I've been a bit quiet lately, but we have a lot happening. Our house is on the market now and last Friday we made a quick trip to see our son and family in Canberra. Actually we were delivering a small motor bike to him. Hubby recently bought a BMW and knew he had to sell the smaller Honda CB250 and J decided to take it off his hands. It is now time for us to downsize a little, (we are nearing retirement), and try and clean up about 40 years of accumulated "stuff". We also need a flatter block of land, but I still want to be able to garden, as it is something I love. I will miss a lot of what I have in this garden, but know I can replant the things I love. Over the coming weeks, I will probably post quite a few photos of what is flowering as it is nearly Spring here in Oz.
But, today I am showing some pics of the countryside between here and Canberra.
 |
| Vineyards in the Yarra Valley. |
 |
| Three large trucks in front of us with rolls of conveyer belts, possibly for the mines in Queensland. |
 |
| Tree ferns beside the road in the Dandenong Ranges. |
 |
| Wattle in flower (mimosa to those in the UK) |
 |
| The photo above and below is the scenery beside where we stopped for lunch. It was just a Rest Area, which we have here in Oz beside the road. |
 |
| These large poles are resting places for sugar gliders (possums) so they can get across the freeway without landing on the road. We also have possum crossings with rope between the poles. |
 |
| A rocky outcrop on the top of a hill. |
 |
| The road towards Cooma, the gateway to the Snowy Mountains. |
 |
| A corrugated iron shearing shed, which is quite typical here. |
 |
| As we drove closer to the Victorian border, the scenery changes quite dramatically to tree covered mountains. |
 |
| A mural painted on the side of a coffee shop in Cann River. Note the sign on the gate. |
 |
| The beautiful church in Cann River, with it's Lych gate. |
 |
| An old trestle rail bridge over the Snowy River flood plain. |
 |
It disappears into the trees. I'd love to follow it, but it's on private land.
Some of these photos aren't the best, as they were taken through the windows whilst travelling. We can't always find a good place to stop to take our pics, but I thought they may be interesting for people who don't know Australia.
Now for some news I got tonight from our daughter. She rang to say she has just landed herself a job which she applied for last week. She hasn't worked for eight years whilst her children were small, and wasn't sure how she'd go, but we are so proud that she will be working 2 days per week as an integration aide at the school our grandchildren attend.
I will be AWOL again this weekend. We are going to try out our new car with our caravan. I am going to attend a "Statler" retreat with some like minded ladies who have long arm quilting machines with computers attached. If you have been following my blog, you will have seen the large machine in my studio pics. Hopefully I will pick up some tips and techniques and new ideas. I will post next week about it. We will be going to the retreat in Bordertown, which is just over the Victorian border in South Australia, but staying in Keith, (my hubby's name). We leave on Thursday morning and will be back on Sunday night. Hopefully it will be a little warmer than it has been for the last couple of days. The temperature got up to all of 8 deg here today and has been wet and windy.
Had two viewings on the house at this stage and another open day on Saturday.
All for now and everyone, have a lovely weekend.
Susan.
|
You have so much going on. The country your drove through is beautiful and very different from what I picture Australia to be like. Hope your house selling and moving goes smoothly.
ReplyDeleteToo much going on Joanna, and I'm finding it tough, but we must do it now as we are not getting any younger. Our countryside is very diverse, but too much distance between everything.
DeleteGood luck with selling the house. I think once you've made the decision to move, you just want things to happen fast. I never knew there was such a thing as a possum crossing, I wonder if you've ever seen one being used. Have a wonderful weekend, it's great to get together with like minded people.
ReplyDeleteNo Jo, I've never seen one used, but they come out mainly at night. It's probably like looking for koalas when you see the signs on the roadside. All you get is a sore neck from looking up into the trees.
DeleteHope all goes well with selling the house. Enjoy your retreat!
ReplyDeleteThanks Anne. Will enjoy the retreat although it is a lot of travelling again.
DeleteGood luck with the house selling. Enjoy the retreat! :o)
ReplyDeleteThanks Anne and same as above Anne.
DeleteThanks for taking us on the country drive with you. I really enjoyed that, and the sign you pointed out was great.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the house selling, and enjoy yourself this weekend.
You are making me homesick!!!!Love seeing pics of Oz :) Will you be driving through Ballarat to get to your retreat? If you do say hi from me, lol! xxx
ReplyDeleteI would like to see Oz, what lovely scenery, reminds me of some of the places we have driven through in the States. Good luck with your house, and hope you enjoy yourself at the quilting. Like the sign on the gate ;)
ReplyDeleteHi Susan, thank you for your lovely comments as always.Its nice to know someone who knows what life is like on both sides of the world. I dont know where my son got his desire to go to live in Aus from but he spent a lot of time, effort and money to do so and I hope they all have a much better quality of life out there. I miss them like crazy especially the little ones. They grow so quickly and its finally beginning to sink in that they arent on holiday, they are so far away.Hopefully see them next year though. Good luck on selling the house and the move!
ReplyDelete