Over the past week or so the puffy jackets have been staying in the cupboard (during the day anyway) and the wattles and willows are telling us that the first signs of Spring are emerging.
It's also the season for "Sculpture on Clyde" which gave us a perfect excuse to spend the day at the South Coast on Friday (and deliver Maxie's "Swimmer" for exhibition and competition).
We chose the perfect lunch spot - on the Clyde River - on this perfect August day.
At this farmgate oyster shed we ate fresh Sydney Rock Oysters, caught and shucked that morning from beds located only a short distance from where we ate them.
Ah ah ah ah oyster PERFECTION!
Our oyster feast was a perfect entree to main course: handmade locally sourced seafood chowder served in crusty sourdough cob loafs - yummy - and in the perfect setting.
There are quite a few family birthdays in August too - but today we celebrated Jody's. .....at Poacher's Pantry, at a beautiful vineyard and charcuterie on the Nanimo Road a few kilometres from Hall Village.
Another beautiful day - and another beautiful meal .........
This is the only girl I know who orders a full serve of marinaded olives as her entrée. Her favourites are the Sicilians!
Both girls are serious about their food, and very appreciative. They're great dining companions.
But in a classic Abi move she still finds opportunities to do things with food that no one else would think of (This is her "palm tree" - made from a chip and some rocket!)
I am so happy with this photo of this beautiful pair - looking so happy on Jody's birthday ....... Happy Birthday dear girl!!
Between us we tried lots of lovely things on the menu: confit of pork belly, smoked lamb rack, ocean trout, smoked chicken - everything beautifully prepared and presented and locally sourced. I admired this girl choosing the saffron custard cream with mascapone and caramel wafers for dessert.
Poacher's Pantry is part of a much bigger country property - with plenty of room for Abi to explore and look for frogs and other wildlife. She found these cute little Spring lambs very appealing.
But Ella is always happiest when she can find something to climb or swing from.
Driving from Brisbane to Sydney in one day is a bit of an achievement for us - but we did it last Sunday in a bit under 12 hours. It was fine but not something we'd want to repeat in a hurry. The Meriton at Chatswood was a great choice for us (13th floor) for our 3 night stay because it's right on the Pacific Highway, and we didn't have to negotiate the city traffic to get there at the end of a long day.
We were more than happy to reacquaint ourselves with our Tokyo favourite Ippudo (sorry Haruko) at the Chatswood Dining District for our meal that night.
I don't think they do Poke bowls in Tokyo though (but this one was the best ever - so maybe they should!)
We headed into Darlinghurst on Monday - to the historic National Art School on Forbes Street.
The reason this building looks so solid is that it's original purpose from 1822 - 1914 was to house some of Australia's most notorious criminals - as the old Darlinghurst Gaol. There used to be gallows above the main gate (see pic above) so the public could watch the hangings!
But we were here to meet up with my friend Tania - nearing the end of her Master's (Sculpture) degree and nearing completion of her HUGE and ambitious room installation - a 3D response to her experiences growing up in Belfast during The Troubles.
It's a massive work, in size, scale and emotional impact. Its physicality is awesome. Tania has had to cut, lift, drill every piece of the supporting steel structure and cut, burn, drill and fix every length of those timber blocks (and collect them from the mill too).
There's still a few more months work to do on this....... Tania showed us the process of burning the timber blocks out in the open courtyard .........
Although the main installation represents months and months of work and investigation - there's so much more that Tania has been working on too ......
And that is without the 50 page Exegesis required for the Masters of Fine Arts degree. We were in awe of what she has undertaken and achieved already!
On our second day in Sydney we visited friends in Chiswick for lunch and caught the magical "Muriel's Wedding" at the Lyric Theatre in the evening. It was a full day but it was a magic way to end it at this joyous and funny night of musical theatre (not as dark as the 1994 film on which it is based).
Rob is responsible for all these pics of me. I couldn't talk him out of taking this last one on our road trip - this morning at our fave Pool Cafe at Maroubra - first stop on our final day of driving back to Canberra.
2,700 kilometres - mostly driven on the Pacific Highway - in a bit over a week. That's a road trip to Brisbane for us - and a great opportunity to catch up with family in Brisbane and friends in Sydney on the way home.
We stayed in Kempsey on the way up to Brisbane and discovered the joys of the RSL Club there....It was a bit of a Kath & Kim moment sitting there with my $4.60 glass of Chardonnay!
We love staying in Southbank/West End when we're in Brisbane. It's right on the river and walking distance to the centre of the city, yet so close to the buzzy vibe of bohemian West End.
With our 1200 kilometre drive to Brisbane over we felt we deserved our first beer from the local Catchment Brewing Company (Vulture St West End).
We scored an apartment on the 22nd floor of the "Ivy" building this visit. I was transfixed by the view, overlooking Southbank, the river and the city skyline beyond.
But we were a bit alarmed by the sight of this drone cruising around the nearby apartments blocks.
This view from our bedroom wall of windows was brilliant enough to keep anyone awake at night.
We had four full days in Brisbane - mostly spent with Rob's Mum - helping her celebrate her 93rd birthday and catching up with Rob's brother Colin and his wife Elaine. The balmy temperatures were a great change from wintry Canberra and we missed out on the extra cold snap (and freak snowfalls) over SE Australia while we were away.
You might wonder why we've travelled all the way to Brisbane to be introduced to Nibbles the sheep! We found him this afternoon, with rain showers threatening, in the hilly Brisbane inner suburb of Bardon. Joelly and Soyoung (Kay), a long way away in Seoul know exactly why we were meeting Nibbles the sheep; these pictures are for them.
We were lucky to meet John, the owner of Nibbles. He seems a lovely bloke, conducting all the proper introductions to Nibbles and the chooks, and inviting us to access Joel and Kay's block of land so we could take a really good look. He assured us that Nibbles will keep the block "mown" until building is ready to start.
Nibbles is totally adorable.
I took this pic looking across John's back yard towards a contemporary house on the other side that might be a similar size and layout to what J & K might be considering??
The view over the back fence......... What a BEAUTIFUL play space!!!!! (has a cricket pitch too).
Street view .........
Until we saw Nibbles and met John I thought this was J & K's block - but no, it is the block next door.
Every neighbourhood needs its own roaster! (And this one is opposite the block!)
I wish we'd taken these in sunshine, but Brisbane, like everywhere in Eastern Australia needs this rain!!
At this farmgate oyster shed we ate fresh Sydney Rock Oysters, caught and shucked that morning from beds located only a short distance from where we ate them.
Ah ah ah ah oyster PERFECTION!
Our oyster feast was a perfect entree to main course: handmade locally sourced seafood chowder served in crusty sourdough cob loafs - yummy - and in the perfect setting.
There are quite a few family birthdays in August too - but today we celebrated Jody's. .....at Poacher's Pantry, at a beautiful vineyard and charcuterie on the Nanimo Road a few kilometres from Hall Village.
Another beautiful day - and another beautiful meal .........
This is the only girl I know who orders a full serve of marinaded olives as her entrée. Her favourites are the Sicilians!
Both girls are serious about their food, and very appreciative. They're great dining companions.
But in a classic Abi move she still finds opportunities to do things with food that no one else would think of (This is her "palm tree" - made from a chip and some rocket!) 
I am so happy with this photo of this beautiful pair - looking so happy on Jody's birthday ....... Happy Birthday dear girl!!
Between us we tried lots of lovely things on the menu: confit of pork belly, smoked lamb rack, ocean trout, smoked chicken - everything beautifully prepared and presented and locally sourced. I admired this girl choosing the saffron custard cream with mascapone and caramel wafers for dessert.
Poacher's Pantry is part of a much bigger country property - with plenty of room for Abi to explore and look for frogs and other wildlife. She found these cute little Spring lambs very appealing.
But Ella is always happiest when she can find something to climb or swing from.
