A date lunch and other things

I feel like we're hurtling towards the end of the school year at an alarming rate.  

I start to think that things are slowing down and I can catch a breath but next thing I know our calendars are full again.  I'm learning quickly to manage things when they crop up as well as to take the spur of the moment opportunites to relax and do something with those I love.

Last week was the perfect case in point.  I feel like I'm up to my ears in paperwork of some kind lately and in the middle of what ended up being a really busy week, hubby and I were able to spend some time together.

While out and about up the coast we were able to squeeze in a wonderful lunch at The Bridge Seafoods at Mooloolaba

We ended up sharing the seafood platter which was very, very tasty and full of prawns, oysters, sand crab, moreton bay bugs, chips and calamari.  It's been ages since we've done something like this and was just the tonic in an otherwise busy week.

My Dad is also home from hospital.  There were a few issues and delays with his recovery as he had to have a few blood transfusions and there was a problem with his wound not draining properly but the surgeon was really happy with how the hip replacement operation itself went.

He ended up in hospital for 9 days but is home now and recovering as well as can be expected.  He's sore of course and the heat we are experiencing right now probably isn't helping.

It's been pretty terrible with temperatures in the mid to high 30's Celsius most days.  Some days are dropping to just below 30 (today is forecast for 29 Celsius) but it's still really muggy and humid.  The rest of the week they're forecasting it to be back in the mid to high 30's and it's not even summer yet!

Anyone that has been reading my blog for awhile knows that I don't like the heat and don't cope with it very well which is a bit ridiculous when I live in such a warm climate.

At the moment though it's even worse because there are so many devastating fires about.  Outside is a constant haze of smoke from fires up near Noosa, and Central Queensland and northern New South Wales are especially experiencing some horrendous fire storms.

Everything is incredibly dry and there's no rain in sight to help give some relief to the exhausted fire fighters who are doing an incredible job.

So for now, we're just continuing on as best we can and dealing with what's in front of us.  We're also very aware of how fortunate we are that we're not in the pathway of any fires, but you can't be too careful as mother nature is so unpredictable and everything is so dry.

As a result of everything else going on, I haven't been getting much crochet done.  I can say that I'm about to start on the purple section of my latest make which is the last colour change.

Since I'm making it with a wool mix I'm only working on it when I have the air conditioners on of course!

I hope everyone is safe where you are and are able to enjoy your week.

xx Susan

Gardners Falls

We celebrated Father's Day here last Sunday and apart from a special breakfast it ended up being a quiet day.  Hubby was heading back to work early the next morning so a big outing wasn't really an option.

Having said that, Hubby ended up on the roof at one stage cleaning our solar panels and I cleaned up our outdoor area.  It's now swept, the table and chairs have been scrubbed and it's had a bit of a tidy up so we can enjoy sitting out there now that the weather is warming up quickly.

A really lovely place to visit, especially in warmer weather is Gardners Falls just outside of Maleny.  It's only a 15 to 20 minute drive from home and a nice spot to spend some time.

There's an easy access path from the car park so you don't need to do any kind of strenuous hike to get there.

A word of warning though,  the car park is only small so on weekends and during the warmer months it can be difficult to find a spot to park.  

It's a really popular place, especially with the locals as there are a couple of good swimming holes.  

Oh and there are no public toilets so keep that in mind if you're planning on visiting but it is only a 5 minute drive to Maleny where there's plenty of cafe's, shops and amenities.

There's a few different ways you can drive home from Maleny but on this particular day I decided I wanted views.

We do live in a beautiful part of the world and I couldn't resist the below shot of the cows in their prime real estate location.

It's only the 4th day of Spring and at 10.30 am it was already 30 degrees Celsius so the cows were finding patches of shade where they could.

I am not looking forward to summer.

I hope you are all having a wonderful week.

xx Susan

A Class Excursion

I realise now that I couldn't be a teacher.  Not that I ever had any aspirations of becoming a teacher, but after a day out on excursion with Master M's class, I know it will never happen.

Having said that, I enjoyed my day.

The day didn't start off brilliantly for us as Miss R was sick during the night so I had been up very early dealing with a sick girl and having to throw a load of washing on at about 4am.

Luckily hubby arrived home from work about 3am so he could look after our girl for the day.  Master M and I were able to head off knowing that the other half of the family were going to have a day in bed.

We headed into Brisbane city for the day and the first stop for our group was the SparkLab Science Centre.  It was so much fun.

I won't show too many photos as a lot of the ones I took had other children from the class in them.  It's very hands on with around 40 interactive exhibits that you can play with, design and build things and test how others work.

My favourite thing was the huge globe.  I've always loved maps and globes and this one you could change to show images of the earth in 24 hour time so you can see where it's night and day time.  

You could click on a more traditional image with the continents and countries distinguished.

You could also bring up the sun, the moon, Venus, Mars and other planets or their moon's as well.  I could have played with it all day but as it was the kids day out I thought I showed great restraint and didn't takeover when they were using it.

The second half of our day was spent at Queensland's Parliament House.

It's a beautiful building but no photos were allowed except for the main staircase.  A minute before  I took the below photo it was full of school kids sitting on the stairs for their group photo.

We don't have many buildings like this in Queensland so it was lovely to explore a small part of it.

We arrived home pretty tired but enjoyed our day.  Master M really loved the SparkLab but struggled at Parliament House and then the bus drive home was long (traffic) and very noisy with excited kids so he was really happy to get home to the familiar quiet of our house.

I hope you are all enjoying your week.

xx Susan

Back into the swing

I wouldn't say the last couple of weeks have been hectic but they've been very up and down.  I'm not sure how else to describe it really but it seems when we've had the down moments, hubby's been at work and I've had to hold the fort.

I'm used to it but it can wear you down and I ended up crashing down with a bit of a thud last week after days of picking kids up early from school for appointments or because they were sick or because they weren't coping with certain things.

So I've pretty well been away from the computer and dealing with what needs to be done around here.  Thank goodness hubby was actually home for a whole weekend as he was able to take on some of the load and I could start putting myself back together.

I haven't been crocheting much either but on the weekend my mojo started to kick back in and I picked up the hook and started on something easy.  I've decided to make a table runner for our old and scuffed dining table and after a few stops and starts, decided on a simple mesh stitch because it was the first thing I worked on that I could vision on our table.

The above photo is the start of the table runner and is my usual 'start of a project photo' that I take to remind myself of what size hook I'm using.  I can't tell you the amount of times I've forgotten about a project then months later when I find it again, I can't remember what hook I was using.  Now I take a quick snap and I haven't had a problem since. 

On Saturday, while hubby held the fort, I escaped for a few hours.  I took a basket with a picnic blanket, my latest library book, some yarn and hook and my camera.

I found a quiet spot to park myself for a few hours and read my book for a bit, crocheted something random, drank tea, ate chocolate and just soaked in the view and the quiet of my chosen spot.

Actually it wasn't really quiet because it was blowing a gale so the wind was a constant companion but it was better than being in an overcrowded shopping centre somewhere.

I chatted to a few people wandering along the path by my picnic table, mainly when I had my crochet out as it's amazing how many people ask what you're making.

I also watched the most gorgeous pelican float around a man with his cast net for about half an hour.  I'm sure it was hoping for an easy feed but no such luck was to be had and it eventually flew off.

So the batteries are recharged again which is just as well as I've just checked hubby's schedule and he'll be away for the next two weekends.

Over the next few days I'll catch up with my blog friends and slowly work my way through my 'to do' list and keep on top of things as much as possible.

All I can say is...thank goodness for slow cookers!

Have a great week my friends.

xx Susan

A Coastal Walk - Kings Beach to Shelly Beach

We have been experiencing some pretty gorgeous weather here lately and last week I just couldn't faff about at home any longer.

I was lucky that the gorgeous weather coincided with a few days when lovely hubby was home mid-week.  After dropping the kids at school and walking Patch, I became really, really fidgety about being at home (not a normal thing for me).

Without too much thought, we jumped in the car and headed to Caloundra as I really needed a good dose of the ocean.  I hadn't done one of my 'walks' in ages and I was really missing getting out and exploring my local area.

The last time I walked around the coastline here in Caloundra it was from Bulcock Beach to Kings Beach and you can read more about it here.

I decided to continue onto the next section so started at Kings Beach, near the Surf Club and the swimming pool which is where I finished my last walk.

This section meanders up around the headland so it requires a little more exertion than walking along the flat boardwalk but not much more.

I took my time exploring so I could soak in the views and marvel at how calm it was on that particular day.  Hubby was a bit miffed when he realised how flat it was as he could've taken the boat out so lets hope it's nice like this next time he's home.

This particular section of the coastline isn't that long really but is quite significant.  Not far from Kings Beach is the Centaur Memorial  commemorating the hospital ship the Centaur which was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine off the coast in 1943.  Only 64 people survived the attack out of over 300 who were on board the ship.

For about a 600 metre stretch along this section of the headland is the Caloundra Memorial Walkway which displays dedication plaques for remembrance of service. 

Friends and family of those who served our country are able to commission a memorial plaque to be placed on the walkway.

There's also a special wall commemorating the men and women who have served in the volunteer Coast Guard as well.

A little further along is Anzac Park which is where the Dawn Service is held here in Caloundra every April 25th on Anzac Day.

We've been going to the local service most years (although we missed this year with Miss R getting her appendix out).

The Dawn Service here in Caloundra is on my list of things to do. I think it would be pretty moving experiencing the service as the sun comes up over the ocean.

Access to the rocky headland and water is pretty easy from the Anzac memorial and I ended up spending plenty of time perched on a rock soaking in the view and sounds of the ocean.

I love being able to look back over Caloundra and see the Glasshouse Mountains in the distance.  We really are pretty blessed to have grown up and now live in such a beautiful area.

Last time I took a walk around the area there was a small shark in the shallows.  This time I was able to watch the antics of a turtle floating around just a couple of metres off the rocks in the photo below.

I tried to get a good photo of it but nothing turned out well so you'll just have to believe me. :) 

From the point of the headland the view is pretty well nothing but ocean and apart from many of the Pacific Island nations like Fiji, Tonga, New Caledonia and Vanuatu, the next major landmass is America.

Hello to all my American friends (North and South) across the big puddle!

What a perfect spot for a picnic.

A little further on I ended up at Shelly Beach which was my destination for the day.  This is one of our favourite beaches in Caloundra but we never swim here as it's not patrolled.

It's a great beach for exploration because of the rock pools and is the perfect spot for picnics (great views, a playground and most importantly...toilets).

I can't believe it's almost a week since I did this walk now and I can tell you that the weather is still gorgeous.  So much so that I can't wait to get out and explore the next section of the coast.

xx Susan

A very special Ballet

On Sunday I had the wonderful opportunity to accompany my sister and Miss R to a special performance by the Queensland Ballet.

For a short season (about 10 days) the Queensland Ballet is putting on a production titled 

The Little Green Road to Fairyland 

which is an original and unique performance designed to introduce ballet to children.

It first premiered earlier in the year in regional Queensland as part of the Queensland Music Festival and is now enjoying a short season at the Playhouse Theatre in Brisbane.

The easiest way for us to get there was to catch the train as there's a station right next to the Queensland Performing Arts Centre.  The Performing Arts Centre is at South Bank in Brisbane where I spent a few days in April so it was nice to revisit there for a few hours.

It was a pretty exciting day out for my girl, not only catching the train but being in the city which she's only been to once and then going to the Ballet.

We had lunch at one of the cafe's at the performing arts centre.  It was a beautiful, clear winter's day but the breeze was a bit chilly so we were pretty happy to get inside the theatre for the performance.

As the ballet targets a younger audience, there's no interval and the whole performance lasts for one hour which is pretty well the limit of the attention span of many of the kids.

We also attended a special session designed with kids with sensory needs in mind so they dim the lights but don't turn the house lights off fully.  They also allow you to bring in fidget toys for the kids if they need them as well as ear plugs for the ones that are affected by loud noises etc.

As the place is half full of children some of the usual theatre rules are relaxed but the kids love it.

No pictures of the performance are allowed to be taken so you just get selfies of us at the theatre and the above photo of Miss R with her favourite Aunty, my sister Sandra.

A big huge and humungous THANK YOU to my sister's best friend Donna (who also happens to be hubby's cousin), for gifting us with these tickets when she first found out about the performance.  She thought of Miss R and knew that the three of us would love this special day together...and we did.

xx Susan

A picnic at Kenilworth

On the weekend we decided to head out for a picnic which we haven't done in ages.  One child was happy but the other whinged and moaned quite a bit about it all.  As they grow I'm starting to think that happy family outings maybe a thing of memory so I'll soak up and enjoy these days while they last.

Hubby is a bit notorious for taking us on picnics and some 7 or 8 hours and 500 kilometres later, we get home.  (Perhaps it's the memory of those days which prompts the whinging).

Anyway, we decided to just go to one of our usual and favourite spots.  You know, the place you go to when you have no other place in mind and where everyone will enjoy it.

For us that is the town of Kenilworth which is about an hours drive away up over the range through the town of Maleny and down the other side in to the valley dotted with dairy farms.

I did attempt a bit of hooking in the car on the way over but the winding roads of the ranges soon put a stop to that when I started to feel a bit queasy.

The photo below is one of the views of the valley we're about to head down to.  It's taken from the top of the range community of Witta which is near Maleny.

Our first stop was the picnic ground at Little Yabba Creek as there's a short walk through the a small section of sub-tropical rainforest there.  Even meandering along taking photos it took only 20 minutes although I'm pretty sure Miss R did it in 10.  She just marched through not taking in much at all.

From the car park you cross the bridge over Little Yabba Creek then onto the walk.  It's a very easy one with no steep inclines and has either boardwalks or bitumen to walk on.

The creek doesn't have much water in it right now as we really haven't had a lot of rain but I remember having plenty of picnics here growing up and in summer it was a perfect place to cool off in on a hot day after a game of cricket.

The walk itself is one of meandering paths...

...odd looking fungus...

….and more spectacular fig trees.

I have many photos of my kids standing next to the tree below at various stages in their lives but we now seem to have reached the stage where they don't want to be photographed.  Ah well...

It was then back to the bridge with the troops already across and waiting for me before I'd even finished the walk.  I do like to dawdle and look at my surroundings though and not rush.

In this instance they were happy to wait as there was something waiting in the picnic area near the car which caught their attention.

Can you see it in the photo below?  My Australian readers will probably know what it is.

It was a goanna that was wandering about the grounds.

After that it was just another 10 minute drive and we were in the town of Kenilworth itself where we had lunch and a play in the playground.

The Kenliworth Cheese Factory is opposite the playground and has some beautiful cheeses to try.  We didn't go over there or buy any on this particular day, mainly because we didn't take an esky with us and also because our local grocery shop stocks a good range of the cheeses if we have a bit of a craving.

We then drove home the same way we got there which was back over the range to Maleny again.  There are a few different roads you can take to get there and we often take a different one just to break up the view but today we were happy going back the same way.  Why not though, it is a beautiful drive.

I hope you are all having a wonderful week wherever in the world you are.

xx Susan