Family

We're really going to treasure these pics of a happy morning this morning celebrating Ollie's and Rod's birthdays - at the Hyatt!

 That last candle proved to be a challenge even for Ollie.

 Only Rod was successful in the end .............

The kids agreed to an outdoor photo session - but I knew I didn't have much time. Abi chose the location and I couldn't worry about the lighting or the background could I!!!

 It was a bit uncomfortable to start with .........

 But then Ollie told a very funny fart joke ........

 

 

Isn't this the most beautiful young 14 year old you've seen (since the 1990s anyway)?

 And beautiful Ella .....

Orange NSW

We've just enjoyed a two night stay in beautiful Orange (Central West, NSW). Orange is a rich fruit growing region (but no oranges) has a population of around 40,000 and is a well developed cool climate wine region only 2 hours from Sydney, so there is plenty here to charm the visitor.

After a delicious lunch stop at Canowindra we were still keen to dine at Mr Lim in Orange on Sunday night, a very high end Asian fusion restaurant with a focus on local ingredients and wines.... And we were very impressed!

Monday morning was a very cold one in Orange, so we started slowly with a coffee and light breakfast at the Byng Street Local Store - this city has a serious addiction to coffee and the Local Store, just a few blocks up from where we were staying, was really buzzing this morning.  

We took a walk around historic Cook Park (established 1873) and admired the large aviaries full of parrots, the Blowes Conservatory (with just a winter remnant of its flowering begonia collection), the duck ponds, and …….. 

 the fernery …………. This morning the pond in the fernery was covered in sheets of ice (and this was by mid morning!!) ….

But the most beautiful part of Orange are the inner city streets of beautifully maintained and preserved late 19th century houses. We could have walked for hours just admiring them and learning more about their stories (something we'll do more of next visit).

We drove to Mt Canobolas about 13 kilometres SW of the city. We were told Mt Canobolas (1,390 metres) is the highest point between here and the West Coast of Australia.

We can see there's been a fire through here in the past few months. Most of the gum trees were springing new shoots but the road nearest the summit was blocked to cars because of the danger of fallen trees, so we didn't quite make it to the top.

We loved seeing the beautiful country around Orange, fertile, carefully cultivated, lots of orchards and vineyards.  It looked a bit like country France to us.

We'd enjoyed our Phillip Shaw Sauvignon Blanc with our meal at Mr Lim the previous night so we were looking forward to our visit to their cellar door, just to the south of the city in Shiralee Road.

This was a beautiful tasting experience - and alarmingly generous. The experience had its desired effect and we bought a half dozen bottles each to enjoy later (I enjoyed the Chardonnay and other whites from this vineyard). 

Rob was a very responsible driver (no wine for him) so we were lucky to be driven to the nearby village of Millthorpe after the vineyard visit. The village has been classified by the National Trust and is full of charm. We loved our late lunch at the Old Mill Café before setting out to find Brett Whiteley's Millthorpe retreat (up until his death in 1992).

We were delighted to see the matchstick sitting by the front door (a lovely reference to the entry to Whiteley's studio at 2 Raper Street in Surry Hills in Sydney). Whiteley lives on in Millthorpe thanks to the new owners of this house.  

It's hard to believe we've never visited this part of the world before - and it's only a four hour drive from Canberra. We're definitely going back to Orange one day!! 

Back to Canberra

Just under 3,000klms later and after a week away, we're back in Canberra again - but not before enjoying a one night stop over in Port Stephens (Nelson Bay), just north of Newcastle, to celebrate the end of a pretty big week for us...

Port Stephens is very laid back and picturesque with a range of bayside settlements around the port, the largest harbour in NSW - outside Sydney (of course). We still had 5 hours of driving ahead of us so we couldn't spend too long looking for the schools of dolphins and whales that are supposed to be pretty common at this time of the year.

We were lucky enough to have a visit from Abi and Jody today on their last day of the Canberra school holidays. Abi was so pleased with her new hand knitted jumper from Great - Grannie Bobbie in Brisbane that she allowed me to take photos of her in it - a very rare privilege indeed from Abi!!

It took her a little while to warm to the idea ......

 But by the end of the shoot she was even giving me a few of her best poses!

 How artistic is this one!

Not the best month

This has not been the best month for our Canberra based family. There's been some things happening health wise that are causing us some angst .......but this blog is about the positives in my life - so that's what I'll focus on..... a bit of a catch up on the last month or so.

It's been 5 weeks now since our gorgeous Ella ran her best in the ACT finals of the Schools X Country Carnival at Stromlo Forest.  It's no surprise to any of us that she's one of the fittest and fastest 11 year old girls in the Territory!

 A few days later a dear friend of mine (Irene) who is getting near the end of her chemo treatment was well enough to enjoy a celebratory breakfast with us "girls" at the Arboretum ..... it was a freezing but clear and sunny June morning, and we all felt happy that things are returning to"normal" for Irene. 

BUT then a week later disaster struck for me ... I fell over on the edge the road and fractured (and displaced) my distal radius (wrist bone). I ended up needing surgery (involving a 3 day wait and an overnight stay at Canberra Hospital) to have a plate fixed. It's my dominant hand too - so I've been fairly useless ever since!

Everyone has been lovely about this, and so supportive. Maxie and Rod and Josh and Jody have been wonderful, cooking us beautiful meals and keeping our spirits up. We've even had one of our lovely new neighbours at Saint Germain make us up some pots of soup.

And a week ago I had my plaster removed and replaced with this steel and velcro brace - which has given me a lot more flexibility (and wardrobe choices). I have to wear this for four weeks.

A week ago we started the journey north to Brisbane: starting with a night at Coogee to catch up on the annual apartment (EC) business ..... then a night with Ros and Pete at Sandy Beach ....and a chance to catch up with their dramatic plans to relocate to Geelong!!!

We made it to Brisbane by last Thursday afternoon and straight away made our way to see Rob's Mum Bobbie at her new "home" at Cazna Gardens. She looks bright and chirpy as ever, but increasingly frail - time to move out of her independent living unit and into a higher level of care (as of two weeks ago).

 As well as having some time with Bobbie we had a few days of packing, sorting and cleaning to do to clear her unit (after Rob's brother and his wife had done the bulk the work). In the process we saw a fair bit of Brisbane we don't normally see - like the local tip (Resource Recovery Centre). I thought this place was amazing!!!

But we managed to enjoy some downtime in Brisbane too - checking out the wonderful food scene in the diverse suburbs surrounding Cazna Gardens (Taiwanese, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese)..........

 Two trips with Bobbie to beautiful Manly on Moreton Bay ......

 (loved the sight of these nesting Lorikeets in the mangroves on the edge of the Bay).........

 And admiring the lush gardens and picturesque architecture of the older suburbs of Brisbane ....

 It's our last day in Brisbane today and we enjoyed another lovely seafood lunch together at Manly. We have finished the clear out of Bobbie's unit and she is settled into the new situation at Cazna. It's a stressful transition ...... we hope it works out for the best and she stays strong enough so we can share many more lunches like this with her in the future