After a hard Easter weekend of work on our Mountain property we decided to treat ourselves to a day a of wine tasting in Stanthorpe (AKA the Granite Belt). The drive from Kyogle to Stanthorpe is quite enjoyable. You see a dramatic change in landscape as soon as you cross over McKellar Range. The terrain out west is more typically Australian — quite dry with lots of gum trees. Continue reading…

Over the last couple of months Mark and I have ventured down south to work on clearing Dad’s property. It was an emotional first visit back in December when we couldn’t even see the road, but slowly we are beating back the lantana and other weeds to reclaim the land. 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…