Frollick through the flowers

A few weeks ago I went on a picnic with my mum, sister and MR's mum to Araluen Botanical Garden which is about a 50 minute drive from where I live in Perth.  I hadn't been in about ten years and really wanted to go again before I moved back to the country because then it will be even further away and trips to Perth will already be cram packed with other things that need to be done.  It was a beautiful Winter's day.  Sun mostly shining, breeze not too strong.  We all brought something to share and some blankets to sit on before we left our food bags sitting under a tree and went for a wander around the quite large park. 

The reason I was so keen to go is because of the flowers.  Each Spring (late Winter really) is tulip season at the park.  There are thousands of Spring bulbs planted each year and it is just so beautiful to go and have a walk through the gardens and see all the beautiful displays.

I really love Spring bulbs, they are my favourite flowers.  Tulips, snowdrops, daffodils, bluebells.  I could fill my garden with them.  I do try but unfortunately I only have intermittent success.  This year, out of all of my bulbs, only my bluebells flowered.  And next year, in the country where it not really the climate for bulbs I will probably only get some jonquils which are already established around the fruit trees up there.  So I enjoyed them all the more in the gardens when I went to visit. 

  

Buns in the oven

Happy Easter everyone!

This Easter I had my first two attempts at making hot cross buns.  The first lot I baked as a test run on Thursday and they were rather rock-ish so I ate (the inside of) one and threw the rest in the bin.  I think I just cooked them a bit too long.  The recipe did 30-35 minutes and I cooked mine for 30 but I think 20 would have done it to be honest.

My second attempt was on Sunday when MR was down to help me eat them.  I used a different recipe, this one from The Bookery Cook, after a recommendation from Nicole on IG except I just used powdered cinnamon and all spice, not all that lovely fresh stuff and I didn't have time to steep them in the milk so I just heated it up a bit and then let it cool off.  We had a bit of a time limit, we were due for afternoon tea with MR's parents who have retired and moved to Yanchep, a 40 minute drive from our house in Perth.

This time I watched my hot cross buns baking like a hawk and as soon as they looked like they might be browned enough I pulled them out and did the tap-tap-do-they-sound-hollow test and they did - cooked enough for me!  This recipe said 20 - 30 minutes and I pulled mine out at 17 minutes. 

Hot cross rocks in the top six and nice soft crumb filled hot cross buns in the bottom six

The recipe made twenty which really is a bit of an overkill, so we took some over to our next door neighbour (and returned with a slab on homegrown watermelon), some to MR's parents and ate the rest ourselves this morning for breakfast.

While up in Yanchep, we went for a little walk along the beach just as the sun was beginning to set.  After living in the country for 35 or so years, MR's Mum is so happy to be back by the coast (she grew up near the coast in New Zealand) and was excited to show off their little beach.  Their house is across the road and over a sand dune from the beach and there are lots of ocean views from their house.

After getting back from our visit we headed out for dinner and to see the new Captain America movie.  We went Gold Class and when we were given our tickets we were told we would be receiving a complimentary Easter sundae for dessert during the movie to celebrate Easter Sunday.  How lovely is that? 



I hope your Easter weekend was just as lovely as mine :)

 

Lovely days

The end of Summer and beginning of Autumn are some of my favourite days. I get so excited by the brisk mornings and the need to put on a cardigan. Today was the first cardigan morning for me and I decided soon after it wasn't actually necessary. 

Autumn starts late here in WA. It really is still the more the tail end of Summer than the luxuriousness  of long pants, cardigans, couch blankets and Winter pyjamas. Soon, but not quite yet. What it is though is the onset of cool evenings. Perfect for crochet on the couch. My Bertie blanket is getting longer. 

Today was Brown Owls and I got another two stripes done. It's 33 stripes long now, so very close to half way. 

While it's hard to drag myself out of bed on the third Sunday morning of each month for Brown Owls (9am on Sunday is not a time I'm well acquainted with), once I get going on my craft and chatting away to friends I've made through the group, it really is a nice way to start the day. 

Today I followed craft with lunch out in the Swan Valley at a local brewery with MR, his cousin and her boyfriend. We sat outside and caught up and enjoyed yummy food and beautiful weather. And then on the way back home MR and I stopped off at Yahava Koffeeworks for a coffee, a hot chocolate, a muffin and an escargot. 

MR is quickly mowing the back lawn because the bins are being emptied tomorrow and the we are couch and DVD bound. We're thinking Zoolander. We've got veal mignons and roast veggies planned for dinner which doesn't involve much prep so all in all, it's been one of those lovely slow, relaxing days in which you still manage to get a bit of stuff done. Just lovely. 

How's your weekend panned out?

  

New Zealand ::South Island::

Continuing on from here.

From Wellington we got a flight down to Queenstown.  We decided to do it this way because by now we only had 4 nights left before we flew out!  Time goes so quickly on holidays.  The view coming in to land in Queenstown was just beautiful, even though we were apparently on the wrong side of the plane for the really big mountain views.

Snow!

We had two nights in Queenstown, the first place we stopped at properly since visiting family.  We stayed at the Pounamu Apartments which I would definitely recommend.  I made sure we booked somewhere with a washing machine so we could clean all our dirty things and there was even complimentary washing detergent next to the washing machine.  Although we had a back apartment because we just booked a studio room, there were one bedroom and two bedroom apartments at the front of the complex which had absolutely amazing views of the lake and mountains behind it.

The ski fields were already closed but we took a drive up to see some snow (which was very icy because of melting) and we just missed a freak Spring snowstorm the day after we left which left people trapped where they were and unable to get through the mountain passes.  While it would have been pretty awesome to see snow falling, we were glad not to have to change our holiday plans.  While up at the snow fields, I was captured by an discarded, unmelted icy pole which must have been there for a few days at least as the place had been closed for almost a week.  You would never see anything like that in Western Australia!  The view up there was pretty amazing as well.

We also went up the mountain/hill on the Gondola and down via flying fox, or as they call it, zip lines.  I'd done a flying fox in Dwellingup (south WA) on a school camp and loved it so I was really the drive behind doing this.  It was the only adrenaline style thing I was really interested in doing.  It was so much fun.  There were 6 zip lines in total, zigzagging down the hill front.  Unfortunately, we completely forgot to go to the store to see the photos of us on the tour that we could buy and we didn't take very many while doing it.  We were about an hour out of Queenstown when I remembered we were supposed to go and look at the photos.  I did get a couple of us turning upside down in our harnesses but because they were taken from behind all you can see is bums.

The gondola ride up and the view from the top

Ziplining and the amazing view between the trees

Queenstown is such a gorgeous place, I could easily have spent a week or two there.  There were rugs draped over the back of the chairs in the outside seating area of the cafes and pubs to keep warm.  So cute.  There were daffodils growing wild on the banks of the river and the side of the road.  It would have been lovely to hire bikes and go for a ride around (part) of the lake but we just ran out of time, as we did everywhere.

Following Queenstown, we drove to Dunedin.  On the way there we stopped at a cheese and winery and bought some picnic supplies.  We found a beautiful little spot by the side of the river with a little waterfall to sit and picnic next to.  We were so lucky with the weather, it continued to be sunny and even though it was cold, sitting in the sun was just glorious.

We were only in Dunedin for one day and spent most of it just wandering around until our flight which was in the evening.  We went to the Otago Museum and (more minibeasts alert) went to the Butterfly area in the Discovery World Tropical Forest.  The new butterflies were released at 10:30am and I was like a little kid rushing through the museum to make it in time (our breakfast took a bit longer to come out than we thought it would).  Because the new butterflies were still a bit dozy and their wings were still drying off, they were quite happy to be placed on the hand of a person and just chill out there until they were ready for flying.  So exciting!  I had one butterfly land on my nose but was too slow to take a photo.  There used to be a butterfly enclosure at the Zoo here in Perth but it closed down many years ago and now there are no butterfly places around.  Whenever I travel I always check for butterfly places. The tropical forest had three levels, ground, mezzanine and sky.  Down the bottom there were some tortoises in a pond which were pretty cute as well.

From Dunedin we flew to Auckland where we stayed the night just outside the airport and flew out the next day.  MR secretly upgraded out tickets to business class on the way back as well and because it was a newer plane we got the Skybed seats.  So amazing!  I read an entire book and watched a movie in comfort with my feet propped on the ottoman or stretched out on my bed.  Definitely the way to fly if you can!


Currently, it is seven weeks before we head over to New Zealand again for Christmas and while we won't get a chance to go to the South Island again as MR's family is in the North Island, I really cannot wait to do some more exploring.  Number 1 on my list is to have a bit of a soak in a nice warm geothermal stream somewhere, one of the things we ran out of time to do this trip. 

Do you have any other suggestions of places to go or things to do in the North Island?  We will be around the Te Puke region and I'd welcome any ideas, particularly good shops to hunt down!

 

New Zealand ::North Island::

I finally uploaded my photos from our New Zealand holiday to the computer last night (mainly because I needed to show a friend the shots today) so now I can do my holiday wrap up post.

Our trip started off well, we were upgraded to business class because the plane was an older one and didn't have premium economy seats (the ones we did book).  This meant we got to hang in the lounge while waiting for our flight!  MR is well and truly immune to the excitement of lounges as he used to be a regular attendee when flying up to work.  Mine workers are more prevalent than business men in gold class lounges here in Western Australia.  I however was not at all immune.  It was my first lounge visit (and business class flight) and I was like a little girl in a lolly shop.  Trying all the free things, checking out what was available.  Trying more of the food.  And some more.  There was free alcohol as well but I didn't try any of that.

Coming in to land was amazing.  The landscape looking like a blanket of lush green carpet.  No brown or red to be seen.  If you haven't been before, think florist foam dark green.  It looked like every hill had been sprayed with that.

We were also really lucky that the only day of rain we had was on the last day.  All other days were sunny and while we were in the North Island it was short sleeves, hats and sunscreen sort of weather.

We started off our holiday visiting MR's family.  They took us to see glow worms on our first night on what they called "about a half an hour walk" to the local waterfall.  Of course, that walk involved 20 minutes of walking down steps by torch light into the gully where the waterfall was and then about 30 minutes back up again.  On three hours sleep.  As you can imagine I was the last back to the top.  I kept stopping to look at glow worms on the way back up (or so I told myself).  The next day I was pretty stoked to see some bumble bees and spent a good twenty minutes alternating between galloping around the garden chasing them with the camera and squatting down trying to get a good photo, much to the amusement of the rellies.

However, the holiday was about more than just minibeasts (although they do feature again later).  We learnt about growing kiwi fruit on the family farm and the troubles they have had with disease in the past few years.  We went for a visit to the Tamaki Maori Village and learnt about Maori culture and had a tradition hangi meal for dinner.  It was really interesting to hear about the Maori history.  I'd never thought about how little I knew about it.  We also went to the Wai-O-Tapu Geothermal Wonderland and walked through the stinky rotten egg sulpher steam clouds, (which we dubbed 'poo clouds') looking at all the different geothermal pools and boiling mud pools.  These were not ones you could get in to, there were many signs warning of the temperature being 100`C and no touching.*

After visiting with family we spent a couple of days driving down to Wellington to visit one of MR's cousins before flying over to the South Island.  We stayed in this restored old home which is now a bed and breakfast while in Wellington.

Unfortunately we were only in New Zealand for ten days and we wanted to see Everything so it was quite rushed.  We only spent one night in Wellington and flew out early the next morning.  This was probably a good thing for MR because as soon as we were somewhere for longer than just a night I wanted to go shopping!  We are lucky enough to be heading back to the North Island at Christmas time to spend Christmas with the family over there.  MR's parents are paying for us, his two brothers, their partners and one grandchild to come over which is just so generous.  So we are very much looking forward to heading over there for another ten days in a bit under eight weeks.


I'll fly us down to South Island and fill you in on our adventures there (hopefully tomorrow) but for now, unfortunately school work is calling me.



  

*Can you guess who was the five year old who read the sign and then spent the rest of the walk wanting to stick her finger into all of the pools 'just to see'?

Two sleeps

Just two sleeps til MR and I head off to NZ for 11 days.  It is finally starting to feel real. 

Today I looked up the weather in NZ and it is forecast for between 14-20 maximums.  Good thing we have been out and bought some thermals and nice thick merino jackets. 

I have finished making a beanie for MR to wear and I am about half way through a beanie for myself.  I finally bit the bullet and gave circular knitting a try and it is actually incredibly much easier than it looks.  Both beanies have been/are being circular knitted.  Unfortunately I am not at all very fast at this knitting business and that means I am going to have to work hard to get mine all finished in time.  Of course, I am making myself a slouch beanie which means a bigger area of knitting to be done.  Silly!

We've booked all of our accommodation bar one night where we're going to be on the road and not sure how far we're going to make it.  Our car hire is booked and we've borrowed a tom tom off a friend who has the New Zealand maps downloaded to it, saving us about $100 from if we were to hire one with the car so that's nice.

We haven't booked any activities yet, we'll wait til we're over there and make some decisions there.  I have a big list of things I would like to do/see though.

I've got all our documents photocopied twice to put in the carry on and suitcases.  MR got a case for himself and it just happened that we were in Myer on a day they had 40% off luggage so that was a big score as well!  However, both of our cases are still sitting in the lounge room completely empty.  My next job for today is to start doing some outfit planning now that I have all the washing just about up to date.  I am a terrible packer but I've been reading some tips from Jarrah Jungle and Jacana and I'm determined to make a better go of it this time.  I want to have lots of space for shopping, even though MR thinks shopping is not a necessary thing to schedule in to our holiday!

NZ Baby!

You may remember me mentioning a couple of months ago that MR and I were thinking about planning a holiday to New Zealand.

Well, that thinking has turned into action!  I got my letters from the specialists, found out that I could get travel insurance and now we've booked!  We're going in October for 11 days and I am quite beside myself with excitement.  That's only five and a bit weeks away!

For those who are interested, it was only an extra $100 to have my Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia and Liver Transplant covered during the trip.  I was expecting a lot more that that!  I guess it does depend on your age, status of your condition and where you are travelling though.  NZ and Australia have a reciprocal health agreement which makes things more friendly.

Of course, after we booked, I was driving home one day making up lists of what to take in my head and into my mind (thankfully) popped the passport aspect.  Mine had expired.  Argh!  After having a big stress about not being able to go because my passport wouldn't arrive in time, I found out it only takes about 2 weeks for a new one to arrive so off I went for new photos and to fork over a ridiculous amount of money.

Look what old age steroids have done to my jaw line.

We've even planned a bit of an itinerary.  We're flying in to Auckland at about 6am so the plan is to jump into a hire car and drive to Te Puke (MR has family there) where we will visit for a couple of days and do things like glow worm caves, waterfalls, a big flying fox and hot pools.  Then we're off to Rotorua, Taupo and Masterton on the way to Wellington.  We're going to stop in at some cheese farms to indulge in lots of yummy cheese.

Following that we're flying to Queenstown where we'll stay for a couple of nights and then head over to Dunedin before flying back to Auckland and flying out.

For the south island we have planned:

• snow
• maybe Milford Sound
• Arrowtown
• some famous burger joint in Queenstown
• Butterfly Experience at the Otago Museum
• maybe a penguin experience

Of course, there is still lots to be planned, where to stay, what else to see, hire a car and so forth.  So I'm very open to suggestions of great places to go (or stay).  Particularly cool crafty shops or nice galleries.  We've been saving up for some art for our walls and are thinking about buying something while we're over there to remember the trip by.  So have you been to NZ or are you a local?  Please, please share your expertise!

One week down, one (and a bit) to go

It's hard to believe the first week of my holidays is practically over already.  Usually it gets of to a much slower feeling start.

I spent the weekend in MR's home town where he is now working again.  He's staying with his parents so I did too, it was nice to get looked after for a couple of days.  They live on the edge of town, overlooking a paddock.  This was the lovely view greeting me outside each day.  Anyone see the legless rooster cloud?

I got to watch a really good game of netball by my old team, which actually has no one on it that I used to play with and also now has one of my ex-students.  Way to make me feel old!

It was incredibly freezing there on the weekend so I didn't get a lot of socialising done, I kept racing home in need of warming up.  But I did manage to light a fire myself for the first time in over 15 years.  My first attempt wasn't too successful but the next day I tried again and got it going first try.  I spent a fair bit of time cooking myself in front of it.

I also made a cheat's pavlova and a chicken and chorizo risotto for a family dinner on Monday.

And on Tuesday I got some help getting the binding ready and attached onto the baby quilt I started during the Summer holidays.  MR's Mum is an accomplished quilter (I have just finished selecting the fabric for her to make us one) so she was a great help getting me on the right track.  I've got one side of the binding all attached now and the corners are all pinned and I have done about a quarter of the hand stitching.  I don't think I blogged about this when I was making the top of the quilt so apart from the tiny sneak peek in the corner below, unless you follow me on instagram, you will have to wait to see the rest!

Since getting back on Tuesday evening, I've just been chilling at home, reading books, watching DVDs and The Ashes, stitching the binding and attempting to get on top of all the washing that seems to have built up to mammoth proportions.

Today I went for a massage this morning and now I am madly trying to push away the need for an afternoon nap.  I haven't had a nap yet these holidays and I actually had a sleep that was restful enough to rate as a good night's sleep two nights ago (sadly followed by a bad sleep last night) which is pretty rare for me. 

Unfortunately, the thought of school work has started to loom above my head with the almost half way point of the holidays.  Next week will need to be a bit more productive!

 

New Zealand?

There are tentative plans in our household for a visit to New Zealand during the October school holidays.  'Fabulous!' you think.  What fun to plan.  But unfortunately, at this point we are a little bit stuck on actually being able to go part of the planning phase.

You see, when you have Leukaemia and an addition dose of a liver transplant, travel insurance companies seem inclined to laugh in your face when you suggest maybe they could insure you.

Rude, I know.

I've looked at a few places so far and they have a list of medical conditions that exclude you from getting travel insurance and whilst Leukaemia hasn't been on any of them, an organ transplant is. 

Thankfully, there is an organisation called Transplant Australia, of which I am a member.  They hold the Transplant Games (fun Olympic like games for transplantees) and there is a World Transplant Games which requires transplantees to travel somewhere in the world for the games.  Of course, they will need travel insurance for such a thing and so Transplant Australia has partnered with a company that will (in most cases) provide it. (AIG Travel Insurance for anyone interested)  Phew!

I rang them today and now need to get multiple medical forms and letters from my specialists stating my conditions and the status of said conditions and then I get to fax them off and then ring to talk to the insurance company's medical team to do an assessment of whether or not I can be insured.

And then, if they decide they will insure me, we will be able to get on with booking flights and planning our adventures.

So fingers crossed.

And, where would you suggest I visit if we do get to go?  I'm thinking awesome crafty places, cool shops and lots of nature places. 

We'll be going for 10 days with probably 6 in north island (MR has lots of family there) and 4 in south.  Already on our list is glow worm caves, natural hot pools, a big flying fox and a bit of snow and lots of green.  If they let us go at all...

This week...

we got a dishwasher. We haven't had one up til now and I am on cloud nine. Every time I put a dirty dish in it I get a big grin on my face and when I turn it on (twice so far) I have clapped my hands and bounced with glee.

I finished my Kindy reports a day early. This is big for me, usually I am the type that hands things in a day or two late. Being on time has never been my strong point. So to finish and hand them in a whole 24 hours before they are due was a super exciting and proud moment for me. It also meant a weekend ahead of no school work. *ahhhhhh*

I baked, twice. Sago and banana bread. Can you guess the reason why? (Hint: see point one) Baking and no dishes afterwards? My kind of bliss.

I caught up with my best friend for a movie (Monsters University) and waffles. We felt like we were in high school again as we both chose mint fudge choc chip ice cream, the flavour of choice from those years.

I bought a new pair of jeans and only paid $35 for them. Enough said.

I have managed to schedule in a don't-leave-the-house, pyjama-filled day of reading, blogging and relaxing.

I have indulged on naughty forbidden treats; blue brie and pate. Oh how I love them. I'm on antibiotics at the moment so I figure they will kill any bad things hiding in them. This is my justification anyhow.



And finally, this week marks the end of MR's break after finishing up on the mines after 6 years! Unfortunately he is not now living full time with me but instead we have swapped locations from when we were first going out. Now he will be in his country home town working at the family business and I am in Perth. We're back to (as many as we can possibly fit in) weekend visitations after two years of approximately one week of three visitations. I'm a bit sad about it but it also marks the start of the next chapter in our lives together and I'm sure I'll get used to it again. I'll be in Perth probably until the end of next year and then I'll be heading back to the country as well.


How has your week been?

  
  

Many Good Things

Today is the first day of school holidays.

Need I say more about good things when the above is the case?

Not really, but I shall.

Not only was it the first day of school holidays but I also woke up to rain on the roof.  How good is rain of the roof when you get to stay in bed?

I am still in my pyjamas and it is 3:15pm.

I got to have yummy banana bread that I baked yesterday for breakfast.

The house is relatively clean because MR vacuumed yesterday.

I managed to find the energy to do a double batch of baking yesterday as well as go to Brown Owls, (amazing what you can get done when you don't need to conserve energy for a week of work) and so MR has headed back to work this morning with two containers of ANZAC biscuits to snack on (his favourite).  

I went to Brown Owls yesterday and had fun chatting and stitching away at this.

I have a $100 reward shopper voucher from Picnic/Hobbs and a $20 one from Myer burning a hole in my wallet for some retail therapy later in the week.

I have a massage booked for Friday.

I have a lovely stack of books from the library just waiting to be read.

My cold seems to be getting better.

MR and I went to Cirque du Soleil's Ovo show during the week and it was just as amazing as expected.  And the bouncing lizards?  Even more amazing!

My baking cupboard has been reorganised as well as finding enough space to have a dedicated pots, pans and frying pans cupboard.  (Today's job is to reorganise the plastics cupboard and tomorrow's job is the pantry)

We got our soil tested on the weekend and have started the steps to improve it so things will actually grow.

In the small area of the garden where things do actually grow, there are buds on my loquat tree for the first time which will hopefully turn into fruit.

And best of all, Summer seems to have finally ended, leaving Autumn a chance to shine (and pour, as it did all night and morning).




  


What is good in your world at the moment?

 

Sunday Snippets

sorting through my school things

enjoying a picnic and and outdoor movie with MR

tomatoes from our self sown tomato plant

a thirsty meow

a big stack of creative books from the library

a helpful (so she thinks) meow

enjoying goodies from my Christmas stocking

more snippets over at Tinniegirl's

Sunday snippets

uncovering old stuff

hanging new stuff

more new stuff (from here)

market visiting

Christmas tree-ing

pikelet cooking

More snippets at Tinniegirl's

Sunday snippets

It's been ages since I've played along with Tinniegirl's Sunday Snippets and seeing as I was a total instagram whore this week I might as well share some of my moments...

MR and I went down south for my best friend's wedding - note pinwheels
instead of flowers!

The groom is a cyclist so there was a bit of a bike theme, plus a special
thank you heart for me

Vanilla panna cotta for dessert, yum!

Retail therapy after unpleasant medical procedure

A sleepless night and a Meow ready for cuddles

Super wardrobe tidy out - look at all the empty coat hangers (that need filling!!)

Three bags of clothes waiting to be taken to the local op shop

Attempting a new Christmas decoration....

And some cross stitch chevrons which will hopefully also be a new Christmas
ornament providing the waste canvas comes out easily like it is supposed too...

A busy week for me!  Not so much scheduled for this week which is good because I need to clean the house ready to put up the Christmas tree and decorations.  Wheeeeee!