Rainforest - and still in limbo!!

Yesterday, we were in political limbo - and again today, so that's that!!!. Anyway to celebrate this wonderful situation, we decided to visit the largest "ginger factory" (Buderim Ginger) in the world - just love the taste of ginger. Wonderful set up, lovely rainforest gardens, and we succumbed to Ginger Scones, with ginger jam and cream - absolutely scrumptious!!.

The tree fern below was like a very tall umbrella .

Wonderful plants growing on superb trees.

These orchids caught our attention.

We then decided to head to the Coast, but a storm was coming in, had a chance to take a few "dark" photos, then headed back to Forest Glenn, for a lovely barbequed steak and pasta with neighbour Carol's pesto (basil from my herb garden) Still love the colours of a storm over the coast.

But Queenslanders keep enjoying - whatever the weather!!

We found out this morning that there was a mix up at Forest Glenn, booked in for only 3 nights, not 4, so we took off to Hervey Bay (approximately 2.5 hours north). Photo above and the ones below are of a bit of a tour around here today. (Kevin will explain this to you on the phone).

Tomorrow could be a BIG day!

Hinterland In the Sunshine!

We eventually organised ourselves and the van, leaving home yesterday around noon. Decided to start in the Hinterland areas of the Sunshine Coast - about 2.5 hours north of the Gold Coast. Weather is superb during the day, little nippy at night though. Our first 4 nights are being spent at Forest Glenn - nice park, with plenty of facilities, including a great Thai Restaurant.. Of course, there were just a few things that we forgot, such as a hammer, large cutting board and some other not too important items. Hey it has been a year since we packed and used this machine!

Saturday Morning - Eumundi Markets This small village and its markets are incredible - probably the best we have been to - anywhere!

They are also open on Wednesday mornings.

Had to stop and watch the "Tree Climbing" competition. And the history - we visited the Australia War Cemetry at Villiers Bretonneux in the Somme, France - in 2003 Brilliant Moreton Bay Fig Trees around Eumundi.

We then took the road through the mountains to Kenilworth. Amazing and varied scenery throughout this area - the Mary River Valley.

Contented cattle grazing along the Mary River There seemed a lot of activity when we arrived at Kenilworth, so we walked towards the noise.

THE CHOOK CHASE

The very large annual Trail Bike Competition through the National Parks surrounding Kenilworth, it is the one time the Parks are open under the watchful eyes of the National Parks staff - and yes they have named it the "Chook Chase".

There were several hundred of these riders in town, including many little kids - they had their own track on a farm next to the camp ground.

In action in Kenilworth.

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Out of action in Kenilworth.

Yes, there was a scarecrow competition on.

They were everywhere - the dog piddled on the one above!

And climbing fences below. After Kenilworth, I found a shortcut to Mapleton - well that was until there was a long detour on dirt road - apparently there had been a slip on the "road of my choice" We made it - safe and sound.

Looking out to sea from Mapleton.

OZ in limbo! - Boston's on lake!

Well - tight it was, and we are now in limbo, don't know what side will run the Government and quite honestly it just gets worse, so am trying my hardest to close my ears and eyes to both radio and TV reports, they each have a different story to tell.

Sunday was a lovely day, starting off with a long phone call to Sheffield, and a good walk, followed by barbeque at the Golf Club, food was great, 70 residents (and some ex) turned up, it was an absolutely gorgeous day, and we sat with some delightful people from one of the gated complexes. We waddled back to Carol's (next door) for coffee, Tracy (who used to live on the other side of Carol) and her 6 year old, Isabella, also joined us. Isabella is a sweet friendly kid, and is competing in an Eisteddfod next Saturday, 2 pieces of poetry and one prose - so when Tracy asked us if we could be her practice audience - I thought oh no - a 6 year old and poetry!!! Well, what a surprise, she was excellent, as were the poems she chose - I mean really really good .

Monday was a bit damp, good for the gardens though - we met Ailsa and the Aunts at the Coolangatta Surf Club to celebrate Ailsa's birthday - she's not far behind me!! Lovely lunch once again, good to catch up, then back to the Robina Town Centre to look for a few things, and walk off some of our food.

Today we are attacking the garden and lawn and transporting all pots etc. to one place to make it easier for Carol to water and look after things while we are gone. Tomorrow, we will bring home the van, squeeze her on the driveway, give her a much needed wash and clean, and hopefully take off on Thursday morning for the Sunshine Coast (up near Fraser Island, Noosa etc.)

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The Boston's on Lake Waukewan

This morning I received the following photos from Lois - their whole family have just had a great week on Lake Waukewan (near Lake Winnepesaukee) in New Hampshire. Jeff their son, and his wife Monica and young Caitlin flew up from Denver for the week to meet up with his sister, Mary and her family and of course Lois and Glenn. Jeff is a particular favourite of ours, we spent quite a bit of time with him in his teenage years, when Lois and Glenn moved to Australia for 3 years. Jeff then came back out to Oz for 6 months after finishing school, and spent a lot of that time with us down on the farm, a happy, fun young man who certainly charmed my mother and a few others with his quiet manner.

Jeff, Monica and Caitlin fishing on the wharf

Caitlin's "catch of the day"!

The Boston's Babe!

One of Mary's twins showing Caitlin how to paint her nails!!.

The Boston grandkids, Ryan, the twins (Haley and Kyle) who turned 13 last week, and of course young Caitlin. Mary's girls have certainly got their mother and grandmother's loooong legs.

We had a lot of fun with Mary years ago too when she used to come out to Australia - Mary was definitely a favourite of mine and Mum's. I remember one long flight Mary (in her 20's) and I shared across the Pacific - big discussion on her current, and soon to be ex-beau - (I was just sooh full of knowledge in those days!!!!), but we did have a lot of laughs and a couple of champers on that flight. Yep, I do miss New England and our friends over there a lot.

Election Day

We woke up to the most magnificent winter's day, with one exception - it was Election Day. This is the "tightest' election in Australia's history - according to the polls - 50/50 between the two major parties - it has been quite painful and nasty to say the least. In Australia it is "compulsory" to vote, you are fined some dollars if you don't! We also have a preferential system, meaning that the party who gets the most votes might well not end up governing - it will depend somewhat on the preferences they receive from other competing parties. There had to be something else for us to do on this beautiful day. Yes, we drove to the beach, calling in and voting on the way. With that done, we walked to North Burleigh Heads, onto the beach and wandered along the sand to South Burleigh heads. So much activity going on.

Below is the north head with Surfers Paradise in the background.

Kids playing on their boards in front of the south head and National Park, backdropped by Coolangatta.

Love the artwork of little ones in the sand!

Peace from the headland.

After this relaxing stroll, we drove to the Caravan, to check out the brakes, lights etc, as we are hoping to take off during the week for maybe 2 to 3 weeks to the Sunshine Coast. Everything was in good working order - the Brig was delighted!.

Tomorrow the Resident's Association are holding a midday barbeque for all of us at the Golf Club - believe there will be 60 plus there - menu looks great. Monday, it is Ailsa's birthday, so a group of us are going to Coolangatta for a light lunch at the Surf Life Saving club.

The diet thing has gone right out the door!!

Tonight, we shall sit through some hours of torture, courtesy of our dramatic media, in search of the results. Oh well!

Back to the wild from Watsons Bay

These 3 little penguins were found injured and weak at three different Sydney beaches in late May(Bondi, Tamarama and Clovelly) when they had come ashore for their annual moult, they were rescued by Surf Life Savers and local residents. This trio have just spent nearly 3 months recuperating at the Taronga Zoo Wildlife Hospital. Their names are - yes, Bondi, Tamarama and Clovelly!. Taronga Zoo cares for around 30-40 injured penguins each year. Once the penguins have recovered, they are microchipped and released into their natural habitat. It was now time to release this trio (2 male and 1 female), so they can begin their ocean swim back to breeding colonies. The beach of departure for these 3 was Camp Cove at Watsons Bay - great place for everyone - we actually stayed at the Watsons Bay Hotel with Frank's sister and brother in law for a couple of nights in March 2009 - right at this beach. And should I forget, it is Lois and Glenn's first port of call, after landing in Sydney from Boston.

Their keeper released them - and they waddled across the sand.

Some help with direction was needed

Ah - there's the sea - let's go!

The Zoo staff say they do become quite attached to the penguins in their care, but releasing into the wild was the "best part".

Young builders

Immy and Ethan have been busy creating buildings during Auckland's winter days with giant Lego blocks from the Library - each one of their creations is dedicated to a friend or family. The one below is for us. Who does the design and engineering?.

For GRANDPA and MIM

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Ethan, Immy and Daniel (in Auckland) have 8 grand parents in total (4 blood and 4 step) and of course they are very spread out - 4 in Northern Ireland, 2 in England and of course us in Australia. I can remember clearly when we were in Bristol after Ethan was born, being asked "what would you like Ethan to call you"? Ah, I thought, how sensible, Sarah and Ian are going to head off any "name confusion" for this little one from the start. Mine was easy - I went with Mim, as that is what my Mum's 3 grandchildren called her - not sure if Mum could face up to being called a Grandparent by name at the time the first one was born, and her proposal of Mim was her cheeky way out of it, - Mum was a funny duck in her younger days, so why not follow!!.

'Tis one year ago!

Why did we move up here? We wanted to downsize and with Mum gone we could now look at Queensland. Basically, our goal was to find a small place on the Gold Coast, close to family, with no stairs or tiered gardens or humungous trees and their leaves, just a little bit of dirt, had to have plenty of light within the house, easy access to good walks, be close to transport, shops, airport and everything else this area offers. The choice was an apartment or a small house. We decided on a house, but unfortunately couldn't find one in the area we wanted to our liking at that time, which was within in our price range. So we opted for this place, plenty of light within the house, interesting little alcoves, all the outdoor living area was at the back of the house which was totally private, but she was a very very tired and uncared for little place, so we decided once again and for the absolute last time, to organise our own improvements. I have included some photos of what she looked like when we bought her, and then after the improvements we undertook.

Below, we built a wall on the left of garage, which now hides a storage shed and garbage bins etc., we had the outside repainted "paperbark" and had the roof repointed and pressure cleaned. All the concrete "gardens were removed, and replaced with Lilli Pilli hedges - which are now starting to form up well. Gates were installed. The house is right at the end of small cul de sac which is lined with Paperbark Gums.

A new front door - the old one was something else!

The colours within the house were a real worry, so we repainted the inside ourselves, however the tiles in the bathrooms, laundry and living area were fine.

The new kitchen actually works very well - that is what the "current" chef says!

Now for the back "yard"

All the outdoor living space is at the back, and has sunlight all day - the garden that was there was old, and dilapidated, and that deck was going to be the first thing to go.!!!!

The old deck was removed and the new one (6 by 8 metres) with insulated roof and kwila posts was started.

Above - how it is now with a wall (right) built to hide the water tank and air con outlets. My herb garden does very well - also supplies Carol next door (on the left) . We live out here - ALL SEASONS.

We totally re-did the garden, and in a couple of years the fencing should be in hiding behind hedges of Camelia Sasanquas, Photinia and the Golden Penda raintree. All the neighbours have huge hedges on their sides.

To top it off, we were very lucky to get some super neighbours, the walks are great and varied, we are only a short walk to the Colonial Golf Club, shops and bus (if we ever need it) and now have more family moving up as well. To top all that off we have so far during the past year NOT been assaulted by the tropical bugs such as mosquitos, and midgies or even flies - have had a few cane toads, but they are too slow for my warrior and his weapon. So all is good - but no more renovations - EVER!!!.