A week to myself

Back in October I got the rare chance of a week to myself.  Hubby still had another week off work and basically told me to 'bugger off' and have some time to myself.

I wanted to go on a driving holiday but I didn't want to spend my whole time on the road so I decided to explore the Scenic Rim in southern Queensland.

The first day I headed towards Mt Tamborine which is not quite 2 hours from home.

I checked out Cedar Falls on the way then spent a lovely afternoon driving around the area and browsing the main touristy Gallery Walk area.

For some reason I hadn't expected to be spending the night at Mt Tamborine.  It took me until about 2pm to realise that I was enjoying myself, I wanted to explore the area more and  to do that I would need to find accommodation.  

I did and it was so lovely.  I stayed at the Bungunyah Manor Resort which had an old world charm.  Lacking a few modern conveniences like wi-fi etc (I think anyway), it was the perfect place for me to spend my first night.

The next day I passed through Beaudesert and headed towards Rathdowney to check out a couple of camp grounds.  I then explored the area towards Boonah and somehow kept driving and ended up in Warwick for the night.

The next morning I topped up some supplies in Warwick before heading toward Killarney and the Falls Scenic drive.

There's a lovely drive near Killarney which takes you past many waterfalls.  Some you can walk up to like Browns Falls.  That was my favourite but there's plenty of scrambling over rocks and trees to get there.  It was certainly worth the effort.

Other falls you could view from a lookout beside the road.

At Queen Mary's Falls I couldn't help but get excited about this piece of yarn bombing outside the cafe.  It was fabulous!

I'd love to bring the kids back here to explore the area and we could walk to the bottom of the falls.  I wasn't comfortable with heading down there on my own so just walked to the first lookout instead.

From there I headed further east and ended up having to take a detour because part of the road was damaged in the floods of a year or so ago.

It was a great adventure as the detour took me on a dirt road through national park, farms, creek and more farms.  I had no idea where I was and after about an hour I was wondering if I'd ever see a town again let along bitumen.  (I was also wishing I'd brought the 4x4 instead of the XR6 Falcon).

It was really pretty though so I thoroughly enjoyed being lost.

Every now and then another dirt road would join up to the one I was on and there'd be a small incongruous looking road sign in the middle of nowhere saying Boonah so I knew I was on the right track.  I realised afterwards that I'd been driving in NSW for most of the detour as well.  I hadn't expected to be so close to the border!

Once back on a main road I headed towards Rathdowney and one of the camp grounds I had checked out the day before.  I set up camp and spent 2 nights really relaxing at Bigriggen Campground which is 100 acres of family friendly camping.  I read a book, did some crochet, got the campfire cranked up...

...and explored the camp ground and the nearby swimming hole at the creek.  The water was way too cold for me to go for a dip but that didn't deter many of the other campers later in the day.

It was a really lovely spot to camp for a couple of days and I was glad I took the plunge and decided to go camping by myself.

My last few days I headed from Rathdowney, over the border and through Woodenbong and made my way  back into Queensland to the town of  Stanthorpe. For those that don't know, Stanthorpe is well known for it's wineries and also for being one of the coldest towns in Queensland.  I LOVED IT, especially as there was a frost one morning.  FROST IN OCTOBER!!!

 I checked into a nice little motel for a couple of nights and explored the area.  Fantastic wineries, wonderful cafes and lots of little boutique shops were visited and it topped off my week away nicely.

I came home feeling so relaxed and recharged which is what I had hoped for.

I'll also add that hubby did a fantastic job with the kids considering he'd never had even one of them for a 24 hour period on his own.  He handled dinner, school lunches and everything else easily.  (Or so he told me!)

xx Susan

Keeping cool

Queensland summers are usually really hot and humid. (Well they're humid if you live in the coastal areas like we do)

It's what we're used to but this last few days has been pretty ridiculous, especially when it's still 43 celcius and really humid at 6pm.  

The best way to keep cool has been in Aunty Sandy's pool of course.

The air conditioners have also been working overtime and even then we've still been hot and sweaty inside the house.  The easiest way to cool down is to go outside for 5 minutes then when you walk back indoors you realise that the air conditioners are indeed working!

The poor dogs are not enjoying it but we are lucky in that our house is on stumps.  This means that the puppies get to lay in the shade in the 'relative' cool all day.  May even had a bath to cool her down but I don't think she enjoyed it that much!

Little Miss R and I headed to the shops one morning for a couple of hours.  With 4 relatives (including Master M) having birthdays in the first 9 days of January we needed to purchase a few gifts.

To prolong the moment we had to head back out into the heat we stopped for a coffee, milkshake and of course a piece of carrot cake to share.

I hope you are all finding nice ways to endure the heat.  I'm dreaming of living in Tasmania myself but hubby's not interested in that at all as he's preferring Darwin!

Looks like we'll be here for a lot longer yet until a compromise is made!

xx Susan

Sleepovers

One thing that the kids usually do during school holidays is have sleepovers at different family members houses.

This holiday period has been no exception.

Both kidlettes have had sleepovers at Aunty Sandy's and if you want to see just how amazing glow sticks look in a pool at night then click here....

I wish I had an Aunty Sandy when I was growing up!

xx Susan

Making soup in summer

When you are a soup lover and can eat it all year round there's a few basic things to remember:

If you live in a tropical or sub-tropical climate (that means HUMIDITY on top of the heat), make sure your soups are vegetable based and if you want to add legumes, make sure they're red lentils that don't need soaking.

If you have some sort of brain fart and aren't thinking properly then be prepared for the beans you decide to soak overnight to ferment.  The nights have been warm  here (around 24-25 degrees celcius - 75.2 to 77   farenheight) and I think putting the soup mix in the fridge would have been a better idea.

Fermented legumes and beans do not smell very nice.  Master M is not letting me forget that the smell was DISGUSTING!

Luckily I have a few frozen containers of homemade soup to keep me going for a bit.  I just won't be soaking any beans for about 4 or 5 months until the weather cools down a bit and there's no chance of them fermenting.

Considering the days at the moment are around 40 celcius and BLOODY HUMID (45 in the shade on my sister's verandah today - 113F)  I'm thinking that sounds like the best plan.

I'm also very envious and enjoying the pictures of snowy Christmases out there in blogland.  A snowy Christmas is something I've only ever dreamed of and I've been dreaming of them A LOT over this last week!

Oh and the good old BOM site is showing storms coming this way right now.  Considering it's 8pm at night and still over 30 celsius (86F), a storm would be welcome but it looks like they'll be heading a little north of us and we'll be lucky if we get the bottom end of them.  Bugger!

xx Susan

My crafty world...

...has been pootling along VERY slowly.

In fact for a few months, crafting time for me has been non-existant.  I have also come to realise that I have  missed this crafty time more than I could ever have imagined and how much a part of my life it has now become.

There has been one huge outside influence to curb my crafty time but I'm very happy to admit that I'm beginning to steal small moments of time in my day to be able to indulge myself.

My alpaca shawl which is over halfway complete is now getting more rows added to it and I'm loving the feel of the wool and the pattern that I'm creating.

I also began another baby blanket with a really basic shell stitch while I was camping on my very special week away.

It's such an easy pattern which you don't have to think about really.  It's one of the reasons why I love making this particular blanket as it can fly off my needle.  The end result is also beautiful.

I also have many projects zooming around my brain right now but whether time, stress levels and my shocking memory allow me to complete even half of them will remain to be seen.

As the second half of 2013 meant only small projects could be completed, I've started 2014 with only small projects in mind and leaving the larger ones until I can handle them.

One project that I've decided on is to make a blanket.  Not normally a small project but if you do one tiny bit each day then it will grow fairly quickly.  Instead of a granny square a day, I've decided I want to do a circle in square blanket.  

Each day I will do one circle of 3 rounds then in December I'll lay them all out, work out which colour will bring them together best and turn the last round into a square and join them together.  That's the plan anyway.

My first circle is the one above.  A random choice of colours and some happy time taken out from my day to do something I love.

I'm starting off this project using scraps from other projects and will make these last as long as possible.  The scraps will also determine the final look of the blanket because I have only tiny amounts left of some colours and lots left of others.  It's going to be interesting to see the final result.

I also started a jigsaw puzzle a couple of months ago.  I haven't done one in years, mainly because I don't have the room to keep one out on a table anywhere.  Thank goodness for felt and being able to roll them up for storage as it means I can bring it out every now and then to try and put a few more pieces in.

The kidlettes gave me a couple of jigsaw puzzles for Christmas too so I'd like to get the one below finished soon so I can begin on them.  As soon as possible may mean Easter at this stage!

So crafty stuff is beginning to creep its way back into my life.  Oh how I've missed it!  

I hope you all had a safe New Years and that 2014 is good to everyone.

xx Susan

Meet May

May is my Christmas gift from my brother and his boys. 

On the 28th December there was a huge banging on my front door.  When I opened it I found a box on my front steps with no delivery person in sight.  I was a bit miffed that the delivery man was in such a hurry that he didn't wait around.

Then I noticed that the box wasn't taped closed and I began to get suspicious.  When I opened the box it was to find little May inside.  

That was the moment my two nephews jumped around the corner of the house yelling 'SURPRISE' at the top of their voices.  They were so excited to be giving me this special gift.

She has been a big hit with the kidlettes.  Master M is needing a quite a few pointers on how to look after a puppy.  He's a little rough!

Little Miss R has taken it upon herself to be our number one animal expert and I have to keep reminding her that May is a dog and can walk by herself.  As lovely as she is to cuddle, she doesn't need to be carried everywhere!

Patch is not quite sure about this new addition.  He's still a puppy himself really at only 15 months old and just wants to play with his half sister.  

Yes, May is Patch's half sister.  They share the same mother but have different father's.  Patch is nearly the spitting image of his father and May looks more like her father than mother.

I know you're a little jealous right now my boy but you have such a placid, gentle nature that I know you'll be fine, especially once May grows a bit bigger anyway.

During these really hot and humid days we found the best way to keep her cool as well a contained was to bring out the old playpen.  Unfortunately she's still small enough to squeeze through it and escape so we ended up wrapping some shade cloth around it today.  That way she's contained but can still keep sort of cool if there's a breeze around.

Lets hope she starts to sleep better soon as our Little May and both my kidlettes are banding together to give their mother very interrupted sleeps lately.

xx Susan

(P.S.  This is for Kylie:  Yes she does remind me of Anna.  You know how much we all loved that beautiful girl and I think that's one of the reason's why I fell in love with May the first time I saw her.  Time will only tell whether she has as big a personality as our Anna did!)

Boondooma Dam - Part 2

I did mention that it was hot while we were at the dam.  Well it was in the high 30, low 40 degrees celcius pretty well every day we were there.

As a result we had a few good storms.

Watching them build up was pretty exciting but then we had to make sure that everything around camp was tied down and secured properly.

We even had some hail but luckily it wasn't very big so it didn't damage the cars.  The kids were a bit scared of the hail until I told them it was just chunks of ice.  I then had to run out into the storm to collect some and ate it to show them that it was fine.  

Bad move!  After that all they wanted to do was run out into the storm and collect the hail!  Ah well, they had fun, got soaked, cooled down and got to chomp on ice.  Then it was back in the dam for another swim because after the storm it was so hot and steamy again that it was like being in a sauna.

The main reason why we went to this particular dam this year is because they have redclaw.  The boat went out a couple of times a day to put the pots in and to check them.

The kids even learnt how to take the heads of them...

Even the little ones had a go although Master M didn't cope too well and freaked out a bit.  Nephew R was pretty happy with his though.

We also celebrated a birthday.  It was Nephew J's 9th birthday so we had some party food and a cake that was baked in the camp oven. 

Presents were opened around the campfire...

...and played with at the first opportunity.

Unfortunately there was only a small area we could fly the kite near our camp and there wasn't much wind.

But the dragon did get to fly and looked great.

It was another fantastic family camping trip and more wonderful memories for the kids especially.

xx Susan