May means ..........

We got back to Canberra on the 3rd of May, just in time for what is our favourite month in Canberra .... and this stunning view from our North facing windows .......

beautiful foggy mornings ........ (view from our Mt Ainslie walk on the 10th May)

and quite a few frosty mornings too!

Rob now has a new iPhone 12 after a lifelong commitment to Android - and even he can see the improvement in ease of use and quality of picture taking - how about this portrait bokeh???And just to prove it has clarity too .. the same scene (taken from our fave morning walk coffee spot), without the bokeh .......

While Abi's horse riding happens every month of the year, not just May, this May is the first month we've got to take her to after school lessons on Wednesday afternoons. It is such a joy to see her enjoying something so much, learning so much and gaining so much from it!

Beautiful May weather entices everyone into the outdoors. Judy L organised us all to have a lovely cafe breakfast a week or so back, at the beautiful old Clementine Bakery in Yass. In the fifty years (almost) we've lived in Canberra I think it is the first time we've had a stop over in this beautiful little gem of a country town - only 60klm from Canberra. We vowed we'd do it again soon!

The 14th of May, always means its the anniversary of the WW2 sinking of the hospital ship Centaur. This year it was the 78th anniversary, which we commemorated at the short but heartfelt Last Post ceremony at the Australian War Memorial. These are such sad events and we're always so conscious of the tragedy of the great loss of life yet thankful for the miraculous escape by Rob's Dad when so many others were not so lucky.

And last but not least, May always means its Ella's birthday. She turned fourteen on Friday and we were lucky enough to be invited to a special meal to celebrate the happy event. Everything on the menu was Ella's choice - and lovingly prepared by hand by Jody. As always Ella is our absolute ray of sunshine - and she doesn't even need a birthday as an excuse!

And Abi is a growing girl too and loves her protein (and hamburger carbs) whether its a birthday meal or not.

My birthday cake making days seem to be over these days. Abi made a surprise icecream cake for Ella this year. Three layers, chocolate, vanilla and strawberry and lots of sweet goodies folded through each layer..

Abi is at that "love of lighting fires" stage!

especially fires on cakes .........

But what about me, says Ella!

A funny pic taken by Abi showing a typical moment at our family dinners: Ella holding the floor, riffing off Joshy, in the process mimicking one of my various foibles (hilariously) while covering 10 topics a minute. OMG what will she be like when she's fifteen???

But we all know we're so lucky to know this wonderful, funny, talented, ray of sunshine!

Last days in Burleigh

We've found it enjoyable over the last week to keep to our beach holiday routine of walking, swimming, relaxing, coffeeing, wining and dining each day. The weather, up until today, has been beautiful so why not just enjoy the warmth and the sea air and all the good things on offer while we can?

We've had one or two outings outside Burleigh ...... last Tuesday we drove to Pacific Fair, parked the car and then caught the new (to us) light rail to Cavill Avenue in Surfers Paradise.

The light rail service was impeccable: clean, quick and easy to navigate. But we were a bit shocked by the Cavill Avenue area. Decades ago it was known for its classy shops and restaurants, but now it is all surf shops, fast food eateries and tattoo parlours (just waiting for a schoolies week invasion I guess). And the buildings are so tall ... they cast long shadows over these iconic beaches in the late afternoon.  Manly in Sydney is positively laid back in comparison....

Our second outing was much quieter, southwards to Kingscliff Beach, where we made a return visit to the Kingscliff Hotel for a late lunch (and an early g & t for me!)

There's always great pride taken in the meals served at this Pub. I had baked figs (YUM!) and Rob had a whole barramundi - a beautiful lunch!

And aside from our two outings this week we've continued with wine o'clock on the balcony each evening, around sunset ..........

Complete with the super bright "pink moon" rising on Tuesday night ..........

and morning coffees after our long walks. The Commune Cafe and the Paddock Bakery are our faves...........

while admiring the lush plantings everywhere - so different to Canberra gardens. This Strelitzia (Bird of Paradise) grows like a weed here (and only available at specialist florists in Canberra).

We have continued to eat well here too. Burleigh has a very diverse and quite interesting food scene for its size. "Red Hot Cod" was a great choice one night - and prompted me to consider serving baked salmon in a Balinese style satay sauce (gado dado style) when we get back to Canberra!!

And tonight we tried Oi Izakaya, an unassuming Japanese bar/restaurant in one of the laneways off James Street serving the kind of food that goes down well with their great selection of (Japanese) whiskies and sake. We opted for the sake set tonight, trying citrus, umami and floral flavoured varieties with a selection of delicacies that made us very nostalgic for all the wonderful times and great food we've eaten in Japan!!

That Wagyu in the centre of the table, on the hot rock, is still flaming, but Rob is not dousing it with his umami sake! ..........

I was very relieved that Matcha icecream was on the dessert menu - but somewhat overpowered by that death by chocolate soufflé served with it ........

Today we watched the set up being completed for the weekend's "Gold Coast Open" Surfing Championship, over the road from our apartment. We'll have an excellent view from our balcony - but it probably means it will be pretty hectic around here while it's on so maybe it's just as well we'll heading back home on Sunday, after our fabulous two week break.

Hopefully we'll be back to Burleigh some time - it has so much to recommend it!!

More Burleigh

We've been in Burleigh a week now, and settled into a very relaxed routine....

1. Morning walk - always 6-7 kilometres, and usually heading North (more coffee options that way). There's always plenty to see, especially this morning, ANZAC Day, with a lot of action over in the park opposite, from dawn onwards, and a service at 10.00am in the town park.

Morning walk views today ..........

2. Morning coffee - our two favourite places are The Paddock Bakery in Nth Burleigh ...... great coffee and in a very pretty location (the garden and verandah of a cute older style house) .......

And our other favourite: The Commune Café on the Gold Coast Highway, near Ellen's family's apartment. We were so happy to get a table there this morning on a very crowded Sunday morning that we celebrated with a full breakfast as well as our coffee (yummy coriander fritters, poached eggs and lots of avocado)........

Yesterday morning on our walk we hit the jackpot with a visit to the Saturday fresh food markets at the local school. Indoor plants so healthy and so cheap.........

Beautiful local produce - so fresh (and so cheap). Pick any 3 for $5!

All my favourite food groups...........

These bunches of herbs were $1.50 each!!!

So many passionfruit ($5 a bag) ........

And cool old cars are quite a thing here. Rob enjoys having a good look and sending pics to Joshy .......

3. Then we go swimming - at our local Burleigh Beach ........ some people might say the surf has been quite flat here this past week, but it is just the way I LIKE IT...... and the pristine Pacific Ocean seems so warm by our South of Queensland skins..........

4. It's often about 3.00pm by the time all that is done ..... time for some reading and relaxation, before it's  ..............

5. Wine o'clock - possibly our favourite time of the day, sitting on our balcony, sunset watching, people watching and enjoying a glass of whichever carefully chosen wine Rob has selected for our enjoyment this week.

While enjoying the sunset chorus of noisy lorikeets in the pine trees over the road and the occasional visit of this nosy (and sometimes noisy) kookaburra!

6. Then its time for dinner.... something simple in the apartment if we've eaten out during the day - but there are some interesting options around Burleigh too (Jimmy Wah's has been a favourite so far). Walking to our dinner date is another opportunity to admire the sunset light show............

It's a hard life but someone's gotta do it!