Terrific Tuesday

So much for getting early morning sunshine!

This morning I woke up to a dark, gloomy, overcast sky. It had been raining earlier and thankfully, it stopped for me to pedal to the shops, then the soft spray of misty rain fell for quite some time during our morning tea.

Only three of us turned up for coffee this morning. Tweedle Dum, the Reality TV Queen and I. Even though we missed all of you lovely ladies, whom I imagine to be having a fabulous time, we did have a very pleasant morning and we all jumped to attention at 10.30am when we realised the time!! Time flies when you're having fun!

Right on cue, the rain stopped so that I could pedal home without getting wet.

Earlier in the day, we really thought that our monthly evening barbecue might have to be cancelled. It was so cold this morning .. even I felt the chill in the air! The cold combined with the rain didn't seem very conducive to a pleasant evening.

Thankfully, the weather warmed up, the clouds cleared and the sun shone.

So we had a good roll up.  For those of you who are missing ... we had D & J, J & J, N & G, P & D, I & J with their friends S & B and then Adoring Husband and I. Considering how many of our regular group are out of town this week, fourteen was a pretty good number!

It was a good night. I pedalled down at 5pm with all the food and drink packed into my trike basket and AH arrived later after an SES meeting. So at the end of the evening, after two glasses of wine, I pedalled home with all the lights flashing on the trike.

I loudly announced my departure and told everyone to be wary of my flashing trike as they drove home .. but there was no sign of any cars on the road for my whole journey home.

The new theme for this month's flickr challenge is 'Australian Wildlife' so I'm pretty excited about that. It's right up my alley really.

Finally, The Nikonian nominated me (and two others) for a three day flower challenge so this is today's flower offering ...

Heading off to bed before midnight.

Nite all.

A Notch Happier

Today was a slight improvement on yesterday.

I seriously believe that I need to increase my sunshine/vitamin D intake. I've only spent time at the Seat of Knowledge four times in the last two weeks, so I'm not getting enough happy morning sunshine. I'm going to make a concerted effort to pedal there every morning this week.

I bought some more sand crabs today, and as much as I'd have liked to waste some time with The Motivator, I didn't hang around, but came home to shell the crabs and then eat them all for lunch.

I spent a couple of hours studying and after my brain shut down, I chilled on the couch watching 'Love Actually'.

The day seemed to go very fast and before I knew it, Adoring Husband was home from his SES duties and it was time to cook dinner!

Boring old chicken and vegetables tonight, because my oven is still not working. Two more sleeps and it should be done!

Very very surprisingly, I came second in the flickr challenge with my bird's eye photo! I don't think my photo deserved it, but who am I to argue with a bunch of strange people who make such decisions with their votes!?

I collected a dozen eggs from the chook pen today, proving that Adoring Husband has been neglectful in his duties. I also picked an orange from our orange tree. There were two on the tree and it's our first crop since we planted it about 5 years ago (if not longer). I ate the orange and it was just a tiny bit tart, so it may have required a bit longer before picking.

Our peach tree has peaches and our mulberry tree has mulberries! The garden seems to think that it's Spring. I also noticed that the Rainbow Bee Eaters are back with a vengeance and seem to be everywhere!

So while the world is blossoming and blooming, I am a notch happier than I was yesterday. Tomorrow, I will be another notch happier .. even though I will miss my girls, Lady Lynn, Mardi and Maid Marian tomorrow at morning tea and then again at our monthly barbecue by the river tomorrow evening. I hope that you're all having a good time without me!!

Here is another photo of the male Lyre Bird from our road trip.

Time for bed.

Nite all.  

Sad Sack Day

So if this research is already three years old, why are cancer patients still fed lollies and icy poles while they are having their treatment? Is this kind of research not shared far and wide with everybody working in the medical industry?

Helping kill cancer cells

It is lunch time on Sunday and I am feeling so blurgh.

Nope, not alcohol related lol.

You know, some days you wake up feeling a bit crappy and then every tiny thing just drags you down further? Woe is me. It's not taking very much to trigger my anger response. I don't like myself or anybody else today.

I'm certainly not in the mood to study and it's taking all of my will to stop myself from sending an email to withdraw from the course.

It's such a beautiful day outside and I'm cowering inside feeling sorry for myself and feeling angry at the world.

Perhaps I should just go plonk myself on the couch and ride the day out.

Tomorrow will be a better day.

I'm definitely feeling off balance ...

... unlike this beautiful Bald Eagle ...



Yes, tomorrow will be a better day.

Nite all.

A+ for Procrastination

I'm really pushing my luck and putting myself under pressure to do everything that I planned, before I head to the Sunny Coast this month. Why do I do this to myself?

I had the perfect opportunity to put in a whole day of study today, but instead, I chose to go visiting and spent more than two hours with The Motivator, before buying six sand crabs from her. It took me 90 minutes to get all the meat out of the crabs and I sat down with my plate of crab meat and my study material, when I received a text from Vegan Chickie asking if I had felt the tremor!

A 5.6 tremor was felt between The Bay and Brisbane. I didn't feel it at all, however, another one an hour later, at 5.3 moved our house! I felt the floor under my feet move from side to side, giving me a feeling like vertigo .. and I was sitting down at the time! I could feel the couch move as well and the house made rickety, crackling sounds.

It didn't last very long, but it was long enough to make my heart race!

That rattled me enough to take my focus completely away from studying.

Meanwhile, last night, I finally decided on this photo for the flickr challenge...

It's the eye of a Sulphur Crested Cockatoo.

There have been some great photos submitted, so I won't even get a place, but at least I honed my procrastination skills by wasting ridiculous amounts of study time worrying about a photography challenge that I had no chance of winning .. and for which there is not even a prize, other than a boost to the ego!

Honestly! Where are my priorities?

Here are a couple of pics from the black cockatoos yesterday ...

... and on that note, I'm off to bed. Aside from study, I'm going to make the Raw Chocolate Raspberry Tart because my oven is STILL NOT FIXED!! Hopefully this Wednesday will bring me oven happiness. I miss my oven!

Nite all.

Here They Are!

Most of these pics are straight out of the camera, unedited ... because I've lost my usual editing program (iphoto has been discontinued and it was my favourite editing program because it was easy to download and do basic editing there and then import them to other programs to get into the nitty gritty) and I'm still trying to figure out what program to use now.

I think you can tell that most people were having a pretty good time! 

I'm posting this early so that I don't have to worry about it tonight - especially since I promised pics.

I've spent the morning doing housework. Vacuuming, changing bedding, washing and finding a home for 8 pairs of my shoes lying round the house! How did that even happen? 

I also found my four black cockatoos again this morning and I knew the person whose yard they were in, so I got quite a bit closer than last time. I'm going to have a quick look at those photos now and see if any are worth sharing here.

There are a couple of good ones, so I'll save them for tomorrow. I've just realised that this is my last chance to submit a photo to the 'simplicity' challenge!  Eep!

I'm off to do that now. Watch this space tomorrow .. hopefully, I will have come up with something interesting!

Nite all.

Bingeing Socially

I feel that I must confess to recently developing a social binge drinking problem!

Yesterday was lady's luncheon day at the Golf Club in The Bay. There were about twenty of us who car pooled and met there at midday.

Their menu was excellent, with a good selection of gluten free meals available. I enjoyed grilled king prawns with slaw, sweet chilly sauce and aioli. I also enjoyed sharing two bottles of wine with Apple and then a couple more glasses at The Speckled Hen's house where a few of us met after lunch.

I phoned Adoring Husband to come have a drink with The Speckled Hen's husband, The Dirty Old Man, so he arrived and sat in the shed with TDOM drinking beer.

We were having a lovely time, laughing and drinking and telling stories when a horrible accident happened.

Apple's chair snapped underneath her and she fell backwards, hitting her head on a house post. There was a lot of blood. Luckily, sober AH with his fresh first aid qualifications was handy. He came to investigate and then suggested that we call an ambulance.

We are very lucky to have a resident ambulance paramedic in town, so he was in the driveway quick smart and came to Apple's rescue. She passed all the concussion tests, but it was difficult to stop the bleeding. Apparently it was 8pm before the bleeding stopped.

AH and I decided it was time to come home and the last thing I remember, is pulling into our garage. Apparently, I cooked dinner! I do not remember that! I made spaghetti bolognese with zucchini noodles. Yes, scary isn't it?

I woke up in my bed at midnight, fully clothed.

This is my third such episode in a matter of months. I think it's time I take control of it before IT takes control of me!

Needless to say that I had a late start to my day this morning. Out of bed at 9am and out on the trike for coffee. While I was out we experienced an earthquake!! It was a 5.3 magnitude earthquake that was felt as far north as Yeppoon and south as far as the Gold Coast.

I felt nothing. Lady Lynn felt nothing. Adoring Husband was on Fraser Island and he definitely felt the tremor, phoning me immediately to see if I had felt it too.

It was BIG news and social media was alive with stories from people who were 'moved' by the experience (pardon the pun).

I had a quiet day at home, interrupted by a wonderful phone call from Vegan Chickie and Chicklet that lasted about an hour.

I watched an interesting movie called "Lucy" with Scarlett Johansson and Morgan Freeman. It was very violent and quite graphic, but the story was intriguing and the Lucy character was very strong. It was a good movie.

Tonight, I made another curry from our box of curry powders/spices. Parsee Chicken and Cashew Nut Curry Masala. I did a cauliflower fried rice with it. Delicious! It was the same curry that I taste tested at Childers.

Tomorrow, I will share some pics from the Christmas in July party and a couple more of the black cockatoos.

I hope that my body will get back to normal tomorrow and I can have a more productive day at my desk writing some more of my essay.

Oh! I also got a message via flickr to tell me that my twin tawnies photo had been stolen and was on a website for sale! So I've sent the site an email advising them of copyright laws and asking them to remove it immediately. This is the photo...

Do you remember it? How rude!!

Anyway, it's almost midnight, so I'm off to rest my toxic brain and body.

Nite all.

Black Joy

There was a fabulous cold change last night and I climbed into bed with a strong icy breeze blowing through my bedroom window.  I literally smiled myself to sleep feeling that breeze caress my face as I pulled the doona right up to my chin.  My idea of bliss.

It was still nice and cool when I woke up, so I lingered in bed feeling that breeze some more and then headed off for morning tea with the girls.

There were seven of us this morning all taking turns to catch up with the previous week's events. Always enjoyable with my girls.

I picked up another coffee before I headed home, and decided to take a route that I used to take every day for a couple of years, back when I was obsessive with my photography. It takes me past bushland full of birdlife.

The reason that I chose that way is because there was a bushfire last night and I wondered if I might see signs of it from the road.

I didn't.

What I DID see, was a family of four Red Tailed Black Cockatoos!

I've seen quite a few black cockatoos lately. There were eight of them flying over the council caravan park before I went on the road trip and since then, three or four of them fly over the boat ramp in the mornings and head across the river, squawking as they go. But they are the yellow tailed black cockatoos, which are quite common and I've never been camera ready whenever they've been close, so there have been no photos of them for me.

I have been in search of ANY kind of black cockatoo for five years .. ever since I got my first good camera, so today, finding the red tailed birds .. was exciting!

There was a male and a female and a juvenile, but I'm not sure where the 4th bird fit in the mix.

There were a few problems for me. The light was ever changing because there was scattered cloud that kept hiding the sun. It was very windy, blowing the branches that the birds were perched upon and blowing their feathers all over the place. The birds were very high in the trees .. stretching my lens to it's limit.

Taking all of that into consideration, I was pretty happy with the few shots that I got. If only I could train the birds to stay perched on a branch, out in the open where I could get a clear view, half of my problems would be solved!

Needless to say, I didn't get as much essay work done as I wanted, because I was too excited about editing my black cockatoo shots!

Tonight, I played with a couple of photos from the Christmas in July party, hoping they would be suitable for the 'Simplicity' challenge ...

I'm still searching my brain for better ideas. Please feel free to throw ideas in this direction, if you have any.

I have a big lady's luncheon day tomorrow, so I'm off to bed for an early night .. looking forward to that cool breeze through the window again!

Nite all.

Much Ado About Raptors

Today was a beautiful day.

Some days just hit you with natural beauty.  I sat by the water at the Seat of Knowledge for almost an hour, soaking up the sunshine and falling more deeply in love with the natural beauty of our river. It was a diamond day.

After I collected the mail and bought my morning coffee, I returned home to study, but I got a little side tracked and did some housework first. I did eventually get into the study and put in a few good hours. Satisfactory progress.

Mid afternoon I went for a ride to get more coffee. It's unusual for me to leave the house after lunch, but the sun was still shining and the day was still glorious, so I decided to brave it. It was worth the effort.

I tried out one of the curry spices tonight by preparing one of the recipes on the sheet provided in the box of jars. It was a southern Indian masala curry and I used chicken as the protein.  I don't think I used enough salt, but the flavour was very nice.

After I had prepared dinner, I grabbed my camera and raced out on the trike hoping to capture a decent sunset. The cloud formation was just right and it came so close to being spectacular a couple of times, but didn't quite make it. I got a couple of shots but nothing worth sharing.

I worked on these two shots today for the 'simplicity' challenge ...

I doubt that I'll use either of them .. unless I get desperate, because I only have 4 days left of the month and ideas are scarce!

It's already after midnight and I'm watching a movie called 'Healing' with Hugo Weaving. My favourite thing about this movie is the birdlife. It's about a prisoner rehabilitation program where the prisoners are given the responsibility of healing injured raptors before releasing them back into the wild.

There are owls and wedge tailed eagles and other raptors, all beautiful birds, but the wedge tailed eagle just takes my breath away. Spectacular and majestic and captivating. What I wouldn't give to get up close and personal with a creature such as that .. or at least close enough to get the perfect photograph.

Not quite a wedge tailed eagle, but check out this video of a crow - has to be the cleverest of all the birds. This left me shaking my head in disbelief!



Well, my movie is now over, so I'm off to bed. I've got morning tea with the girls tomorrow and then I need to contribute some more time to my essay, so I need to get my beauty sleep.

Nite all.

Out of Control

It's been a big couple of days!

Saturday night was Christmas in July. A good time was had by all. The food was good and the entertainment got everybody up dancing. Great prizes for the lucky ticket holders (which was nobody at our table!) and everyone was happy on the night.

I met some new people and had some interesting conversations. I actually got up and danced, which is a rarity for me and it was also great to see a few business owners at tables supporting our local SES. Even nicer to have so many of our friends in attendance. It really made the night for me.

It was all over a lot earlier than I and a few others would have liked, because we were enjoying ourselves and wanted the night to continue for a bit longer.  Better planning next year should extend the night for another hour or so.

I did have a little more wine than I should have, hence the missed blog update last night!

However, not so much that I was too hung over to go to Childers for their annual Multicultural Festival today!

We were up bright and early this morning so that we could arrive in Childers with time to get a good parking position. We like to pay for parking in the Catholic School grounds because it's close to the festival and Adoring Husband is able to unload our shopping when it gets too heavy and be ready to start again!

Also, even though it's Winter, our experience is that it gets very very warm as the day wears on and there is nothing worse than having to walk a couple of kilometres to your car in the hottest part of the day, when you have already spent four or five hours on your feet.

So we arrived there just after 8am. The festival is advertised to commence at 9am, but all of the stalls were operating when we arrived and there was already music being played by some of the musicians at various points along the roadway.

The air was still cool and there were not many people about, so we could browse and take our time and buy without having to fight the crowds.

We bought a giant timber dinosaur for Chicklet, a couple of crystal rocks, a pair of shoes and a silver bracelet (for me) and a box of mixed curry spices, a couple of which we got to taste test in lamb and chicken dishes. So nice! Included in the box was a stack of recipes for various curry dishes, which I'm looking forward to trying.

After a couple of hours, we realised that having skipped breakfast, we were feeling very hungry. I was on the lookout for a Mexican stall that I knew sold delicious GF mini meals packed full of flavour, but after searching the entire festival, the stall was nowhere to be found.

We decided to get some Hungarian sausages with sauerkraut, onion and cheese. It was a great choice and AH went back for seconds. We found ourselves a shady spot under some trees, to sit and eat our brunch while listening to some music.

We enjoyed the sounds of two different bands and a solo musician. Slip on Stereo was the first band, which I enjoyed very much, then a guitarist by the name of Al Davies and then a jazz reggae band by the name of Jahbutu.

It was a great way to spend about an hour.

Eventually, we decided to go check out the rest of the stalls, but by this time, the crowds had built up to the point of 'impossible to manage', so I decided it was time to head home. I don't like crowds that size and it was impossible to see anything because people were two and three deep at each stall. It was even difficult walking up the street through the sea of humans all going in different directions.

It was a relief to reach the car knowing that we would soon be escaping the madness.

As we drove out of town, the parked cars went for miles and large groups of people were all walking towards town. It was obviously only going to get busier. So happy to head home.

It was a great morning. We were disappointed to miss the festival last year, for the first time in seven years, so it was good to reconnect with it this year.

I didn't take my camera today, so I have no photos to share. I DID take photos of Christmas in July, but I haven't had a chance to look at them yet, so watch this space later in the week.

Now I think I need to rest my weary bones so that I can focus on study tomorrow. No excuses this week. Full on study! Essay should be completed by Friday! I need to get ahead so that I can fit in a Chicklet visit soon.

So .. nite all.

  

Friday Night Gap

We missed you very much tonight Lady Lynn. I hope that your health is improving quickly and you will be well enough to join us at Christmas in July on Saturday night!

So much for my studies today.

The fridge seal man came this morning and replaced the seals on the fridge/freezer in our garage. That should help our electricity bill somewhat! The fridge seal man was very nice but really wanted to have a chat. He needed to show Adoring Husband all the intricate details of replacing the seals on fridge/freezers. We just wanted him to hurry up so that we could go into The Bay!

AH had some errands to run for the SES so I decided to take the opportunity to have a pedicure/manicure.

I used to have French tips put on my nails on a regular basis and my nails were weak and easily broken, so they were never long enough to require a manicure.

Since I began eating Paleo, my nails grow very quickly and are, comparatively speaking, quite strong and healthy. My only difficulty lies in food preparation, when I regularly slice the end of my nail when preparing dinner!

So my toenails and fingernails are looking very groomed and clean and beautiful right now, just in time for Christmas in July tomorrow night!

It is currently 9.30pm and I'm feeling quite weary after a few glasses of wine, so I think an early night is on the catrds so that I can make the most of tomorrow night (Christmas in July).

No other news, or photos or FB pics to share, but I hope to get some great pics tomorrow night of the Christmas in July function, so I'll share them here.

Meanwhile, I can't stop *yawning* and need to lie down.

Nite all.

Movie Mania

So Adoring Husband was keen to hire a new release movie on Foxtel today. It was called 'Project Almanac' and the IMDB site describes it like this ...

"As a group of friends discover plans for a time machine, they build it and use it to fix their problems and for personal gain. But as the future falls apart with disasters, and each of them disappear little by little, they must travel back to the past to make sure they never invent the machine or face the destruction of humanity."

Being the huge Sci-fi fan that he is, you can understand from that description, why he was keen to watch it.

After the movie, I found my way to the IMDB site and gave the movie a rating out of ten. The rating that I gave it was a big fat TWO out of ten. That was being generous. 

The acting was dreadful. The storyline has been done. The camera work made it difficult to watch (it was filmed as if one of the group of kids was hand holding a video camera throughout the entire film). The special effects were pretty sad. It was all very predictable.

So my recommendation is ... don't watch it.

I sacrificed starting my essay assignment so that I could share the movie experience with AH so my disappointment was palpable.

We watched another movie on one of the movie channels called 'Starter for 10' which starred Benedict Cumberbatch and James McAvoy. It wasn't a bad movie. Nothing spectacular but easy to watch.

The next movie I watched after AH left for an SES meeting. One of my all time favourites. 'Romy and Michele's High School Reunion'.

Now, as I write this, I am watching the movie 'Swordfish' starring John Travolta and Hugh Jackman.

I think I will be pretty much all movie'd (yes I just made up that word) out by the time I go to bed. Swordfish doesn't finish til 11.30pm, so I guess it will be another late night .. but at least this blog update will be posted early!

I started the day with a visit to The Motivator to deliver her share of something we ordered online and to deliver her early birthday present. It was just a small gift, but I also made the chocolate cake last night and put a single slice in a cake gift box with a candle sticky taped to it. I think she appreciated the gesture and seemed very pleased.

I bought her last two sand crabs while I was there.

Picking up the mail and buying my morning coffee was the next stop, before I headed home and made AH a big breakfast of bacon, eggs, garlic mushrooms and tomato which he ate while I munched away on my sand crabs.

We didn't have lunch, but for afternoon tea, we had a huge slice of that chocolate cake with strawberries and cream. YUM!

Because of AH's SES meeting, I prepared an early dinner. I cooked a bacon, ricotta, sundried tomato and spinach quiche in the cast iron frypan (because as you may remember, my oven is not working!). I thought my quiche was delicious, but AH didn't like it, so his dinner consisted mainly of a salad.

So my day has been all about the movies.

Tomorrow will be all about the essay assignment!

Nite all.

   

Another Done and Dusted

Another exam done and dusted today. Anatomy and Physiology 2. Easier and shorter than I expected.

Now I focus on an 800 word essay which is due in two weeks.

I'm not sure if I've shared this video before, but it makes me feel warm and fuzzy when I watch it. All dog lovers, animal lovers, baby lovers and lovers of children will love this video.



Here is another photo from our road trip.

I've only ever once found this type of bird in the wild before and it was too high in the tree to get a decent photo .. even this one was a distance away and the photo is not as sharp as I'd have liked, but the colour is pretty spectacular just the same.

The oven man did not appear to fix my oven today and I am not happy Jan! This means that I have at least another week until I can cook in my oven again. UGH!! If he doesn't turn up next week, I think I might be ready to give him a piece of my mind and find somebody else to fix it. By next week, it will be six weeks since my oven worked.

I'm off now to make a raw paleo chocolate cake, so that I can take a slice with a candle in it to The Motivator for her birthday tomorrow. Stoopid oven.

Here is the link to the recipe if you're interested.

Paleo Raw Chocolate Raspberry Cake

Nite all.

Marginally Productive

Today was productive, but not in the study sense.

Morning tea was enjoyable with six ladies turning up this morning. We missed Lady Lynn who was absent due to illness. I hope she's feeling much better and full of beans as she reads this before she starts her day.

After morning tea, I spent an hour trying to sort out my exam papers with AIAS. Thank goodness the papers have now been emailed to my exam supervisor and I can relax about that part.

I prepared Osso Bucco for the slow cooker so that I could head into The Bay with Adoring Husband and not have to worry about cooking when we returned.

We headed into town to restock some pantry items and while we were there, had lunch at Aquavue. They have a delicious gluten free Prawn, Mango and Macadamia Nut salad that I used to enjoy on a regular basis, so I ordered that with a coffee. It was delicious, as it always was.

Of course I had to practice some retail therapy while I was in town and I bought a top and some pyjamas. Adoring Husband contributed to my teapot collection, buying me a very large and colourful teapot in the shape of a chicken. It's spectacular!

 I thought my wine drinking friends might enjoy this little video...



... and these appealed to me ...

It's now midnight and I have an exam to sit early tomorrow. 

Nite all.

Followed Through

So I said I would have a fresh motivated start today.

And I did.

I not only woke up early, but also got out of bed early, showered, rode down to see the boys at the Seat of Knowledge, bought my coffee and came home to study. I put in six hours of solid study today, with one break when I pedalled to the Post Office to replenish printer paper stocks and another break to take a photograph.

The flickr challenge this month is 'Simplicity' and I had an idea in the middle of my studies, so I stopped for twenty minutes to take a couple of shots. I won't be using this one, but I had to try it.

So obviously there is nothing to write here .. I'm sure you're not interested in eyes, ears, taste and pain, which is what I studied today.

True to form, it's after midnight, so I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Weekend End

Well, it's the end of another weekend and I've been home from my holiday for over a week! How time flies.

There are three things that I have forgotten to do over the last week or more.

I was supposed to print out a photo that I took of a lady at the Village Voices fund raiser before I went on holidays, but forgot all about it.

I was supposed to deliver a photo to 'The Leggy Blonde' before I went on holidays and then wanted to do it last week, but didn't do it.

I was supposed to go to the Volunteer Fire Brigade shed on Wednesday just gone, to take photos of their new machinery .. and even though I put a reminder on my computer calendar, I didn't go into my laptop (unusually so) that day, so didn't get the reminder. I forgot about that too.

Honestly, I really have to get my act together. I have to get back into a routine and I have to make a 'to do' list each day, so that hopefully, I won't forget this stuff. I think the cold weather has sent my brain into hibernation.

Today, I got some study in and I also watched a dvd. I finished off the beef bone broth and did some washing. I did a little cooking .. nothing very delicious .. I feel like I've lost my kitchen mojo without my oven working. Hopefully the oven guy will turn up this Wednesday.

It's 10.30pm and I'm going to bed as soon as I sign off here.

Tomorrow morning, I'm going to wake up to a fresh start, a new routine and a more motivated me. I have an exam this week, so I need to be on my game!

No photos or videos or recipes to share today, so this is short and sweet.

Nite all.

It's all About the Food

This is definitely the coldest Winter that we have experienced since moving here seven years ago. The last few mornings have been 4C and 5C but felt much colder. Icy in fact! We've had cold mornings in the past, but never this many in a row.

The good news is that next week, we should be back to our usual Winter weather, which is cool, but sunshiny. Minimums of 11-13C are much more pleasurable and it's so much easier to get out of bed in the mornings.

This morning it was too cold to get out of bed, so Adoring Husband bought my take away coffee and delivered it to me so that I could stay in bed reading .. which I did until after 11am!! It was wonderful and I'd slept for a good ten hours last night, so it was a luscious way to start the day.

Adoring Husband was kind enough to invite me out for lunch, so we got all dressed up and headed into The Bay. There were plenty of choices, but we chose our favourite place, The Wild Lotus.

We selected a window seat and then proceeded to gorge ourselves on a three course meal! Well, actually, AH only had two courses, it was ME that had three!

I started with Lime and Black Pepper Crusted Calamari, followed by Slow Roasted Pork Belly and for dessert, which was incredibly decadent for us, Creme Brulee which was served with a side of vanilla ice cream and berry sauce! For someone who doesn't eat sugar anymore, that sugar hit sent me for a six!!

I was feeling so full for so long, that I couldn't even eat dinner tonight!

After lunch, we returned home just in time to watch the football. Three games today for Super Saturday and I got three out of three correct with my footy tipping.

I have spent the evening online, searching for shoes to go with Bubbles' dress that she's wearing to the engagement party.

This is a very dangerous thing .. me .. in a shoe shop .. online. Oh you should see some of those perfectly divine shoes. The colours. The bling. The different styles. Wedges. Stilettos. Kitten heels. Cone heels. Prism heels. Spool heels. Sling backs. Platforms. So many delicious designs.

It was difficult, but my shoe cupboard should not be expecting any new additions in the coming weeks. I showed incredible restraint. Believe it or not!

The clock is rapidly heading towards 1AM. This is what happens when I sleep for ten hours! I think I hear my pillow calling my name, so I'm off.

Before I go, I watched this amazing short video (ten minutes) today that I thought some of you would appreciate. Truly amazing and miraculous.



Oh and a couple of photos from the road trip!! The first is a Katoomba Kookaburra and the second is 'The Drip Gorge' near Mudgee.

Nite all.

Social Butterfly

I was awake before 6am this morning, and through the window, from my bed, I saw the most beautiful pink sky as the sun rose.

Did I take the opportunity to race down to the river or the beach with my camera to capture the beauty of this sunrise?

Nooooooooo!

It was dang cold this morning! I was not getting out from under that warm doona for any reason!

I didn't even get up early enough to meet my boys at the Seat of Knowledge. Instead, I enjoyed another long leisurely morning of delicious toastiness under my doona, reading.

I finally decided to rise some time after 8.30am and then took half an hour to find clothes warm enough to wear outside! I just don't possess warm clothes anymore!

Since we moved here, we've only had one Winter cold enough for me to wear a jacket, and that weather only lasted for about a week, so I discarded most of my Winter clothes. Today, I regretted that decision.

As I began my ride to the shops, 'Woman of Many Talents' drove toward me and stopped her car for a quick chat. We quickly arranged for her to drop in at my house for a catch up and a drink or two this afternoon, and then I rode on to the shops, bought my morning coffee and checked the post box for mail. I was returning home and noticed that 'The Motivator' had the sign up for selling sand crabs, so I stopped at her house with the intention of buying some crabs.

She invited me inside and there went two hours! It was almost 11.30am when I got home. I enjoy her company very much and she makes a lot of sense out of my .. what I like to call .. quirky personality traits.

So, two hours and five sand crabs later, I returned home fully intending to study. You know how my life is full of good intentions. Yes you do.

I stood at my sink and ate four of the five crabs.

I sat down on the couch and watched the movie 'Something New' starring Simon Baker.

I prepared some carrot sticks and guacamole for my drinking buddy and then spent 2.5 hours drinking and chatting and analysing and reminiscing and laughing with 'Woman of Many Talents'.

After she left, I had to mix up and package 6kgs of dog food.

Adoring Husband arrived home from Fraser Island at about 8pm and all he got for dinner at that hour was a mug of chicken broth.

I have a few photos from the road trip to share ...

... and of course, it is well after midnight, so I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

I Did It

I finally looked at the holiday pics and have a couple to share here. The first photo is of BGWLBH taking photos of 'The Drip'. I have more pics of The Drip to come, at a later date. The second photo, I can't even remember where it was on the road, but BGWLBH and I were in the middle of a conversation, when I yelled "STOP THE CAR!" We obviously disturbed the mob because I barely got a shot before they all hopped away in the opposite direction.

I studied hard today and learnt about the brain and memory and the eyes and ears.

The oven man didn't come and fix my oven, so now I have to wait another week before I can use my oven. UGH!!

And that's all from me tonight.

Nite all.

Improving

I'm happy to announce that Dad W's health has improved enough that he is delegating his chores. I tell you, he won't go down without a fight!!

... and WOOPS!! I still haven't looked at my photos from the trip.

I had a great morning tea with a bigger group of ladies than usual, this morning. There were eight of us, which is fantastic, but with so many of us away lately, it was difficult to catch up on everyone's news and holiday/weekend/caravanning/road trip stories.

So many interesting stories to listen to and so little time to do it.

Meanwhile, this was advertised by the FROG people that we order our organic fruit and veg from and it looks like something some of us might enjoy.

Retreat (<- click here for more info)

OR .. there is this one .. Heartland.

that Vegan Chickie experienced recently, and highly recommends, though I feel it is a little more 'rustic' than 'luxury', so it all depends on what you're looking for.

... and some quotes and pics from facebook that I liked today.

I'm happily enjoying the new season of Winners and Losers right now and tomorrow I plan on a solid day of study, which means that I need to sleep very soon.

Nite all.

Cooling Off

I woke early this morning, but decided it was too cosy in bed to be getting up and heading out into the very cool windy morning, so I stayed there until after 9am! How good is my life?

So I missed my boys at the Seat of Knowledge, but the parcel of 'stuff that wouldn't fit in my suitcase', that I sent myself from Sydney, arrived today! I was hoping that I accidentally packed my sunglasses in the box, but they weren't there. Three new handbags were though, so that soothed my disappointment :)

I stopped to chat with Sam at the caravan park. Sam and his wife, Mika, are from South Australia and have been coming to our town every Winter for about 13 years. They celebrated their 57th wedding anniversary a few days ago. He told me that most people respond to that information with "Oh poor Mika!"

Sam and I call out to each other every morning when I ride past his caravan with my coffee. He's a really nice old bloke and his wife is lovely too.

I've had the entire day to myself because Adoring Husband had SES duties all day and was out of town for various meetings.

I did absolutely nothing productive all day. Minimal study. Minimal housework. Minimal cooking.

I have just realised that I haven't looked at any of my photos from the road trip yet! Must have a quick look at them tomorrow and see if there are any worth sharing here. I really didn't take as many photos this trip. I usually see the entire trip through the lens, but I actually 'lived' most of the road trip this time round and didn't take the camera out of the bag very often at all. I think, also, that it was too bloody cold to think about photos!!

I'm looking forward to morning tea with my girls tomorrow and Maid Marian is home from her couple of months caravaning, so she should have some stories to tell.

Off to bed for me. I'm exhausted from doing nothing!

Nite all.

The News

I haven't made this yet because my oven died just before I went on the road trip and it's not fixed yet, but I reckon it will be the first thing I make once it's fixed! In the meantime, feel free to try it yourself.



I had a good morning catching up with The Motivator today and spent about 2 hours with her talking about health, holidays, parents, men and friends, among other things. We had some good giggles, until finally I purchased some freshly cooked crabs from her and made my way home to start studying.

I have two weeks to study 8 weeks worth of Physiology and Anatomy before I sit another exam. I still haven't received the results from my last exam!

Sadly, I received a phone call from BGWLBH about her Dad (Dad W) who is very very ill. I know that he is one of my regular readers of this blog and I think of him often when I write my updates.  I feel really low and distracted by this news, so I put my study on hold for the day.

He is a very strong man who has faced and survived many serious health problems over the years - the last 15 years in particular and I so want to believe that he will be strong enough to make that happen this time too.

It's a rough time for the family and I wish I could be there now to help somehow, but if the worst happens, I'll be there as quick as I can make it.

My thoughts and prayers and love go across the miles.

My apologies to BGWLBH who wanted to hear the voice of reason and sanity and strength .. I just had to put this out there.

Nite all.

The Holiday is Over

My plane landed in The Bay around midday yesterday and after stopping by their SES shed so that Adoring Husband could conduct a quick (but unsuccessful) search for his reading glasses, I was home and unpacking by about 1.30pm.

It was a long day.

At the motel in Sydney, because I had to be up and packed and ready to leave at 7am, I set my alarm for 6am. My brain, however, decided that 3am would be a good time to wake up .. and stay awake. I looked at my watch every half an hour, hoping that perhaps I'd fallen asleep for a couple of hours, but alas .. not.

At 5.30am, I finally gave up and got out of bed, heading for the shower.

I attempted to pack, but of course, despite the fact that I had already sent two big boxes of stuff in the mail (one to myself and one to Chicklet) I still had too much stuff and I had to fill a plastic bag to give to Bubbles to send in the mail for me on Monday! Good grief!

Also .. I couldn't find my sunglasses. They are prescription sunglasses and I couldn't find them anywhere. They MAY be in one of the boxes that I sent in the mail, but that's a long shot. I can't remember the last time I had them, but I know I had them in Sydney. So it seems that I need to order myself a new pair of prescription sunglasses. *sigh* I ALMOST got through the entire holiday without permanently losing anything!

Knight in Shining Armour WAS my Knight in Shining Armour and arrived fifteen minutes early to take me to the airport.

This was a big deal for me for two reasons. The first being that he has a medical condition that sometimes knocks him flat and he needs more sleep than the rest of us. The second is that we would be driving in peak hour traffic and it could possibly take 90 minutes or more to travel what would normally be a 40 minute trip just one way. He would then have to return through the same traffic.

BGWLBH and I said our goodbyes - they are always fast and furious goodbyes because we don't like to get emotional. Long lingering sad goodbyes are just not us and we avoid them like the plague .. doesn't matter how sad we feel, we will deny it and remain brave and strong!

The drive to the airport was a smooth run. I think we encountered two red lights and they were the only times we had to stop. We kept looking at each other in astonishment and shaking our heads in disbelief and it only took 35 minutes to reach our destination!

He had a reasonable run home too, so it was our lucky day on Sydney roads!

I checked my luggage in and collected my boarding pass and attempted to get through the security gates, but the lady scanning the hand luggage decided that the keys in my camera bag, and my camera with two lenses was suspicious looking, so a very polite gentleman donned some scary looking gloves and took me and my hand luggage aside to investigate further.

He inspected my keys carefully, suitably admired my camera and then politely dismissed me.

I found a nice little 'cafeteria come bar', sat in a quiet corner, ordered bacon, eggs and coffee for breakfast, then took a leisurely hour to eat and drink while catching up with emails and facebook on my iPad.

It was a very enjoyable way to waste some airport time.

We boarded our flight at 9.50am and immediately the captain told us that the weather in The Bay was not very pleasant and although he expected we would arrive on time, we may not be able to land immediately. Being the nervous flyer that I am (though not as nervous as Adoring Husband), this news made me feel incredibly uncomfortable, as I'm sure you can imagine!

The flight was uneventful, in fact, it was very smooth and very comfortable .. I slept for the entirety of it .. but as we flew over The Sunshine Coast, the captain announced "We are about to begin our decent into The Bay, but the weather has not improved and there is a strong wind and heavy rain, so please don't be concerned if we have to make more than one attempt to land".

Immediately I felt concerned!

I took some deep breaths, placed my hands firmly on the arm rests and closed my eyes. In my mind, the voices repeated "Everything will be fine".

We descended through very heavy low cloud and it got a little bit bumpy, but then I could see land clearly and the pilot landed the plane very easily and very smoothly. I checked out the wind socks on the poles and they were limp. There were a few puddles on the tarmac, but it wasn't raining and looked like it had been a while since it had rained. I questioned my pilot's sanity and wondered if he was just playing with us. I think my pilot had a sick sense of humour. I wish I could have met my pilot face to face so that I could pour water over his head!

Adoring Husband's smiling face was there to greet me and it was great to feel his arms wrap around me to welcome me home.

It was Friday yesterday, so I got to dress up and go to the club and catch up with friends and drink wine. It seems a lot of us are, or have been, away recently so our numbers are somewhat diminished for the moment.

This morning I pedalled down to the Seat of Knowledge and caught up with a couple of my boys, then on to have my morning coffee, which I threw in the rubbish bin because one of the young girls made it and it was weak and uninspiring.

My next stop was the markets where I made a few purchases to support our local crafty ladies and also our local growers.

One more stop before heading home, was to buy a gift for BGWLBH to commemorate our holiday. I was going to buy it before our trip, but something happened to distract me (it doesn't take much these days) but I think that happened for a reason, because there were comments made during the road trip that makes the gift just a bit more appropriate. I think she will love and appreciate the gift very much.

Finally, Adoring Husband and I went on a lunch date today at Wild Lotus, which was just lovely, as always. A little bit of shopping, some new shoes, some jewellery and some food and the date was complete!

We came home and watched some footy (my team won!)

All is right with my world and once again, it is after midnight!

Nite all.    

Model Material

I met Bubbles this morning for a shopping trip.

She is attending a formal engagement party in Brisbane next month and needed a dress for the occasion, so for her birthday (which is in a couple of weeks) I bought her some new clothes, including a beautiful purple and black ombre maxi dress.

We spent two hours in a shop called 'City Chic' which caters to plus size young women. Bubbles fit perfectly into the 'extra small' sizes of their fashions and looked amazing in their outfits. She stayed in the fitting room trying on about 25 different outfits, while the salesperson waited on her hand and foot.

We bought 2 dresses, a bolero, 2 tops, a pair of black jeggings, a beautiful blingy belt to go with the purple dress and two bras. She was beaming from ear to ear when we left the shop carrying two full bags of clothes.

I must say that when she tried on the purple dress and opened the curtain with that huge smile on her face, it brought a tear to my eye. It was almost like a 'wedding dress moment'. She will look amazing for the engagement party.

Unfortunately, she had to leave for work at lunch time, but that gave me a couple of hours to shop for myself.

I found a black boot which had been marked down by 50% and then had a further 50% markdown on top of that! The saleswoman, however, couldn't find the other boot! So I created a drama filled moment in my silly kind of way and walked off pouting .. a few moments later, she came up to me and said "There are other shoes missing their partner and I think they may have been taken for shop displays, so if you wait around, I will go searching and hopefully I'll find the other boot for you."

Sure enough, twenty minutes later, she appeared with the other boot! So I got a fabulous pair of black leather ankle boots which had been marked down from $260 to $130 and then down to $65. Ya gotta be happy with that!!

I found some nice jewellery in the 'Tree of Life' store, a couple of tops in a shop having a 50% off sale, another handbag and a few other odds and ends.

This afternoon, I had to find a post office to send off a box of goodies for the Chicklet family and a box of goodies to myself because they wouldn't all fit in my suitcase!

BGWLBH and I caught a taxi to the Sharkies Club this afternoon. She had coffee. I had wine. Things sure have changed there since we moved from Sydney and there is so much construction and work happening, I hardly recognised the place. We might have a decent motel to stay in next time we come to Sydney!

Soon after that, we headed back to the Miranda RSL for dinner. The meals are delicious there at a great price, which you can probably tell because we've eaten there three times this visit!

That's about it for our day.

Tomorrow we go our separate ways and head home back to reality.

I know I've said it before, but it's been a fantastic holiday. I've enjoyed every minute of it (oh except for those two dodgy rooms that we stayed at in Coffs Harbour) and am so glad that I decided to do it. I came so close to deciding NOT to go this year and now we are already planning the next one.

Now, we need to sleep because we both have a very early start tomorrow.

Nite all.

The Big Smoke

Well, here we are in Sydney.

Two more sleeps and I will be home in my own bed .. I must say that I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed!

It seemed like a very long drive today. Five hours on the freeway is long and boring. Our trips prior to this have been on the back roads which are much more interesting than long straight freeways. Today felt like it was never ending.

I have to mention a lovely little cafe named Rosie's, at John's River. We were in need of a coffee and there was a sign on the freeway between Port Macquarie and Taree promoting Rosie's, so we took the turn off and BGWLBH ordered her coffee while I checked out the gift shop.  I didn't buy anything, but BGWLBH LOVED her coffee so much, she told me to mention it here in the blog.

After the long freeway trip, we were very grateful for google maps getting us through Sydney today .. made it so much easier .. and we were lucky with all the traffic lights and barely stopped for the entire trip from one end of Sydney to the other.

It was a huge relief to finally pull into the carpark of the Metro and after we checked in ... guess what we did?  YES!! We shopped some more.

We met Bubbles at the Miranda RSL and had dinner there. I had the veal scallopini this time round and it was delicious. I probably had one too many wines and I think that I'll sleep soundly tonight.

We're a bit sad that the road trip has come to an end, but excited about shopping til we drop tomorrow.

BGWLBH and I both agree that this has been the best road trip yet. Thoroughly enjoyable from beginning to end. We are also exhausted! My food options have not always been favourable and I think I've gained a couple of kgs so I'm looking forward to some healthy, organic meal options and some bone broth, which I've missed a lot.

Meanwhile, I need some sleep tonight.

Nite all.

Moving On

It got worse.

The bathroom and shower had mould, the air conditioner barely worked and the cabin was like an ice box all night. The bedding didn't make up for the lack of warmth and we both had dreadful nights sleep. One of the front windows was actually broken ... somebody had obviously tried to break in at some point and bent the frame of the window, which meant it couldn't close properly. We went out for dinner, leaving thousands of dollars worth of camera equipment in the room, not to mention jewellery and other valuables and anyone could have climbed in the window and taken it all.

We both rose with the sun ... it was the longest night ever, and we couldn't wait to get out of the place.

I'll be sending them an email when I get home and I'll be putting an unfavourable review on the website.

We decided to head out to Coffs Harbour Yacht Club for breakfast. It was a beautiful sunny morning so we sat out on the deck and enjoyed bacon and eggs and tea and coffee in the sun.

We were excited to get out of Coffs after our two disappointing accommodation experiences, so we quickly headed towards our next destination .. Port Macquarie .. where last night, I booked us a room at Rydges.

We stayed at Rydges a couple of years ago, when Adoring Husband booked it for us on a return trip to Griffith, so we knew it was going to be warm, clean, comfortable and a little bit luxurious, with a great restaurant and close to shopping and clubs.

We arrived early, but our room was ready, so after a quick (and delicious) lunch in a little cafe, we checked in earlier than expected and went on a shopping spree. More jewellery for me .. because you can never have too much jewellery .. remembering that I threw away an entire shopping bad of old jewellery before I came on holidays! Also, it's the only thing that I can fit in my suitcase to take home!!

There were food markets across the road from our motel this afternoon. I wished that we had a kitchen in our room and that we were staying for a couple of days, so that I could buy food and do some cooking. Beautiful fresh fruit and veg. We bought some freshly squeezed orange juice, which was AMAZING.

It was time to freshen up and head out for some more fun.

The Bowls Club entertained us for about an hour and then we decided to come back to the motel for dinner in the restaurant. It turned out to be an excellent decision because there were a couple of singer/musicians in the corner entertaining quite a big crowd in the bar/restaurant.

It's quite chilly tonight and it had been raining when we left the club, so the fireplace in the restaurant was very warm and welcoming.

The very friendly barman, Ryan, recommended a nice wine for me and BGWLBH enjoyed a Sangria while we waited for our dinner. I ordered a quinoa, beetroot and rocket salad with prawns, while BGWLBH had steak and vegetables with peppercorn sauce.

The atmosphere in the restaurant was very happy and relaxing and the music was from our generation with some Paul Kelly thrown in for good measure.

We were back in our room before 8pm and spent half an hour watching the previews for movies that we haven't seen yet and making a list to watch them when we get home.

I'm hoping for a nice sunrise tomorrow. There is a little cloud about, so with any luck, it could be pretty.

As I write this, I'm sitting up in my comfortable double bed watching an old movie on TV, but I think it will be an early night for both of us, considering our last two nights of broken, uncomfortable sleep. Got to catch up on some shut eye!

Nite all.

  

Ranting Time

We've had a good run, so I shouldn't complain really... BUT ... today is day ten of our road trip and until now, our accommodation in every town has met, or exceeded our expectations. 98% of our meals have been above average and the holiday has been exceptional.

Coffs Harbour, on the other hand, has been pretty dismal. We left the last motel because it was dingy and old and uncomfortable. They tried to charge us $18 a head for breakfast, of which we took one mouthful and walked out of the restaurant refusing to pay. Powdered egg, tough slimy bacon, rock hard stale sausages, soggy hash browns and coffee out of a crappy little machine. $160 per night. Not worth it.

So we got online and spent an hour searching for other accommodation - short notice in school holiday time, difficult I know, but we found this resort room for $190 per night and figured that it had to be a step up from the last place.

Well, the roof gutters are falling down, the front porch is covered in dirt and dead leaves, the walls inside are patched but not finished, half of the power points don't work, we can't get free to air TV (I wanted to watch Kyrgios tonight) and minimal foxtel channels, the windows are filthy, the fly screen in the toilet is covered in dirt and mould, the toilet doesn't flush properly, there is no phone in the unit and it just cost us $16 to do two loads of washing.

Glad to be moving on tomorrow and hopefully will find something better in Port Macquarie, or wherever we decide to stop.

At the last motel, we did meet a lovely couple who are travelling around in a mini van. They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in February and the woman turned 70 years of age today! Her husband shouted her a night in the motel for her birthday. We've met some really nice people in our travels.

After abandoning our breakfast, we found a nice cafe and bought a take away coffee, then spent the morning shopping. I bought a beautiful tree pendant with amber stones mimicking fruit. I also found some t-shirts that I've been searching the world over for the Bare-chested Chef, so I grabbed a couple of them while I had the chance.

We found our way to the big shopping plaza and discovered a great little cafe (wish I could remember the name of it) that served up the most delicious chicken salad I've ever tasted. I then spoiled myself and bought a piece of gf orange and almond cake, which was very nice, but I couldn't eat it all.

While we ate lunch, we searched online for our accommodation - I took my laptop into the cafe with me. There wasn't a lot on offer obviously. Aside from it being school holidays, there is a big soccer tournament on in town, so that doesn't help. We have about 30 soccer kids accommodated in the units beside us. They've been pretty quiet though. I imagine they would all be exhausted from playing sports all day!

The weather here is significantly warmer than Armidale! The maximum in Armidale was 12C. The maximum here today was 24C. Beautiful.

Anyway, I'm off to sulk in my bedroom since I can't watch the Kyrgios tennis match tonight.

Nite all.

Discombobulation

What a ridiculous start to the day!!

We didn't start early, because it was a very cold and foggy morning and knowing that we would be driving up the mountain to Dorrigo, we decided to delay our departure until there was a good chance that the fog would lift.

Last time we drove to Dorrigo, we turned a corner and drove into thick fog with misty rain and we were terrified for the entire trip, with a semitrailer right on our tail and BGWLBH alternating between praying to god and apologising profusely to the truck driver behind us.

So we took our time getting ready and packing the car. Once we were ready to go, I went to grab the cabin key from my bag to lodge at reception and I couldn't find it! I emptied my handbag with no success. Checked the pockets of the coat that I wore last night, checked under the car seat, double checked the cabin, looked in my computer bag ... and meanwhile, BGWLBH was checking through the car and in her handbag, on the off chance that she grabbed it by mistake. Nothing.

I decided to get my suitcase out of the boot and take it back into the cabin to empty it out. FINALLY, I found it in the most obvious spot .. in my jewellery travel bag .. where all shiny sparkly things should be!

We packed everything back into the car and I climbed into the passenger seat and said "Where are my sunglasses?"

We looked at each other and BGWLBH rolled her eyes.

I emptied my bag, with no success, checked the floor of the car and in the door pocket. Checked the glove box. Looked in my toiletries bag and a couple of other bags in the boot. BGWLBH said "Go empty your suitcase again". I replied with .. "It won't be there, I just looked there for the keys! I probably left them at the Club last night."

So I dragged my suitcase out of the car again and took it into the cabin to empty it out. Halfway through the 'emptying out' process, I found the damned things in the middle of my clothes!

Luckily, we were in no hurry and we both had a good giggle about it .. I will never live it down and BGWLBH will have something to tease me and laugh about for years to come!

We had to fuel up the car, so we drove back into Armidale and then on to the shopping mall where we had bacon and eggs at The Coffee Club and did a little shopping for necessities. It was about 11.30am before we finally made it onto the open road.

On the drive, we saw a signpost for the town of Wollomombi and decided to turn in to check it out. We recognised it immediately because we had bought the worst coffee in the history of the universe at the little shop (which is now a post office) on the main street last time we were there. Our memories were obviously struggling this morning.

So on we drove to the next stop, which was Ebor. We've been to Ebor twice before. Ebor Falls are quite spectacular, but we didn't go there today. We stopped at the little coffee shop called 'Fusspots' and BGWLBH got herself a Mocha. She also spotted a very appropriate sign that said "I finally got it all together and now I can't remember where I put it!"

Dorrigo was our next stop. We had a bathroom break and went for a stroll around the town. There was a lovely little boutique where I bought a vest and another gift shop where BGWLBH spent some money.

We noticed a sign for 'Dangar Falls' so we decided to head in that direction and found another beautiful waterfall very close to the town. We also noticed that the closer we got to the coast, the more tourists were about. Lots of kids and noise. Not our idea of a fun holiday.

So on we went.

We didn't get very far on the other side of Dorrigo when we saw a sign for Dorrigo National Park with a skywalk lookout and decided to go for a sticky beak there. Soooooo many people and kids! We checked out the skywalk .. well I did .. BGWLBH is terrified of heights. We started off on the walk through the rainforest hoping to spot some birds, but there were kids running and jumping and making a hell of racket, so we decided to turn back and have lunch at the restaurant near the skywalk instead.

BGWLBH had a pulled chicken toasted sandwich with gf bread and I had a giant bowl of Chicken and Corn Chowder. It was the biggest bowl of soup I've ever seen and as yummy as it was, I could only eat half of it. The gf sourdough toast that came with it was pretty disgusting though.

I should mention that we decided overnight, not to go to Kempsey today, because the accommodation looked very unsavoury and a quick post on facebook brought us enough negative comments warning us not to go there.

We chose Coffs Harbour instead.

We drove through to Bellingen and discovered a beautiful little coffee shop on the edge of town nestled in the side of the mountain. An old style home converted into a coffee shop/cafe. There were people sitting at tables out the front playing chess .. it looked to be a couple of elderly gentlemen playing chess with some young teenagers and a young man.

We walked through the shop to the side doors and stepped out onto a verandah where we chose a table and then ordered a wine for me (it was after 3pm) and another mocha for BGWLBH. I set my laptop up on the table and searched for accommodation in Coffs Harbour and booked a room online. The view from the back of the cafe was breathtaking with green fields, the huge trees lining the river and then the rolling hills in the background.

We could hear entertainment up the road. It sounded like fiddles and banjoes and crowds of people yelling for more. Such a great atmosphere.

When we hit the road again and drove through the main street of Bellingen, it was obvious that there had been markets on all day and they were packing up. There were lots of hippies and colourful people with dreadlocks and musical instruments and a crazy big colourful double decker bus with music blaring and the driver obviously bopping along as he drove.

I felt a little disappointed that we missed it all, but we certainly drove through a very happy atmosphere and Bellingen is obviously the place to be on the weekends!

Finally we made it to Coffs Harbour and were excited to see that our Motel had a lovely restaurant with a great menu and we planned on eating 'in' until we realised that it is closed on Sundays. Of course it was!

Luckily, I had overheard the receptionist telling a guest that the Coff's Exies had a courtesy bus that picked people up from our motel, so we booked the bus and headed to the Club for dinner instead. It was a beautiful club with a big friendly smiling man at the front door to welcome guests as they entered. He did all the hard work with the computer sign in for us and explained where everything was in the club.

The staff were all very friendly and helpful. The club was huge and looked almost brand new. There was a little coffee shop area and then the bistro which had it's own bar. The meals were huge and the food delicious and we had a thoroughly enjoyable time for a couple of hours until the courtesy bus brought us home when we were ready.

It's been a long, eventful, interesting and fun day.

Time for sleep.

Nite all.