Survived the Weekend

Well I have survived my first weekend in Daylesford. Old Chilli B&B only has two guest rooms, so it is not  an overwhelming job looking after the guests, preparing breakfast and cleaning the rooms. In fact looking after the guests is actually a pleasure - it's great meeting different people from different walks of life. When Tim & Brian designed and built "Old Chilli" in 2001, they made it so the two rooms are separate from the main house and the guests have their own entry and door out onto the balcony. They really only have to come into the house to have breakfast. So the guests can have as much privacy as they want - yet they have me around to answer any questions they might have. As well as looking after the B&B for 12 months I am also looking after "Arch" the family dog and the two Alpacas "Bilbo" & "Groucho". So as you can see my life for next 12 months is going to be a little different than my norm.

Old Chilli Dining Room

Even though I do love being here but I am missing our new little angel "Clare",
but I will see her on Tuesday.

A Year In Daylesford

Well here I am sitting in the Bed & Breakfast I am managing for the next 12 months. It has taken quite a bit of organising and note taking but her I sit in the beautiful township of Daylesford in this beautiful B&B called "Old Chilli". I intend for the next 12 months to give you updates on how I am going being a first time B&B manager and also being a first time country girl. I have lived in quite a few locations around the world but this is the first time in the country. I also intend to give you - mainly for my international visitors - a bit of history and interesting things in this location. So for now I will say good night as I have to be up early to prepare breakfast for my guests staying tonight and we will catch up tomorrow.

"Old Chilli B&B"
Daylesford

Break of Day

I am busy preparing everything for my "Year In Daylesford". For those that don't know as of this Thursday I am looking after "Old Chilli Bed & Breakfast" in Daylesford for two of my very dear friends Tim & Brian. They are of to Canada for 12 months and have put me in charge of their business. I had a trial weekend a few weekends ago and I must say I just loved it. On the Monday morning the day greeted me with the most beautiful rainbow. Oh I think I am going to enjoy my Daylesford adventure.

The Patient Fisherman

Shane just loves fishing and being in the fishing village of Eden he was in his element. Naturally he would prefer to catch fish but even if he doesn't he just loves sitting throwing a line in, especially in this beautiful sunset.

The Patient Fisherman

Sunsets are wonderful, but what I find amazing is what that retiring sun

does to the clouds left is the sky.

Eden Sunset as a Tug Boat heads out.

The sun has gone but the clouds that are left still make your heart smile.

Beauty in Lake Tyers

As I mentioned in my last post our night in Lake Tyers last night was a bit chilly. Well it didn't improve during the night - we froze all night. So much so that we woke early and set of for Eden at 7.00am just so we could get warm from the cars heater. As we left the caravan park the sun was just starting to emerge over the horizon. Now that was just to hard a temptation for me to leave, so we headed down to the beach - all rugged up - to greet another day.

Lake Tyers Sunrise

Thought I would share another photo of our beautiful Clare - notice her little black eyes from being so enthusiastic to emerge into our world.

Clare Megan Walker

Cold Feet & a Bad Movie

Shane and I are on our way up to Eden to deliver some baby furniture and stuff to my son Shane and his partner Stacey. They are due to have my second grandchild on July 1st. By the way my new grand daughter Clare is now home and doing really well. Rachel and Luke are working together as a great team. So anyway as I was saying we are on our way to Eden and tonight we are staying at my cousin Susans caravan in a small town called Lake Tyers. It is nice here but tonight it is really cold - Shane & I are almost sitting on top of the heater, but my feet are still really cold. We are watching a movie called "Decent" with Luke Perry. It was made in 2005 and the Synopsis is - "Oil drilling causes the Earth's crust to sink, pushing the magma up. A crew must detonate nuclear fusion weapons underground and push the crust back into its proper position. Meanwhile, on the surface, there is a debate as to whether to inform the public about the impending crisis." From what I can tell it is a very low budget movie and ratings I could find are no higher than 3.3 out of 10. I think the 3.3 is generous  - in my opinion this is a really bad movie.

Just In Time

With the early arrival of our angel “Clare” we were lucky we didn’t leave Rachel’s baby shower any later or we would have had to have it without Rachel or have with Clair being there. We had a lovely day with lots of food, great venue and lots of fun games. Rachel got some beautiful gifts and they are all things that she is now going to need. It’s no secret in our family that Rachel loves getting presents and this day was no different. I tried my hand at making a “Nappy Cake” or “Diaper Cake” to my Canadian & USA readers. I am really pleased with how it turned out.

Rachel does love getting presents.

Nappy (Diaper) Cake

"I'm a Granny"

Hi all - I would like to introduce the latest member of our family. Our little Princess Clare Megan Walker was born yesterday, Tuesday April 10th at 1.13pm - 3 1/2 weeks early to my beautiful daughter Rachel and her partner Luke. She was 7.8lb at birth so she would have been a bit of a woppa if she had had gone full term. Rachel was only in labour for 4 hours but they were 4 pretty hard but joyful hours. I am extremely proud of the great job Rachel and Luke did in bringing their beautiful daughter and my cherished granddaughter into this world. To turn a perfect day into an even more perfect day Rachel named Clare after my Mum (Joan Clare).  I tell you what it bought quite a few tears to my eyes.

Rachel & Clare (2 hours old)

So True

"A Baby is Born with a Need to be Loved

and Never Outgrows it"

- Frank A Clark

My Daylesford Adventure

I think I may have mentioned in a previous post that from June 26th I am managing "Old Chilli B&B" in Daylesford for 12 months. The owners - Tim & Brian - are friends of mine and they are going travelling and working in Canada for the 12 months. This weekend is my first trial weekend totally on my own and I am pretty excited and a bit nervous. The B&B only has two rooms and they are both booked for  this weekend and I am all prepared for breakfast tomorrow morning. Daylesford is situated in a really beautiful area and is only 90mins from home so it will be easy for me to shoot off home to catch up with the family. I'm looking forward to sharing the history and beauty of this part of Australia with you all out there. But until then I would like to share the full moon we encountered on our cruise.

Paradise Day 7 to End

I have had so many Internet issues the last few day I haven't been able to update my blog. At one point I wanted to throw my laptop at the wall. So I will give it another try - hopefully it won't take an hour to load a photo!!
Our last island visit to Noumea was cancelled as there was a cyclone brewing and the captain decided it was just not a good idea for the ship to visit the port. So we had an extra day at sea, but as there was so much to do on the ship the days were filled with fun. On our last day we came into Sydney Harbour at day break and another spectacular sunrise. I am not sure why but there is something very emotional being on a ship sailing underneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge.