This Australia day weekend we were busy working on our property up the mountain. Since our last visit Steve Hart (the local farmer) had been up and slashed the road for us. He said it only took him 15 minutes and would cost $15 – the best 15 bucks we’ve ever spent! We could actually walk up the road this time rather than crawling on our hands and knees. It was a rainy, misty weekend and we both had a great time getting in and doing some hard physical labour. It feels like another world up there. We even participated in the annual McKellar Range work day and had a BBQ with all the old-timers.

By far the best Christmas present we got this year was our planter from Mark’s parents. It is called a four layer stacking garden and is perfect for growing plants in small spaces. In our case we have filled it with herbs and tomatoes. As soon as we returned from holidays we went to Northey Street City Farm to pick up some organic seedlings. We bought two types of cherry tomatoes, italian parsley, mint, bush and sweet basil, thyme, aloe vera, citronella (to help control the mossies), lemon grass, chili and rosemary. When we were visiting my aunt we also picked up a few cuttings and seedlings from her abundant garden including tumeric and another variety of citronella. Continue reading…

This New Year’s Eve we decided to get away from all the hustle and bustle. We picked up our friends Nat and Mike from Caloundra and drove into the sun to find a camping ground. We made our way to Boreen Point which has bushland camping on the shore of the largest lake on the Noosa River – Lake Cootharaba. We stayed at Elanda Point camp grounds which is lovely and shady and has its own resident kangaroos. The campsite has great amenities, but my big complaint is that in spite of their location in a beautiful natural area they do not recycle. At times like Christmas and NYE tonnes of waste are created and sadly, it was all sent to landfill.

The weather was absolutely scorching and unfortunately there was no relief to be found in shallow lake Cootharaba, which felt like a hot bath. Continue reading…

We had an amazing Australian Christmas this year. We were spoiled by Keith and Micky who had arranged a very special celebration at their home in Bangalow, NSW. They have an amazing home and are great hosts so it was a treat to be invited to theirs for Christmas. Bangalow also has a great street party on Christmas Eve with a samba marching band and all! After a welcome cocktail (cosmo of course) we headed down to join the festivities and had a delicious dinner at Ate. On Christmas day there were a few sore heads but nothing that couldn’t be soothed by Mickey’s delicious Eggs Benedict. After a rest we all piled into the car to Broken Head for a picnic (a scrumptious smoked chicken and mango salad with champagne) and a swim. All in all a very memorable first Australian Christmas for Mark and I. Thanks boys!

After Christmas we went up to Dad’s property in the McKellar Range. The property hasn’t been lived on for fifteen years so it was a feat to make it up to the house. The land is completely overgrown and the driveway is not drivable. Continue reading…