Lady's Lunch

Another successful lady's luncheon today. We did miss quite a few ladies (Lady Lynn, Mardi, Beauty, Long Legged Blond and a couple of others) who were absent, but still managed to gather 18 of us together at the marina.

There was lots of laughter and sometimes the restaurant sounded like a henhouse, there was so much cackling going on!

One serious complaint about the food (no .. NOT Reality TV Queen .. hers was the usual 'minor' complaint), so the majority of us were more than happy with the meals, and our server was warm and friendly, which added to the day.

Most of us walked to the Boat Club afterwards.  I'd had a nice win on the pokies before lunch, so when I paid for my lunch, I secretly paid for everyone's drinks. Karma was kind and I won the drink money back after lunch!

It was nice to catch up with everyone.

I arrived home to the sound of loud talking and laughter coming from one of our neighbours' houses, so I placed my little ladder against the fence, climbed up high enough to see over the top and yelled at them to be quiet!

There was a short silence, until they realised it was me and they all yelled back, inviting me over to share the fun. So I poured myself a wine and got Adoring Husband to drop me off on his way to buy coffee.

It was another neighbour's birthday and Long Legged Blond had baked up a storm and invited the immediate neighbours over for afternoon tea. It was an impressive spread!

After about an hour, we all dispersed and headed back to our respective homes.

It's been a very pleasant day of socialising, as was yesterday, and tomorrow, Adoring Husband and I plan on spending the day together. We are going to see the movie 'Dirty Grandpa' with Robert De Niro and Zac Efron.

So it's good night from me!

Nite all.  

Aussie Aussie Aussie!

Oi Oi Oi

Happy Australia Day!

So, I found this little video on gut flora very interesting. It only goes for about 9 minutes and worth watching.



It's something that the Paleo way of eating focuses quite strongly on. Bone broths, fermented vegetables like sauerkraut, kimchi and some relishes and pickles, kombucha tea, coconut yoghurt and coconut kefir, as well as good quality probiotics.

All of that, combined with organic fruit and vegetables and grass fed proteins go a long way to healing your gut and keeping it's health strong, which in turn, means that your body's immune system is strong enough to fight diseases and illness.

It also builds a strong, energetic body that can maintain good muscle tone and strength and can repair itself rapidly after prolonged physical activity such as marathons, 2 hour football matches, 4 hour tennis matches etc. A good example of how effective this way of eating is, can be seen in this list of elite athletes who follow the paleo lifestyle:

• Novak Djokovic - world number one tennis player for 4 out of the last 5 years. He finally broke through to number one, the year that he changed to Paleo.
• Gary Ablett Jr - AFL player. Two Brownlow medals and two Premierships.
• Melbourne AFL football team.
• Wests Tigers and Roosters NRL football teams.
• James LeBron and Kobe Bryant - champion professional basketballers in the NBA. 
• Kelly Slater - 2011 World Championship surfer.
• Eva Twardokens - Olympic Skier.
• Phil Mickelson - golfer with too many achievements to list here.
• Frank Mir - two time heavyweight boxing champion.

It shows that it's a sustainable and healthy way of eating for all walks of life.

As you read my post, we are remembering this day three years ago when our town was damaged by a tornado that whipped a path of destruction from one end to the other. You can read my post from 30th January 2013, which was the first date after the event that I had internet access long enough to post, HERE.

I spent THIS Australia Day at the Boat Club with Reality TV Queen and Suzy's Mum, whose name was drawn out to compete in a 'damper' making competition, which she did not win. There were crab races for which the winner won a carton of beer AND their mud crab (which was cooked for them after the race). There was also live music that had everybody (except me) up dancing on the dance floor.

We had lunch before all of that fun started and it was a good day.

The lady's luncheon is tomorrow, so I need to sleep now.

Nite all.

What Day is it?

Sometimes the days run into each other and I have no idea what day it actually is. For example, yesterday (which was Sunday), I was sure it was Saturday. I even missed watching the Lleyton Hewitt doubles match because of it!

I also missed a friend's birthday. Ugh!

So I visited her this afternoon, enjoyed a beverage with her and The Speckled Hen and gave her the gift that I so carefully chose a month ago so that she might feel loved on her special day... instead, she felt loved 24 hours later!

It's been hot and steamy all day. Even the Seat of Knowledge was not pleasant this morning. We can usually rely on a nice sea breeze down there, but at 8am today, it was just as steamy down there as everywhere else.

Storms built up during the afternoon and there was thunder rolling in the sky, but unfortunately nothing eventuated and it is still hot and steamy at 11.30pm. There are scattered storms showing on the BOM, but they are all moving around us and obviously NOT cooling things down.

The edge of a storm skimmed Blackwater and blew down a tree in my sister's front yard. The picture on the BOM showed the storm with a big black centre. Those kinds of storms never end well! Thank goodness it skimmed the town and it wasn't a direct hit.

Sadly, all of the Aussies are out of the Australian Open Tennis Championships, so my interest has slightly waned.

It's way past midnight and before I sign off, I have one photo from our road trip to share. This was taken with my phone and is a little spot outside of Woodenbong.

Nite all.

A Better Day

I've had a much better day today.

I spent the first half of it in bed! I had a take-away coffee, bought yesterday, in the fridge, so I heated it up and climbed back into bed with my 'Create Your Shining Year in Life' workbook, my reading glasses, a couple of pens and started at the beginning (almost always the best place to start).

I got to page 112 of 160,  when Adoring Husband walked into the bedroom and congratulated me for reaching one minute past midday still in bed! That was a shock!

The workbook has a lot of activities and a lot of lists for me to formulate, including '100 Things to do in 2016'. It also asks what I want to stop doing to my body, what I want to continue doing to my body and what new things I want to do. It asks me to talk about all of my relationships.

It asks me about financial goals, travel plans, releasing negative rituals and building new positive ones. What I should celebrate about myself, self care and pampering, setting goals and steps I can take to reach them.

It includes affirmations and dream boards and retreat planning and provides lists of books to read for whichever area of my life that I want to improve or change.

I have a wall chart which is a daily planner, so that I can create a schedule, plan my days, manage my time and get organised ... all of which I don't currently do, but want to ... not in a strict sense, but to help me get stuff done. I'm hoping it will knock that evil 'procrastination' on the head and help me NIKE (just do it).

Here's a question for you. You will either already know the answer, or you will WANT to know the answer!! I believe that most of you, who read my blog are one of these...

A LIBROCUBICULARIST (Lady Lynn, you are probably being one right now!)

You will find the definition at the end of this post.

Does anybody else in town have a problem with ants at the moment? We have ants everywhere! In the kitchen, in the bathrooms, in our bedroom and they don't seem to be heading anywhere in particular. They are not eating any food in the pantry, just creating long lines as they march across walls and bench tops and through drawers. They've been doing it for a couple of months now.

I sprayed peppermint water in their path and they didn't like that, but they only disappeared for a couple of days and then they returned.

I found this recipe which I'm going to try tomorrow ...

One empty water bottle, cut down to about 5cm tall
5 T Baking soda
5 T Powdered sugar (I assume that means icing sugar)
3 T Water

Mix it all together and place some in the bottom of the water bottles. Position them near the ant trails and the sugar will attract them. The mixture will eliminate them.

I'll let you know how successful it is.

I experienced some symptoms of PTSD when a very nasty storm skimmed past us this afternoon. We only took the edge of it, but for a brief time there was heavy rain, strong winds and LOTS of loud rolling thunder. It certainly raised my heart rate and I was shallow breathing when the power failed and the anxiety kicked in - although the look on Adoring Husband's face was equally anxious!

Thank goodness we didn't cop the full force of it. I was planning the dive into the wardrobe with all of my electronic devices!

Well, the tennis has now finished for the evening and again, it is rapidly approaching midnight. Time for bed.

Nite all.

 PS LUBROCUBICULARIST - A person who reads in bed!

Flat and Sad

I have been feeling a bit flat and sad today, and I don't know why.

I slept poorly last night and had a couple of dreams about floods. I looked up 'dreaming about floods' and found this ... "If the flood was gentle and the water clear, you will soon see an end to all the worries that have been plaguing you about a certain matter."

So I guess that's a good thing. If the flood waters had washed me away or was torrential and muddy, my dream would have meant something completely different.

Poor Adoring Husband doesn't know what to do with himself with the tennis on all day. He usually has full control of the TV remote, but twice a year, during the Australian Open and Wimbledon, (and sometimes the US Open) I am the boss of the TV! The US and French Open don't thrill me as much, unless there is an Aussie doing incredibly well.

Tonight, he headed to bed before 8pm and now I am sitting on the couch, with the dogs on the 'storm chair', because we had some threatening weather earlier, waiting for the match with two Aussies.

Bernard Tomic plays John Millman. I think the winner of this match has to play Andy Murray in the next round and I don't hold out much hope of an Aussie win there. Andy Murray has been playing too well lately.

I hope John Millman wins tonight.

Thought I might add a little reading matter about our health. I've always thought that I needed a lithe and supple body to be able to practise yoga, but yoga moves can be modified and adapted to suit everyone's capabilities. I found this interesting Yoga shown to boost brain power in older adults. I know that my brain power could use some boosting!

I found these videos on youtube. Nice gentle yoga for beginners and seniors (60+). I've watched both of them, but haven't tried them yet myself. They look pretty basic and not at all painful.

Third Age Yoga for Seniors - episode 1 of 2

Third Age Yoga for Seniors - episode 2 of 2

I always like how I feel after 20 minutes of yoga, but I've never been able to get into a regular habit with it. I might try and make that one of my goals this year. I'll add it to my 'life workbook' and my 'shining year calendar'.

Anyway, here I am still writing and the tennis match I've been waiting for, is half over! John Millman needs my support!

Nite all.

Ending The Week

I had a lovely morning catching up with The Motivator.

I had a lovely evening catching up with the Bowls Club poker machines and my wonderful friends at the Bowls Club.

I am enjoying the end of the day watching Nick Kyrgios play in the Australian Open. He lost the first two sets but is playing like a champion now, having won the third set and I feel like he is in control in the fourth set.

I am also feeling very weary and I don't think I can stay awake for the end of the match.

Daria Gavrilova, aka Dasher, won her match in three sets .. very happy with that outcome.

I can't stop yawning, so I'm off to bed to get a good night of sleep (it's 10pm).

Sorry, I have nothing to share to make this post more interesting. I may have pictures of pictures that Chicklet has been working on, tomorrow evening. Maybe.

Nite all.

Just a Bit

So I did 'just a bit' of housework today.

I cleaned out the fridge. I cleaned one toilet. I did three loads of washing. I cooked one meal.

I stopped when the tennis started on TV. Tennis will always win over housework. Come to think of it, just about everything will win over housework.

Vegan Chickie and Chicklet phoned me today and it was nice to catch up with their news. It seems that Chicklet's new favourite person is Aunty BGWLBH. Sideways swinging and funny words have become the foundation for a beautiful friendship! I think that's lovely :)

We farewelled Lleyton Hewitt from the tennis circuit tonight when he was soundly beaten in his second round match against David Ferrer. I will miss Lleyton. He was one of my favourites.

Another Aussie, John Millman, who has been playing professionally for ten years, but has been a very quiet achiever, won his match and for the first time is into the third round of a Grand Slam. He will probably have to play Bernard Tomic in the next round. Tomic has won his first two sets and is looking good to win his match.

BGWLBH arrived home safensound yesterday, only to find the house ransacked. She had been robbed. They even took her pillows and doona!

If that wasn't bad enough, today she had to say goodbye to her best friend, Indi, the dog. She was 16 years old, a beautiful gentle and loving companion to BGWLBH and she will be greatly missed.

So please focus for a moment on sending strength and positive energy down south in the direction of BGWLBH to help her get through this very challenging period of her life. The universe sure sends us some mean curve balls sometimes, but this past six months of hell seems just a bit excessive!

One day at a time.

I think I might be up for an early one tonight. It's almost 10pm and I'm feeling weary after last night's bed time of 1am.

Nite all.

Find a Rhythm

My life needs rhythm.

I need a plan and a routine and I need to NIKE (just do it)!!

I'm talking about housework of course. One thing in my life with which I have always struggled, so if anybody out there has any hot tips for making housework easier, faster, enjoyable or less of a chore, please feel free to share!! The only idea that I can come up with is hiring a cleaner!

I was running late for morning tea with the ladies today because I received a call from Mrs Bucket, a phone call that was very 'newsy' and took some time .. however most phone calls with Mrs Bucket take a bit of time :) It was good to hear from her, even though she had some upsetting family news.

When I eventually got there, I really enjoyed morning tea with the girls. Five of us were in attendance and we did miss Lady Lynn and Mardi and Reality TV Queen and Maid Marian who texted me to ask if coffee was on, but she strangely didn't turn up.

It was almost 10.30am by the time we said our farewells and headed home. (this is why my housework never gets done!)

Adoring husband had SES duties all morning, but came home for an early lunch and I had the afternoon to myself, during which I did NO housework, but instead, watched a movie called 'Elsa and Fred' with Shirley Maclaine and Christopher Plummer in it. I enjoyed it very much, because I like both of those actors.

Then I watched some tennis before doing a lamb roast for dinner. I cooked some 'parson's noses' in the oven first and used the fat left over from that, to cook the potatoes, sweet potatoes and pumpkin. The meat was a plain butterflied lamb leg which I browned in the skillet and then baked at high heat for fifteen minutes. I made a gravy with the lamb fat which was left in the skillet, some tapioca flour and some home made chicken broth and served it all with steamed fresh green beans.

It was delicious and AH said the pumpkin was the best he'd ever tasted. It was beautifully caramelised in the chicken fat.

I'm now NOT doing more housework while I watch more tennis. The Aussies are all doing well (except Sam Stosur, who never seems to do well at the Aussie Open) so far, which makes it a bit more interesting.

Found this on Magnesium today, which I found interesting, particularly because BGWLBH and I had discussions about it while she was here.

I have a couple more pics from our time on the Sunny Coast ...

  and these for a giggle ...

And it's good night from me.

Nite all.

Back to Normal

Tears all round as BGWLBH left this morning. I was very surprised to see her car still parked in the driveway when I woke this morning, so I actually got to see her drive away and I wasn't expecting that. It's much easier without 'goodbyes'.

We've had contact during the day and she is travelling well.

So the first half of my day was very quiet with both Adoring Husband and BGWLBH out of the house.

I took the opportunity to take a breath, and I watched one of my new dvds, "Last Cab to Darwin". It was not as sad as I expected, although it was quite dark in places, but funny with typical Aussie humour in other parts. I thought all the characters were well played except for Jackie Weaver. I usually like her, but I didn't like her in this role.

Just as I pressed 'play' on the second dvd, AH phoned to say that he was on his way home, so I paused the movie, made his lunch (duck breast with salad) and we sat down together to watch "Aloha".

It stars Bradley Cooper, Rachel McAdams, Emma Stone and Bill Murray. The first half of the movie was a bit confusing trying to figure out what was going on, but it eventually all came together and I enjoyed the movie a lot, with a few tears at the end.

AH is at a meeting tonight, so I get to watch the tennis in peace. At the moment Bernard Tomic is playing Denis Istomin from Uzbek. He is leading 2 sets to 1.  I'm looking forward to Lleyton Hewitt's match tonight against another Aussie, James Duckworth. I hope he does well in his final Australian Open appearance.

I have another photo to share from our holiday. I call it "HIGHER! HIGHER!" which, much to BGWLBH's dismay, is pretty much was Chicklet was yelling for the entire time that she was on the swing.

Time for me to settle into the tennis.

Nite all.

Final Holiday Day

Today was BGWLBH's last day here.

As you read this blog post, she is probably already on her way home.

So we spent the day together at the Boat Club in The Bay. It was a good day. The coffee was good, the poker machines were reasonably friendly .. and by that I mean that we spent four hours there for free and the atmosphere was happy (because most tourists have left town now).

It was a nice way to spend the last day of our holiday.

I have two photos to share from our road trip.

The first is of my Grandfather's name (Francis John Fordham) on the war memorial in Esk. It was revealed to me only last year, that his name was there. Apparently, in his teenage years, he worked on a farm in Esk and joined the Navy at the beginning of WWI. He survived the war and Esk claimed him as their own.

The second is of the river at Wiangaree. Very picturesque.

Well, it's midnight. I'm off to bed. Hopefully I will be awake when BGWLBH leaves tomorrow .. although we both hate goodbyes and I wouldn't be surprised if she left without saying goodbye. It's easier that way. Less painful for both of us. She will sneak out in the early hours.

Nite all.

Sunday Movies

Watched the new Star Wars movie with Adoring Husband. He loved it!

We decided to watch a second movie, but it meant that we had almost four hours to kill. We filled some time by visiting Stocklands and I got my reading glasses repaired. Adoring Husband had lunch while BGWLBH went book shopping and I got some groceries for dinner.

It was such a beautiful day, we drove along the Esplanade to check out the water and then decided to take our first look inside the Beach House Hotel since it was rebuilt and opened 18 months ago.

It's impressive! There was live music and a nice size crowd inside. We played the pokies for about 30 minutes before heading back to the cinemas.

We watched The Fifth Wave because AH said he was keen to see it, and the previews looked ok.

Absolute rubbish. I generously give it a 2/10. Acting was atrocious. Storyline was pathetic. It had absolutely nothing going for it and I recommend that you avoid it and don't waste 112 minutes of your life .. you'll never get that time back!

So we didn't get home til about 7pm, which meant a late dinner.

I made my version of Nachos. Sweet potato chips, avocado mash, sour cream, chopped tomatoes, rocket, chopped spring onions, grated carrot, goat's cheese, pork and chicken meatballs (which were already prepared and I'd taken them out of the freezer before we went out) with a sweet spicy sauce (coconut aminos, chilli powder, balsamic vinegar and tomato paste) poured over the top.

It was delicious.

Another round of trivia that BGWLBH won.

And now, once again, it is rapidly approaching 1am.

I need to sleep!!

The days have been full!!

Nite all.

Oopsy!

Today was intended to be movie day.

All three of us climbed into the car at 8.30am and headed into The Bay for our movie date. Halfway there, I realised that I'd left my glasses at home. Ugh!

Too blind to watch a movie without them, so we had to change our plans .. either go home to get the glasses, or postpone the viewing until the next day .. the second option was the best one.

So BGWLBH and I got our nails done .. a full set of gel nails.

We followed up with a bit of retail therapy.

Across town to savour the best coffee in town and also to visit Nana's Pantry and the Go Natural store.

A stop at JB HiFi so that Adoring Husband could spend his christmas voucher and of course some more retail therapy for we girls.

We arrived home at about 2pm and cooked up a quick beef stroganoff for a late lunch. While AH cleaned the kitchen, BGWLBH and I wandered down to the beach, me on the trike and BGWLBH walking.

I parked the trike and we kicked off our shoes to walk barefoot over the sand and wade ankle deep in the water at low tide. Even though it was overcast, the weather was quite mild and comfortable. We got caught in a couple of small showers, but nothing too dramatic.

On the way home, we grabbed a couple of coffees 'to go'.

We relaxed for about an hour before I made a fresh salad for BGWLBH and gave AH some leftovers from lunch and we followed that with a marathon trivia game.

After about 4 hours, we declared it a tie.

BGWLBH and I had all our pieces of pie and spent over an hour attempting to land in the middle and answer our final question to win the game, but try as we might, we couldn't get that last question right!!

We conceded well after 11pm. AH still had two pieces of pie to get and wouldn't let us declare a two way tie .. it had to be a three way tie! Cheeky! We were too tired to argue, so agreed that he could claim a win with us.

By the time we got ourselves organised and tidied up the dining room table, finished cleaning up the kitchen, filled all our water bottles, took the dogs out for their pre-bedtime pee, filled the slow cooker with chicken broth ingredients and turned it on and then sat down to write this blog, it was well after midnight!!

It's now rapidly approaching 1am and we have to be up reasonably early to see the boys at the Seat of Knowledge in the morning, so I'd best get some sleep.

I began to edit some photos to post tonight, but realised that it's just too late!

Sorry about that.

Nite all.

We Made it!

We enjoyed a pleasant breakfast in Noosaville with Chicklet and Vegan Chickie before we began the drive home, but then, impulsively, we took a short detour by turning left, instead of right,  making our way to Sunshine Plaza for a spot of shopping.

We didn't spend much money, but we spent a lot of time .. maybe 3 hours wandering around the plaza looking for something 'different', but we decided that Sunshine Plaza is like Miranda Fair or Westfield Geelong or Westfield North Lakes. Same shops, same clothes, same shoes, same bags etc etc etc.

Finally, just in time to cook dinner, we arrived home. It was a long day and we had stopped at Sexie Coffee at 5pm for a coffee, which was a mighty mistake for me because I was still awake at 2.45am unable to relax and sleep.

I did manage to wake up at 7.00am and got to pedal down to spend a brief amount of time with the boys at the Seat of Knowledge and then buy some groceries and coffees to bring home.

I had to spend the entire morning editing the remaining town Christmas party photos to send through ready for the January town newsletter.

Next on the agenda was to cook a late roast chicken and veg lunch, which was quite yummy.

I went to the Bowls Club alone tonight, so it was a matter of scratching leftovers and nibbles together for dinner.

I had a chance to briefly look at our holiday photos this afternoon, but no chance to edit them .. I hope that I get to post some next week for your viewing pleasure.

Right now, after only 4 hours sleep last night, I am feeling decidedly tired and need desperately to sleep.

We are taking Adoring Husband into town (or he is taking us) to watch the new Star Wars movie tomorrow. BGWLBH and I also want to have our nails done, so it will be an early start.

For now ...

Nite all.

Hot and Sunny

We had fairly big plans for today, but the hot weather and an exhausted Chicklet reduced the plans somewhat.

Breakfast at a little cafe on the marina, overlooking the water was a nice start to the morning. Beautifully cooked bacon and eggs and delicious coffee with excellent service from the very friendly and efficient staff.

We walked up to the Tewantin shopping area and utilised the new, albeit disappointing, children's park. It has no cover for shade, all of the equipment for playing was too hot to use, there is no fence around it, which seems unsafe considering there is a road on one side and open water on the other.

The main problem being that the main slide is such a big construction that you can't see what your child is doing from one side to the other. As a parent, it's impossible to see where your child is at all times unless you follow closely behind and use the equipment with the child.

We left there and bought some new stickers for activity play and a mini cold bag to keep my coconut yoghurt cold.

Our plan was to go on a ferry ride on the river, but the weather was getting hotter and the walking had sapped the energy from some of us, so we convinced Chicklet that a better idea was to go home to the air conditioning and have fun with the stickers instead.

So we grabbed a couple of take away coffees and headed home.

There was sticker play, then some outside play with the new wind up bird toy, then some quiet time with Mama, then some Minion game play on the bed, then some play with Dadu when he came home for a break, then BGWLBH and I took Chicklet to the park across the road.

Another 'dud' park .. surely built for teenagers, because there was no way for a (not even) 5 yr old to climb onto the equipment and the only way for Chicklet to get to the top of the slide, was to walk up the slide itself (while we held her hands) and turn around to slide back down.

Not even we adults were able to get to the top of the equipment. The rope ladders had such big gaps between each rung that you needed to be a circus acrobat to reach them and there was no solid ladder or means to reach the top level. It was a very strange design.

Anyway, we had a bit of fun with Chicklet there and then returned home for a bath. Waited patiently for our take away Thai dinner to be delivered and then Chicklet headed off to bed early.

We had fun for a couple of hours playing trivia from various web sites and I actually beat BGWLBH for the first time in about 20 years!! Yay for me!!

Tomorrow, we are heading home. It's been fun catching up with the Chicklet family and Chicklet loves BGWLBH, so the visit has been a huge success.

Adoring Husband has been very patient and is looking forward to seeing us tomorrow.

It'll be fun going through all the photos from our trip and I should be able to post some of them in a few days.

Time for sleep now.

Nite all.

Terrific Toowoomba

We loved our room so much, we decided to stay a second night.

We do like Toowoomba. Great shopping. Great food. Great golf club. Great people.

We shopped til we dropped today, spent some time relaxing in our room, played the pokies at the club before enjoying a delicious Thai Chicken and Veg meal in the bistro. The courtesy bus wasn't running, so BGWLBH left earlier than me and walked back to the motel. I got a lift with the security guy on an electric golf buggy through the golf course in the dark .. saw a tawny frogmouth in the headlights too!

Tomorow, we head towards the Sunny Coast to spend a couple of nights with the Chicklet family!

We were saddened to hear the news of David Bowie's passing today ...

RIP David Bowie.

Nite all.

Bloody Ballina

Ridiculous prices for average rooms in bloody Ballina.

We've decided that we don't like Ballina and probably won't include it on our road trip lists in the future.

The only special thing about our accommodation, was the lovely Border Collie, Zac, that greeted me when I arrived ...

We decided to drive to Lismore for breakfast this morning and found a little gallery cafe in town that made delicious food and great coffee.

From there we found some more back roads, stopped in Wiangaree (between Kyogle and Woodenbong) just to take some pics of the river there .. they are on my camera, so you will have to wait for those.

What we noticed most about the properties all along the roads there, was that the lawns and gardens, especially on the acreage properties, were meticulously kept! Very impressive. It was all so lush and green and beautiful too.

We stopped at a little spot that we'd photographed on one of our previous road trips, where there was a running stream and lots of dragonflies. There was a man there this time and he recommended a place called Tooloom Falls and told us that between the falls and the water treatment plant, there were a LOT of platypus (platypi is the incorrect term), but we would need a canoe or kayak to get to them.

We were very excited about the prospect and decided to go in search of the falls and the platypus!

Surprisingly, we found it without too much difficulty and it's a beautiful spot, great for campers, if you like to do it rough. Very picturesque and a lovely swimming hole with good flowing falls. Alas, there were too many people there for platypus to show their faces, so we missed out the wildlife.

The road from there was very tricky. Very windy. Very narrow. Very beautiful. Very lush. Thick rainforest for a good section of it and I could hear so many birds as we drove along!! BGWLBH is a great driver and I felt completely safe - although it seemed the big 4WD vehicles didn't like to move over and we were close to the edge getting out of their way. Luckily, there were only a few to worry about.

It was a lovely drive and we ended up in Toowoomba.

We ate at the golf club, which is pretty special. Nice food. Music. We watched some couples dancing to the slow music for a while and checked out the view of the golf course from the massive glass windows at the rear of the building.

We checked in to a lovely motel and have a beautiful room with very comfortable beds and since it's heading towards 1am, I am going to sleep now!

Having a great time ... wish you were here!

Nite all.

Lovely Inverell

We stayed at the Cousins Motor Inn at Inverell last night. Another fabulous motel with heavenly beds and a small but decent bathroom.

We dined at the Inverell RSM club and we rate that as the best club dining experience so far. They had great GF options and BGWLBH had the prosciutto wrapped chicken breast with white wine sauce and I had the crumbed lamb cutlets with salad. Great prices too.

I always thought that Blackwater was the bogan capital of Australia, but I think Inverell is giving Blackwater a run for it's money!

As we left Inverell this morning, we saw masses of wildflowers in the fields. Yellow paper daisies, white Queen Ann Lace and some kind of pretty purple flower (not Patterson's Curse). We wanted to stop the car and pick a bouquet of it all, but there was nowhere to stop! We imagined ourselves as kangaroos with long flowing hair bounding over the fences and filling our pouches with the pretty flowers.

I told you yesterday that we were weird!

We stopped at Swanbrook picnic area for a toilet break and there was a lovely little stream lined with willow trees and Superb Fairy Wrens flitting about. I stood under the tree with my camera and the birds were hopping on the tree branches all around me. They were too close for my long lens to even focus on them!

I've never been so close to these beautiful little birds .. I could have reached out and touched them! If I'd had my way, I'd have sat under that Willow tree for a couple of hours and just soaked up the beauty of it all. Those photos are on my camera, so I can't share them here yet.

Hudson picked some wildflowers while we were there, especially for BGWLBH ...

On the outskirts of Glenn Innes, as we arrived there, we noticed some market stalls in a park, with a coffee van, so we stopped. I bought some goat's milk clothes washing 'stuff' and we bought two coffees. The van operator was from Wagga! His coffee was nice, but his coffee cup lids didn't fit, and we dribbled coffee over ourselves and eventually threw the coffee away. Annoying!

We stopped at the information centre in Glenn Innes to find out about fossicking for gems, but then BGWLBH noticed that they sold small bags of raw gems for $5 so I bought her one of those and we didn't have to spend the money or the time sifting through dirt!! Haha!!

After we left Glenn Innes and headed toward Grafton, we found a turn off that told us 16kms to Mann River, so we took the turn and drove along a dirt road for about 5kms and then the road turned into bitumen, but was very narrow and winding and steep down a mountain. The weather changed from 'fine' to 'fine misty rain', which made the drive even more precarious!

At about the 12km mark we were stopped by a causeway with water flowing over it and we decided that we would go no further, so we turned around, took a few pics, and headed back to the highway. We only passed one car on the way down, but unfortunately passed 5 cars on the way back .. very scary on such a narrow road up a mountain!

The area was green and lush and beautiful rainforest and we thoroughly enjoyed the drive, even if it was a little scary.

We found a lookout called 'Raspberry Lookout' and it was stunning, but as we arrived, a huge black thunder storm loomed behind us and the thunder rolled across the sky with dark clouds closing in quickly. We took some really quick pics and jumped back in the car attempting to beat the storm.

Part of the drive to Grafton ...

Such pretty countryside.

The storm seemed to be on our tail all the way to Grafton, but we beat it and have ended up in Ballina tonight.

Ballina RSL food is not as good as Inverell's and though it's a nice club, it's loud and busy and rates low on our list of favoured clubs.

We are staying in the Best Western Ballina Island Motor Inn tonight. The beds seem comfortable but I'm not sure the price is worth it. I will report tomorrow!

I'm feeling very sleepy now, so I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Dodgy Dubbo

So, on Wednesday night, we stayed in the Comfort Inn Blue Lagoon in Dubbo, which is supposed to be a 4 star motel.  Let's see if I can remember all the things that were wrong with it ...

• My single bed bed head detached itself from the wall during the night and collapsed onto the floor.
• A panel from the bedside table fell off.
• There was mould in the shower.
• There was a used hair band (with hair attached) under the sheet in the double bed.
• The air conditioner was set to turn on when the room became hot and stuffy and turn off when it became freezing like a refrigerator. It was also VERY loud.
• A family checked in next door at midnight and had kids who were LOUD until about 1am.
• There were kennels attached to the motel and the one guest who had a dog let it bark all night .. I phoned to complain twice and it was about 1am when the dog stopped barking.
• The double bed was old and saggy like a hammock (not in a good way).
• The carpet was so worn that it was lifted and a trip hazard at the front door. It was also frayed and threadbare at the walls.
• The cabinet that held the bar fridge and coffee making stuff had dodgy doors that would not close.
• There was a constant drip outside the bathroom window that we could hear all night.

I think that's all. I wrote everything down and gave it to the receptionist when I paid the bill and she gave me 10% off the price. Later, while we were on the road, the receptionist phoned me to ask for my email address so that the owner could follow up.  This is the email that I received from the owner ...

Dear Roz Griffin

Thank you for your time given in advising our Receptionist Lee regarding your stay last night at The Comfort Inn Blue Lagoon.

Allow me to apologise on behalf of our motel for failing to meet your expectations regarding the following issues;

The bedhead, bedside table and crockery cupboard door need repairing and resecuring and our maintenance team have been advised.

The mould in shower has been removed and is now being monitored more closely.

The hairband found in your bed has been addressed with our laundry and housemaid team.

Your air conditioner had been set incorrectly. I am assuming by the last guest staying in your room therefore if we were notified immediately it could have been reset.

A family was checked in late last night into a room next door unfortunately they were noisy although I would have notified them to keep the noise down if I was aware.

After many attempts of trying to find which dog was barking after your first phone call. I spoke with the owner of the dog and asked him to quiet his animal.

30% of our beds on the property have been replaced by a Sleepmaker Serta Choice Elite II double sided Miracoil5 cushion top which is ranked as excellent under the Star Ratings quality guidelines. During the next 2 months we will have new beds throughout our property.

Again thank you for your time and valuable feedback. We sincerely appreciate it and hope you will give us another chance to accommodate you on your next visit to Dubbo.

Kind regards

Jodie Vella and Peter Webb
Proprietors
Comfort Inn Blue Lagoon
79-85 Cobra Street
Dubbo NSW 2830

I thanked them for the follow up and told them that I probably wouldn't stay there again, but I wished them good luck in providing a better service for their future customers.

We left there to visit the Warrumbungles. We've avoided the area for the last 3 road trips because of the severe bush fires that occurred in January 2013, but we figured that after 3 years, the regrowth would be complete and the area would look as good as it did the last time we visited.

Sadly, this was not the case. Although there is regrowth, it is barely halfway up the blackened dead stumps that were once lush trees and the damage can still be seen for hectare after hectare after hectare. It is so badly ravaged that BGWLBH and I could barely speak for an hour as we surveyed the area through our drive.

The information centre that we visited last time was obviously razed during the fire and there is just bare earth where it once stood. The signs were damaged and burnt and melted. We were left feeling sad and empty knowing that there is a little bit of history only in our memories now. 

We chose not to go on any of the walks, but we did discover the park where we ate lunch last time and it was left untouched by the fire. Except for the very loud cicadas, it was a beautiful spot to eat our lunch.

Our original plan was to stay at Coonabarabran for the night, but we had to get out of there and ended up in Tamworth for the night instead.

We had a beautiful room at Ashby House. Beautiful beds. Lovely bathroom. Quiet area. I highly recommend that one!

This morning we enjoyed a delicious breakfast at Trinity's Coffee Lounge, although the coffee wasn't much good, and then we found a shoe warehouse and the retail therapy was enjoyable.

We discussed the option of staying in Tamworth a second night, but opted to head towards Inverell or Glenn Innes instead.

We found a back way that we've never travelled before and drove through Manilla, Barraba, Bingara and on to Inverell. We stopped for lunch at Australia Day Park in Barraba, which was lovely.

 

After we left here, we were driving along a dirt road and unexpectedly came across this ...

No idea where the other half was!

Tonight we are in the Cousins Motor Inn at Inverell. The bed feels very comfortable and I am about to sign off and get some sleep.

Just so you know .. we are having a fabulous time. The back roads are the best roads and we have discovered some real little gems while avoiding traffic and driving at a nice slow pace in order to enjoy the views.

We never decide, until we are sitting over breakfast, what direction we are going to drive for the day and it's the nicest way to do a road trip! Very relaxing and every day is a good day :)

Nite all.

Just a quickie

Yesterday in Orange, we found some mates for Hudson-Barnaby ...

... and today at the Warrumbungles, we saw this interesting structure...

I have plenty to talk about from today's travels but it's late and I need some sleep, so I will try to catch you up tomorrow.

We are staying in Tamworth tonight .. one week out from their big country music festival, so it's fairly quiet in town at the moment. We had a nice 'all you can eat' buffet for dinner at one of the clubs for $23 each. Fresh seafood, roast meats and veg or chinese food plus desserts (even gluten free options!).

We are also in a lovely motel with intact furniture and nice beds, no dogs and a well regulated air conditioning system. I'll tell you more about that little incident tomorrow too! At least we got 10% off the cost of our room and I am awaiting an email from the owners of the motel in Dubbo.

Anyway, that's it for now.

Nite all.

Skirting the Weather

We stayed in Cowra last night and we booked into the Cowra Services Club Motel. I highly recommend it. Beautiful rooms, perfect beds (I slept soundly all night) and nice big bathrooms with an excellent shower head and great water pressure .. we judge all our rooms by the comfort of the bed and water pressure in the shower head lol.

We stopped in town this morning and had a nice bacon and egg breakfast. The eggs tasted like they came straight from the chooks butt .. delicious .. and the coffee was divine!

The Cowra POW camp was interesting .. not something that I thought would capture my interest, but I enjoyed the hour or so that we spent there. The peppercorn trees attracted the little blue fairy wrens, so I got a few pics on my camera and can't wait to download them when I get home.

We didn't enter the Japanese gardens because they were charging $15 entry, but we did have a coffee in the cafe there, which was lovely.

Canowindra was our next stop, but we got a bit dazed and confused and almost couldn't find our way out!

We stopped at Cargo for lunch. There was a lovely little park and we sat at a picnic table under a willow tree for about an hour enjoying the soft breeze and the quiet of the area. We renamed it Cargo, Bargo Fargo for no particular reason, except that we are weird.

We've travelled most roads in this part of NSW, but we found a route to Wellington, via Molong and Euchareena that we've not travelled before and it was lovely and quiet and scenic. Euchareena is a beautiful little gem in the middle of nowhere, established in 1834 with pretty little cottages and very lush and pretty.

Stuart Town, not far from there, was also gorgeous.

Burrendong Dam was a nice stop too. We went to the lake last time we travelled this way and they wanted to charge us to go there, so we didn't bother, but the dam was free and quite beautiful to view, although it is very low at the moment. There were emus roaming the grounds and I could hear lots of fairy wrens in the area too.

The bad weather was all around us and we passed through a couple of very light showers, but we cleverly avoided the heavy weather and we could see the black clouds, could hear the thunder and in the distance there were very heavy showers .. but the weather parted to allow us to pass through unscathed.

The land was very dry as we travelled north of Orange, but Orange itself was green and lush and beautiful .. it's our new favourite inland town. Just glorious.

Tonight we are staying in Dubbo in a very dodgy motel. My bedhead has already collapsed, there is dodgy electrical wiring hanging behind both bedside tables, no power points near the beds. The motel has kennels and there is a dog barking that I have complained twice about! The carpet is pulling off the floor, the cupboard doors are loose and there is a leak behind the bathroom wall.

The beds are very saggy and we are questioning my decision to stay here. Ah well, we can't be successful with every choice!!

I have 2% charge left on my laptop and no power point to plug it in, so I'd best sign off here before the laptop shuts down!!

Nite all.

And We're Off!!

Richie Rich did my hair this morning and now it looks beautifully glossy and grey, mixed with my own natural colour. I will attempt to take a selfie tomorrow and post it .. the light in our room is not conducive to photography.

We left Griffith at about 10.30am and after we passed Binya, there was a sign pointing to our left with the name 'Euratha'. BGWLBH said "I've always wanted to go to Euratha. Shall we?"

43 kms is on the edge of our agreed limit when we are heading down beaten tracks, so I agreed that we should do it!

Almost immediately, we were on a dirt/gravel road. It was well maintained and quite wide. There was no other traffic, in fact, during the entire 43 kms we only saw two cars.

At one stage, we were joined by a mob of kangaroos and they hopped beside, or in front of us for a few kms. They bounded high over fallen tree trunks, barbed wire fences and low shrubs until eventually, they took a sharp left turn and bounded across the golden paddock beside the road.

The soil was a deep rich red, and because of recent good rains, the trees and shrubs were a vibrant healthy green colour and the paddocks were filled with whatever grows creamy and golden in colour. A truly Aussie scene for as far as the eye could see, with the deep blue coloured mountains on the horizon.

For a good section of the road (maybe 10kms), one lane was blocked off for roadworks, even though there was nobody actually working on the road. The closed lane was piled high with blue/grey cut rock.

We stopped along the road when I spotted a Wedge Tail Eagle soaring above us. I climbed out of the car and took a couple of quick shots so that I could zoom in and verify that it was a wedgie, but then I spotted a dam with a large flock of sheep standing along it's tallest bank. There was a mixture of black, white and mottled sheep and even though the dam water was low, the light was reflecting nicely off it, so I took a couple of shots from varying angles.

Then I heard a commotion in the tree beside me and it was full of Apostle Birds, so I attempted to get a clear shot of one of those .. I have never photographed one before, so I was keen to get just one good shot .. it didn't happen.

I gave up and walked back to the car. Just as BGWLBH was about to ask what happened to the wedgie, I remembered that I was supposed to be photographing the wedgie!! I burst out laughing when I realised that, once again, I was distracted from my initial goal and I looked up to search the sky for my beautiful wedgie, but it was nowhere to be seen.

On we drove until we reached the end of the road.

But .. but .. but???? Where the hell is Euratha????

There was no Euratha. The first sign said Euratha and we were driving along Euratha Road, but there was no Euratha. Pfffft.

Next stop Weethalle, where there is a cafe called 'Road Kill Grills'. We stopped to take a photo, but it was too early to stop for lunch, so no road kill for us today.

We stopped at West Wyalong and searched out a supermarket where we stocked up on salads and fruit, cheeses for BGWLBH, turkey breast and smoked salmon and then discovered a little picnic area on the outskirts of town, so we stopped to feast on our selected fare. We experienced gale force conditions and we shared some of our scraps with the crows and apostle birds before we packed up and continued on our travels.

When we came to Grenfell, we decided we needed coffee, so we stopped in the main street and before I got out of the car, I noticed a SHOE SHOP down the way, so I immediately made a beeline for it while BGWLBH picked up a couple of items from the supermarket that we had forgotten earlier.

I found a great pair of shoes - the only ones in the whole shop that I liked! The manager told us that the only two coffee shops in town had closed for January. WHAT THE????!!! She suggested the Caltex Service Station, so we back tracked, filled the tank with fuel and ordered two coffees.

Great service. Crap coffee. Blah.

We followed the signs to Henry Lawson's birthplace, which turned out to be a tree with a plaque beneath it...

Tonight we are in a lovely little motel in Cowra. The Cowra Servicemans Club bistro for dinner. I had grilled chicken and salad while BGWLBH had grilled Barramundi with chips and salad. We each had a wine to celebrate the end of our first day.

I have taken photos with my camera today, but can't share them until the end of the trip when I will be able to edit them properly on my iMac, so all the photos that I share here for the next week or so, will be from my phone. I'm still learning how to use it and to edit them in Instagram and then share them elsewhere, so bear with me!

It's been a great first day and considering how wide spread the rains are over the eastern states, we only drove through a couple of light showers today.  We have some exploring to do tomorrow. Waterfalls, bush tracks and hills ... hopefully a wedgie or two! Let's hope we are equally lucky tomorrow with the weather.

It's after 11pm so it's sleep time for me now.

Nite all

On Your Marks!

Tomorrow is the big day!

Coffee.

Hairdresser.

Road Trip!

Meet 'Hudson', our road trip travelling companion!

We didn't do much today. Tidied the house a bit so that the real estate could inspect it. Oh, a bit of retail therapy and bought some new bling!

I brought one pair of flat day time shoes with me and yesterday they broke! So annoying! Today, we went searching for some shoes to replace them, but found nothing appropriate. So, at the moment, all I have is a pair of rubber thongs (nice Havaianas, but I don't like wearing thongs out and about, unless I'm at home), so that will be my first priority as we travel through small towns .. in search of shoe shops!

Mum W had a doctor's appointment today, so I cooked dinner while they were gone. Fish mornay for Mum W and Lemon/Honey chicken for BGWLBH and I.

No photos were taken.

After last night, when we were ready for bed at 8.30pm .. there was a documentary on SBS about Walt Disney. So interesting! We sat up til about 11pm watching that, and neither of us went to sleep until well after midnight.

It's now almost 10pm and I think I'm ready to sleep. Best give Adoring Husband a good night phone call and then catch some zzzzzzs.

Nite all.

Soundly Sleeping

Slept like a dead person last night, for about 6 solid hours. This bed is very comfortable!

BGWLBH cooked some bacon and eggs for breakfast this morning, which was the perfect way to start the day and then while she worked hard outside weeding the garden, I went walkabout with my camera looking for the abundant birdlife that I could clearly hear around the property.

Alas, I could find nothing but doves and sparrows. I could hear Silver Eyes, Fairy Wrens, Finches and Parrots as well as other birds that I could not identify ... but my eyes failed me ... so I have nothing to share in the way of outdoor photos today. Sad but true.

Here are a few that I took 'inside' with my phone camera and edited in Instagram ...

After she built up a good sweat in the garden, we decided to visit the cemetery and take some flowers to brighten up Dad W's site. BGWLBH chose a selection of vibrant red flowers, while I (of course) selected some long stemmed bright yellow flowers from the wall of artificial and silk flowers in the store.

Being so close to Christmas, all of the grave sites were awash with colour. Flowers, christmas decorations, religious ornaments and other symbols of love.

I ran into an old friend from my days at TAFE. KG was 16 years old (I was 30) when we attended the same TAFE course in 1990. She had fabulously long fingernails and dreamt of a career that would take her away from Griffith. Even though she had a short stint on the Gold Coast a couple of years ago, she is now 42 years of age and being married with children from an early age, her dreams never came to fruition. She was, and still is, a lovely down to earth girl.

This afternoon, we drove out to Mum W's house and cooked up a storm. Lamb shanks with a thick, chunky vegetable gravy, potato bake and zucchini slice. It was all delicious, although the lamb wasn't as tender as I'd like. Mum W ate a sizeable portion, only leaving the z slice on the plate.

Now we are home very early, BGWLBH is trying to select a dvd to watch and is complaining loudly that she has seen them all a thousand times.

The house is quiet and I feel that I could easily fall asleep at this early hour of the night .. barely 8.30pm!!  Seems I'm not alone .. BGWLBH has bade me goodnight and is going to sleep! I think I will follow her lead .. we may both be awake at 3am looking for a dvd to watch!

Nite all.
  

I'm Here!!

Sydney airport was loud, busy, congested and chaotic this morning. I've never seen so many people!! The queues for Virgin Blue check-in were out the door and down the footpath. There were hundreds of people packed like sardines inside the terminal and at least another hundred queued outside. Unbelievable!

Luckily for me, there was no queue in the Rex check-in section!

I didn't have to wait long in the screening line either, so I was able to find my way to coffee and breakfast quickly, with time to spare for some window shopping before I had to board my flight. Ok, ya got me .. I didn't window shop. I DID buy something.

Three people were late for my flight and we had to wait in the bus for an extra 20 minutes until they arrived before we were driven across the tarmac to our little Rex plane. One passenger jumped off the bus and ran behind it to throw up! They wouldn't let the rest of us off the bus until she had finished and they could hose the ground.

Our pilot looked like a young Val Kilmer .. he even wore the same style sunglasses as Val Kilmer when he played Iceman in Top Gun!

Our attendant was a bit cranky. She was obviously trying very hard to be happy and friendly, but I could see in her eyes that she wasn't having a good day. She spoke sternly to one lady passenger who sat in the wrong seat and then raised her voice at a passenger who was talking on his mobile phone when she had to ask him twice to hang up and turn it off.

The flight was very bumpy as we hit quite a bit of turbulence. There was a lot heavy cloud all the way and sometimes it felt like we were driving over a corrugated road. Not very pleasant.

Obviously, we landed safely and BGWLBH was waiting to greet me. It was hot. Oppressively hot.

We went straight to my hairdresser and made an appointment for Tuesday morning. We will be starting our road trip as soon as I walk out the door from that appointment.  My hairdresser, Richie Rich, was not a happy chappy and I found out later that he had been offended by a lady and insulted three times. He said it got right under his skin and we could tell by his very low energy and unhappy vibe. He is usually so happy and vibrant and flamboyant.

We visited Mum W and I cooked her some fish and veg for dinner before we headed to the Chinese Restaurant for some bad food for dinner .. we both suffered for the experience and I certainly won't be eating there again! It wasn't 'bad' as in 'off', but 'bad' as in 'full of stuff that I don't usually eat' and my whole body felt 'ugh'.

We had enough time to eat our dinner and then walk to the cinema where we watched the new Star Wars movie. I enjoyed it very much and am looking forward to watching it with Adoring Husband when I return home .. if he forgives me for seeing it first without him!

Unfortunately, when the movie finished, we walked outside to steady pouring rain! BGWLBH lives about 500 metres from the cinema. It was pitch black and we didn't take umbrellas. The rain was cold! It had obviously been raining for some time because there were some deep puddles to trudge through and no footpath, so we alternated between walking on wet grass or dirt and the road.

If I'm honest, it was quite refreshing and not unpleasant at all. As BGWLBH said "When is the last time you got to walk in the rain like this?"

I got straight into a hot shower and washed and blow dried my hair.

Next on the agenda was opening my Christmas gifts from BGWLBH. Knowing that my favourite colour is yellow, her gifts followed that theme and apart from some very beautiful shiny sparkly jewellery, I also received some lovely yellow home wares and a fabulous hand made knitted yellow cushion.  I feel very lucky and very spoiled!

I am now snuggled into a gorgeous brass double bed for the night.

I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring, but right now, I'm feeling pretty relaxed and comfy.

Nite all.

What a Day!

First of all ...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

My original plan for New Year's Eve was to have a couple of drinks with some friends early in the evening, then attend a street party behind me for a couple of drinks and then catch the pub courtesy bus with Lady Lynn and Happy Harry to see in the new year at the pub. 

I didn't want to have a big night, or drink too much, because I was flying to Sydney the next day and there is nothing worse than flying with a hangover!

Well, I checked off the first part of the plan, but that's where the plan ended. I was having such a good time, I decided to stay where I was. I drank too much on an empty stomach, was home (and asleep) before midnight and woke with a ripper of a hangover this morning!

I really struggled trying to get all the last minute things done that I'd planned. My stomach was churning, my head was spinning and my thought processes were scrambled.

We were going to leave home at 10am to get to the airport before 11am and then fly out at 11.35am.

At 9.44am I received a text from Virgin advising that there was a delay and the flight would not depart The Bay until 2.25pm and would arrive in Sydney at 5.30pm.

This was a problem because my flight to Griffith was departing at 5pm!!!

I phoned Rex and immediately changed my Gff flight to the next available, which was 10am on Saturday 2nd Jan - at no extra cost.

This meant that I had to spend the night in Sydney, so I contacted Virgin to request assistance to pay for a motel, considering that it was their fault that I was inconvenienced. Apparently, the delay has to be more than 3 hours for them to offer assistance. I gave them a small piece of my mind.

I thought I might be able to spend the night with Bubbles, but, as my luck would have it, her father just happens to be spending the night there tonight (but of course!). Knight in Shining Armour offered a bed at his place, and as much as I appreciated the offer, it didn't feel right, so I booked myself a room in a motel quite close to the airport.

I arrived at The Bay airport at 1.30pm and checked in. Adoring Husband and I ordered coffee and sat in the cafe area waiting for the plane to arrive. Finally, it landed albeit ten minutes late.

I think it was about 2.50pm when were asked to board the plane. We were all seated and we waited ... and we waited ... and we waited. Twice the pilot announced that there was a technical difficulty that they were trying to address and it shouldn't be long now.

At about 3.15pm he apologised to us all, telling us that there was nothing wrong with the plane and there was nothing wrong with us, but we had to all disembark and go back into the terminal to be screened again, taking with us all of our belongings from the cabin. Our checked luggage was allowed to stay in the belly of the plane (thank goodness!).

So, all of the passengers and all of the crew with their carry on luggage had to go through the screening process again and the plane had to have a complete security check done.

Apparently, somebody had boarded the plane without going through the screening process (I have no idea how that could happen) - a big security breach!

The plane finally took off very close to 4pm!!

It was a smooth flight. All the food and drink was free for the entire journey. The staff were amazing - apologetic, grateful for our tolerance and patience, friendly, efficient and happy. It was an enjoyable flight.

As we flew over Sydney, the sun was low enough (6.10pm) to make the river look like liquid silver snaking it's way through the city and the heavy shadows of the bridges and buildings created perfect symmetry. The sunshine was glistening on every shiny surface so that it looked like diamonds twinkling everywhere.

We flew over the ocean and it was shining golden in the sunlight. Just amazing.

It was a good landing, I was quickly able to collect my luggage, climbed immediately into a taxi and was at my motel within 5 minutes. 

The motel is quite old and looks like a big red brick block of housing commission units .. although much better maintained and with lovely gardens. There are about 750 rooms and all of them have recently been refurbished.

My room is very very small and contains a king size bed, a very stylish lounge chair and an open wall unit that is part wardrobe, part kitchen cupboard (with bar fridge and coffee making facility) and a shelf with towels. There is a charging dock for my ipad which is cool too.

Sorry about the quality of the pics but I took them with my phone and didn't even edit them before sharing here (I'm tired).

It's very clean and tidy, has a big screen TV on the wall and a giant mirror, but a tiny bathroom with a tiny shower cubicle, a tiny basin and a regular sized toilet. I think a big man would have trouble moving in the shower cubicle!

There is a restaurant and I could have had room service, but there is no menu in the room, so I figured that if I had to go down to look at the menu, I may as well stay there and eat. 

The restaurant looked like a cross between a university cafeteria and a cool yuppy bar. The menu was small. Chicken Caesar Salad. Steak, chips and salad. Battered fish, chips and salad. Curried chicken. Hokkien Noodles with veg and your choice of meat.

I chose the curried chicken. It arrived on a long rectangular plate with a round bowl of the curried chicken in the middle, a mound of rice to the right, a ramekin of yoghurt to the left and a large fried papadam. It was the most delicious curried chicken I have ever tasted and I struggled to finish it all! Even though I struggled to finish it, I just HAD to order dessert of home made vanilla bean ice cream - I drool as I'm reminded of it! I asked to bring it to my room, so that I could savour it slowly at my leisure :)

Apparently the menu changes regularly and the two girls who served me were lovely. Charming, polite, respectful and wanting to please. They made me feel important - well ... I am! Haha.

So far, my only concern is the noise from the corridor outside my door .. and the noise from the planes flying low overhead. The air conditioner has a steady hum, which I like .. it's my favourite kind of white noise that lulls me to sleep, so I'm hoping that it will muffle the other sounds enough to allow me to sleep soundly.

The restaurant opens for breakfast at 6am (mine is free with my room) and the airport shuttle is picking me up at 8am. 

So aside from the crappy start to my day - it has all worked out very nicely and I am thoroughly enjoying my alone time. I can't wait to spread myself across this massive bed and head off into the land of ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZs. 

Nite all. 

Pension Age

There has been a lot of time spent in the kitchen.

The last few days have been productive .. 2 coconut lemon chicken meals, 3 lamb casserole meals, 3 butter chicken meals, 40 meatballs (chicken, pork and sausage mince GF), 1 beef stroganoff meal, 15 chicken broths, a dozen beef broths and chocolate coconut ice cream.

The ice cream is tasty .. though a sugar addict probably wouldn't like it because it's not very sweet. The other weird anomaly is that even after it has set and is frozen, it just doesn't feel cold in your mouth, the way that regular ice cream does.

Anyway, I have the container in the fridge right now, so it will slowly thaw overnight and I will eat a large chunk of it tomorrow!

One of our neighbours (and friend) celebrated his 65 birthday today and had a gathering of neighbours and friends at his back garden.

I arrived very late and everybody was there already, but I had a fabulous time. I got to talk to people who I have never shared stories with and got to catch up with others who I haven't seen in a while.

I drank a whole bottle of wine to myself between 6pm - 9.45pm. One particular guest cooked 4 gluten free meals for the two of us who cannot eat gluten.

Chicken and vegetable meatballs with a GF soy sauce, mini quiches, mini pavlovas and mini chocolate cakes. It was all delicious and I felt very grateful that she went to so much trouble for us.

I was not the last to leave, but there were only a couple of poeple left when I did decide it was time to go home.

It was a lovely night and I hope to catch up with people tomorrow night for New Year's Eve as well.

Nite all.

First Thought

Looking back on 2015, what is your first thought? What stands out the most?

There are a few things that come to mind immediately, for me.

• Changing our lifestyle to paleo and feeling the positive health benefits.
• Having the best road trip EVER with BGWLBH, during which we got to visit Bubbles.
• Losing three family members, including BGWLBH's Dad.
• Doing well with my studies but withdrawing due to extenuating circumstances.
• Having two weeks with Chicklet while Vegan Chickie travelled overseas.
• Vegan Chickie being in Paris when the terrorist tragedy occurred.
• Having my teeth fixed.
• Dipping my toes into Jeunesse.
• Creating great memories with the Burrum ladies over long lunches and delightful morning teas.
• Supporting Adoring Husband in his dream to make a difference in the SES.

I have a few immediate plans for 2016.

• Getting back into my photography.
• Being more 'arty' and 'crafty'.
• Another road trip with BGWLBH.
• Attempting to set some life goals and making plans to reach them.
• Walking along our beach more often - bare foot.
• Work harder at promoting Jeunesse.

There will be more to add to the list, after I spend some time thinking about it.

I made this ice cream tonight, but it's currently freezing, so I can't tell you if it is a success or not.

1 cup of pre-soaked cashews. 

1 cup of coconut milk.

1 cup of shredded coconut.

1/2 cup maple syrup.

3T raw cacao powder

2t vanilla extract

Put it all in the blender and blend until it's all smooth and beautiful. Pour into a bowl (I shredded some premium organic dark chocolate to mix in at this point) and put in the freezer. Take it out every hour or so to stir the mixture. It should be ready in about 4 hours.

I hope it's as delicious as it looks!

Time is rapidly heading towards 1am, so I'm off to bed!

Nite all.

Forever Empowered

Who doesn't love Rod Stewart? Who knew that his daughter sounds just like him?



I've had a bit of a cooking day today. Chicken broth brewing in the slow cooker as we speak. I made a double batch of beef stroganoff and we ate some for lunch and froze the second batch. I did a big batch of lemon coconut chicken and froze it.

Tomorrow I plan on preparing and freezing meatballs, curried beef, beef casserole and butter chicken. Spaghetti bolognese might be on the cards too.

The morning will be spent having morning tea with the girls. I'm not sure how many of them will be here but I know that I won't be alone, so that's a good start.

My second word to consider for next year is 'Empower'

Empower - make (someone) stronger and more confident, especially in controlling their life and claiming their rights.

Some quotes from empowered women ...

“I’ve come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that’s as unique as a fingerprint – and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe to lead you.” — Oprah Winfrey

“I always did something I was a little not ready to do. I think that’s how you grow. When there’s that moment of ‘Wow, I’m not really sure I can do this,’ and you push through those moments, that’s when you have a breakthrough.” — Marissa Mayer (CEO of Yahoo)

"I always thought that people told you that you're beautiful--that this was a title that was bestowed upon you...I think that it's time to take this power into our own hands and to say, "You know what? I'm beautiful. I just am. And that's my light. I'm just a beautiful woman." — Margaret Cho

"You are more powerful than you know; you are beautiful just as you are." — Melissa Etheridge

"The question isn't who's going to let me; it's who's going to stop me." —Ayn Rand

"I believe that the rights of women and girls is the unfinished business of the 21st century." —Hillary Clinton

“Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.”  ― Nora Ephron

I have three things that I need to do before Friday. Pack away the Christmas tree, clean out the fridge and groom the dogs (which was on my 'to do' list prior to Christmas but I ran out of time).

I've decided to make my 'to do' lists shorter, so they don't seem so intimidating!

It's just ticked over to 11pm so I'm off to bed.

Nite all.

Voices in my Head

This guy is pretty amazing. Jordan Smith won America's version of 'The Voice' this year (2015) and deservedly so. If this video of 'Somebody to Love' doesn't convince you, go to Youtube and watch his renditions of 'Halo' and 'Hallelujah'. You will soon be convinced.



I have to choose my new word for 2016.

Remember last year I chose the word 'peace'.  I'm not sure that I generated as much peace as I'd planned, however, I now possess many peace symbols in the form of wall art, jewellery, decorations and even the new chook pen has a peace sign painted on the outside wall.

I have until 1st January to choose my new word. Right now I'm liking 'mindfulness'. Here are three links to sites explaining various techniques to becoming more mindful in your life.

Mindfulness - means maintaining a moment by moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations and surrounding environment.

Mindfulness - “Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way; On purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally.”

Mindfulness

What I most want to be mindful of, are my thoughts and feelings of self-sabotage.

I have a very loud mind. I think a LOT. I make jokes all the time about the voices in my head but the number of thoughts that shoot through my mind every minute of the day is exhausting and I need to find a way to quiet my mind. Meditation and mindfulness might be able to do that.

I will further investigate and make my decision in the coming days.

Meanwhile, I have booked my flights to Griffith for the 1st January. I'm not sure how long I will be away, but a 'cheap as chips' road trip is on the cards and hopefully will end with BGWLBH here for some R&R and TLC.

I'm looking forward to dusting off the camera and practising my photography again, as I'm sure BGWLBH is too. It's been too long!

Right now, it's after midnight, so I'm off to bed.

Nite all.