Sam's the One!

After a few months of searching, a few false starts, and some disappointments and stresses along the way, Abi now has her own horse! 

Sam the 5 year old, 14.1 hh, light bay Welsh/Anglo pony finally joined the family last Thursday - delivered to his beautiful new agistment out at Freshford Equestrian Centre near Point Hut Crossing out the back of Tuggeranong. He'll be quarantined in a special paddock there for two weeks before he's able to move into his (overnight) stable and join the other horses out in the main paddocks when he's not spending time with Abi.

We met Sam for the first time on Sunday out at Freshford, after picking up his brand new saddle from Fyshwick. It was so lovely to see him running up to meet Abi when she arrived. He was so excited to see her; no need for a lead rope here!! 

He was actually excited to meet the whole family...

.. and he had no objections to his new pink halter .....

He doesn't like the expensive horsey treats - carrots are his favourite!

He had no problems with the classy new bridle either!

What a pair of cuties!

The property is beautiful in its wild, expansive Australian bush setting, sited at the foot of a mountain range. This old wombat is obviously used to horsey people being around the paddocks here. It didn't seem to care how close I got to get this pic.

Sam using up a bit of his 5 year old energy in the lunging ring....

... and trying on the new saddle for size .... Verdict: saddle is perfect size but a smaller girth strap is needed (add that to the already pretty extensive shopping list!)

... and back to the "hospital paddock" for Sam ......

It has been so wonderful, so rewarding, to share in Abi's happiness and excitement - here's to all the Sam love and adventures ahead!!

Geelong visit

We've just returned from a four night stay in Geelong, catching up with Ros and Pete for the first time since we said our goodbyes in London back in May this year.

Its been a tough few months for Pete in particular, recovering slowly (too slowly says Pete) from knee surgery and quite a few other issues complicated by his cancer treatment over the past year or so.

On Friday night he felt well enough to enjoy dinner out with us at 1915 in North Geelong.

 

The restaurant is set in the century old boiler house that once powered the entire Geelong Federal (woollen) Mills. Serving high end food with a focus on locally sourced food and wine, 1915 is a real asset to Geelong's already well developed dining scene. It was Ros and Pete's second visit here; thank you Kay for discovering it for us!

Ros always inspires us to do a lot of walking during our Geelong stays. Walks along the Barwon River always beckon us.......

..... as does Born and Bread, Geelong's best bakery, just off Pakington Street in Newtown. Rod and Pete joined us here (by car) on Friday and Saturday morning for a coffee and ... almond croissant, cheese pretzel, blueberry Danish and olive baguette breakfast. Worth queuing for ..... yes!!!

Rob worked hard to keep up with us on the morning we walked over 11 klms.

Saturday we drove to Port Arlington - a lovely drive and a great source of fresh seafood - Tasmanian Pacific oysters, a kilo of cooked prawns and a kilo of prawn cutlets we cooked in oil garlic and chili, on the bar-b-que - a wonderful feast at home!

Sunday we drove to Ocean Grove - via Torquay .... another windy, cool day in Geelong, but at least the rain held off.

We enjoyed lunch together at the beautifully located "Dune" on the beachfront at Ocean Grove..

We didn't spend too much time outdoors at Ocean Grove admiring the view out to Bass Strait as it was blowing a gale and feeling very cool.

We said goodbye to Ros and Pete yesterday morning after another wonderful stay with them in Geelong. We've all got our fingers crossed that Pete's health continues to improve, but at a much faster rate, and he and Ros can get back to the active life they enjoyed together in this beautiful part of the world.

Coogee handover

Our Coogee window replacement and wall repaint job is now done .... at least in those rooms unaffected by planned future renovations. We packed up our Coogee place two and a half months ago, ready for the onslaught of workmen, tools and lots of dirt and dust - a false start as it eventuated as our Small Sash Window guy took a trip to Thailand for a few weeks while our place stood empty and waiting! 

He started work again at the end of July and the job was mostly done by the time we got back to Sydney after our week in Mooloolaba on the 17th  August. Joey the painter then got started on the big repair and repainting work in the last week of August and was finished in time for our handover with him last weekend. 

It took a full day of vacuuming, mopping, dusting and unpacking to get things looking this clean again after all the work that was done.

We are thrilled with our new windows and new colour scheme. The standard of workmanship is excellent and we think the apartment is looking super stylish!!

The Hammer Grey and Whisper White combination gets the big tick from us! (Lexicon White on the windows)

 

It will be lovely to get back to using our place at Coogee, especially now the weather is warming up.