Tag: Australia

Coffee Catch-Up #9

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If we were having coffee I would tell you how dramatically my life has changed since our last coffee catch-up 5 weeks ago. My son has moved to Japan to be with his finance, I have resigned from my job, taking a month off before returning to casual nursing and this week it was confirmed that my husband has a new job in Newcastle, the city I grew up in. Life is definitely moving forward and the future looks bright.

If we were having coffee I would tell you about the great, wet weekend my husband, son, daughter and I spent together in the Hunter Valley before he left for Japan. The villa I rented contained a slow combustion fire place, so, despite the cold and wet we were toasty warm. I had kept this a secret from my husband to add to give him  a surprise. He was so excited that he didn’t stop playing with it all weekend. The fact that he didn’t have to chop the wood made his day even better. The cabins were in wine country and had resident kangaroos that roamed around the property. The photos below are from our verandah and we thought one of the kangaroos even had a joey in her pouch, however, because it was too wet we couldn’t get any closer. What do you think?

If we were having coffee I would tell you that since we last meet my blog has turned 2. I can’t believe how much I have learnt and grown since I joined the blogging community. This time 2 years ago I think I was still struggling to have 7 followers and now I have over 700 and fortunately they continue to grow daily. My goal by Christmas is to have over 1,000, which I think is doable if I keep chipping blogging away. My goal for my 3rd blogiversary is to have had 50,000 views. As this is  just over double what I am now on, it may be a tall order, but hey reach for the stars I say.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that since I resigned from my managers position, I have enjoyed having no stress and getting back into my blogging regularly. I don’t think I realised the impact the stress was having on me until I stopped and literally felt my body relax. Every time people see me now they are commenting on how good I am looking and how it is nice to see me smile again.

If we were having coffee I would tell you how grateful I am to A Momma’s View for choosing my poem on understanding as one of her pick’s of the week. It has helped me develop my confidence in my new skill of poetry writing. Stop by and visit her blog if you get the chance it definitely worth a look.

If we were having coffee I would tell you how nice it was last Saturday to share an Aussie BBQ with my son and close family and friends just hours before he left the country to start his new adventure in Japan. Sharing stories and future plans is great bonding experience and with the ease of travel these days nowhere is far away.

If we were having coffee I would tell you about the beautiful flowers I got from my staff after leaving work. They were so heavy and take pride of place on the table behind my desk, bringing a smile to my face daily.

2016-06-18 16.03.03

 

If we were having coffee I would tell you that my daughter’s birthday seems like it was months ago, however in reality, it was only 3 weeks ago. Because everyone was busy, it was extended over the week and celebrated many times with some intimate gathering of family and friends at the times everyone was available.

If we were having coffee I would ask you what you have been up to since we last met. Has your world been calmer or crazier than mine? Let me know in the comments.

Coffee Catch-up # 8

Weekend Coffee Share

Coffee Catch-up # 8

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If we were having coffee I would tell you it seems like forever since our last coffee catch-up, although the reality is that it has only been 3 weeks. During this time, most of my time has been taken up completing the Blogging from A – Z challenge. It was fun, although some days the pressure to come up with inspiring posts took over my world. But in the end I was happy with all of them even X, which for me was the difficult one. I certainly enjoyed putting the “I survived blogging A – Z banner” on my blog as I feel like I earned it. Next year, I think I will do a lot of pre-planning in the hope that makes this challenge easier.

If we were having coffee I would ask you where you thought all the smoke haze around Sydney today was coming from. My hope would be that unlike me, you may have listened to the news and have known that it was coming from more than 40 hazard reduction back burns happening all around Sydney especially in the Blue Mountain areas. The smoke was so bad it was playing havoc with the fire alarms in many businesses including the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre, where for more than 30 minutes of our aqua aerobics class this morning, the instructor had to yell or mime the instructions. Oh and ironically the alarm stopped at the same time as our aqua class. Who knew!

If we were having coffee I would tell you that this week has been a shocker. If something could go wrong it did. For me, the most frustrating thing was that instead of enjoying myself on Wednesday night, I got to sit and wait for NRMA roadside assist after I quickly discovered that in a moment of mindless thinking from my stressful week, I locked my car keys in the boot. I think it has been over 20 years since I last did this. I also had nothing with me to do, not even a small bit of paper to write a blog post on but fortunately for me it only took them 45 minutes to come instead of the 90 minutes they promised service in. Thank you NRMA.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that I enjoyed District 90 First Annual Toastmaster Conference last weekend. It was held at Rooty Hill RSL — the largest RSL club in Australia. I had never been before and the venue, the food as well as the conference’s educational sessions were fantastic. I am sure the other parts of the conference were also excellent, however due to time constraints I was limited in what I went to.

If we were having coffee I would tell you about my work’s cultural lunch this week. This is a regular event where you take a dish from your culture for everyone to share. For me this has always been difficult because being a hospital we are a very multicultural workplace, however I could never really come up with a dish from my life to share that was interesting and easy to share. This time I got it right. My trifle was a great hit and will now be my signature dish. I hadn’t made a trifle in years and I only remembered about them at Easter when I took desert to a family friends house. It was weird not making it with sherry but the sacrifice still tasted yummy.

If we were having coffee I would ask you what you have been up to this last week, let me know in the comments.

Coffee Catch-up #7

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Earth

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I love getting back to nature and the earth with a walk in the Australian bush. This walk in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales was in winter — the air was crisp but the sun was shining and it was a glorious day.The walk itself took us about 6 hours as we stopped along the way as we marveled at the different aspects of nature including a rare bird sighting. I hope you enjoy some of our photos of the diverse bush we found on our walk.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/earth/

X – XXXX Origins Beer

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I was 10 years old and we first traveled to Queensland and I first saw the XXXX beer label. Now over 40 years later the brand has grown into an Australian icon and I love that for its latest venture XXXX has gone back to its roots and named its beers after the working country areas of Queensland. I’m not a Queenslander but it still makes me proud.

The 36 towns featured are:

  • Atherton
  • Bellbowrie
  • Birdsville
  • Bluff
  • Cairns
  • Calen
  • Chinchilla
  • Cloncurry
  • Coolangatta
  • Curra
  • Deeragun,
  • Drillham
  • Emerald
  • Foxdale
  • Gatton
  • Gin Gin
  • Giru
  • Gladstone
  • Goondiwindi
  • Herberton
  • Inkerman
  • Jimboomba
  • Karara
  • Laura
  • Mackay
  • Maryborough
  • Mirani
  • Mount Isa
  • Nobby
  • Rockhampton
  • Roma
  • Stonehenge
  • Toowoomba
  • Townsville
  • Warwick
  • Windorah

If I ever see these beers in New South Wales I may even taste my first XXXX beer.

https://youtu.be/FI5O9zQTrVI

Y – Yabbies

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The yabby is an Australian freshwater crustacean found in swamps, dams, streams, creeks, rivers and reservoirs. Growing up in Australia many children get to go yabbying, however this yabby, which we found at Protest Falls was the first that my husband and I have ever seen in nature. He was alone and we loved watching his antics in the little creek. Our yabby was a blue-green colour which is common for turbulent waters.

yabbie on the falls walk

W – Waterfall Way

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The Waterfall Way is a beautiful scenic drive from Coffs Harbour on the coast up the mountains for 191 kilometres and on to Armidale. It takes it name from the number of very beautiful and yet very different waterfalls in the area. Unfortunately being a winter’s day it was raining and their was no sunshine to reflect off the water but I am sure you can imagine. There are also many treasured National Parks in the area so if you get the chance it is definitely worth a visit.

DANGER FALLS

UPPER EBOR FALLS

LOWER EBOR FALLS

NEWELL’S WATERFALL — Crossing under the Waterfall Way

V – Vincentia

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Vincentia is a seaside town on the shores of Jervis Bay, 200 kilometres South of Sydney.Arriving at our B & B, we decided to take an afternoon stroll and found ourselves taking in the natural beauty of the White sands Walk along Blenheim Beach and Jervis Bay National Park. It was a glorious winter day and a great way to relax.

U – Uralla

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Uralla is a small town on the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales, which was established in 1855. The town’s name is Aboriginal and means meeting place. As it happens Uralla is also mid way between Sydney and Brisbane via the inland route.

On our recent road trip we hadn’t planned on stopping long in Uralla, however as we got so distracted along the way looking at the waterfalls, we needed to stop here overnight. This turned into a blessing as we then ended up investigating this interesting area the next morning. And what amazing Australian history we found — the secret gem, McCrossin’s Mill Musuem is situated across the road from Thunderbolt’s Statue. The building is a recently restored 3 storey flour mill built-in 1870 by Samuel McCrossin, one of the first settlers to the area.

Some of the treasures we found in the musuem included:

  • A series of nine paintings by Phillip Pomroy called “The Death of Thunderbolt”, based on the account of Constable Alexander Walker — the detail in these paintings was fascinating
  • A display of farming and household equipment from the early pioneering days
  • A relocated Chinese Joss House form the local Rocky River Gold Fields
  • A display to Australia’s first world champion — rower Edward Trickett
  • Letters home to mother from World War 1 by a local war hero
  • Local goldfield information

These beautiful decorative gates were created by concrete man Antonio Perez Martinez in 1960.

Thunderbolt’s Life and Death Exhibition

Edward Trickett, son of a convict and Australia’s first world champion, a sculler died in Uralla.

 

T – Thunderbolt

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Captain Thunderbolt also know as Frederick Ward was the last of New South Wales bushrangers. In 1863, he escaped from Sydney’s Cockatoo Island prison and began terrorising the high ways and byways of the New England region. Thunderbolt protected himself by living in the massive granite boulder outside of Uralla where he could see for miles. Known as the gentleman bushranger because he never shot anyone and at times shouted his victims drinks, Ward was shot and killed by Constable Alexander Walker on the 25th May 1870 at Kentucky Creek.

Thunderbolt’s Statue in the centre of Uralla

Thunderbolt’s Rocks

Thunderbolt’s Body and the Table he was laid out on

Thunderbolt’s Grave

 

 

 

R – Remembering The Spirit Of The ANZACS

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Today, we remember those that have fought for or served our country, starting with the Anzacs and continuing over the next 101 years in all wars, peace keeping missions and other areas help is needed and given. Whether it be at home or overseas, all serving roles are important. Like the unknown soldier, a persons background doesn’t matter and fortunately the world is a better place because of the spirit of the Anzacs and those in service that have followed. This new song by Australian country singer, Lee Kernaghan describes these emotions perfectly when he sings “side by side, we say with pride, he is all of them, she is all of them and they are one of us.”

T – The Band Played Waltzing Matilda

“At the going down of the sun

and in the morning

we will remember them.”

 

LEST WE FORGET