Time for a bit of a catchup

A funny thing happened on the way to Tasmania ............... we didn’t quite get there!

 

 Here’s what happened and a recap.   I’d been suffering from a bad middle ear infection post flu for quite a while before we left on holidays.  This left me with an occasional episode of vertigo (not fun) and I have  already acknowledged the fact that I’m the world’s worst sea traveller. ... ...

Getting the picture? I was getting more and more anxious and worried about the sea travel, and knew that the whole holiday I’d be worried about the return trip as well.  Combine this with really bad weather conditions on Bass Strait at the time (high winds, big seas) and the decision was made about 3 hours out of Melbourne that maybe we should just cancel the Tasmanian leg of the holiday.

 Fortunately because we were travelling in off season we had only pre-booked the ferry nothing else. Yes, we lost a bit of money, but the peace of mind (for me) was worth it.  We will go another time for sure (I’ll be the one in the plane).

 So what did we do?  Well there’s still lots of Australia that we hadn’t been to and we decided just to freewheel a bit and travel through parts of NSW/Victoria.  It was fabulous!  No set plans, just winging it as we went.

  We had no problems finding accommodation (White Cliffs underground motel shown above)  the roads were relatively uncrowded and we did lots of fun things and met lots of people along the way.  It was a great way to travel.
 
 So to start off we basically went back to the Victorian border and followed the Murray along for a while before we headed into rural NSW.  So pleased we did it when we did, considering the dreadful conditions at the moment.  Sending out thoughts to all affected by these horrific bushfires.

Some personal highlights were (in no particular order) would be 

: Beechworth, paddle steamer ride at Euchucha - sleeping in underground Motel at White Cliffs - exploring Wombeyan Caves - finally seeing  the spectacular Blue Mountains - Mungo National Park - having a cuppa near Boundary Bend  at the junction of the Murray and Murrumbidgee Rivers - beautiful Nundle and the wool mill - the town of Grenfell and  and bushranger history - Wentworth on the junction of the Darling and Murray rivers - Cranky Rock Reserve Warialda -  and visually lots of fields of gold (canola).

Quite often it would be the little towns that attracted us.  We definitely stayed away from the bright lights.  It was a wonderful trip and it was fabulous to have the freedom to travel this way.  Fortunately no incidents or accidents.   Unfortunately lots of dead wombat sightings, which was sad as we didn’t see any live ones. 

We have however discovered that we are latent twitchers ... bird watchers!  We found a great place - Reed Bed Bird Hide at Mathoura on the Murray was fabulous.  As was Wonga Wetland in Albury.

 Lots more of course.  Five weeks on the road!  We are not quite grey nomads, but may well be when the time comes.  Husband has been through a rough couple of years at his workplace, so it was an opportune time to take a well earned break.  We had a great time, and I would thoroughly recommend this type of trip to anyone.  It can be done on a budget, we lived fairly frugally and the main cost of course was accommodation.  We stayed a lot in standard cabins which seem to be cheaper away from the coast and bigger towns.  They vary a bit of course, but overall the standard was pretty good.  Quite often we would find a motel to be cheaper than available cabins. 

 

 Our car is not 4 wheel drive, it is a 4 door sedan.  We did carry some camping gear including a gas cooker and cooking gear.  This is a great way to save money!  We only ate 'out' occasionally. 

So back home again.  I had some temp work to start as soon as I returned, so have been working full time, which has been good to recoup some $$!  Some people may query how we could afford both an overseas holiday and a 5 week road trip in one year.  That's probably another post in itself!

(all photos taken on my iphone)

Cheers for now

Wendy

I know I'm a sporadic blogger but this is ridiculous ...

I know I'm not a very regular blogger these days, but I just popped in to say that I'm going to be even more sporadic / not at all in the next month or two.

We are going on an extended driving trip.  Husband has taken 5 weeks long service leave and is keen to hit the road.

So..... at the moment the plan is to drive to Tasmania.  Yes, I know - long way from our little ponderosa in south east Queensland.

source

However as the current weather forecast is pretty miserable, and I'm not a particularly good sea traveller at the best of times, we may be changing this as we go.  The ferry is the only booking we have made, the rest will be spontaneous. As there currently seems to be a cold front including rain/snow/sleet it probably isn't the best time to head south.

So I'm not really sure where we will end up, as we are able to change the ferry booking if it all looks like it will be too much.  Our bags are packed and we are heading off tomorrow regardless!

We will be back approximately mid-September and I hope to catch up with everyone then.

cheers for now
Wendy

Afternoon Shadows

I'd been reading Anne's post about her lovely garden and visiting kookaburra.  I just ducked outside for a moment to collect some mandarins and spotted these visitors in the late afternoon shadows.

Can you see them?

a bit closer

Regular as clockwork about this time of day.  They are obviously aware that we are a Land for Wildlife property and have seen the sign at our front gate~

However, not so pleased to see this guy one night during the week - and not too far from our back door.  I think it could be the one we spotted recently on back verandah.... but what do I know, they all look similar!

He has obviously been out hunting since we saw him last judging by the big bump mid-section.

...... and yes I have counted that we still have all our hens!  I'm guessing it may be an unlucky small possum or bird.

cheers for now
Wendy

Home grown industry

I guess everyone would like to grow or source their own fresh fruit and vegetables.

However, that is not always possible and we have to buy fresh or tinned goods.  Where possible, I always look for Australian grown items, but that is getting more and more difficult to find.  More are more items I look at are imported.

So I'd like to direct anyone who cares about Australian farmers and the survival of home grown industry over to Rhonda's recent posts on supporting local products and read how you can help keep Australian farmers going.

Specifically SPC Ardmona, currently petitioning the Australian Productivity Commission to place tariffs on imported tinned tomatoes and fruits over the next 200 days.

source
Please read the article and sign the petition - and pass it on!

cheers for now
Wendy

That game of football last night?

What a game.  That's all that's needs to be said.

from here

Apologies to those who aren't interested in rugby league, but last night Qld (Maroons) took on NSW (Blues) to make it a eight straight series victory.  Awesome.

The two males of the house went off in seperate directions to watch it at respective mates' places.  Yes, it's a bit of a blokey thing I know, but I just love the State of Origin series.  So I sat at home with my knitting and thorougly enjoyed it (pity about the streaker).

In other news ... we scored a lovely fireguard at a garage sale a few weeks back.

Not that we get much of a chance to use our fire here in Queensland!!

cheers for now

Wendy