Blackbutt, Queensland

Well it certainly wasn't a very long distance to get to this destination - 61km. Why would we only travel this far, because we wanted to. We did stop off at the little town of Yaraman for a pretty yummy brunch of scones, jam and cream.

Mmmmm Yummy Brunch

The township we are in for 3 nights is called Blackbutt named after the Eucalyptus Pilularis Tree or Blackbutt Tree. The town was established back around the early 1800's when farms were established in the area. A population growth happened in the late 19th century when as with many Australian towns gold was discovered. Blackbutt now has a population of just over 1000 and to me has a little bit of an alternative feel to it with a few shops selling crystals, incense product and art. I have been looking for a small lamp for in Myrtle and I found this little salt lamp that has a tiny LED lamp in it that changes colours. For those out there interested in tennis this is where the Aussie tennis legend Roy Emerson was born.

The Hotel Radnor was built around 1908 - 1912 and was initially was named "The Grand". According to stories the hotel was renamed "Hotel Radnor" after the owner's dog that was killed in 1935.

 The main street is quite pretty with a couple of great old buildings framed by some glorious flowers.

We are staying at the Blackbutt showgrounds which we thought would be quiet but a Motorhome club are having a few day getaway here, but they have been pretty quiet. We are finding showgrounds are a great place to stay being a bit cheaper than caravan parks and usually have old but really clean amenities. Have any travellers out there stayed in any Showgrounds? If so, I'd love to hear about them.

Queen Victoria Market, Melbourne

I have always loved the Vic. Market, from a little girl enjoying the sights and sounds with my parents, to a Mum taking my children there to experience the many smells and sights. And now as a grown up who can head there and just wander, not necessarily buying anything but soaking up the people, the colours and everything else the Queen Victoria market can throw at my senses.

Queen Victoria Market 

In it's 130 years this market has had many faces, many changes and many many stories. It has been a livestock market, a wholesale fruit and vegetable market and a cemetery. Between 1837 and 1854 much of the land the market now stands on was the site of Melbourne's first official cemetery, housing the remains of an estimated 10,000 early settlers including those of John Batman. When the market was extended in 1917, 914 bodies were exhumed and re-interred at various other cemeteries around Melbourne. But numerous bodies remain buried beneath the existing carpark. I am not sure why they were not moved but from what I have read it is because there were no records of who the graves were for as the red gum headstones had been stolen for firewood. Also official records had previously been destroyed in a fire at the Melbourne Town Hall.

Oh Yummo I do love the Vic. Markets Jam Doughnuts.
I only know of one time in my whole life that I haven't indulged on a market visit. 

Some of the offal in the meat market makes an interesting
photo but I couldn't bring myself to eat tongues!!!

All the seafood is way to tempting and we usually come home with more that we intended

The colours and smells of the fruit and vegetables as amazing

Colourful graffiti on the toilet block walls.

But even though that gives me food for thought when I park my car, I still love heading to the Vic. Market early on Saturday mornings to buy some fresh seafood, meat, fruit and vegies and take photos of the colours of the Queen Victoria Market.

Soul Coaching Medicine Wheel

As I still have my right arm in a sling and still not allowed to move it at all for another week, I have been a little limited in what I can do. But I have still have had a few highlights and accomplishments. Sunday was a great day spent with like minded girls at Michelle's of Joy Express doing our Soul Coaching Medicine Wheels for the next 12 months. This is my 6th year of following my Medicine Wheel journey and each May I look forward to seeing what the universe has install for me. My theme for the next year is Courage, with a side message of Seek an Expert. What does all that mean? I interpret it as the universe telling me to "Step up, take a risk and if needed don't be afraid to ask for advice or help".

My Year of Courage

Another little success I have had is doing my first (and maybe last!) left hand Zentangle. It did take a while, and my left hand ache a bit, but it was a goal and I accomplished it.

My left handed Zentangle

Today Rachel even trusted this one armed Gaga to look after the babies

(with the help of Shane of course).

Our little princess Clare gave us a concert.

Mikayla looooooves spaghetti

We did go out for lunch one day and I really felt like steak with mushroom sauce and chippies. Thank goodness I had help with cutting up my steak!!

Yummy Steak

Happy Birthday to Me

Tuesday of this week, 25 March, 2014 was my 61st birthday. Wow how did I get to be 61 already, it seems like only yesterday that I turned 50! I am not stressed about my age being 61, it's a lot better that the alternative. This time of my life is just wonderful, I am content with the life I am living, happy with the person I have grown into and cherish all my family, friends and acquaintances as they all make my life the joy that it is. I received some of the best birthday messages and phone calls I could ever wish for. Thank you for all the love that was sent my way. xxx

Early Tuesday morning we caught the bus into Adelaide for a special night in the city for my birthday. We stayed at the 5 star hotel Stamford Plaza.

Quite different to our bed in Myrtle

It's very nice and very central. After doing a bit of wandering and shopping it was nice to have a bit of an afternoon snooze. After a long hot shower we walked across the road to the Adelaide Casino, to see what restaurants were there for dinner. There was nothing there that really grabbed us so we jumped into a taxi to North Adelaide for a very nice Mexican meal. By the way Mexican is my favourite. My meal was started of with a very yummy Midori Splice - Mmmmm.



Ohhhh Yummm!!

Breakfast was quite a bit healthier but equally as yummy. We then caught the bus back to Victor Harbour to continue our adventure with Myrtle.

My breakfasts aren't always this healthy!!

A Day in Adelaide

Adelaide is the capitol of South Australia and the fifth largest city in Australia. With a population of around 1.3 million people it is often referred to as the "City of Churches". I read somewhere that it's not that the city has a lot of churches, but it's the serenity of the city that it gets that name. But from what I saw there are quite a few lovely old churches in the CBD. The beauty of the CBD is also highlighted by being totally encircled by parkland. First off today we caught a bus into the CBD and checked out a few areas, one being the Rundle Mall. There was a few pieces of interesting art in the mall.

Some of Rundle Mall Art

 

Someones hungry!

 

I really like this piece

Then we jumped on a tram out to Adelaide Central Market. I love markets and whenever I go to a new city, town or whatever, if there is a market there I try to visit. I just love the foods, the colour and buzz of them. Central Market has the title of being the largest undercover market in the Southern Hemisphere.

Flowers......

.... Fruit....

..... and great entertainment.

 Then it was back onto the tram and out to Adelaide's main beach suburb Glenelg. It's a great area with lots of really tempting restaurants. Today it was Mama Carmela's that tempted us. It has been so long since I have had a great pizza, I was hoping that this restaurant would amend that issue. And yes it did, the pizza was very nice indeed. I think it might be something small for dinner tonight!

Glenelg Pier

Glenelg Old Town Hall

Parachilna Gorge

Today we took ourselves on a bit of a driving expedition. As we drove along, looking up to our right we could see a rock formation called "The Great Wall of China"



The Great Wall of China

We headed north to a tiny little village called Blinman where I bought myself a nice size piece of Rose Quartz, cheaper than I would have bought it in Melbourne.

My new Rose Quartz Crystal

Then we headed off down the Parachilna Gorge Road. We had been told it was a pretty rugged road with lots of rocks, but as it turned out I think the grader had not long previously graded to track. A lot of our journey was crossing over the dry river beds. The scenery was nothing short of spectacular. Before we knew it we had arrived at our lunch destination – the Prairie Hotel in Parachilna. This pub is well known for its Aussie Menu that includes burgers and other meals consisting of Kangaroo, Camel and Emu. I’m not very adventurous when it come to my meals but Shane got an Emu Burger. I did have a taste of the meat patty and it really only tasted like a spicy meat patty, but it was a really dark meat.

The Prairie Hotel soon lets you know what to expect to eat there.
Kangaroo, Camel and Emu!

Yet another beautiful old country pub.

Shane had an Emu Burger, the meat was dark and had been spiced up.
It was OK but I'm not very adventurous when it comes to my food so I had a good old
Chicken Caesar Salad!

After lunch we headed back to Blinman, but this time along the Glass Gorge. This gorge wasn’t as pretty as the Parachilna Gorge but still interesting. It was a bit more rugged but once again we were lucky enough to have had it graded. It is quite strange driving over so many wide dry river beds.


I don't we would be driving across this river if it actually had water in it!

Arno Bay

We arrived in the seaside village of Arno Bay yesterday and after setting Myrtle up, had another lazy afternoon. In 1863 this tiny village was originally called "Salt Creek Cove", then in 1882 the name was changed to "Bligh" after Capt. William Bligh. Then once again in 1940 the town had another name change to "Arno Bay". Back in the 1800's the town was a port that serviced local farming districts, importing super phosphate fertilisers and exporting locally grown cereal crops. Now it's main position is as a tourist fishing town. Hopefully it lives up to it's reputation and we have some luck in the fishing department. But not today as it's once again pretty windy. I think I have been caught by the fishing bug, I love grabbing my rod, setting it up (which I have just learned) and heading off to do a bit of angling.

This was a first - harvested, shucked and eaten with an hour!! Oh they tasted so nice :)

The Arno Bay Caravan Park is situated right on the foreshore overlooking the wharf. Last night it was so nice listening to the waves as they came crashing onto the shore. That's when it wasn't being interrupted by the guy in the van next to us snoring!! Boy he sure was loud!!

The view from Myrtle

This is a really lovely, clean caravan park. As you drive in there is a huge and beautiful rose garden with a sign "Belinda's Rose Garden" and park guests are invited to pick some roses to take into their vans. I couldn't resist these beautiful yellow roses. I'm not a huge rose fan but my late Mum and Dad had some beautiful roses and my Dad just loved yellow roses. The rose garden at Arno Bay is named after Steve the owners late wife Belinda who recently died from Asbestos related cancer. It's quite moving having her roses in Myrtle. There are even vases of roses in the amenities block.

They are not only beautiful but smell amazing

As we weren't going to get any fishing done we decided to head into Cowell to check it out. We also had to drive there to get petrol as the Arno Bay petrol bowser has been out of order since the earthquake two years ago. Cowell is a bit bigger than Arno Bay and had a really nice feel about it. There some lovely old restored buildings and from what I could tell they have a fairly production Art Group. They have started what they call "Crap Art" where, some lovely, some interesting painting are hung in the toilets around the town, from the public conveniences to the loo's in the pub. I love novel ideas like this.

The Visitor Centre is situated in a beautiful old building

The pub had some lovely stained glass.........

.........and a succulent pig on a spit for tonight dinner

The novel idea of "Crap Art".......

........ was a great idea

Yeah no cooking tonight. The caravan park had a Fish n' Chips night. For just $12.00 you got 2 pieces of local King George Whiting. 2 local prawns, home made chips and some yummy salads. It was quite a big meal - you can't beat $12.00



Smokey Bay, South Australia

The Nullabor greeted us with a beautiful sunrise as we said goodbye.

Well we survived the Nullabor and as we drove into the first town, Ceduna the outside temperature (according to the cars dashboard) was 46c (114F) yes you read right!! All I could think of was how hot we were going to be putting Myrtle (our camper) up!!.

It's hard to see but it really does say 46c!!!

We drove on through Ceduna and finally arrived at our destination for the next few days which is Smokey Bay. Yeah the temperature had dropped to 44c !!!!!! We have booked a total of four nights here, we actually wanted more but they are booked out. Apparently all along this coastline it gets very busy at this time of year with all the people who like fishing coming here. Anyone who knows me know I just love oysters and I am very excited this peninsula is a popular oyster breeding area. So my first stop was at the local oyster sales. Now I love oysters but nothing beats a freshly opened one. I was in heaven.

Mmmmmmm Oysters

The last few days have been fairly warm, but certainly not as hot as the day we arrived. Yesterday was a hot windy one and we spent the day on the Smokey Bay wharf doing some crabbing. This is the first time I have tried to catch crabs! We had our nets ready, bait which was fish carcasses from the local fishermen and of we headed down the wharf for a new experience.

Smokey Bay wharf

We were told to check the nets every five minutes or so but I just wanted to keep pulling it up to check. They have to be a certain size and you cannot keep the girls as the all have eggs. It wasn't long before I pulled up my net and low and behold I have a pretty good sized crab in there. OK now how do we get this thing with big claws out of the net? Between the two of us we managed. By the end of our session we had 10 blue swimmer crabs for dinner. I was a bit concerned how I would know what the girls looked like but after getting a couple it was easy to distinguish them apart. The boys are bigger and a beautiful blue colour and the poor girls are brown and really not that attractive.
So dinner last night was chilli crabs and they were oh so yummy. Seeing I had never cooked crabs before I was pretty happy with how they tasted.

I was pretty pleased with my first attempt of Chilli Blue Swimmer Crab

Then just as we were finishing up the rain started and didn't stop all night. Quite a lot of areas in the caravan park got a bit flooded, it was a bit amusing watching all the older ladies wading through the puddles to get into the toilets. The rain has stopped now, but we are just going to have a lazy day at the camp as we are moving on tomorrow.

Bunbury to Busselton

We arrived at the Mandalay Holiday Resort in Busselton safe and sound. It's very busy because of the school holidays, but is a really nice place to stay for our week. Today's weather was a bit of a scorcher with the weather getting to almost 40c. We decided to drive inland to the Manjimup Cherry Harmony Festival for 2013. The drive through the countryside was nothing short of beautiful. One minute we were surrounded by rolling fields scattered with very healthy looking cattle, then all of a sudden the huge trees of the WA Southern Forests closed in on us and we were surrounded by huge magnificent pines and other sorts of tree. Also scattered amongst this beautiful scenery were the wineries that this region is well known for.

Driving through the beginning of the WA Southern Forests

The village of Manjimup was a lot bigger than I thought it would be and today the closed off streets were buzzing with art, market stalls, singing, dancing, wood chopping competition, a fashion parade and lots and lots of people. We wandered around checking everything out until the heat finally got to us and we headed to the Manjimup RSL (Returned Services League) for a nice cold beer before heading back on the road for our journey home.

Dancing in the streets

Chopping some wood

Even Rob from Better Homes and Gardens was there giving some tips

Music in the streets

A corrugated kangaroo

Miss (not so short) Cherry Festival

We took a different route to get back to Busselton and were certainly not disappointed with equally beautiful scenery as earlier.

Once again the names of the villages we either drove through or saw signs for amazed me. Such as Nannup, Palgarup, Wilgarup, Balbarrup, Nyamup, Darradup, Ballingup,

Mullalyup, Cundinup, Jalbarragup, Yoongarillup and of course Manjimup.