Sawtell for the week

Well Gretchen and I head off south this morning to catch up with Lyn in Sawtell. Looking forward to some more time away, more lovely scenery and more photos. Rachel, Gretchens daughter, is arriving at Coffs Harbour tomorrow.

ANZAC Day

A day to remember our fallen soldiers. A day to be thankful for the freedom we have as a nation. A day to reflect on people I never knew, Glens pop John Adlington Baker. My husbands namesake.

In the last few years, they have done some lovely work at the Mt Thompson War Memorial at Mt Gravatt.

Now I would really like to see a photo of Daniel in his uniform standing beside the plaque of his great grandfather. Have to work on that. 

I'm not a really good cook, but I thought I would try my hand at some Anzac biscuits today. Apparently our soldiers lived on these type of bikkies way back in the trenches. 

 

Easter!

How fitting to have such a wonderful blood red coloured garden this weekend. The last wonderful flush of buds on the dahlias after the rain.

And what a beautiful little egg was given to me by a friend

Also shared the most wonderful time together at church last night and today. A Passover meal shared together and then this morning remembering  Christs death on the cross. 

Thank you Lord for dying for me!

Home again!

I have just had the most wonderful week away. I am so tired today after returning last evening. I have never seen the Western Downs of Queensland, so when the opportunity arose, I grabbed it with both hands, and both feet as it turned out. 

Brisbane, Toowoomba, Dalby, Childers, Miles, Roma, Injune, Carnarvon Gorge, Emerald, Blackwater, all the way across to Gracemere, The edge of Rockhampton, Agnes Water, Childers, Gympie and home....over 2080 km. Monday to Friday. What a great trip. 

Carnarvon Gorge...what an awesome place, visit if you can. 

I am home now, weary and sore. Still quite tight and tired in the legs. I thought it was all gone yesterday, but I guess it's going to take a while longer to repair. 13 km is a distance I never thought I would walk again. No regrets whatsoever!! 

Having grown up a Queenslander, I really didn't know much about the western towns. Emerald is a much larger town than Roma. I was very surprised to find that when we came into Emerald, there was large shopping centres just down the road from each other. It is a very spread out town. Even McDonalds was the other end of town to these two shopping centres. 

Emerald is also famous for the very large Picasso painting sitting on an easel in the town park.

There was also the most beautiful breeze in town, which was very welcome after arriving after dark after our 8 hour long trek. We all slept very well that night.

I was a little upset that I couldn't see any water at Agnes Water. Except that we were shouted out to dinner at a lovely place right on the water, but it was after dark. The girls took off to the beach so I made a cuppa, rang my sister and sat.

I was a bit afraid that I had really damaged myself, but as the evening went on and I moved a little more walking to and from the car as we went out for dinner, I felt my legs were freeing up a little. By the next morning. I thought, well there you go, back to normal, so I drove from Agnes to Childers. 

Even though, I am almost back to normal again. I think it is going to take a bit longer as whenever walking around today, 3 days after our big walk, I am still tiring very quickly and my feet still feel quite tight. 

I will never regret what I did, walking that 13km, but I don't think my body will ever let me do it again. I felt very fragile and still do a little. But so overwhelmed with the awesomeness of Gods creation out there, I want to tell everyone to go and see it if they can. 

Awesome sunsets are another gift that graced us as we flew along that highway from Carnarvon Gorge to Emerald. Just beautiful countryside. Also the amount of large raptor birds we saw was amazing. I have never in my life seen that many in one week, even when I went to the Healsville sanctuary in Victoria a couple of years back. Unfortunately, there was not the opportunity to photograph them as we needed to be driving a lot of hours each day. 

And this last one is from Agnes Water.

We drove home on Friday, it was about an 8 hour trip. Stopping in Childers near Bundaberg and seeing the helicopter flying around the town, searching for a little lost 3 yr old who went missing from her bed. This is always a very frightening time for everyone involved and locals alike, but I woke this morning and reading the news, saw she had been found, alive, overnight. Not too far from home. So many questions to be asked!!!

Well back to life as we know it. Easter is a week away. Lyn is off south for Easter with Family. Gretchen leaves for USA in a couple of weeks, Tish is back up on the Sunshine Coast for a wedding today, so when she gets home on Monday she will have a week of school holidays left before returning to teaching. This coming week I need to get back in the pool, get back into my routine of swimming, and catch up with my precious sister who will also be going back to work teaching after next week. 

I am at the moment enjoying my precious little Nikki. Who has followed me around the house since getting back. And Marcus, well, he just continues being noisey and hungry!! lol 

Nikkita

Marcus

One pot left

......and run out of potting mix. Have to wait a couple weeks now!

Panorama view

Two to go!

With only two orchid pots left to repot, I have run out of light today. Two pots which will most probably turn into four or five by the time I'm finished with them. My green house is already full to over flowing, so I guess I should start selling a few more when they come into flower. When I'm finished I will post a pic of my overflowing greenhouse. It is nice to be in the yard! This time of year is especially beautiful with the heat of summer trying hard to leave us. The grass has been mowed and the pruning done, all the leaves have been raked around the trees to give them some mulch for winter. it's almost time to sit back and enjoy my garden.