Hunter Valley

Greetings all!

We have been to the Hunter Valley and had a lovely time. We stayed in the Leisure Inn in Pokolbin in a little cottage near the conference center and it was very comfortable and had access to a pool etc.
On the way up there hubby had to stretch and did so by hanging from a tree but they were just not high enough and he almost broke the branch.

We did see kangaroos and a dead wombat, but as usual, no koalas. Sometimes you wonder if they really exist. We took a scenic gravel road for about 40 km and it was very scenic even though it does shake you up a bit.

Here are some mailboxes that we saw on the way. They were out on the road and the houses nowhere to be seen. I guess you don't just toddle off in your dressing gown and slippers to get the paper in the morning when you live out in the Australian bush.

So while hubby went to a conference which was in honor of an eminent Australian scientist, yours truly visited wineries, galleries, cheese factories, and chocolate factories, all very enjoyable.

One of my favorite wineries was Petersons Wines, but there were so many others, I almost feel bad just mentioning one. The conference dinner was held at the Hope winery and they had a very interesting tour of the facilities with tasting and delicious nibbles before dinner.

One of the artists I really liked was Peter Sesselman.  His style is very vibrant and you can see a little Edward Munch influence which is not surprising since both are of Norwegian origin.

On my last day I also saw "the biggest kangaroo filled with candy in the Southern hemisphere"??!! What will they come up with next?

Very big boat!

This boat is anchored at Circular Quay and is very, very big; I think I counted 10 stories.  It is called Voyager of the Sea. If you click on the link you can see more about the facilities on board. Still, I would not like to go on a cruise, in fact I couldn't think of anything worse. Cooped up at sea, with people you are not sure to like and no way of getting off when you want. And the possibility of seasickness....I have rarely been on a ship without being seasick. It could be that the ships I have mostly been on have travelled on the North Sea or the Atlantic and maybe it is different in the Pacific or the Mediterranean, but still.

One of the worst trips ever was when my sister and myself visited Faroe Islands. We went from Norway to Faro Islands with a ship called Smyril which I believe still runs. We had a wonderful shrimp feast on the boardwalk in Bergen before we set off.  Maybe that was part of the problem. When the sea started getting rough both of us became very, very seasick. You know, to the point where you almost want to throw yourself overboard. The trip lasted a very long time and we stumbled onto Faroe Island soil like zombies. It took us days to get over it. We were supposed to continue a few days later to Iceland but couldn't, so we stayed on and when the ship came back on its way to Scotland we ventured on board again with great trepidation but this time it was daytime and also not quite as rough.

I have more ship stories. There is the one about my whole class going deep-sea fishing, when I went to school in Florida and I was the only one who had to stay in a cabin with a bucket nearby.

Or the one when our first born was only six weeks old and we went from Sweden where he was born to Scotland where we lived, on a ferry.  Needless to say it got bad and I had to stay in my cabin for 24 hours and nurse and change a six-week-old baby.  It was not fun..... There are more but I'll stop now, it gets boring. Just wanted to prove my point, me and sea travel do not agree!

Here is a link to some remedies for seasickness and I noticed that steering the boat was one of them but I don't think they would let me steer the Voyager of the Sea anyway.

See ya'!

Skyping away

I had a little Skype morning today, with a girlfriend in France, and older daughter in Africa. I just love Skype!

Not much happening here right now.  I am spending a lot of time on the computer though. I am trying to finish the photo-memory book that I started when my mother lived with us. I made her sit down now and again and tell me things from her childhood and youth etc. and now I am putting it all together. I have found a company called Solentro which is quite easy to use. It is just that over the years that mum lived with us the book became quite long, so now I have to edit it, and it takes time. You can only have 100 pages and I have quite a few more than that, but editing is good. I repeat myself a lot, and since this has been an ongoing saga over several years, it needs cutting down a bit.

I had a meal out with my painting group again, the same place as last time but with more people. The oldest one was 93, and I think she had driven her car there!!!

This coming week end we are going to the Hunter Valley.  For non-Aussie readers, it is a wine region and we are staying in Pokolbin, in the heart of the wine region. I'll tell you more when we get back. Again hubby is going for work and I am going to play.

So long, dear readers!  Have to drag myself away and get some milk. Take care!

Sunday in Cronulla

We had a lazy morning at home but then we decided to have lunch in Cronulla. There is a great fish place there, nothing fancy but the best seafood ever. So after having a great dish each we wanted to go for a walk on the beach and loose some calories.

 I needed to "walk in" my new walking boots, so I had them on (soo uncomfortable!) but that was not the only reason we didn't really get very far. There was a fair on at the beach with music and dancing and vintage cars and wine tasting and a surf competition and other stands. We got caught up in all the fun and didn't get very far. To do the wine tasting, all you had to do was to buy an empty glass and five or more coupons and then you use them for the winetasting. One if you only want to taste a little, and two for a full glass.
Here is the group who played very danceable rock and roll, and as always, it was good fun to watch people who really know how to dance. One couple was down-right acrobatic, but I was so mesmerized that I forgot to take photos.
There were prizes given for the vintage cars as well, and I think this car got a prize, and if not he should have gotten one. It was a beaut! (Aussie expression again)

In the surf competition they had different age groups and this guy won the over-60's longboard prize. He wanted to give the lady handing out prizes a kiss but she wouldn't have it. 

Concerning the last picture of the lifeguard on the beach, is it just me or is he looking the wrong way? (I think the photo becomes bigger if you clic on it). 

Until next time, I am going to try to live by this little saying that I read somewhere recently: "The trick is to enjoy life.  Don't wish away your days waiting for better ones ahead!"  Sounds simple and doable, let's try it!

....Any color as long as it's black

This is a quote by the maker of the Ford automobile but it certainly doesn't apply to life in a brilliantly sunny country, like Australia.

I went window shopping with my sister-in-law on Sunday in Balmain, and the clothes are mostly made in brilliant colors, orange and turqoise and yellow and pink etc etc. It just makes you feel  happy and alive. When we first moved to France it was very clear that to be chic you had to wear black and be very understated; all else seemed tacky and a bit too bright. Since I never really succumbed to the "black trend" I am very happy to buy clothes in happy bright colors.

Speaking of window shopping, it is again that strange time of year. I mean seeing windows decorated for Christmas with snow and reindeer and sleighs while walking around in a sundress in +28°C, will I ever get used to it? 

We also had a nice lunch there at the Top Deck Cafe, where you could (with difficulty) see the Harbor Bridge, which was their claim to fame. Very good service though, and a fun waiter!

Before our visit to Balmain we went to the Rozelle Market which is on every Sunday. It is always fun to poke around. I was looking for an easel, but the one I found was not for sale. So that gives me a good reason to go again soon, right?

I have had a fun week with my sister-in-law and her son visiting for a week and my other brother-in-law for a few days. We did lots of painting which is very inspiring to do together with someone.

Yesterday after my painting class I went for a walk on the beach and saw all these kids having a picnic with school. They were all wearing sun hats, and if you didn't have it on you were told off. They take sun exposure seriously here in Australia. The teachers were all walking around making sure they had put on sunscreen as well.

Until next time, take care!

Days with family

We have had the pleasure of having family visiting for a few days and have had lots of fun. Yesterday was a trip to the Blue Mountains, always fun but quite a long drive.

Today was a picnic and a paddling competition on the river, en famille. While some of us went out in the paddling boats, built like tractors, two of us stayed back to look after our belongings and the food. Unfortunately, we were not vigilant  enough and came under attack by the cockatoos. They got away with a bag of bread rolls and a whole cheese before we scared them away, almost risking our lives because they got very aggressive. However, the contestants in the paddle boat competition did very well, only thing was that they had left their shoes at the picnic table and had to walk back barefoot, from the other side of the lake. Did I mention that here was a lot of duck poo everywhere!!

The evening finished off nicely with a prolonged game of charades with the three siblings in the family excelling. They must just have the same way of thinking.

Start of paddling competition

Imagine about twenty of these attacking your picnic table

Yours truly after a walk to a waterfall.

Candy shop in Leura

Snakes in the playground

As the title shows, we went to a park by a lake in Mittagong with a big playground for kids and had a picnic lunch before separating from our Melbourne friends with whom we had spent the weekend. A lady with a dog came up and warned us that there was a snake nearby and hubby had to go and take a photo and just as we left we also saw this:

Would you let your kids play in that playground?

So back to our weekend. There was a lot of eating a drinking and reminiscing and a lot of fun.We stayed in a self-catering cottage in Bundanoon which is close to vineyards. Hubby and myself had lunch in the Lambert Vineyards near Canberra before even getting there and then on Saturday we had dinner at the Exeter Studio. That was a real treat and I wholeheartedly recommend it. It really is a hidden gem!