Travels around New South Wales

 The Mr and I were in Sydney for a few hours. The beautiful old arcades were still decorated from Christmas. It was quite magical.

In another arcade: we went to hunt out some coffee and do some window shopping. I accidently brought a dress from MARCS. They sometimes have cute things.

 The Mr and I took the train up into the mountains to a town called Leura. One of the first things we saw to welcome us was living Christmas Tree topped with a White Cockatoo! 

 One of our Christmas presents was to stay here for a night. The guest house was a beautiful old timber house with wide verandahs and a garden. The interiors were furnished in the style of the house. 

 The view out the window of our room onto the garden.

 Some amazing foliage. It was summer too, so the trees are always this colour.

 Another Cockatoo. They were perched on the power lines opposite the restaurant we were having dinner at. I was wondering why they were all congregating there until I saw this:

 They were all queuing up to drink out of the fountain outside the restaurant! 

After our brief holiday of one day, we arrived in our destination: Portland. A small town of approx 2000 people in the middle of  nowhere. This is where my sister lives. A complete contrast to where I live: 5 million people crowded into a small 700square km island which is bustling and busy 24/7.

My little sister married her prince charming

Just under a month ago my little sister got married in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney. I think they are called the Blue Mountains because they appear blue from a distance.

 She let me be a bridesmaid. I got to wear my vintage silver sandals (given to me by one of my great aunts - the sandals date from the 1970s and were given to me in their original box!) and carry a pretty bouquet. My bouquet had white and purple flowers in it, so pretty! I couldn't bring my flowers back, so I gave them to one of my other great aunts to enjoy.

 The bride had beautiful flowers too with interesting pod-like things in the centre. The soft roses were so beautiful, though they didn't really have a smell. I always think its a pity when flowers look nice but don't smell like they look!

 The wedding cake was made by a family friend of the bride and groom. It was chocolate with white chocolate on the outside. Even though I can't eat flour, I had some for supper! It was good.

 The wedding dinner was held in a large dining hall overlooking the valley below. I 'love' the decorations!

 The dinner continued and the champagne flowed into the night and everyone had a good time!

Even the local wildlife got into the party mode. Here a fly is snacking on a bit of wedding cake!

Blues Skies Smiling at Me

One thing Australia does very well is Big Blue Skies.

Here are some from my recent trip back.

The sun is just starting to set tinging the clouds rose-pink.

We went to spend a few days at the beach. The wind was very strong, creating these wonderful long clouds. It was too cold to swim but the wind helped the yachts along in the Sydney-to-Hobart race. 

Fluffy Clouds.

Dotty and Rippled Clouds. Reminds me of the ripples of sand on the beach.

The sunshine in Australia is very sharp. Good for creating shadows. This is me and the Mr.

Crazy amazing sunsets we saw at the beach. When they say the sky looked as if it was on fire - this is what they mean.

The beginning of another stunning sunset.

Sunset over the island I grew up on. Doesn't get more amazing than this. The next land fall after Tasmania is the bottom tip of South America to the west or New Zealand to the east. We were on the eastern tip here looking west, so the sun sets over land. On the western side of Tasmania its just ocean for 1000's of kilometres.

Birds & Bees

Wherever I am I like to do a little Bird-Paparazzi-ing. Here are some pictures from my trip to Australia of some birds I met.

My parents continue to be friends with a flock of Magpies. They only come in to visit my parents if they have babies to feed. The bushland area near my house has shrunk by several acres in the last few years and they have trouble getting enough food when they have chicks to feed. So they come by and sing hoping for my parents to feed them.

They are such strange, intense looking birds even while balancing on one leg like this one, they can stare you down.

This is a Plover. Another strange looking bird. This year is the first time since my parents moved here 30 years ago that they have appeared in our garden. Once again, the natural wetlands and grasslands they used to live and nest in have been dramatically reduced by housing development. So they have been pushed out into new areas. My parents let them be. Plovers are not so friendly though when they have chicks nearby - they get a little aggressive.

They seem to like eating insects and wandering lonely around the garden.

A bee was busy in the garlic flowers. Apparently there will be a shortage of honey this year due to bee populations shrinking. Another sign of problems. (Though I don't think I'd like garlic-flavoured honey!).

Three beautiful little doves perched on the wires. I think these are spotted doves, similar to what we get in Singapore. It was very windy when I took the photo so all the doves were standing up trying to balance! 

Despite all the bad news, I did hear frogs in my parents garden which is a sign that at least in that little patch the garden is healthy and a good place to be (perhaps that's why the birds and bees like it so much too!). 

My parents have never used pesticides and grow everything organically. It does make a difference. Just look at these delicious berries:

I had these for breakfast almost every morning while I was home. The sunshine, fresh air, rainwater (my parents harvest their own water off the roof of the house) and organic fertilisers make such a big difference to the taste. Its hard to describe how good these are to those used to supermarket produce. Its like comparing a Suzuki Alto (which coincidentally my parents own and lovingly call the 'grocery trolley' because its called a 'GT') and a Maserati. 

Yarra Valley

Flying into Australia. The first sight of my homeland in 2 years. Its beautiful.

Headed straight to a wedding in the Yarra Valley, just outside Melbourne. Stunning place. The wedding was beautiful, the food was great and the dancing was enthusiastic and awkward as was promised on the wedding invite!

My trusty vintage Oroton handbag packs flat, is sturdy and can fit a camera, wallet, phone, lipstick and even a small snack if I need to! And it only cost me $4 at a Thrift store. Best handbag for special occasions - ever. My favourite dress too from Australian designer Alannah Hill.

It wouldn't be Australia without some wildlife hanging around somewhere. I think this is an Eastern Grey Kangaroo. Its definitely a male as he was so big and tall. Two smaller kangaroos were nearby - probably his wife and child.

After the wedding we went to visit the Chandon vineyard. It was so beautiful (and the wine is alright too).

 This little fellow was cleaning up all the little bugs and spiders in the wine-making shed at Chandon. You can see she has a mouthful of bugs. She was hopping around everywhere to collect them.

Spotted Dove (Spilopelia Chinensis)

I spotted this cutie wandering about in the grass near the carpark at my office. She was determined to evade me, though I carefully stalked her around a tree and past three parked cars. When I finally got the camera pointed at her she was not amused. If you look at her eyes you can see her alarm and general freaked-out-ness (oops!). You can also see by her posture that she is not a relaxed dove - she is on edge!

So she quickly high-tailed it out of there. First at a brisk walk, then a run and soon after flew off as quickly as her wings could take her. Poor thing, I only wanted to admire her!

Look what I made!

When I was in Canada, I took one lesson in hand-spinning with a drop spindle. I found my spindle and bags of 'Top' when I was unpacking my boxes last week. Happily reunited with my tools and with a sudden desperate desire to make something right now, I sat down to make some thread. 

My previous attempts at making yarn had been quite thick, in the realm of 'bulky' or 'chunky' weight. I had only made yarn usable with a 8-10mm hook/needle. So this time I tried to make my thread as thin as possible. I had trouble keeping the thread thin without breaking while I was spinning. In fact, the thread broke about 5 times while I was spinning, but I managed to spin it back together. 

Finally I made a long length of thread and plied it together to make a 2 ply yarn. I'm happy to report that this yarn is definitely in the 'sport' or 'light worsted' range. I can use it with a 3.5mm crochet hook quite easily. So I'm very pleased with myself. A list of standard yarn weights and all sorts of useful things can be found on the Craft Yarn Council's Website.