Under construction

We've travelled over 3,000klms in the last 2 weeks, driving from Canberra to Sandy Beach, then to Brisbane, back to Kirra, then back to Brisbane, then back to Sandy Beach - a two night stop over in Sydney and then back to Canberra last Friday. We loved the trip - catching up with family - enjoying some beautiful warm sunny weather and some wonderful art on view in Sydney and Goulburn on the way home.

We admired Pete's progress on the new development at Sandy Beach - an original timber clad beach cottage being transformed into a classy 3 bedroom 3 bathroom B & B, while maintaining the original cottage character on the outside. There is a way to go as yet but we can really see the potential!

Rear view below.......just after the old garage was demolished, to be replaced by a new double garage and landscaping (of course).

 The cottage is opposite the Sandy Beach boat ramp - very picturesque!

We celebrated our return to canberra by taking the girls (and their bikes) to their favourite park on Saturday morning - allowing us a good look at progress on our apartment at C5 (Campbell).  Things appear to be going well!

The view below is of the front of the building facing north towards the War Memorial and Mt Ainslie.  By this stage Ella was enjoying photobombing all my pics. Can you see her on her pink bike in this shot?

The construction is just starting to look like the computer generated pictures of "Saint Germain" in all the sales brochures (minus the flowers in the garden).

And just for fun I have included the pic below, taken at almost the same spot as the pic above - but about 9 months ago...pretty good progress we think!

 And meanwhile Abi was just swinging herself around and around...........

Noosa, Brisbane, Sandy

It's been a week of warmth and sunshine, reconnecting with extended family and lots of seafood lunches!

This was one of the best seafood lunches this week - at the Marina looking East towards the mouth of the Noosa River - a favourite childhood picnic/swimming spot.

It was pretty hard to say goodbye to our lovely apartment 12 on Thursday, with its spectacular Noosa views.

 .....and on to Brisbane. We stayed at West End on buzzy Boundary Street just a short walk from Southbank..so different from when we lived here in the 50s & 60s...

We crossed the river over the Victoria Bridge and admired the old Treasury building and this gorgeous building that used to be the Q'ld State Library. I used to spend a fair bit of time here (such a nerd) and loved the books, the architecture and the ambiance. I am so pleased it hasn't been demolished in amongst all the frenzy of Brisbane city newness.

It's NAIDOC week so we were pretty stoked to catch some of the family fun day celebrations at Musgrave Park on the way back to our West End apartment......hipster buzz, city sights, great food and bars and NAIDOC .....this is a great inner city suburb!

We ended of our short Brisbane city stay with a family catch up breakfast at the Gunshop Cafe. It was our first chance to meet gorgeous baby Charlotte..the latest addition to Granny Bobbie's collection of exceptional great grandchildren. She is just a divine honey bun (of course) and lucky enough to have a Mummy and Daddy (and extended family) who all absolutely adore her.

We're ending off our winter break at Sandy Beach..with more great company with family, gorgeous seafood and sparkly blue ocean views ....

Travelling warm

It's been a welcome relief to find ourselves in a warmer place in the middle of July winter.  We've had a night with Ros and Pete at Sandy Beach and squeezed in a Saturday morning at Sawtell to celebrate their annual Chili Festival.

......Then a two night stay at Kirra Beach, house guests of the L family in their penthouse holiday apartment with 360o views of this spectacular coastline - North to the Surfers Paradise high rises - and South down to the Tweed.

On Sunday there was time for a long morning walk South towards Coolangatta and an opportunity to soak up 23oC worth of brilliant winter sunshine and beach side sparkle.

We walked as far as Point Danger, overlooking Duranbah Beach and the mouth of the Tweed River (in NSW).

Sunday afternoon we drove down the Tweed River Valley through Tumbulgum to Murwillumbah and the beautiful Tweed River Gallery and Margaret Olley Art Centre. The views from the gallery looking out to the beautiful Tweed Valley and Mt Warning in the distance were a huge distraction from the excellent art work on show on the gallery walls. 

But we'd come to see the Margaret Olley Art Centre, primarily.....and the wondrous recreations of areas of her home studio at 48 Duxford Street Paddington.  The interiors (The Hat Factory and the Yellow Room) are filled with over 20,000 items that were subjects for her still lifes over many many years.  The rooms created here have a very strong presence. It is so easy to imagine M O living and working here in amongst this tactile and evocative chaos.......

Both nights in Kirra we enjoyed eating great meals with all members of the L family.... My Gelato on Douglas Street proved to be the most popular dessert spot both nights.

I woke up early this morning and attempted to catch the sunrise over Kirra Beach from our rooftop terrace, eleven floors high......the start to another perfect day in sunny Queensland.

We dropped off the young things at Dreamworld on the way up to Brisbane this morning, picked up Rob's Mum and made our way further North to Noosa by way of the beautiful Blackall Ranges and a lunch stop at the pretty village of Montville.

We're booked into our favourite apartment block (number 12 this year) overlooking the beach where the Noosa River meets the Pacific Ocean.  The sunset views from our living room are to die for.

Mello Bello

We finished our jaunt up north with another short stay with Ros and Pete last weekend.  This time we headed away from the coast looking for a good lunch spot...to beautiful Bellingen, home of many mid north coast alternative types and some great cafe food, good coffee and interesting shopping that caters to the town's interesting residents.

We thought 5 Church Street looked to be a good choice.  A homey place, full of soul, live music, (although sadly not playing this Sunday afternoon) mismatched retro furniture and lots of fresh local food on the menu (including lentils and red beans, of course).

Ros and I made sure we allowed enough time for a browse through the gorgeous old Hammond and Wheatley Emporium on Hyde Street. It is such a special place that even the boys enjoy a (short) browse themselves before finding a spot to chill out together and compare their phone apps (they're both still novices in this area by the way!).

Ros, Pete, Rob and I had a lot of fun planning our trip OS next year for the WEDDING!  We've got a rough outline already done - some accommodation options even - we just need an idea of the timing now!

Coff's Harbour is not a beach

We've just had 3 great days with Ros and Pete (and Josie) on the "Coff's Coast". They rent a house at Emerald Beach, a stylish coastal village about 20 minutes north of Coff's Harbour and about 10 minutes south of Woolgoolga (Woopi). Ros and Pete are great hosts and our 3 days went quickly, sight seeing, eating great meals, lots of beach and headland walks and a chance for us to see their block of land at Sandy Beach (5 minutes further north of Emerald Beach) and all the plans for the beautiful house they are building (starting soon hopefully).

I learnt many things over the three days, never having spent any time in this region before. The main one being that Coff's Harbour is a harbour (duh) and therefore mainly appeals to boaties and fishermen. It is the beaches around the harbour that attract holiday makers and sea changers (like Ros & Pete). The coastline is beautiful-long stretches of clean, sandy beaches broken by rocky headlands and off shore islands most of which are protected as reserves and marine parks.

This is a shot taken at Sandy Beach looking south to Moonee and Emerald beaches.

These shots were taken Saturday afternoon walking around the beautiful headland at the southern end of Sandy Beach.

Pete does a lot of contemplating of the waves.

There was a great break at Sandy Beach that afternoon, protected from the cold southerly. 

It was great to visit Bellingen on Friday. We loved the famous Hammond & Wheatley Emporium building-especially when Rob was able to find a pair of Naot shoes that he liked.

Lunch at the (Israeli) Mouza Restaurant in Bellingen was amazing - best cafe we've eaten at in a long time.

Ros and I ordered the same most amazing dish - stuffed vegetables basically, but amazingly delicious.

It was a fine dining experience the whole weekend. Room 101 at Emerald Beach on Friday night (sashimi oysters and duck for me with a degustation dessert platter) and Saltwater on the beach (at Emerald Beach again) on Saturday night (bugtails and gnochi and spatchcock for me). Cafes at Sawtell (Barrel) and Woolgoolga also benefited by our custom - all serving great food in really interesting settings.

I had to get a shot of Ros & Pete's ocean view from their block of land at Sandy Beach. I sort of got it - but their verandah will be much higher up! They are only about 200mts from the beach.

Thank you Ros & Pete for your great hospitality. You both seem very happy building your new life together. We were incredibly envious of your early morning beach walks and swim. We've decided to restart our early morning walks around the boring old Circuit after the good habits you started to get us into.

The house was very cold to return to on Monday evening; only 8oC. It took hours to crank the heating up to a bearable temperature. It had been the coldest day all year in Canberra, although we hadn't found the the Coff's Coast particularly warm either.

Check out the link to Joel's new website..it is stunning..he is the man!