Location shots

Here are a couple of photos of where we stayed in Queensland - we got an airbnb within walking distance of where everyone else was staying (and the pub / restaurant!) which was perfect - meant we could meet up easily but also had our own space when needed. The townhouse was very lovely and very fancy with everything you could want including a lovely kitchen, books, games and generally swish. It was in a townhouse complex with multiple gates that seemed to be mostly retirees ... fine, except we parked our car on the driveway in front of our garage one night and got an anonymous post it on the windshield the next morning saying we had to put our car away! At least we think that was what it said, it was written in old person cursive, but we made out the words "car" and "must" and "space". 

Anyway the whole suburb was carved out of the swamp / floodplain next to the river in the 1990s, and is very manicured and maintained, with big houses or apartment buildings facing onto the canals. There are a lot of active older people in exercise gear with small crusty dogs. So we went for some lovely walks on the boardwalks and bridges. There is a bit of nature reserve too, and the untouched landscape is fascinating with the river and the ocean. Quite unique, and seems tropical to our Canberra eyes. The photo below is looking back to Maroochydore, where the suburb's artificial waterways meet the Maroochy river.

It gave both my husband and I the screaming heebies - managed to be both medium density living and the worst of suburban life without having any amenities and also being miles from anywhere. You can't swim in the river and you can't walk to the beach. So given we are never likely to visit again, we happily rubbished it for a weekend, while enjoying the beautiful gardens and the posh townhouse. Perfect. 

 

Up to Queensland and back

We went on an adventure! Drove up to the Sunshine Coast for my husband's niece's wedding and to catch up with his family who we haven't seen for nearly three years. It was just lovely - the wedding was beautiful and it was so nice to catch up with people in person finally. Here are my husband and I in our wedding finery. My shoes did have heels, they are just sinking into the grass. The wedding ceremony was up in the hills behind the coast, gorgeous setting, very green.

I'm not sure how much of other people's weddings is polite to share, but this is the photo the wedding photographer put on Instagram and yes, the bride was very beautiful. Everyone was staying close to each other and the reception, so there were associated lunches and dinners and even just hanging out for a coffee was a real treat after so long away. The little cousins are now big cousins!

Number one went up with us but number two couldn't skip classes so soon after starting and stayed in Melbourne. We drove up and back - which was perhaps too adventurous - but it was essential to have a car up there so worked out well in the end. It's about 1300 km and we went up in one day (took 17 hours, but we did stop a lot) and came back over two days with a compulsory stop in a dodgy motel in a small town. 

I'll post some more photos another day of the area where we stayed, because it was hilarious, but here is a photo of Mudjimba beach near where we were. We didn't swim in the end because there was so much going on but the Sunshine Coast is extremely beautiful....

Shit clothing photography

I have really got to get better at this, it is either cluttered backgrounds or startled self-timer shots. 

I made two circle skirts on the weekend, using an old pattern that I forgot to take a photo of. They're not a full circle, but close enough, and even though I can draft that myself pretty easily it was nice just to have it there to use. This is a stretch cotton - I do know that you're not meant to use stretch on a skirt like this but I figure the stretch is the least of my sewing problems, and I really like the way the stripes go up and down and across. It's a $15 remnant from Pitt Trading, and was lovely to sew with. Nice and crisp and heavy. 

Not a flattering line on me but I don't care because I can go swish swish. I thought I might get a better photo if I stood on one leg in a ballet pose but no. It's not better. 

Yet again, at the beach

It is a whole new ball game with one kid away and the other one full of study and socialising and outdoor activity ... it is no longer a slightly guilty pleasure to wander away for the weekend. In fact I could do it every weekend if I wanted, which is nice, but strange.

Our little house was intact despite all the storms and rain, although half the beach was washed away. It meant a very interesting lumpy gutter where the water was up to your knees, then you'd take a step and it would be over your head, and a metre further on would be back to knee level. Fun, but no good for boarding. At least the water was still beautifully warm. A few people were optimistically putting fishing lines in the gutter but I don't think they were having any luck. The water was very brown from the creek after the rain, and I did step on a couple of things that wriggled. Unlikely to be edible though.

I did a lot of sewing after a few months of not sewing at all, and had some success! It is so motivating when you make something that looks half way decent, and so disheartening when you have a disaster. Then back home for Canberra Day public holiday - we had a quiet drink with a friend at a bar before facing work again today. 

More rainy rain

So much rain hit the east coast this week - two separate systems making a lot of water - in Canberra just gentle drizzle of course, but we did get a lot of wind with it as the weather sort of sloshed around. While we were at work on Wednesday one of the gum trees on the front path lost a branch - no harm done but I'm glad no-one was under it at the time.

We found out that our new neighbours own a chainsaw, which was very handy. It was slightly blocking the driveway, although you could drive around it.

My husband spent the weekend at the beach being deluged, while I spent a cloudy weekend going for walks and having lunch with friends. This is the High Court, looking particularly severe on a damp grey day. 

I am enjoying the proper watercolour lessons again, and trying to do lots of homework. This was the class exercise - a copy of a painting by Edward Hopper - not originally looking like this but we had to do it in monochrome. Practising our tones! And our lines, this was surprisingly complicated to draw ....  I gave up, printed it on A4 and traced it. So sue me.

Time zones

I attended an excellent small group seminar on parliamentary matters this week - lots of good presentations and discussions - interesting for people who like this type of thing, and I do! The only downside was it was hosted by the UK House of Commons so started at 8 pm and finished after midnight - not exactly my peak brain hours. Day one was fine but by the third evening I was starting to get a bit fuzzy around the edges. Most of the others were European/African but the poor Canadian lady started at 4 am every day, which would be worse than 8 pm I think. Early starts are awful.

So I started work later each day and just stayed until it was done, and took the opportunity before work one day to go through the wardrobe and fill up a couple of bags to donate. Which is why this shirt is appearing - I sewed it last year, but have never wore it and honestly never will. It's a nice broderie cotton but too short and boxy. 

I don't know why I am surprised it's unwearable - it is exactly like the pattern. I could have anticipated this. 

I might make it again just a heap longer, but it would be enormous with that sleeve, even in a very drapey fabric I think it might be a bit of a tent. Sewing fail, but maybe someone will like it. 

Beach, and rain

It looks like the once-in-a-hundred-year floods are coming about every ten years or so, what a shock, and half of Australia is underwater again. Not the half I am in, although we are getting a fair whack of rain. Luckily the beach town is in some kind of good weather bubble, so I had a lovely weekend and had some very pleasant swims. The water temperature is delightful - it won't last long but I enjoy it while it does.

I picked some more stink bugs off the lemon tree. They are full grown now and about a centimetre long and flappy. The damage they do to the leaves is extraordinary - I drowned about a dozen in metho but I'm sure I didn't get them all. But despite the bugs the lemon tree is doing well! Here is when it was first pruned May last year, and then on Sunday.

It must have a super root system, and we did feed it. In other beach town news, remember the falling down house that I was sad to see go, even though it was clearly barely holding together? It sold for $400,000 in 2020 and the new owners did indeed knock it down, then lived in a shed with a couple of little kids while they set the block up .... I thought they were going to build the dream house but no, they sold the empty block last month for $1.2m. Nice work! Probably tax free too, if they were living there.