Week in Rye

Here I am four days into our week camping in the seaside village of Rye and we have had almost all four seasons in those four days. We arrived on Wednesday night, got our camp all set up and caught up with our friends that are staying as well. But at about 11.00pm the wind started and around 2.00am  our annex was hit buy the beginning of the 86km winds and came down like a pile of cards. There was nothing we could do until daylight so we sat and listened as Mother Nature told us who was boss. Once daylight emerged we cleaned up our mess and luckily nothing was damaged just wet and messy. 

Thursday's weather was better with just a few showers and a bit windy. But it was made better with the visit from my daughter Rachel and my two adorable granddaughters Clare and Mikayla. It was Mikayla's first time playing on the beach and she was very excited and super cute. She was running around sideways like a crab.

Thursday evening four of us girls had the extreme pleasure of heading to Peninsula Hot Springs. The Bath House area of the springs consists of more than 20 different bathing experiences. These include a cave pool, reflexology walk, Turkish steam bath, Sauna, cold plunge pools, family bathing area, massaging mineral showers, hilltop pool offering 360 degree views and indoor and outdoor footbaths. The hot pools temperature ranges between 37c and 43c. 

Friday was a very lazy old day and Saturday us girls headed off to check out a couple of local markets. 

In my opinion Red Hill market is one of the best markets in Victoria. There are lots of many and varied products, lost of yummy food and plenty of beautiful fresh local produce. 

Today we headed to the tiny village of Tyabb to wander through the huge antique stores and many craft and various other speciality stores. I have been searching for something unusual to use in a wind chime I am making and yeah I found it in a little junk shed. I will share it with you when my project is finished. We then drove onto Hastings for lunch.

So now I bid you all goodnight as I prepare to snuggle up in my cosy bed in our camper Myrtle. 

Missing In Action

Yes I am still here, just have been missing in action for the past month. I really wanted to write every day during my 30 Day Challenge but even though I have stuck (pretty much) to my other challenges I haven't written in my blog at all. I guess life just got in the way because I have had a pretty busy time with friends, family and life commitments. It has been a pretty good month. I have done a few markets with my jewellery DavineRaeDesign, spent time online with some very inspiring groups of friends that have motivated me to get up off my bum and do the things I want to do.

DavineRaeDesign Collection

I have also started volunteering with Wesley Do Care and have spent some time with a lovely 84 year old gentleman who is in need of some company. I can honestly say our visits will probably do as much for me, if not more than it does for him. I have also had a wonderful few days spending time with both my children Shane and Rachel and their families. It's exhausting but I love having my four grandchildren (Clare, O'Shea, Mikayla and Finn) around me. They all have such different personalities and I can see my two babies in all of them. I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful family.

Clare

Finn & Mikayla

O'Shea, Clare & Mikayla

O'Shea

With only three days left in our 30 Day Challenge I have put a mini challenge out there for each challenge member to spend 10 minutes each day on some "ME TIME". I think we should all spend some me time every day because we deserve it. My "me time" today will be tonight when I sit down and do some cross stitch I am almost finished. How about you? Do you deserve some "me time"? I think you do. 

Made from Pinterest

With a couple of markets coming up I thought it was probably a good time to make some jewellery stock so I've got something to sell. Because my stock of earrings was down to about four pairs I thought was the best place to start. So that was were I started, although my thought process for this creative episode was a bit different to what it normally is. Normally I am not a very pinky sort of designer or wearer. But for some reason all the beads I was picking up seemed to be in the pinky girly shades. After finishing I was pretty happy with where my mind took me. But something was missing, I wanted some cards to display my cards on, but I wanted something a little different. That's where Pinterest come in. I have seen this idea several times and in several variations on Pinterest, so I thought I would give it a go. First I borrowed this punch from my lovely friend Michelle from Joy Express.  I cut them out of Watercolor paper and thought I would use three bright watercolours.

I bought this watercolor paper way back in the 80's when I lived in New York -
I knew I kept it for a reason. 

This punch was just perfect for my little job - thanks Michelle

With a group of cards held together with a couple of elastic bands I slightly wet the edges of paper with a spray bottle. Next with a wet paint brush I dabbed the top edge of the cards with three different colours. Having the paper wet allowed the colours to blend down into the cards. 

I am pretty happy with the randomness of the colours

 After the cards had dried I gave them a bit of an iron - not they really needed it. 

Then again with the help of Pinterest I made this little tool to punch a couple of holes into the card to put the earrings into. All it is a small piece of wood with a couple of pins superglued onto it.

Very simple but very clever idea to punch two holes into my cards

I started punching the holes on an old mouse mat,
but then realized just doing it on the ironing board was just as easy. 

After putting a little DavineRaeDesign sticker on the back it was time to complete my display with the actual earrings. 

I am very happy with my end result. 

I'm pretty happy with how they all turned out. I'd love to hear your opinion. 

Queen Victoria Market, Melbourne

I love markets, every city I visit no matter where in the world I am, if there is a market there I try my hardest to go and explore. In Melbourne we have a fantastic market called Queen Victoria Market, affectionately known as "Vic Market".

Queen Victoria Market - "Vic Market"

This historic landmark at 7 hectares (17 acres) is the largest open air market in the Southern Hemisphere. It is a vibrant and bustling inner-city market with fresh Aussie fruits, vegetables, local and imported gourmet foods, clothes, souvenirs and so much more. Starting out as a small market in the 1850's, the "Vic Market" gradually expanded into space made available by the closure of the Melbourne Cemetery. The re interment of the human remains  from the closure of the cemetery caused a great deal of controversy at the time as there were about 10,000 burials on the site. There still remains approximately 9,000 people buried under the sheds and car park of the market. Every time work is carried out at the market, bones are disturbed. There is a legend about an old Australian soldier who appears around the sheds and car park during the night. A memorial to these people stands on the corner of Queen and Therry streets. I might be a bit bias but out of all the markets I have visited so far the Vic Market is still my all time favourite. Prior to going on our Aussie Adventure we would head into the market about every second Saturday. So this morning we were really looking forward to get back to the Vic Market. And once again this Melbourne icon didn't disappoint me. Not only do I love checking out all the food and other various items, I love just people watching.

Jam Donuts - Yummm

Amazing Fruit and Vegies - I love Rhubarb

Incredible seafood.....

....everywhere

Oh I'm in Heaven

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

Port Broughton to Ardrossan

Well what an interesting few days I have had since my last post. After having ringing in my ears for about 5 days I ended up spending our last night in Port Broughton in hospital. I came down with a bad episode of vertigo, which in turn had me throwing up violently. Shane bundled me up and got me to hospital. It was really weird as I couldn't walk straight no matter how hard I tried. They think it may be caused by a middle ear infection, but not sure. After getting and injection to stop the ringing, dizziness and vomiting and spending the night in Port Broughton hospital I am now OK, although my ears are still ringing.

After a night in hospital I felt almost 100% better

So we are now on the East side of the Yorke Peninsula in another seaside village called Ardrossan. At first I was a little bit apprehensive about coming to the Yorke Peninsula. After reading the tourist brochures nothing really grabbed me. But after having time here I now see why it is popular with South Australians, it is a really pretty area. It has some lovely small villages, spectacular scenery, beautiful countryside and coastline.

I don't think I will ever get sick of looking out at the ocean

Ardrossan is a thriving seaport with a population of about 1100 people. With an abundance of blue swimmer crabs, great fishing, shipwrecks and an interesting history it is no wonder it is so popular with tourists.



Yet another Wharf! This one has been good to us.
Shane got six Blue Swimmer crabs for my dinner

Wattle Point Wind Farm.
When this wind farm was officially opened back in June 2005,
it was the biggest wind farm in Australia with 91 megawatts.

As this weekend is a long weekend in some Australian states this peninsula is pretty busy. We have visited some of the normally quiet little settlements and even though there are a lot more people around they are still delightful.

The Stansbury village had some beautiful murals

Today I spent the day in one such village, Stansbury at the Stansbury Seaside Market. Due to a cancellation, I was lucky enough to get a spot to have a stand with my jewellery. It was a glorious day, not a cloud in the sky, the sun beaming down, but not to hot, the beautiful blue ocean beside me and having the privilege of sharing my jewellery with the masses. The market was quite busy and I had a fairly successful day.

My little stand for DavineRaeDesign