A visit to Eumundi

Yesterday we decided to pop down to Eumundi for `Second Brekkie' and some retail therapy. We started off at Eats with home made Panini toast with home made strawberry jam and some excellent coffee. Then Alan and I split up and I headed off to the bookstore. Yes BerkelouW's are now open in Eumundi - Woo Hoo, I could easily spend all day here :) Anyhow I bought `Kevin Rudd - The Biography' by Robert Macklin and `No! I don't want to join a Bookclub' - a very funny book about growing old disgracefully by Virginia Ironside. Now I'm reading both at the same time.

My favourite quote from the Rudd Biography comes from his opening address at the Labor Party's National Conference in April: `My name is Kevin; I'm from Queensland and I'm here to help'. There should be some interesting times ahead.

Nature's Christmas Decorations

I absolutely love the onset of Summer in Queensland. So many trees are flowering and the ones I love the best are Poincianas. These aren't native to Australia but hundreds were planted by our forefathers and like Jacarandas they can now be found everywhere. There are Poincianas in every street and some streets are lined with them. They are like huge brilliant umbrellas and they flower just in time for all the Christmas preparations. I have also noticed Frangipanis, Bougainvilleas, Ixora, Agapanthus and Hibiscus, a riot of colour and fragrance, especially from the Gardenias :)

A Trip to Hervey Bay

Each week Alan and I are trying to find time to take a day and go somewhere away from where we live and do something a bit different. Last week we took the boat and went fishing at Noosa and today we went to Hervey Bay for the day. This is where the Whale Watching Tours take place in the season which ends about September. It takes us about 90 minutes drive from here to get there. Hervey Bay is an umbrella name for a number of little towns which cluster along the edge of the Bay. Years ago they were sleepy little villages full of holiday houses and flats but not any more! Now the whole area is booming. It is located about 30 minutes drive east of Maryborough. When Queensland was first being settled all the Immigrant ships used to disembark passengers at Maryborough as it was a large port - this was where Alan's Great Grandparents arrived in the late 1800s. Hervey Bay Council has done an excellent job with the foreshore - a wonderful bike path which runs the full length of the Bay, interesting sculptures and lots of facilities. We took a walk down a restored jetty which is 868 metres long and was originally 1124 metres. It used to be used for transporting sugar and coal and now its just for fishing.

A Morning Surprise

Last week we were having brekkie and we saw 2 cute little wallabies down by our kitchen garden, probably looking for something to munch on :) Alan took this photo although he couldn't get too close you can see them quite clearly. We have quite a few around here.

A Mixed Media Workshop

Last week I attended a Mixed Media Workshop at the Art Gallery, and as an added bonus there was also a free lunchtime `floor talk' by an expert in photography, both digital and otherwise. It was an excellent workshop (only $25.00) for 7 hours, and as you can see in the photo we made a huge amount of mess - always a good sign of a good Art workshop experience. There was also some excellent chocolate cake for morning tea :) We learnt how to use joss paper as a collage and everyone added a photocopy of one of their own drawings. A lot of people did fruit or vegetables but there was also some figures. I had a drawing of a hibiscus plus some photocopies of drawings of some shopfronts in Singapore and this led me to a tropical Asian theme. We coated the finished product in PVA Glue (Selleys) and then I brought mine home to scan and add some digital touches. So here is the final product. In this I have used watercolour, oil pastels, water soluble oil pastels, Joss Paper, photocopies, PVA Glue and Photoshop to finish it off!! Now I am quite motivated to do something larger with my own drawings.

While we were away we visited Eumundi Market and I bought these letters - they sit on my kitchen bench and make me smile. A bargain at $7.00 each. Inspired by this I put together this digital collage yesterday - I'm liking it so I may print one up to go on the wall near my computer LOL :)

A Wonderful Holiday

A month since I posted - I can't believe it went so fast and now its November with Christmas and the end of the year next month. Like everyone I am starting to wonder where the year has flown. Our fleeting 2 weeks of spring have gone, the summer is here now, winter clothes all put away and I'm living in my flip flops and Crocs. I even have dressy flip flops for going out - with sequins LOL. We have just returned from a wonderful 3 weeks away in our caravan in a great caravan park right on the Noosa River. From there we could walk to Noosaville or Noosa Main Beach and we could easily launch our kayaks from the beach right in front of the van park. Alan fished and caught a lot and I read a heap of books, we both kayaked on the river (great fun when the tide was going our way, good exercise when it wasn't). We visited the Noosa Farmers Market and Eumundi Market, had the obligatory walk down Hastings Street and Noosa Main Beach. We had a couple of excellent dinners out at Noosaville where we were spoiled for choice of restaurants. We had fish and chips by the river at sunset, drinks on the beach at sunset and we had a lovely serendipitous lunch at a great little restaurant and gift shop at Boreen Point. We visited the Noosa Art Gallery and I was able to buy some nice things at Noosa and Eumundi to remind me of our holiday. Alan took this photo of me on the beach just in front of the caravan park at sunset. Noosa Heads is in the background. The best part about all of this is that it is just 45 minutes drive from here. Alan is now keen to upgrade our boat so that we can go fishing on this river more often.