but I owe lots of my creative inspiration to other bloggers, so anything that gives me the opportunity to share is OK in my book :)

There are two conditions to accepting this award:

1. Add a link and note of thanks to the person giving the award.

2. Pass the award on to the bloggers whose blogs you love


I could list heaps of blogs that I'm into at the moment, but I'm just going to pick one this time, my dear friend Cords at over at three in a shed.  

Alternative Suburbia Hits The Road!

Thats right folks; in three weeks we're grabbing the kids, the surfboards, a guitar, a ukulele, a didgeredoo and our best mate Steve, and packing up the little Jayco to head north for a month-long road trip!

The excuse for the journey: My two eldest stepsons are in the army; one is posted at Darwin in the Northern Territory and the other at Townsville in Queensland.
So our plan is to travel up the East Coast to Townsville over four, maybe five days. This is about 2100 kms from our home on the NSW Central Coast (about half way between Sydney and Newcastle on the map). We'll spend three or four days there with Scott (eldest stepson), and then we'll head over and up to Darwin--another 2500 kms-- to spend a few days with Zach (second eldest stepson). We haven't decided whether to head back to the coast or take the inland route home.

Needless to say, I'm very excited! I spent a short but memorable part of my childhood travelling around this country and I'm so happy that now we have the opportunity to do it with our own kids, even if it's only for a month. Not only that ... I get to leave behind our daytime temperatures of 18 degrees celcius to bask in Darwin's balmy 33 degrees celcius. 

So has anyone travelled this route before? Any hints and tips? Must see places? I'd love to hear your stories.

Otherwise, stay tuned and live vicariously! 

Toy Catalogue Time

Eeeew.

Indi is sitting upstairs reading one of the glossy consumeristic tomes.

Indi: 'MUM! I found something I would love you to buy for me!'

Me: 'What is it?'

Indi: 'A cubby house!'

Me: 'You have a cubby house out the back!'

Indi: 'But this one has swings.'

Me: 'You have swings out the back too!'

Indi: 'But these swings are attached to the cubby house.'

Me: '(insert are-you-for-real? face) I'll move the swing set next to the cubby house for you.'

Indi: 'Oh just forget it!'


I'm not sure if I won or lost that argument ... ?

SO ... A Needle Pulling Thread

Who remembers "The Sound of Music"?
I do. Well, it's kinda hard to forget when your partner sticks it in the VCR player every chance he gets, and when a certain Facebook friend (who no doubt has seen the movie twice as many times as I have ;-)) keeps posting random quotes and song lines on my wall!
Anyway, it appears that the frugal spirits of Fraulein Maria her curtain-come-lederhosen-clad charges have infiltrated my psyche because I just made a pair of pants out of a tablecloth.

LOL! Ok wait ... let me explain.
Lately I've been tinkering about a bit with the sewing machine. I've never been very good at sewing (too impatient I think) but I found some pretty easy sewing projects online and thought I'd give them a go. After a few stuff ups, I've managed to produce a heap of pants and a t-shirt for Keanu and a tiered skirt for Indi, all made from recycled clothing; old shirts, dresses, pants and the likes.

Somehow, in a haze of google searches, I came upon this pattern. How cool are they! (and heaps of good sewing tips too.) Suddenly I remembered a gorgeous piece of batik print fabric that my sister bought back from Bali last year. It would be perfect for this pattern! But I don't want to stuff it up; the piece isn't very big. One wrong run through the overlocker and all would be lost.

Hmmm ... need to make a test pair. But what to use?
I could go to Spotlight and grab a few metres of cheap cotton OR I could be my usual impatient tightarse creative frugal-minded self and raid the linen closet. I chose plan B ;-) I couldn't use an old sheet, because that would be cutting into my crocheting stash (remember the mermaid and the bag?) but digging deep I found this old tablecloth that I picked up in a second hand store years ago. We haven't bothered with tablecloths since the kids started eating at the table so I figured it wouldn't be missed.

Turns out that the claim is true ... these really are SIMPLE and COMFY pants. I made them without one mistake! You can see that I've changed them a bit around the waist; I've sort of accentuated the front tie and hidden the back one (which is just bias tape because it was all I had lying around).

And I'm wearing them backwards. They sit better on me that way.

All in all, I'm REALLY happy with them. Not particularly good for winter; I probably wouldn't wear them high on a hill with a lonely goat herd and they'd be no good to Climb Evr'y Mountain ...
but I Have Confidence that they will become one of My Favourite Things ...


So Long, Farewell!

Winter Crochet

Howdy y'all!

Haven't been around here much lately have I? I'm still hibernating :) It's been soo cold here and we haven't been doing a whole lot other than snuggling under the doona until late in the morning and lazing around in the warm winter sunshine when it's about.
But it is great weather for crocheting, so I thought I'd return to blog land with my latest warm creations.

I decided to crack into some of the wool I got for my birthday. This stuff came from my friend Cords. It's a blend of wool, soya and acrylic and is so delightfully soft!
This is great wool to work with when you have kids around; it has a boucle-type texture and is very forgiving if you miss a stitch here or there because of pint-sized distractions ;)

So far I've made a beanie for Keanu and (finally) a pair of fingerless gloves/wrist warmers.

Hooray! No more frozen wrists from resting on the computer!

I've still got a couple of balls left ... any suggestions? Maybe a cool dread-headband???

Solstice Lanterns

Next monday is the Winter Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere. For those who don't know, the Winter Solstice marks midwinter; the shortest day and longest night of the year.
From a Pagan viewpoint, the Winter Solstice represents the rebirth of the Lord, the Sun, in the eternal cycle. It signifies the end of the darkness, as the days slowly but surely get longer and life returns as the Earth once again is warmed.

Of all the things I miss about living on the North Coast, I think the Winter Solstice Lantern Parade rates the highest. Every year on the Solstice we would line the streets of Lismore to watch the beautiful spectacle parade down the main streets. The whole community was involved; school kids, local charities, groups and businesses. Everyone carried a lantern, ranging from small triangular lanterns decorated by little school kids, to huge dragons and Unicorns and earth mothers, some taking three or four people to carry them! The groups would be interspersed with different bands and musicians creating a celebratory atmosphere.
We'd follow the procession down through the town to the river, where a spectacular firey finale would await. Indi was only a baby the first time we went, but I still remember that awe-filled look in her eyes at the fireworks. Once the smoke had cleared, everyone strolled back into town to celebrate with a street party with market stalls, food, street entertainers and of course music!

So, in leiu of such a warming event, I've decided to create some little lanterns of our own to welcome the return of the sun.
I've used the Star Lantern Tutorial from CHILDHOOD MAGIC to create these lanterns (thankyou Ariella!)

First we painted the circles. We just used cheapo water paints.

Here are the finished designs. I painted both sides of mine (the red spiral one and the central sun/flower one), but Indi only painted one side of hers (the rainbow serpent-looking one). She decided that catching lizards basking in the winter sun was more exciting than painting!

Once the paint was dry, we painted the paper with olive oil to make it translucent. I did this on newspaper to minimise mess. We painted both sides of the circles (ideally, we'd have sourced some proper translucent paper, but what can I say ... I'm disorganised, a cheapskate, and I like a challenge!)

Blot off the excess oil as best you can, then hang them somewhere inside to dry a bit.

Once they are dry(-ish) it is time to fold! The actual folding part was bit tricky for Indi (almost 5), but she enjoyed watching. She took the job of cutting the edges off the circle to make it an octagon.

About halfway through. I can appreciate how origami is such an addictive pastime :)  

And here is the end result!

I have to get some electric candles to light them up for our weekend solstice celebration; real candles will be too dangerous considering that they are paper soaked in oil!
BUT I'm terribly impatient and just couldn't wait to see what they'd look like lit up ...
So I snuck outside with a candle and the camera while the kids were playing with Craig ...

Beautiful, don't you think?

Hot Dog

I felt sorry for my little fox terrier, Rocko ... he stands at the back door shivering and looking miserable. Hopefully this helps him to stay warm!