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Far North Queensland : August 2022

5/9/2022

 
We had planned for a trip to Australia in 2020.
We changed plans.
We changed destinations.
We went north, up to Cairns & Port Douglas.
My god it felt so good
to be anonymous
to be unreachable

to hear multiple languages
to not be able to understand
nor even need to

to be languid

to be warm
to see the sunrise at 6am 
to hear the birds 

to see people smiling
to see the families 
to be with my family

to be part of something & simultaneously totally separate
to be exhausted by the newness, the noise, the kilometres walked, the over eating

to sleep deeply
without dreams
without waking in the night

​to wake & feel free

to feel calm
to feel happy
to feel alive

to live in the now
​knowing there will be no interruption
no distraction
​nothing to do except be present 
I love Australia
My heart melts with love the moment we cross the coastline to arrive 
& melts with sadness the moment we cross the coastline to leave

Beach Holidays, An Unexpected Workshop & Snippets of Melbourne

30/4/2019

 
Waihi Beach
Torquay Beach
Portsea Beach
Long summer days, warm ocean temperatures & beach retreats are a perfect end to my favourite season of the year.
Today as I'm writing this it is most decidedly autumn, it's grey, it's windy & it's raining on & off. 
Fortunately it's not cold.
Our days are shorter, now that daylight saving has ended.
It's a cyclical thing & let's face it, not unexpected.

March to April went like this:
Beach Retreat >> recovery at home >> 5 days filled with family >> recovery at home >> Holiday with family & friends in Australia >> recovery at home

woah ! that didn't leave much time for anything else really did it.

Nevertheless at the end of March I was able to attend a workshop which covered hand printing techniques you can do at home.
​I was going to write a post about it but actually can't be bothered ! Not because I didn't enjoy it nor that I didn't learn anything new, nor that it didn't spark a few ideas of things I want to try because it did do all of those things however I was kinda hoping it would draw a few things together & until that happens I have to let it simmer.

Instead, let me give you some snippets of Australia:

  • it's an easy & interesting drive from Melbourne airport to Bendigo
  • we saw amazing outcrops of granite around the Harcourt area
  • Harcourt is, these days, better known for growing apples
  • we also saw more dead kangaroos, presumably victims of roadkill, on the drive to & from Bendigo than I have ever seen before travelling around other parts of Australia - apparently this is usual 
  • ‘history’ of  Bendigo & surrounds ‘begins’ at the arrival of Europeans !
  • there are many old, elaborate buildings which speak of there having been lots & lots of money in the area - in the past anyway 
  • there is a 'high grade, low cost' underground gold mine located 20km from the city of Bendigo 
Sandhurst Gaol
Castlemaine Gaol

  • there are also many jails/gaols; some very old & some very new  
  • Castlemaine Gaol was opened in 1860 & closed in 1990 !
  • Sandhurst Gaol, in Bendigo, was built in approximately 1851, records suggest it was working in 1857, & closed in 2006 !
  • Sandhurst gaol has been converted into a theatre called Ulumbarra & there are 2 scar trees sited at the main entrance
  • Old Castlemaine Jail is sited up on a hill & probably has the best view of the entire town 
  • we were introduced to ‘prison eggs’
  • I didn’t cook at all ! & at my cousin's place I didn’t even think about doing anything - nor did I do anything even vaguely houseworky - it was AMAZING  ​
sunset view from our cabin
Surfside Cabin #1
Torquay Beach
  • it cost more to stay 1 night in a cabin in a caravan park in Torquay than for 1 night in the hotel in Melbourne
  • it was beautiful cabin in a beautiful caravan park beside a beautiful ocean & i would happily stay there again
  • Great Ocean Road starts, or ends depending on which direction you're travelling, at Torquay 
Victoria Bight
View from Queenscliff Ferry Terminal
Queenscliff to Sorrento Ferry
  • we were the youngest people in Queenscliff by at least 20 years - maybe 30 even
  • the car ferry ride from Queenscliff to Sorrento was superb, loading & unloading the car was seamless & skilfully managed & the views picturesque
  • Portsea is so flat we walked 4.3km, 6,223 steps, 0 floors 
  • the ocean temp, at 18 degrees C, in Torquay & Portsea was colder than at home
view looking from one window (Albert Park)
it's a city
view from the other window lol
  • we walked an average of 4.4 kilometres each day we were away (5.6 km/day in April)
  • we stayed beside the botanic gardens so easy to get to anywhere we wanted to be
  • eating out in Melbourne is great & easily accessible with superb quality produce & excellent flavours
  • i now look old enough that people offer me a seat on the trams 
  • people make eye contact & smile  
  • i love Australia

Rarotonga is an easy place to take a break

6/5/2016

 
We took a break & went to Rarotonga.
It was planned, booked & paid for before the end of last year so we've been looking forward to it for a while.
This is the 3rd time we've been there for a holiday.
Picture
this is actually our plane ! auckland airport
Rarotonga is an incredibly easy holiday destination from NZ.
The flight is a little over 3.5 hours, you need your passport (of course) but little else.
Although you cross the dateline, which means you go back a day on the outward journey, the actual time difference is 22hrs so there is no jet lag to deal with.
Conversely you jump forward a day on the return journey but that's no biggie either, maybe you might need to go to bed a bit earlier than usual but that's no great hardship for someone like me who loves sleeping !
Picture
nice little spot on the lagoon at Muri
Rarotonga does have it's own currency & the coins are very cool with a 12 sided $5 coin, scalloped edges on the $2 & triangular $1 which are gold. There are also 50c, 20c & 10c circular coins which are silver.
We stayed in a villa on the south coast which was absolutely beautiful, but anywhere you stay is going to OK & nowhere is very far from the lagoon.
Unfortunately the weather was pretty crappy, with rain for the first few days & strong winds most days which made being out&about a little less pleasant than usual.
It was warm enough to be barefoot (yaye) & to wear singlets & sarong, my favourite summer outfit.
It was not warm enough in the pool nor the lagoon for me to swim much so I was completely bummed out about that.
There was a lot of reading, sleeping & insane amounts of eating done, honestly, even I didn't know I could eat that much !
It seemed between seasons for many of the tropical fruits but guava, starfruit, banana & nu (young coconut) were a.m.a.z.i.n.g. & there was a lot of fresh insanely delicious tuna.  ​
We re-visited some places which were favourites last time & they are still favourites. 
We found a whale & marine wildlife centre we didn't know was there & discovered that Rarotonga is a centre for humpback whale research in this part of the South Pacific.
We even bought some things you'd never expect to find including island style shirts for men which were made in Hawaii, island style girl's dresses, also made in Hawaii, island style boys shirts made in Thailand & all sporting Rarotonga labels.
Oh, & a brand of Australian knives !
Strangely I took very few photos. I couldn't be bothered. We went walking mostly in the late afternoon & there was too little light for photos but the sunsets were beautiful. 
Internet is excruciatingly expensive so we were pretty much 'disconnected' for the whole time. 
 . . . and here's a list of favourite places:

The Mooring Fish Cafe which has absolutely the best fish salads, a gorgeous outlook & fantastically unflappable genuinely friendly staff. 

Vonnia's is a hardware, homeware, fabrics store which is where I bought the knives.

Tuki's Pareu which has fun kids clothes & amazing amounts of fabric island style & wider than any I've ever seen which is used for Tivaevae.

CITC
(Cook Islands Trading Corporation) has the crazy but well made Hawaiian shirts & dresses.

The Saturday market is great for food, seasonal fruit & vegetables, & the ladies who sit close to the band rotunda & who cut & make Tivaevae are incredible !
I have a project I'm going to complete by Christmas for someone. It's the Rarotonga equivalent of a DIY kit & is totally amazing. I'll do a separate blog post about it.

LBV
has great coffee & really yummy croissant & veg quiche.

Coco Latte has great coffee.

Wigmore's is a really good store if you are on the southside of the island.
I found one of my favourite NZ goat cheeses in there for $3 less than at our local countdown supermarket here at home !! 
and finally a few more photos just to finish off with :)
    About
    ​
    Picture
    Hi, I'm Sally
    I'm a fibre artist who loves botanicals - especially NZ native plants
    you can find me on 
    ​instagram & ravelry 

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