HERE AND THERE.

Hoping to blog more this year, so I've been thinking a lot of late about what I want to achieve.

     a.. A little more about my quilting & other crafts, including DH's.
     b.. Days out/holidays in photos.
     c..  Around the garden & house.
     d.   Walking to keep fit.

As I take my camera, basically, everywhere we go, I've always plenty of photos to hand, but it is thinking of what I want to say in words.  My friend Kate, has such a way with words & I struggle to make anything sound interesting enough to warrant reading.
Last week, we took a short break to Ballarat to test the car was up to pulling the caravan on a warm day & all went well.  As I sit here, thinking & writing this, it has topped the 40deg mark again & we are in for more of the same on Tuesday & Wednesday, before the temperature drops back to the low 30s.  We desperately need some rain too.
A couple of photos from before we headed off last Tuesday.

I picked these daisies, Eryngium & Echinops before a hot day was predicted so I could enjoy before they wilted outside.

On the Monday morning, I had these two visitors.  King Parrots, a male & female, which I don't get often enough.  Aren't they beautiful?

Monday evening saw the sky looking like this, due to a large bushfire, burning in East Gippsland.  It has been contained, but these heatwave conditions aren't good.

Tuesday, off to Ballarat.  I saw my friend Joy for a chat on Tuesday evening, then Wednesday we headed down to Torquay to visit a large quilt shop called Amitie Textiles.  I forgot to take any photos, but did purchase just "ONE" piece of fabric.  Amazing!!!!  We ate lunch near the sea.

Looking west.

Surfers among the waves.

Looking east.

Next we headed back towards Ballarat, exploring new roads as we went.  First stop was the lighthouse at Split Point.

The lighthouse & what would have been the keeper's cottage.

From a vantage point on the boardwalk, we could see this lone rock.  There are many of these along The Great Ocean Road, which runs along the south western coast of Victoria.

On Thursday, we took ourselves off to Ballarat Botanic Gardens, which some may remember, have featured quite a bit on my blog, especially when we lived there for a short time.  Of course, first stop was the giant glasshouse.

Lilies, which smelt heavenly.

Masses of fuschias, perlargoniums, hosta, japanese maples, all in pots, so they can be moved in & out seasonally.

Hydrangeas.

Heuchera, hostas & a few other bits.

This time of year they were planting up outside, getting ready for the Begonia Festival, held in March/April.  I spotted some topiary, which is quite new.

Think everyone will know what these are!

Lastly, a few special trees, classified by our National Trust.

Bunya Bunya Pine.

Tasmanian Blue Gum & a rare moment of hubby hugging a tree.  That's usually me.

Enough from me waffling on.  I'll be here again before January closes to start, what I hope, will be a couple of ongoing challenges/goals, I want to do this year.
Take care all & huggles.
Susan.