Merry Christmas

I would like to wish everyone out the in the wide open spaces the very happiest Christmas. May your day be filled with love and happieness. For those you don't feel all that joyous please know that I am thinking of you and you are not alone in this world.

Merry Christmas

Well we are almost at Christmas 2012. I just love Christmas - to me it is true family time. I feel for the people out there that either do not have a close family or any family or suffer instead of enjoying this time of year. It would be nice if each one of us that have everything we want could reach out to just one person who doesn't and give them some love. I have and it sure makes your heart sing when you know you have helped one person.
I am spending Christmas in Eden with my son Shane, his partner Stacey and my adorable grandson O'Shea. O'Shea is now 17 months and has the energy of a typical little boy. He also has a pretty good vocabulary and at time is a little chatterbox.  I must say I love being a Granny although it is looking like I will be called Gaga.

It looks as though we may have to postpone the departure for our Aussie Adventure for a month and now leave mid February as a few health problems have arisen that have to be addressed before we leave.

Great Company

I am in the middle of a great weekend. Last night I had a night in the city with 5 girlfriends. It has been a while since Alice, Robyn, Sylda, Melissa, Wanda and myself  have had a night out somewhere, so we were all looking forward to it. We had decided to go to a theatre restaurant, stay at one of the casino hotels and just have a nice time together. The theatre restaurant is called Witches in Britches and has been around for quite a number of years.  Well the company was great but the theatre restaurant was the worst place and meal I have ever experienced. I certainly won't be rushing back or recommending it to anyone. But it didn't deter us from having a nice time together. There was lots of talking, laughing and fun. After a yummy breakfast I headed home to have a relaxing afternoon after a pretty late night. I am now looking after my gorgeous grand daughter Clare. She is now 19 months old and really finding her own little personality, sometimes a bit cheeky but still adorable
Today would have been my dear late Mums birthday. I still think of her everyday but I also know she is with me everyday. It's amazing how my life has changed since she left me. Her passing has made me so much aware of my spirituality, it's funny I just know stuff now. I can't explained what I know I just know it. Thank you Mum for making me the woman I am.
I'm having trouble uploading my photos so they will have to wait till later.

More IT Issues !!

With less than 5 weeks before we head off we are just about organised. We have all the bits and pieces needed - just have to find space in the van to store everything. Also at last I am feeling really calm about the whole saga. But the one thing doing my head in is my laptop!! For some reason on some sites if I click on a link to bring up another website it takes me to Frontpage - don't know why this is happening or how to fix it. If there are any IT specialists out there I really need help!!. My other problem is now that I have a laptop, IPhone and IPad I want my diary, music etc to sync on all together but alas that's just not happening - guess I am going to have to do a bit of googling!! Then there's this  thing called Christmas! I think I had better get my shopping completed!!

IT Issues and Just Plain Busy

That's my excuse for not updating my blog for 6 weeks. I have had some IT issues - mainly with blogger and  have just been to busy. Over the six weeks I have progressed a lot with my organisation for our Aussie Adventure. I have had a stall at a couple of markets to sell some of the jewellery I have made and also to get rid of craft supplies that I no longer use. We have bought just about all the things we think we need. This coming weekend I am having a Garage Sale to get rid of some things that I should have gotten rid of a while ago. Then its donation time to the Diabetes Association and then Hard Rubbish Collection. In between all of that I am having a family lunch, various lunches and nights out with friends and Christmas in Eden with my son Shane and his little family. Oh yeah I have to fit in some Christmas shopping too!!
I have still been participating in the fatmumslim November Photo Challenge, so I thought I would share a couple of my photos seeing I can now upload them.

Day 10 - Can't (Won't) live without - Sunrises

Day 16 - The view from your window

Day 19 - Something Awesome - My Grand Babies Clare and O'Shea

Day 25 - Sky -Just prior to a huge tropical storm

November Challenge Catch Up

Day 4 - TV
Don't you hate it when even with Pay TV you still can't find anything to watch!!

Day 5 - 5 o'clock
At 5 o'clock today I was wondering why my Black Fish is turning
Gold and getting Googly eyes??

Day 6 - A Favourite Thing
Has to be my Digital Frame - I love having my loved photos there to watch every night.

Day 7 - Reflections
I love the reflections of this tree.


Aussie Adventure Update.

I spent today sorting through my clothes trying to decide -
What stays, What goes and What I am taking with me!!
It has given me a headache!!
 

Breakfast and Wedding

Day 3 the theme is Breakfast.

I am not really that fond of breakfast, I really hate cereal. But I force myself to have something as I know it is the most important meal of the day. My breakfast usually consists of freshly squeezed orange juice and always something spread with good old Vegemite. For those non Aussie's out there or those who have never tasted Vegemite, it is made from concentrated yeast extract and is very black and very salty. Most non converts that I have given it to absolutely hate it. But being Australian it is probably one of the first food experiences we get.

Most Mums steer for Vegemite on toast when their child is a very fussy eater.

 

 

Aussie Adventure Update:

I haven't had a chance to do get into to much today as I am going to a wedding and at 59 it takes me a while to scrub up OK. But I have been researching Tourist Parks for our first 3 nights. I am also excited to have actually booked our first night. All this preparation is making it feel really REAL!!

Colours and Tyres

Day 2 - Colour. Yes the theme for today is Colour, so I thought I would share my favourite colour PURPLE. It hasn't always been my fav colour, when I was younger it was GREEN. Back in my 20's when I got my 1st brand new house I had LIME GREEN carpet. I loved it then but oh my goodness I couldn't handle it now. Why do we choose a certain colour as our favourite... I don't know. But I do know that when I see the colour PURPLE it makes me feel calm. I would love to know what your favourite colour is and how it makes you feel? Why do you think why we are drawn to a certain colour.

Aussie Adventure Update -

Today we had All Terrain Tyres installed onto our car for all the

rugged dirt roads we will end up traveling on.

 

NEWSFLASH: 

Keep visiting because in the next week or so I will be giving away a free prize to one lucky winner.

Welcome November

Day 1 - Something starting with C

Well this was an easy theme today - it just had to be my beautiful granddaughter Clare.

 

We are now counting down the days until we head off on our Aussie Adventure. We will drive out the driveway on January 14th 2013. Our home for the 12 months will be our Jayco Swan Campervan. I spent today tackling some sorting through what I'm taking and whats staying. I am lucky that our van has quite a bit of storage space but I still need to make use of every nook and cranny. Who thought there would be so much to do!! Oh well I will just tackle some more tomorrow.

October Photo Challenge

Today is the last day for the "Fat Mum Slim" Photo a Day Challenge.

It has been a lot of fun so I thought I would share a couple of my photos.

Day 2 - Lunch

Day 4 - What You Read

Day 14 - Makes Me Laugh

Day 31 - Whatever You Please

 

November Challenge has now been set and I am looking forward to my next challenge.

Why not visit the Fat Mum Slim Blog and give the challenge a go, it's a lot of fun.

 

 



Days 4 and 5

Good Morning everyone - I didn't get to update last night so I will do both days now. Saturday was once again a long drive but the countryside had change to a lot more trees and hills as we travelled through The Great Dividing Range. We arrived in Tweed Heads (our destination) about 1.30pm and just relaxed until dinner. After the driving, a beautiful meal and a few drinks my bed was yelling out for me. Although I don't mind driving long distances it was nice to wake this morning and not have to jump in the car and head of. So I went for a relaxing walk along the Tweed River and through the mangrove area and now I am considering having a shower. Isn't life great when you really don't HAVE to do anything. Just go with the flow. OK it is now almost bedtime and my day has been lovely and relaxing. So until tomorrow I will bid you all goodnight and remember no matter what is happening in your life, tomorrow do something for yourself - doesn't matter how big or small.

Glen Innes Post Office



Glen Innes Westpac Bank

Glen Innes Streetscape

Glen Innes wide main street

Queensland Sojourn - Day 2

We woke very early this morning so thought we may as well get on the road. Our mission was to drive from West Wyalong to Tamworth, which is 590kms (approx. 366miles) through the countryside of inland New South Wales. As yesterday we went through the charming small Australian country towns, but most of the trip was just the remote countryside. I was looking forward to seeing Tamworth as I had never been here before.  Tamworth is famous for it's Annual Country Music Festival in January. One year we will come up for the festival although we would have to book at least 12 months in advance.  We finally arrived in Tamworth about 3.30pm and I was very surprised at the size of this city which I thought was going to be a lot smaller country town. So now it is 10.15pm, we have been out and had a yummy dinner and my day has just about caught up with me. So it is good night from me until tomorrow.

Queensland Sojourn - Day 1

We are on a mini trip to Queensland to deliver a car to Shanes brother. For those who know the size of Australia might say this is a long way to go for only a couple of days. But it's all an experience and fun. After heading off this morning we weren't very far up the highway and had already seen 6 dead Kangaroos, They just don't have any chance when they are hit by a road train. This journey will take us through quite a few old towns and I love all the old buildings in country towns and they all have at least one good old country pub,

Jerilderie had two great old pubs

 

Parts of the drive consisted of nothing but a long road and flat plains.

This is just before we had a dust storm

The day was starting to get very warm and even though I don't usually eat ice-cream very much when we stopped for petrol I saw these in the fridge and really had to have one.



I haven't had a heart ice-cream for years - they are so creamy

Finally we reached our overnight destination - West Wyalong. We have had a lovely Chinese meal and will probably have an early night ready for another leg of our journey tomorrow.

 

Our little cabin for the night

Spirit Of Tasmania

Last night we travelled back from Tasmania to Melbourne onboard the ship the Spirit of Tasmania. Having had worked for the Tasmanian Travel Centre for about 10 years I have travelled on this ship many many times. It is usually a pretty smooth sailing even though the stretch of water it travels on - The Bass Strait - is one of the roughest stretches of water in the world. I must say I have had two sailings that I would rather forget but last night was very smooth. We were also lucky enough to have received an upgrade on our cabin to one of the best types of cabins available. The bed was so comfy, warm, cosy pillows and big window to watch the stars at.

View of the Spirit of Tasmania while waiting in the car line to commence moving.

Driving into the bowels of the ship.



Our beautiful Deluxe Cabin

Lazy Sunday

I have had the laziest of days today. All I have been doing is clearing out my emails, playing on facebook, reading a couple of magazines and now I am watching (sort of) the Rugby Grand Final. I don't really follow Rugby but the final is between a Sydney team and Melbourne Storm. So being a proud Melbournite I have to go for the Storm. I haven't even taken a photo today so thought I would just share a couple of sayings that grabbed me and also a couple of photos of my loves.

Karma will always come back!!

When ever Zoe is left on her own in the house, we get home and she has our shoes in her bed.
She never chews them just takes them to her bed. Her record is 11 shoes!!!!

I have been guilty of re-reading some last chapters of my life.
I now make a conscious effort not to.

One of the loves of my life is my beautiful grand daughter Clare Megan Walker

Another one of my loves is my gorgeous grandson O'Shea Ryder Clohesy

Which step are you at today??

 

A White Saturday

I have had a great day today. Last night was our last night up at the Central Highlands and we had decided to head down the mountain at about 8.00am this morning. When I first woke at about 6.00am I thought that maybe it had snowed because it was very silent. Looking out the window I was pleasantly surprised with a covering of snow over everything. At first we were a bit concerned about driving down the mountain so early, but we did and all was OK. The rest of my day has been very nice with an afternoon snooze, a lovely hot shower and a relaxing day all on my own.

The beautiful view I was confronted with when I looked out the window this morning

I love the sight of snow clinging to the trees

Our drive down the mountain was slow and steady
 

Chilly Day

Shane and I decided to do a little bit of touristy stuff today. He was going to have a fish first thing in the morning but it was just to wet and cold. So we headed of on our drive. Our first stop was at The Wall in the Wilderness. The wall is a work in progress and when it is finished (in 3 years) it will consist of 100 panels , a total of 300 metres, of beautifully hand carved Huon Pine, depicting the story of the Tasmanian Highlands. You are not allowed to take photos in there so I bought a couple of postcards and took photos of them. Even though this exhibition isn't finished yet I would thoroughly recommend anyone visiting Tasmania to visit it. The carvings are amazing and look so real you can hardly believe it is all wood.

Carving of an Echidna

Amazing detail : Huon Pine carving of this hand

Then it was onto Lake St Clair which is a beautiful scenic lake which I think is the deepest lake in Tasmania. Even though it was really cold and cloudy - in fact it was very close to snowing - the scene over the lake to the snow covered mountains was still beautiful.

I was well rugged up!!!
 

I am now sitting in my nice warm bed fairly tired after our big day.

The Great Lake

The Great Lake is a lake located in the central north region of Tasmania, within the sparsely inhabited Central Highlands municipality. Its original size was much smaller but many years ago it was dammed at its southern outflow for hydro-electricity production. It is Australia's second largest freshwater lake and is 1,030 metres above sea level. The lake has an area of 114 km². It is used for hydro-electric power, fishing and tourism.
The area's has the reputation as being one of the coldest places in this generally mild-weathered state. During the winter months when the weather is hardly conducive to camping, the population of the two small highland towns drops to two or three hundred.
The Lake Highway runs along the west side of the lake and this is where we are spending the next two nights. We are staying at the Great Lake Hotel which is fairly basic but warm, comfortable and the pub has great meals. Shane has been regularly coming up here fishing with his late Dad since he was about 6 years old, so he has many many memories.

The Great Lake

Flying High

I love flying - I love looking out at the clouds.
All my life my favourite part is flying in the middle of the clouds. It is like I am nowhere.

Preparations

The preparations have started for Shane and I to head of on our  2013 Aussie Adventure in January. As my daughter Rachel, Luke and Clare are going to move into my house for the 12 months I have started going through things to see what I am taking, what can be got rid of and what needs to be stored, so there is room for them in the house. It certainly helps you declutter when you are faced with having to pay to store an item. It makes you realize just how important things are to you.
Tomorrow Shane and I are also off to Tasmania again to sort through his late fathers belongings and then when we get back we are heading up to Queensland for a few days. So for the next couple of weeks I should actually have a few things to write about.

Containers I have been able to empty

Boxes ready to be filled!!

The Show

Today is was off to the Royal Agricultural Show for Shane and I. There have been very few years during my 59 years of life that I haven't been to the annual show. I have very fond childhood memories of heading off with Mum & Dad. Being an only child is was always Mum, Dad and Me. People always referred to us as Joan, Keith and Davine because it was always just the three of us. My memories include how Mum & I would be so excited about the day. It was like Dad was the adult and Mum and I were the kids. We would buy heaps of show bags and when we would get back home exhausted Mum and I would spread all our goodies out over the floor. These days I still really love going to the show and getting my show bags. Although I don't get as many show bags as I used to probably because a lot of them now cost $10 - $20 instead of most of them being less that $1.00. But some things haven't changed I still had a great day and I have still arrived home exhausted. I am also so glad I have had a day that has bought some wonderful memories of my parents to me.

Yummy Lunch - not to unhealthy!!

As we arrived we were welcomed by a singing cowboy on a very big bull!!

I'm glad this ram was in a pen, those horns were long and sharp.

The baby alpacas were adorable.

This calf was so cute but didn't smell very sweet.