Super Walnut Coconut Oil Fudge

I made this delicious fudge today.  Instead of using all walnuts, I used half hazelnuts, half walnuts for one batch.

The other batch, I replaced the nuts with desiccated coconut.

They are delicious ... and so easy to make (as long as you have a food processor)

Super Walnut Coconut Oil Fudge

1 cup raw walnut pieces
1/2 cup raw cacao powder
1/2 cup softened/melted organic coconut oil
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 pinches sea salt

Garnish: 3/4 cup rough chopped raw walnuts

In a food processor, blend 1 cup walnut pieces, cacao powder, softened coconut oil, maple syrup, vanilla and sea salt together.  Reserve 3/4 cup walnuts for garnish.

Line a small square dish with baking paper. I used a small loaf tin lined with a baking paper for one and a chinese container lined with baking paper for the other.

Scoop the fudge batter into square dish. Top with chopped walnuts, pushing some in as you go, and add a finishing layer. Freeze for an hour or more.

Chop into squares, ENJOY! Tastes amazing when chilled or right out of the freezer! (Best stored in the freezer).

All of the ingredients are good for you and they taste delicious!

Haven't had a chance to take any photos lately, so I rode down to the lagoon yesterday morning and watched the bees buzzing around the lilies.

... and that's it for my life today.

Nite all.

Nutrition

So I've made some enquiries about studying nutrition.

The Australian Institute of Applied Sciences has an Advanced Diploma in Nutritional Medicine that covers a lot of subjects in which I am most interested.  Aside from nutrition, they cover things like iridology, mineral therapy, anatomy and physiology, chemistry, clinical medicine and much, much more.  Sounds intense doesn't it?

The Australasian College of Natural Therapies also has the Advanced Diploma and they concentrate on boosting health and preventing disease ... I like the way they think.

Health Academy Australia has an Advanced Certificate in Nutritional Counselling which covers human nutrition, nutrition for disease management, children's nutrition and counselling skills.  I don't think this one is 'intense' enough.

The Endeavour College of Natural Health offers Study Bachelor of Health Science (Nutritional Medicine).  Their focus is the study of food, its nutrients and how diet affects health and wellbeing.  They specifically state that graduates will be eligible for membership with professional organisations like Aust Natural Therapists Association, Aust Traditional Medicine Society and The Nutrition Society of Aust Inc.

So, I'm still not certain that I am willing to make the commitment, and I'm not sure if my brain is capable of taking all of the information in, but my obsession with nutrition and how different foods,  and their vitamins, minerals, nutrients etc can heal/treat/boost the human body, is intensely interesting to me and I REALLY want to learn more.

I'd really like to use the information to help people and at the ripe old age of 50+, I'm beginning to understand how vitally important nutritional education is and I worry that people are so apathetic about what goes into their mouths ... just as I myself was, for such a long time, with little pockets of interest, at various stages of my life.

The media come up with a new idea every day about what's good for you and what's not and it's confusing for the regular Joe.

There is always a new study with results that contradict that last study.

So, no doubt, nutritional education will be a continual learning process.

I've had a keen interest in nutrition since I chose to go 'gluten free' two years ago, and felt the difference that it made to my health and wellbeing.

But the kicker, for me, was quitting refined sugar and processed foods.  It's been 5 months, but still, every day, I feel better and better.  I imagine, after 50 yrs of food abuse, it's going to take a lot longer than 5 months to heal the damage done to my body.

Anyway, I will continue, tomorrow, to research some more courses and hopefully, I will hear from the people who I have emailed tonight, and I'll have a better idea of what I want to do.

Now it's time for bed ... good sleep is just as important as good food!

Nite all.

Family Treasures

I read some interesting research about SIDS yesterday.

In case you don't know, I lost my first child to SIDS at the tender age of 4 months, so I always read, with interest, any new developments in possible causes.

I was shocked and intrigued to read that 85% of SIDS deaths occur at 2 months and 4 months of age, which also appears to be the ages for certain vaccinations.

Anyway, I know that I have Jamie's paperwork here somewhere with a timeline of his medical history .. he was born 9 weeks early, so he spent his first two months of life in hospital .. and I was given a medical sheet that listed all of his treatments, vaccinations, check-ups and weight details.

So today, I went in search of this paperwork.

I've had a box sitting in my work space for about 6 months.  It's full of all kinds of paperwork and photographs and, purely due to laziness, I have put off unpacking it... until today.  I found:

• Kid's school reports and photos. 
• MY school reports.
• My father's medical records and all the paperwork relating to Mum's compensation claim for Dad's wrongful death.
• Funeral details for both Mum and Dad.
• Old letters that Dad had written to me way back in the 70s.
• A letter written by my sister, aged 13, explaining how she would treat her children when she had them.
• A note from one of the kids' babysitters, with her signature, telling me to keep it because she will be famous one day.
• A poem that I had written for my mother when I was about 16 or 17 and she laminated it and hung it on the wall.
• Many many emails from Vegan Chickie when she was in her late teens and early 20s.
• Paperwork, that I didn't know existed, about my Mother's side of the family.  Information about my Grandfather and Grandmother and beyond, as well as very old photos and a storyline to go with each person.  Sooooo interesting!

If only I'd known, when we were in Esk last week, that my Grandfather's name is on the War Memorial in that town, I'd have gone looking for it!

Needless to say, I wiled a couple of hours away, reminiscing through that box and never did find Jamie's paperwork .. that has been left for another day.

Today, I mostly spent in the kitchen.

Bacon and Eggs for breakfast and then a loaf of seedy bread, chocolate brownies, home-made gluten free sausage rolls (which took FOREVER), spicy tomato sauce and then orange chilli chicken for dinner.

I think I will make tomorrow, Sunday, my day of rest.  No cooking tomorrow.

BGWLBH is leaving tomorrow *insert sad face here*

She has already packed her car and since we don't do 'goodbyes', she may not even be here when I wake up in the morning!

I've created a book of sorts for her, with recipes, shopping lists, clean eating tips, lists of dos and don'ts, what food to avoid, ideas for easy meals etc etc.  I hope that it comes in handy for her and that she is able to continue this healthy change in her lifestyle once she gets home and into a routine.

Time for bed.

Nite all.

Weight Loss

I am eating more food now, in a 24 hour period,  than I can ever remember eating in my life. (but not ten eggs in one day!)

The difference is, that it's all fresh food, and no processed food, no sugar, no gluten and all the dairy that I eat is full fat .. no skim, no lite, no low fat, no fat-free.  I drink and use raw milk as often as possible, only eat soft cheeses and use butter a lot.

I use coconut oil for everything .. cooking, dressings, smoothies, skin care, for cleaning teeth, hair conditioner etc etc.

I began this way of eating at the beginning of September last year (2013), after I had done LOTS of research on line, and put two and two together, I created my own diet regime.

What I am doing, is no specific diet - I've discovered that it is probably closest to the Paleo way of eating, but mostly, I've used my own common sense and chosen the foods that I believe will lift me to optimum health.

Since September, I've noticed these things

1. When I wake in the morning .. it's no longer painful when I climb out of bed.  Where it used to take ten or fifteen minutes for my joints to loosen up and stop feeling pain, I now climb out of bed pain free.
2. My fingernails grow faster and stronger .. though I am not accustomed to this and it annoys me to have to clean my nails regularly and file the rough edges that occur because my habits are those of someone without fingernails.
3. I have more energy and instead of requiring a nap every day at around 2-3pm, I only need a nap perhaps once in a week or once every ten days, and that's because I stay up too late at night.
4. I sleep more soundly.  For the last seven years or more, I haven't slept no longer than two hours before waking up to either go to the bathroom, or to ease the pain in my joints/back or because my brain suddenly decides to be active.  Now I sleep for at least 5 hours and if I didn't drink so much water before I went to bed, it would probably be longer.
5. To me, my eyes seem clearer when I look in the mirror.  The whites are whiter and the colour of my eyes is clearer.
6. My skin feels softer to me and after the initial breakouts when my body felt like it was detoxing, it feels and looks clearer to me.
7. The plaque has loosened and dropped from my teeth.  I know this seems strange and I haven't read anything anywhere to indicate that this is a side effect of clean eating, but it was sudden, and over a period of two days, that the plaque literally fell off the inside of my teeth.
8. I have more energy during the day and I am motivated - mostly in the kitchen - and for researching new recipes.
9. I don't have cravings any more.  I once had regular sugar cravings and salt/savoury cravings.
10. The whole idea of this diet change, was not to lose weight, but to become healthier and to fix the minor health issues I had (as well as any imagined major issues), but as a bonus, I have lost 7 kgs in less than 5 months and I feel fantastic.  The weight loss has been slow but with a lifestyle change like this, I expect it to be permanent weight loss.

I've watched the last game of tennis for the night, so I'm off to bed to get my 5 solid hours of sleep before my bladder urges me to wake up.


I had a rest day in the kitchen today, because I was searching for some paperwork and ended up taking a stroll down memory lane, finding paperwork that I didn't realise that I had, including some interesting facts about my mother's side of the family .. which I hope to share with you tomorrow!

Anyway .. I digress ..

Nite all.

Aussie Aussie Aussie!

Oi!  Oi!  Oi!

Can you tell that I'm watching the Aussie Open Tennis?  I'm watching a young 18 yr old Australian by the name of Nick Kyrgios play a 24 yr old French player, Benoit Paire.

Kyrgios has won the first set and is currently in a tie breaker for the second set.  The Aussie crowd is going wild every time he wins a point and he is thriving on the attention.

I've never seen him play before and he is a mighty fine player .. I expect big things from him in the coming years!

He has just won the second set!

Anyway ...

Today, I had a tiny bit of retail therapy with BGWLBH.  The shops were a bit disappointing.  No great sales and nothing different to anywhere else in the world.

We did get a few dvds from JB Hi Fi and we watched one tonight "Red 2" with Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Anthony Hopkins and Mary-Louise Parker.  A great all-star cast and although it had a lot of violence, it also had a lot of fun and a lot of action.

I really enjoyed it.

I also bought the dvd "Jobs" starring Ashton Kutcher.  I haven't seen that movie yet.  I'll let you know.

Yesterday I made a gluten free bread from the 'Monica Topliss in the Kitchen' cookbook.  OMG it's delicious!  It has a lot of ingredients and I think that's probably the most time consuming thing about making this bread .. measuring out all of the ingredients and then waiting the required 8 hours after you take it out of the oven, before you can eat it.

I was so impressed with the bread that I even posted a comment on the author's facebook page commending the recipe and thanking her for the great recipes in the book.

Tonight, I made 'Olive Oil Ice Cream' (not from Monica's book) and was surprised by how sweet and delicious it was.  I think I'd like to make it again and possibly add some kind of fruit for a different flavour, or maybe some chocolate/cocoa.

We collected the FROG box this afternoon (there were actually 2 boxes) and they were full of beautiful looking fruit and veg.  I need to get creative in the kitchen this week to use up all of that deliciousness.

I've missed seeing my boys at the Seat of Knowledge for the last two mornings so I hope to get up bright and early enough to head down there tomorrow.

I wonder how late this tennis match is going to go tonight?  That may have a bearing on whether I get up early tomorrow.  I'll be making every effort to watch this match to the end!

Nite all.

Cooking Cooking Cooking

*  Berry smoothies
*  Bacon and Eggs
*  Lamb and vegetable fritters
*  Gluten free grain bread from scratch
*  Beetroot tahini dip
*  Lemon chicken risotto

So today, between the three of us, we have each consumed blueberries, banana, coconut water, raw milk, bacon, 10 eggs, lamb, potato, sweet potato, zucchini, mushrooms, parmesan cheese, fresh beetroot, tahini, greek yoghurt, lemons, broccoli, celery, chicken, rice, baby spinach, iceberg lettuce, rocket, red capsicum, tomato, avocado, cucumber, feta cheese, mint, basil and sugar-free/gluten-free chocolate brownies.

That's a pretty darned healthy day of eating I feel!

I've just tasted the bread .. it's the first time I've made it (from Monica Topliss's recipe book) and even though it has a bit of an after taste, the texture and flavour is really good.  I'm looking forward to having some for breakfast tomorrow morning.  I think it will toast well too.

My FROG box arrives tomorrow .. the first one for the new year .. I hope there will be enough room in the fridge for everything!!

I would like to make some ice cream tomorrow, if I get a chance, otherwise, I think BGWLBH has some shopping plans .. and you know that I am always good for some retail therapy!

One photo to share ...

It's a Wedge-tailed Eagle actually looking at me!

It's 11pm and I can't stop yawning .. need to sleep .. too many hours in the kitchen today.

Nite all.

Who?

After a short visit with the boys at the Seat of Knowledge this morning, I then met the girls briefly for morning tea, but left early to come home and cook breakfast for BGWLBH before heading into The Bay for a spot of grocery shopping.

My kitchen pantry is now full of all the necessary ingredients to make some delicious food in the coming days!

I definitely need to make some nice sugar-free and gluten-free snacks and desserts to keep BGWLBH satisfied while she has withdrawals from sugar and at the same time, cravings for sugar ... and desiring food that she never even eats usually!

Adoring Husband has not been so diligent with his diet while I've been away either, so I have to get him back on track.

Pretty sure they are already calling me names!

I've got plans for tomorrow in the kitchen and I think they'll be happy with the results!

Adoring Husband made us an alcohol free cocktail this afternoon and BGWLBH made a list of movies that look interesting enough to either download or buy on dvd.

After dinner, we had a short play with the new Dr Who trivia cards that I bought for AH while on holidays.

Considering that AH is the biggest 'Whovian' that I know, and BGWLBH is possibly the second biggest, I did pretty well against them ... admittedly, I got a few hints, but I wouldn't mind sitting down with a trivia board and playing a real game.

I have a few bird photos to share tonight.

It's been a while since I've shared some birds ... and I know that they are not everyone's 'cup of tea' but I also know that there are some bird lovers our there, who enjoy my bird photos!

I'm disappointed to say that it's been an unhappy day on the tennis courts for the Australian males in the Aussie Open today.  Let's hope tomorrow brings better luck for the Aussies!

Time for me to sleep now.

Nite all.

Kitchen Capers

After eleven days away from home, I was so keen today, to get into the kitchen and start cooking!

Unfortunately, I was missing some important ingredients, that I'm unable to acquire here in this little town, so tomorrow calls for a trip into The Bay to purchase the missing ingredients.

I saw my boys this morning.  One of them has gained so much weight over Christmas, that he is now walking with his 'frame' to get to the Seat of Knowledge in the mornings, with the hope that exercise will help him lose the Christmas belly.   It'll be interesting to see how long he lasts .. I think his record is ten days.

There are a lot of tourists in town at the moment, although I noticed that one of the caravan parks is looking pretty empty, so the numbers of out-of-towners is thinning out.

The exciting thing about today, is that The Australian Open Tennis Championships started!

I was so concerned about my inability to cook, that I forgot about the tennis and didn't watch any of it today, until after dinner.  Luckily, the best games will be tomorrow, so I'll make a concerted effort to watch them.  Also luckily, I have a TV in the kitchen, so I can watch and cook at the same time!

Meanwhile, despite having had a nap this afternoon, I am feeling very tired, so I think I'm off to have an early night.

No photos to share today.

Nite all.

Home Sweet Home

The 'Most Excellent Adventure' is over for another year.

Travelling in the heat of the Australian Summer is probably not the best idea ever.

The thought of taking any bush walks or trekking through the hills sent us into a sweaty panic, so we only did two shortish walks in our travels.

It was tough to keep cool, and sleeping at night to the hum of a variety of aging air conditioners was interesting.

Speaking of 'ageing', by body requires something bigger than a single bed to sleep in, because these days, rolling over is not the quick agile movement that it once was and I need more room to move!  So many times, I almost rolled OUT of the bed!

Lastly, BGWLBH has suffered with a few health problems during this trip, so it was necessary to take things a little easy, and pace ourselves somewhat.

Despite those four points, it's been fun and funny and dietary challenging and interesting and time warped and frightening and surprising and amazing and educational and socially pleasant and photographically inspiring and therapeutic and relaxing and with the lessons that we learned, we can plan better for the next road trip.

The next road trip will start in Sydney and hopefully 'Bubbles' will be able to accommodate us for a couple of days at the beginning and at the end of our trip.  It was nice to catch up with Number One Son and Vegan Chickie this trip, but it's definitely time to swing by the big smoke next trip and catch up with my Bubbles.

Now we get to relax at home for a while, and I get to spend time in my beloved kitchen and create gastronomical delights full of healthful goodness, to hopefully get BGWLBH back on the track to good health.

I don't have long, so I have to work extra hard and make the most of it.

On the way home today, we stopped in Gympie, where there were Cattle Egrets nesting in a tree in the park...

When we arrived home today, this is what greeted us ...

Who knew that Wilbur Herbert could be so aggressive!?

It's good to be home and I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight.

Nite all.


 

Eumundi Markets

Oh how I love Eumundi Markets!

We left the unit much later than we should have this morning (my fault for having a lazy lay in morning), so it was after 8am when we arrived at Eumundi Markets and the carpark was almost full!  This is no small carpark - it has room for more than a thousand cars on that empty block ... and that may be a conservative estimate.

The streets of Eumundi were already lined with parked cars and there were people everywhere.

This surprised me because it's so soon after Christmas .. aren't people supposed to be broke after Christmas?

Anyway, we paid our $5 parking fee, parked the car and then headed to Bohemian Bungalow for breakfast.

Adoring Husband and I first ate there on their opening day in early December 2012.  We didn't know it was their first day open when we walked in the door, but the food was great then, as it has been for the three other times that I've eaten there .. although the corn fritters that I had there today, were not as good as my own fritters that I make (even if I do say so myself!).

After we filled our bellies, we headed to the markets across the road.

I had no intention of spending money on anything except food .. but oh how I love Eumundi Markets!

So many lovely things.  So much colour.  So much atmosphere.

I got potions and creams and oils and balms and shoes and semi-precious rocks and jewellery and a fan and a lamp and delicious fresh fruits and that's all I can think of off the top of my head.

Four hours later, we were all shopped out, so we drove to the supermarket to get some food that we could have bought at the markets so much cheaper, if only we'd thought about it before we left the area!

We made lunch at the unit and then BGWLBH needed to rest, so she headed for the comfort of her bedroom, while I gathered the rest of Chicklet's gifts (books and dinosaurs) and wandered across the bridge to meet with Vegan Chickie for a cold drink and chat, until Chicklet woke from her nap.

More dinosaur play ensued and I had a lovely couple of hours with my precious girl.

I ordered Thai food for dinner and picked it up on my way home to the unit, so BGWLBH and I sat down to a delicious green curry and BBQ chicken with chilli sauce and rice.

It's been a lovely restful evening and tomorrow we head off on our merry way, unsure of a direction or a plan at this stage .. but we will see what the day brings us.

Vegan Chickie took a photo of Chicklet and I walking along the path yesterday .. it's not often that we get a photo taken together, because it's usually me behind the camera, so I'm excited to share this one here tonight.

Feeling pretty rested now.

Nite all.

Antique Heaven

On our travels today, we stopped in Esk, initially to look at a clothes and gift store, but right next door was the old 'Staging Post Inn' (a pub) which is now an antique store.

I have never seen so many antiques in one building!

The old pub, which has so many rooms, I lost count, and every room is filled to the brim with antiques and collectables of every possible description.

Old carved timber chests of drawers, cabinets, kitchen dressers, dressing tables, desks, dining settings, coffee tables, side tables, lamp stands.

A hundred (if not more) different fine bone china table settings .. Royal Doulton and more.  A hundred (if not more) bone handled cutlery settings with carving knives and their velvet lined timber boxes.

Brass items of all descriptions, bowls, bells, decorative pieces, ornaments, animals and birds among other things.

Big old timber boat wheels lined one wall, 6 deep.

Stained glass windows and doors, lamps and ornaments.

Hundreds of crystal sets, vases, bowls, glasses, dresser sets.  Engraved silver teapots, brush and comb sets, engraved cutlery all shining in the light.

Stuffed long haired goat heads, complete with horns and mounted on plaques - I'm sure there was one in every room!

Uranium glass of all descriptions, locked in a timber cabinet with glass doors and backlit with a special light to show how it glows in the dark.

Pianos of all types .. beautiful old timber frames with ebony and ivory crazed keys.

Old framed paintings hung on the walls, some so darkened by age, you could barely see what the painting was and all different sizes.

Gold and silver jewellery with diamonds and rubies and semi-precious gems of all types.

Numerous church pews scattered throughout the building.

Boxes and boxes of old vinyl records.

A table full of commemorative plates and cups from every country and for every event, be it royal, religious or political.

Old doll perambulators.  A velvet cushioned, carved timber child's high chair that converted to a rocker.

There was even a complete stuffed cat sitting on top of one of the cupboards!

I believe that you could spend a full day in that building and still not see everything that they had on offer.  The list just goes on and on ... I wouldn't like to be the one doing 'stock take'!!

It was certainly an eye opener!

The weather was very gloomy for almost our entire trip today, with some heavy rain in parts and fine misty rain in others.

Our final destination for today, was the Sunny Coast, and Vegan Chickie was kind enough to research accommodation and found us a lovely two bedroom resort style unit for two nights.

It's the busiest time of the year for holiday makers on the Sunny Coast and with so little notice, she did very well to find it so quickly for us.

After we settled into our unit, we walked over to the Chicklet household late this afternoon, where the bare-chested chef fed us a delicious lamb casserole for dinner and I got to play dinosaurs with Chicklet.

I gave her a 200 piece bag of dinosaurs, but most of the pieces are trees and rocks .. not so many dinosaurs .. however, she loved it and we played for about 90 minutes before it was her bed time and we walked home to the unit.

We'll check out Eumundi markets tomorrow morning and then go visit Chicklet again in the afternoon.  Perhaps a walk through the National Park with our cameras later in the day would be nice.

Here's a photo from the first day of our road trip ...

Now it's time to sleep.

Nite all.

Oakey Dokey

What a great 'rest' day we've had today.

We spent the morning indulging in some serious retail therapy.

I got gifts for Adoring Husband and Chicklet and for myself!  It was very therapeutic!

After lunch, we headed out to Oakey to visit with Number One Son, who finished work at 3pm, and met us for a drink at one of the coffee shops on the main street.  Then I finally got to see where he lives and met his dog Jake.

Jake is a black labrador pup, who is still a bit crazy with puppy energy, who has already chewed up a plastic pool, among many other things.

Unfortunately, we didn't get a photo!  I could kick myself!!

We took the camera because we hoped to get in a bit of photography while we waited for Number One Son to finish work, but he was right .. there really isn't much to photograph in Oakey.  It's a very dry and unhappy looking town .. very much a mining town.

It was good to see Number One Son looking happy and healthy.

We left Oakey with enough time to make it back for a particular movie that we wanted to see, but we couldn't find a parking space near our chosen cinema.  We decided to try the other cinema in town and rushed through the complex and up two flights of stairs, only to discover that the movie we wanted wasn't even showing in that complex!

There was plenty of time then, to find somewhere for dinner before the next screening of the movie, so we found The Cube Hotel, which is just across from the cinema, and ate in their stone grill restaurant.

We bought our movie tickets first, because we didn't know how long dinner would be.

The food was very good, as was the service.  I had stone grill garlic prawns and BGWLBH had Thai Beef Salad.

We got to the cinema thirty minutes early, to find a long queue .. so we were grateful that we had bought our tickets, however, we couldn't watch a movie without popcorn!  So we stood in the long queue for twenty minutes to get popcorn and water.

The movie was "Philomena" starring Judi Dench and Steve Coogan.  It took us on quite an emotional rollercoaster ride and we liked it a lot.  Judi Dench is always good.

So tomorrow, we continue on our journey.

Mickey Mouse is already tucked up in bed, because he's exhausted from all the shopping!

Now that you know about today ... yesterday is still a mystery!

Nite all.

Over the border

Today, we made it into Queensland territory!!

I'm too tired to give you the rundown on today's travels, so with BGWLBH's help, we'll get you up to speed tomorrow.

It was a good day and we saw a lot and travelled some terrible roads, experienced some dreadful weather, heard some glorious birds calling, among other things.

We found this lovely little out-of-the-way stream with rock pools and running water ...

We are in Toowoomba and tonight we got a bite to eat and then went to the movies to see "August: Osage County" which was quite an intense movie, well acted and with many big names in it.

Now it's time to curl up in bed and hopefully sleep soundly for many hours.

Nite all.

Gorged Ourselves

We left Armidale bright and early this morning to take advantage of the early morning light with our cameras.

There were lots of places to turn off the main road and play 'tourist' today.  Gorges and Falls and small towns.

Our first detour was to find Gertz Gorge.  Along the corrugated dirt track, there were lots of little bunny rabbits hopping about and on the side of the road, we could see the holes that led to their warrens.

We tried to get a photo of the bunnies, but they were too quick.  I got a couple of shots in, but they are not clear ... you can tell it's a photo of a rabbit, but that's about it.

At the last grid and gateway to the gorge, there were two alpacas grazing nearby!

We made it to the gorge, but the viewing area was quite overgrown.  The good part, was that nobody else was there, so we got to stroll around on our own and enjoy the scenery and there were lots of little birds fluttering around the place.

The birds were very small, stayed close to the ground and flitted in behind the tall grasses - so none of my photos turned out very clear of them either!

When I think about it .. I had some great opportunities today, but luck wasn't always on my side and most of my photos were disappointing.

The next stop was at some 'falls', but we can't remember the name of them - we stopped where we thought the falls would have been, had there been water (the rivers and streams are very dry in these parts and only one of the falls has water at the moment), and took some photos.

What we thought were fish creating swirls in the stream, with hindsight, we think they may have been platypus, because the signs for accommodation had a platypus as a logo.  *forehead slap*  If we had been on the ball, there may have been a marvellous opportunity there with the camera!

Wollomombi Gorge was our next turnoff and this is where we discovered the Wedge Tailed Eagles!  They were soaring and playing on the thermals in the gorge, and looming from below us on the viewing platform.

We got lots of photos, but the air was very hazy and when they were above me, the light was too bright.  When they were below me, and when the light was perfect, I panicked and missed the perfect shots!  UGH!

The Wedge Tailed Eagle is the shot that I most want now, on my bucket list.  I know there will be another opportunity in my future .. hopefully it will be on this trip!

Next, we tried Point Lookout, but we could see as we got closer, that the weather was closing in.  The higher we drove, the lower the cloud dropped and by the time we reached the lookout, we could barely see in front of us, let alone the view from the lookout.  What a fizzer.

On the way back to the main road, we stopped near a stream to take a shot, and disturbed a man camped in a tent.  He appeared to have a marijuana plant growing in a pot by his tent .. can't say for sure, because we didn't get that close, but he seemed very edgy when we pulled up!

We found Ebor Falls next.  We had visited the same falls about 18 years earlier when Vegan Chickie was a teenager, so it triggered some nice memories for us.

By now, we were starving.  We hadn't eaten any breakfast and it was now after lunch, so we desperately wanted some food.

We stopped at Ebor, but just before we walked into the cafe (the only one in town), a large group of about 10 people walked in ahead of us.  We decided to push on to Dorrigo, which was about 55kms further up the road.

Well, wasn't that an adventure in itself!

The temperature dropped from about 26C to 14C and the fog was so thick that we could barely see the road!

We slowed right down to 40kmh in some parts of the drive and we had two trucks on our tail.  The road was very twisty and windy as we travelled over the mountains to our destination and it took much longer than we anticipated!

Thank goodness, we found a cafe and produce store, that had organic and gluten free goods for sale, as well as delicious, healthy food.

We had a Moroccan Chicken dish with three different salads and two much-needed coffees.  It was delicious and the price was right.

We left the cafe and strolled through the store of a second hand/antiques dealer.  The store was as big as a warehouse and it was like a trip down memory lane for BGWLBH and I.

We pointed out all the items that we grew up with, as kids.  Crockery and biscuit tins and vases and milk bottles in their little carry cage, money boxes, wall decorations, kitchen utensils and cooking gear.  It was very enjoyable.

We found the Art gallery and viewed some beautiful art and jewellery and timber-wares.

After we left there, we had to endure some more foggy twisty roads, to find the little town of Bellingen and the butter factory.

Great little shops that we could have spent a fortune in, if we had a fortune available to spend!  Instead we 'spent a penny' and used the bathroom facilities, then bought refreshments before taking off on the next leg of our journey.

We wanted to head north to Coffs Harbour, but somehow found ourselves heading south to Kempsey!  By the time we figured it out and found a way to turn around on the highway, we had lost about 30 minutes of travel time ... just another little adventure along the way!

We are not very keen on freeway or highway travel, so after we got to Coffs Harbour, we found a turnoff that took us through Nana Glen, and onto the back roads towards Grafton.  We'd hoped to find a motel in Nana Glen for the night, but it's a much smaller town than we realised, and even though we didn't drive right into town, there didn't appear to be much in the way of accommodation there.

We pushed on for another 50km through beautiful rolling green pastures and rainforest areas to finally reach Grafton.

South Grafton was our point of entry and it looked very dodgy, with broken down old houses - it appeared to be a very old part of town and not very well maintained or cared for.

A drive over the bridge to the other part of town and it's a completely different story.

We found a little motel called 'The Abbey' and took the last room available, which has two single beds in it.

So, it's been an eventful day, but Mickey didn't want to get involved at all with the day's activities because it was so cold and wet.  No Mickey photos today.

Let's see if I can get some decent sleep tonight.  I've slept poorly since I've been on holidays and am beginning to feel a bit worn out.  Luckily we've been eating well, although missing breakfast today was a big mistake I think.

Tomorrow should be another eventful day and I'm excited to see what it holds for us!

Nite all.

Where are we?

The 'Most Excellent Adventure' was quite a bit less than 'most excellent' today ... a lot of driving and not much adventuring, however ...

... tomorrow should involve a bit more adventure.  We'll be taking the back roads to tomorrow's destination and there are national parks and bush walks and side tracks to fill up the whole day .. as long as the weather holds up.

There are showers forecast for the whole area, but hopefully they will be scattered and won't interrupt our day too much.

We did stop to visit some alpacas ...

... and Mickey was kept fairly busy for the day ...

We arrived in Armidale nice and early and took ourselves to the movies to see "The Hobbit No 2" which was good, but went for 2.5 hours and BGWLBH asked me near the end of the movie "How many days have we been here?"

Room service is always a bonus when you're too tired to make any effort to find food elsewhere.

We want to start early tomorrow, to make the most of the adventures to come, so I'm signing off now!

Nite all.

Nice People Day

BGWLBH declared today "Nice People Day".

Country folk are the nicest and happiest people.

It all started at breakfast, when we stopped in Blayney for coffee.  We walked in the door of the cafe, to discover that it was an Indian Restaurant, which served bacon and eggs for breakfast (among other things), as well as coffee.

So we sat down at a table and were served by the happiest, friendliest Indian gentleman.  He took our order and was the only one there to make our coffee and cook our breakfast and serve other customers as they walked in the door.

He was very efficient and wasn't at all fazed.  The food was great.  The coffee was great.  The service was great.

If you're ever in Blayney, find your way to Sam's Cafe and Restaurant at 85 Adelaide Street, Blayney.  They even have their own website here.

I can't remember what order the towns are, so I'll just tell you what happened at them, not in any particular order.

We stopped at a little town called Wattle Flats, just north of Bathurst, where we found a little craft and art shop.

As I wandered through to a back verandah, one of the ladies asked me where we were from.  When I told her that BGWLBH was from Griffith, she very excitedly pointed at the room that we had just walked through and said that the lady in there was from Griffith!

So BGWLBH turned on her heels and walked back into the room to introduce herself.  The lady's name was Cunningham, and sitting at the table was another x-Griffith girl whose father once owned Donaldsons Mitre 10 in Griffith.

We had a lovely chat with these friendly people before continuing on our journey.

The next nice person was the service station attendant in Ryleston.  Super friendly.  He advised me that he had worked EVERY SINGLE DAY this year (it's only 5th January) and was looking forward to knocking off at 5.30pm ... and if the Government didn't stop moving the retirement age, he expected to be at the service station until he turned 90!

While we were travelling through the Hunter Valley, we wanted to take in the beautiful scenery, so our speed sat at around 80kmh the whole way.

We noticed a ute behind us, but he wasn't close, he sat back the legal distance and didn't seem bothered about overtaking us.

After a while, we stopped at a rest area to use the loos and have a short break.  BGWLBH went first while I tried to photograph some finches in the trees nearby, and when she returned, I went to the loo.

As I was returning, a man walked past me and commented about what a nice place this was and I agreed.  When I got back to the car, I noticed the familiar ute parked in front of us and BGWLBH then related the conversation she had just had with him.

He wasn't concerned about our speed, because he too was enjoying the scenery.  He named the tree that was in full bloom, that we had been admiring along the drive and had given BGWLBH information about the drive ahead of us.

Much further up the road, where we knew he was turning off in a different direction, he waved as we went the opposite way.

Then, late this afternoon, when we were booking into the motel, BGWLBH said that the lady who served her was very friendly too.

After we'd settled into our room, we found our way to the Golf Club for dinner at the Thai restaurant and the young woman who served us was super friendly and chatty and we had a 10 minute conversation with her when we ordered our meal.

They are the ones that stand out in our minds from today's travels and they have all left us feeling warm and fuzzy and fortunate.

The other highlight of the day, was discovering a little place called Carcoar, just off the beaten track.  It was the most delightful little village with amazing buildings and churches and a running stream through the middle.

For the Carcoar story, visit the website here

It's been a great day for us AND for Mickey ...

Nite all

RoznDeb's Most Excellent Adventure

I had a restless night last night, and so did BGWLBH, so we didn't get away this morning til around 8am.

Ok ... so Wilbur-Herbert couldn't make our 'most excellent adventure' this year, and we really wanted a companion, so we kidnapped Mickey ... only it turns out that Mickey was a willing participant in his own kidnapping!

When Mickey's owner finds out, we will probably be in big trouble, but BGWLBH will have to face his wrath upon her return to Griffith in a few weeks' time.

In the meantime, Mickey is gunna have FUN!

I have taken other photos, but they can wait until I have time to edit them.

For now, you will have to live vicariously through Mickey!

I can't believe how perfect the weather is down here.  At 11am in Coolamon, it was 19C!  We have had a glorious day of travelling .. a little bit windy in Junee at lunch time, but glorious here in Cowra, where we are staying tonight.

Budget Motel for less than $100 a night.  Our aim is to try to pay less than $100 every night for accommodation.  This was our fourth try .. the other motels ranged from $120 - $145.

We stopped for the night earlier than originally planned because we thought it'd be nice to catch a movie, then get a bite to eat and then get some shut eye.

Unfortunately, after we paid for the motel and unloaded the car, we found out from the owner of the motel that the Cowra Cinemas shut down about 6 months ago, so we walked to the main street and found a Thai Cafe where we had dinner, walked around the block and then came back to the motel to work on these photos.

It's been a good day, catching up on each other's news, gossiping and giggling.

Tomorrow, we hope to do some bush walking and some side tracking down little known roads and hopefully get really adventurous ... well as adventurous as a pair of old birds can be anyway.

Nite all.

We're OFF!

Tomorrow marks the beginning of our road trip!

I am very sad to say that Wilbur Herbert will not be with us on this trip, because I left him at home.

It would have been difficult to carry him on the plane because he is quite a cumbersome size and made out of metal.

Besides, my luggage was already oversized!

Perhaps we can find a new travel companion that will be easier to carry on all the different modes of transport that we encounter, and not so difficult to carry on the long walking tracks!

Today, we visited Dad W in hospital, where he was sitting quite proudly showing off his new metal leg with the running shoe attached to it.  It's just his temporary foot and I really should have taken my camera to capture the memory *forehead slap*.

I have to say that he was looking healthier and happier than the last time I was here, with a bit of a twinkle in his eye, and already making jokes about his foot.  I think he will have a lot of fun at other people's expense, over his foot.

Anyway, it was great to see you Dad W and I hope you enjoy keeping up with our road trip ... I promise to make this blog 'newsworthy' with minimal cooking details for the duration of the trip.  OK?

I guess I should sign off and get some sleep so that we can head off early tomorrow morning.  It'd be nice to leave before sunrise and get some nice morning light photos, but I doubt we'll be that well organised.

Catch up 'somewhere in NSW' tomorrow!

Nite all.

Safe Arrival

While I was sitting in the airport terminal in Hervey Bay, waiting to board my flight, I was watching a mother say goodbye to her young son (who's name I later found out was Oliver).  He was about 10 yrs old and was obviously feeling a bit sad to say goodbye, though he wasn't crying.

They gave each other a long squishy hug and the air hostess who was accompanying him, helped him carry his bags of food and drink.  Mum kept blowing kisses and Oliver kept turning around to wave goodbye and blew a few kisses too.

It made me feel warm and fuzzy watching them and she called out "I'll see you in a couple of weeks!"

He, along with a couple of elderly people and another person in a wheelchair were the first to board the plane and then it was announced that the rest of us could board.

Adoring Husband had checked me in the night before, online, and checked me into a window seat.

I was one of the last to board, and as I walked into the cabin and spotted my seat, which was the last seat on the plane, who should be sitting in it???  Oliver!

So, I sat in the aisle seat, without complaint and introduced myself to Oliver, who preferred to talk to himself, than this old lady.

The air hostess who was chaperoning, came up to me during the flight and said, with a big smile, "Thank you for letting Oliver have the window seat"

I thought to myself "I didn't 'LET' Oliver have the window seat!  You gave it to him, or he took it, without even asking me if it was ok!"  Of course, if Oliver, or the air hostess had asked me, as I boarded the plane, I wouldn't have even hesitated, but I was a bit annoyed that she 'thanked' me for doing something that I had no choice about!

The other thing that annoyed me a little bit, was that I was booked on a 'flexi' fare, which includes a meal on the flight.  The meal was pasta .. which I couldn't have because it's not gluten free.  The only thing they had on the flight that WAS gluten free, was a packet of two cookies .. which I also wouldn't normally have because they are full of sugar, but I was hungry!  So I ate them.  But they certainly were not a meal.

The third annoyance for the flight, was the terrible turbulence as we approached Sydney.  We were getting bounced all over the place and as we were coming down to land, I was bracing myself for a heavy landing, when all of a sudden, before the plane reached the ground, the engines roared and the plane took off very sharply and very steeply, back upwards!

The hostess announced that "it was deemed necessary to approach the landing from a different direction", so we flew out to sea, did a u-turn and landed from the opposite direction.  The pilot apologised to us upon landing, explaining that the wind had been the problem.

I must say, it was a bit off-putting!

(After we landed, I checked one of the weather sites, and it showed that the wind speed had increased by 20 kph in the twenty minutes it took for us to descend to landing point.  It went from 22 kph to 42 kph in that short time!)

So when we arrived in Sydney, I had to check in at the 'Rex Airline' counter.  My luggage had been booked right through, but I still had to check in.

There was a big flashing sign stating that all carry-on baggage had to be weighed and that the limit was 7kgs.

This made me panic slightly, because I knew that my bag (which contained my camera, three big lenses, my ipad, my purse and 3 prs of glasses), weighed 7.6 kgs, AND I was carrying my laptop separate to that.

The woman at the counter said to me "Do you have carry on baggage?"  I replied "Only my handbag and my laptop"  She asked "No dangerous items in your handbag?"  "No" I said.

She handed my boarding pass to me and said "Have a nice flight"

Whew!

Got through security ok, but then was pulled up for a bomb detection inspection!  Seriously?  Do I look like the type of person who would be making bombs?  So I got swiped - my hair, my pocket, my shirt, my shoes, my bag ... obviously, all clear.

When he finished, I said "You just picked me because I looked the easiest!"  He replied "No, I picked you because you were NEXT!" then he laughed and said "but you were pretty easy".

After that, the first thing I did was look for food.

Having been on this new eating regime .. it's quite alarming how much fake food is out there for the world to choose from and how little 'real' food is available .. especially at an airport food court!

My only option for gluten free and 'close to' real food was sushi.  Of the remaining 10 food sellers, not one of them had a gluten free food option.  Oh!  Except for MacDonald's fries .. blah.

I had almost 3 hours to wait for my next flight, so I found a comfortable seat and did some people-watching for a while, then got my ipad out for about an hour.  The time passed quite quickly.

Right on schedule, I boarded a half empty plane (very unusual) and it was a very smooth flight to firstly, Narrandera, where we landed among hundreds, if not, thousands of Galahs!

After a 20 minute stop, where 8 passengers alighted, we continued on to Griffith.

Our pilot was Irish - with a very strong accent and quite difficult to understand!  I saw passengers in front of me, look at each other quite befuddled because they too, didn't understand what he was saying.

I have now arrived safe n sound in Griffith and it's good to see BGWLBH and her Mum.  We will visit her Dad in hospital tomorrow and then leave on our road trip in a couple of days.

I am laying in bed listening to the soft rain outside and enjoying the very mild 22C temperature with no humidity.

Sorry if it's been a bit of a 'whinge fest', but they were only small annoyances, and I am happy :)

Time to sleep.

Nite all.

Great Start

What a great start to the new year - sharing the evening with good friends, laughing, dancing, swimming, eating and drinking.  A good time was had by all and we even saw midnight without too much of a struggle!

Yesterday, during my daily 'date with the internet', I discovered a woman by the name of Karen Walrond.

She is a Lawyer, Photographer and Author of "The Beauty of Different".

The following words are hers ...

Hey you.

Yes you.

Here's something the media doesn't want you to know ...

You're beautiful.

It's true.

Here are ten ways to make sure everyone, knows it.

1. Remember, there are differences, but there are no flaws.
2. There's only one fashion rule:  if it makes you feel awesome - wear it!
3. Be willing to be vulnerable, so you can fully experience joy.
4. Control your own perspective.  Perspective is everything.
5. Another word for sexy?  Confident.
6. Breathe - deeply and every day.
7. Express yourself - often, kindly and without apology.
8. The adventure is in the attempt.  Embrace possibility.
9. To remain 'youthful', never stop looking for the wonderful.
10. ... and finally - create your own story.  Never let others create it for you.

Because no matter what anyone says, there is an underlying truth:

You are different and you are beautiful, so ...

GO

BE

AMAZING

and on that note, I just had to share this with you all ...

I plan on being awesome :)

Nite all.

New Year's Eve

New Year's Resolutions.  I have two.

My first resolution this year is to learn as much about nutrition as I can possibly squeeze into my brain.

I am so hungry (pardon the pun) for information, but I'm worried about being trained like a monkey ...  I feel that taking all of my information from one source will not provide me with 'the whole story', so I'm trying to figure out my best options.

I also don't want to spend a fortune .. after dropping out of the Diploma in Photography course because the first three modules bored me out of my brain (and my motivation was so high when I started!) ... I will need to be convinced of the value in any nutritional education that I take on.

So I'll do a bit of research.  Ask the right people the right questions.  Decide whether it's worth the effort to educate myself through an institute and gain qualifications, or just continue learning and exploring online.

My second resolution is to create a website.  A good one.

I've been thinking about it for so long and procrastinating .. which you must admit, I am very good at .. so it's time to take some positive steps towards that goal.

So, having thought about resolutions for 2014, I'm looking back on 2013 and wondering what I achieved.  Instead, I will look at the good and the bad.

The difficult parts of 2013:

Adoring Husband's diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease.
The tornado.
Losing two friends to cancer.
Being so far away while BGWLBH dealt with serious family health issues.

The best parts of 2013:

My sister visited.
My brother visited.
My youngest daughter visited.
Number one son visited.
Best cousin in the world visited.
The sporty cousins visited.
Chicklet turned two.
I won two flickr challenges.
I learned how to make cheese.
I got 6 years of taxes up-to-date.
I had two girlie weekends with the Burrum Babes.
I had a baby shoot, a city night shoot, a wedding shoot, a portrait shoot and various sunrise/sunset shoots with the Nikonian.
We won the facebook/twitter campaign against Youi to get our house repaired after the tornado.
I got a new Apple iMac.
I found some Tawny Frogmouth nests after their usual nesting trees were lost in the tornado.
Spent so much time with Chicklet and discovered that she is even more special than we already knew.
Changed the way we eat and learnt so much more about nutrition than I ever expected.
Adoring Husband found the SES and worked his way into a valuable position that brings him so much pleasure.

Good grief, the list just goes on and on and on.

I've been dwelling too much on the bad and not enough on the good ... there has been a LOT of good!

Bring on 2014!!  I'm ready!!

Happy New Year to you all ... with love from me xxx

Nite all.

Kaptain Kitchen

Martha Stewart would be proud!

Now that Adoring Husband's life is partially filled with all things SES related, and his Parkinson's is tiring him out a bit, not to mention the side effects of his medication, I decided to play 'the good wife' and prepare all, or most, of his meals for while I'm away.

I'm heading off on another road trip in a few days and I'm not sure how long I'll be gone.

So I spent quite a few hours in the kitchen today, making beef stroganoff, spaghetti sauce, savoury mince, meatloaf and a beef and vegetable casserole.

I'm a bit cranky with myself for making so many red meat meals and should have included some fish and chicken ... however, there is some fish in the freezer, and I'm certain AH will make good use of it.

We had curried chicken and prawns for dinner tonight, anyway.

I also did some ironing and packed 3/4 of my suitcase ready for the trip.

So I'm pretty happy with my productivity for the day.

I found some quotes that I'm going to use with my photographs.

Here is the first ...

I think I might clean out the fridge before I go to bed ... OMG, by enthusiasm and motivation is beginning to frighten me!  What happened to my friend 'procrastination'????

Nite all.

Even Hotter!

35C with 81% humidity.

That's classed as a 'stinker' in our neck of the woods.

Blah.

I spent quite a bit of today in the kitchen.

As I'm going away this week for an unknown period of time, I made Adoring Husband a huge batch of toasted muesli to keep him going for a few weeks.

I juiced some organic oranges in my new slow juicer.

Made vegetable fritters for lunch, which were delicious.

I didn't have anything planned for dinner, so I roasted some cauliflower with turmeric/cumin/cheyenne pepper, did baked sweet potato in the jacket and made kale chips.  We had that with some braised steak and onions that I took out of the freezer.  Very satisfying - although I forgot about the kale chips until after dinner was finished ... still munching on them now!

Thought I would share a couple of wedding photos, since I haven't taken any photos recently.

I've got a lot to do over the next 3 days.

With a New Years Eve gathering here on Tuesday night and then I'm leaving on Thursday, I've made a list and will go through it methodically to get everything done.

It means that I need a good nights sleep tonight, hence my early post!  I've had a few late ones recently and the lack of sleep is catching up with me.

So it's good night from me!

Nite all.

Hot and Summery

I think we can safely say that Summer has well and truly set in.

Today was 33C with 70% humidity.

I turned the air conditioner on at 9.30am.

This guy had the right idea ...

... if I wasn't afraid of sharks, I'd have joined him!

Sadly there was a large dead turtle beached beside the boat ramp this morning.  Hopefully, the tide will take him back out to sea during the night.  It looked like he may have been struck by a propeller because the rear end of his shell was sliced and cracked.

Very sad because he was a beautiful looking specimen.

Nothing to report for the day.

It seems that we'll have a few friends over for New Year's Eve this year.  It will be a nice way to see out the old year, which hasn't been to kind to any of us, and see in a fresh new year that hopefully will bring us a lot more smiles and much better health for some of us.

I'm thinking up a good New Year's Resolution.

Last year my resolution was to become a little fitter and healthier.  Read last year's post here.

I believe that I have been successful with that resolution, so I need to find another achievable and meaningful resolution for this year.

I will think about it and get back to you ... watch this space!

Nite all.