Beating the blues...

This winter has been a tad cold for me,

 I'm not a native to the south.

Where I grew up it was wet in winter 

but a lot warmer than it is here.

After 40 plus years you'd think I'd be used to it, but no.

Taramakau river, West Coast, New Zealand

And I have to admit that occasionally 

I have a felt a little down in the dumps this winter.

We haven't had one this cold for several years.

And that is when I want to up sticks, 

cross the ditch, and join my sisters in Queensland...

...where I can sit in the carport 

and have a long leisurely breakfast.

my Good Kiwi Bloke

Or meet up with our nephew 

and have lunch in the gardens.

my GKB, moi, nephew and sis

Or go bush (a link to our bush visit post) 

with my niece 

and her family for a day or two.

the dining room :)

Or maybe meet up with my other sis 

and spend a day at the beach.

my GKB, sis, me

Or take a day trip to Eungella National Park 

with ex pat friends...

...and gaze in wonder at the strange creatures 

running around the bush.

Or watch glorious sunsets at the end of the day, 

which is very early in northern Queensland.

Or just plain play silly buggers with the toy dog.

Or even all of the above.

And now I have got that off my chest I feel much better.

And summer is coming, yeeha!

joining in with:
roses of inspiration

Thanks for listening to me 

(if you're still with me).

If you're not I understand :)

Have a nice day and we'll

meet up again next week.

Diana

Going bush for a day ...

At this time of the year, when the days get just a tad cooler,

my thoughts often tend towards Australia.

One of the reasons is the warmer weather

and the other is because half my siblings,

along with their kids and grandkids live in Queensland.

Last time we visited was back in September,

just because we could, for a few weeks.

We visited with both my sisters, who are in north Qld,

as well as the nieces and nephews of course

and another couple of Kiwis we knew before they moved

to Aussie (a lifetime ago).

One of our nieces and her husband invited us to

spend a day at their 'block',

so we duly got in a car early one morning

 with her mother, middle sis,
and drove for a hundred kilometres

 or so down the road a bit.
We arrived in time for morning tea.

Niece and her husband and family had left much

earlier than us, 6am I think, and had set up camp.

Below are some photo's taken on the day, at the block,

7 1/2 acres in all, and it's amenities!!

There were also goats, cows, fruit trees and sugar cane.

And a pond for swimming.

The bunkhouse and alfresco dining room

Goat shed in the background.

The welcoming 'longdrop'.

Outdoor ablutions,

I had a wonderful bath under the stars that night

 before travelling back to civilisation again.

Kitchen amenities, with some of our lunch cooking.

Fish caught on the block, oysters bought on the way in.

Home grown salad greens to go with it.

What more could you ask for? Delicious!

Some of the 'muddies' (crabs) caught during the afternoon, for tea.

The blokes are very much into the hunter gatherer thing

and my GKB thoroughly ejoyed a great afternoon out with them.

The dogs having an afternoon nap on their 'bed'.

 Raised to keep them off the ground because of

creeping/slithering critters and to keep them cool.

Me, with my GKB, holding Blossom, a week old kid.

I was allowed to name her :D)

A couple of the young blokes getting the fire going after tea.

We had a lovely day out and were invited to stay the night

 but elected to travel back.

I'm a bit of a soft city slicker and enjoy

 my home comforts I'm afraid.

Well I hope you enjoyed our day out,

this is just a few pictures to give you a little bit 

 of an idea of what we did one day in Aussie.

There is so much more to tell, but maybe another day.

All Blacks win Webb Ellis trophy

All the games and the hype is over and our little country is getting back to normal.

The Rugby World Cup is now part of our history and we are the

2011 World Champions.

Go the

All Blacks

I have to admit though that my GKB and I spent a great part of the start of the tournament in sunny Queensland where we relaxed and soaked up some sun with not much else to do but indulge ourselves.

We took advantage of the cheap air fares and had some great times with some of the Aussie branches of the family. Great catching up with them all.

BUT...We did watch the matches that were shown in Australia - I even watched some of them right through which is certainly saying something, I'm not really a footy fan.

When we got home it was quarter final time, so of course I couldn't help but get caught up in all the hype - the whole country was -  including the thousands of overseas visitors! It's amazing how parochial and patriotic you can become over sport when it looks like your team has a chance of getting to the top. 

It was all very good natured though and hardly a cross word said :D)

And unfortunately it is the nature of the beast for someone to go home disappointed :(

So, CONGRATULATIONS the AB's, well done, good games and a well fought, nail biting final.

France 7

New Zealand  8

We are the champions, we are the champions, of the world ...

Sensational sunset

My GKB and I have just spent most of September in Mackay, North Queensland. On our second night there we were lucky enough to look out on God's book just as the sun was setting. WOW!! It was glorious. The first four shots below are some of the pics my GKB took, it looked as if molten lava was rolling across the sky. We had some nice sunsets later during our stay and I have also included some shots of them  but although they were rather nice and there were some nice colours none compared with that first one. Enjoy.