Brief apology

Hey all sorry to have been absent this last week and missing Stash Update, WIP Wednesday and any other post I might have put up. My computer wouldn't go on the net so couldn't upload anything. I could have done an update from my phone but they are no fun. Now we are home and my Super Daughter Fangirl got me back on the net I promise there will be an avalanche of updates... well as soon as we get the trailer unpacked, the washing done, the dogs played with, the cat petted, the house Christmassed... friends visited and attended to etc.

In the meantime...

Here are some photos from our time in the Flinders Ranges, South Australia

Heaps of old ruins in the area, reminders of overstocking due to Government policy leading to failed ventures, drought, an arid landscape that just can't support large population

sap oozing from a tre

Sunset at the campground

river gums growing along the river bed

goanna

Shingleback lizard also known as the stumpy tailed skink

Wilpena Pount

Wilpena pound.

These fat bottomed trees reminded me of the song about fat bottomed girls

huge river gum at the Wilpena Resort and pool. The pool was delightful in the hot afternoons

another of my fat bottomed trees

Grass tree

kangaroo tail grass

the Beautiful Flinders Ranges - Heysen Range named after the painter Hans Heysen whose works made this area so familiar to many Australians

Wedgetail Eagle

Fitness Friday - up and down week

Its been a really up and down week exercise wise. Staying with people and staying in cities is not good for the step count!

Saturday we were at my cousin Jo's place. I spent the day sewing so was more sedentary than usual. We did go for a little walk around the farm but it had rained and started to rain again. The soil is clay based so very sticky so we ended up with chunky shoes! Some jogging on the spot (to catch up to Fixit Guy's step count for the day) got me up to a more respectable  6 567 steps



Sunday we went to church and then on a bbq to a local lake. The kids swam but we adults sat and chatted. Later I realised that there was a track around the lake that I could have at least attempted but by then Jo was dressing the kids ready to head home. FG and I headed out on a walk up the road for a couple of kms so ended up with passing our target for the day 11 039 steps

At the playground by the lake

Tree by the lake

My cousin's youngest worn out by swimming at the lake

Monday we left the farm and drove to friends at Bordertown. On the way we visited a National Park - Little Desert National Park and did a couple of small walks in there. We also explored the small town on Dimboola on foot, spending time in their art gallery and buying some lunch at a cafe. We arrived just after the roadworks crew had knocked off for lunch so we had a bit of a wait for our food and then had no tables to eat it at. Probably the busiest half hour the place sees. Steps 11 193

Tuesday we drove into Adelaide, dropped the trailer off a our friends house (she was at work) and then drove across town to visit a quilting friend of mine who took me to her favourite quiting shop for a bit of a browse. Back at our hosts place we sat and chatted and so my step count was a bit sad... and even then it included a couple of thousand added by running on the spot at bedtime. 5 111 steps

My friend in Bordertown has this gorgeous organ they bought at auction years ago. It is very similar to one we own that I inherited from my grandparents. 

Wednesday. Our host had the day off work so she took us driving around her lovely city. At Victor Harbour we had a good walk around the shopping area (trying to find a patchwork shop that used to be tehre. We think its closed. Its certainly moved from where it had been) and then we walked out to Granite Island and walked around it. At bedtime I determinedly jogged for a while  on the spot to catch up to FG. He ends up 20 000 steps ahead of me on our weekly average otherwise. Steps 11 995

Granite Island

Yellow pig face 

Fixit Guy and I on Granite Island

Thursday. I spent most of the morning tracing off embroidery designs so as to have some hand work for the next part of our trip. FG was working on mending our friends watering system so he was doing quite a bit of walking around the yard although it wasn't very big. I then went out to lunch to catch up with 3 other friends through ABA (Australian Breastfeeding Association. I was a counselor with them for almost 20 years) We sat and chatted for 4 hours. Back at the house our host was home and we ended up sitting eating cheese and crackers for a while and then we went out to dinner. Not surprisingly my step count was absolutely abysmal. I was very stubborn though and jogged for over 5 000 steps till I got to 10 000 steps! Steps 10 031

Lunch with my friends

This morning I braved it and got on the scales at our hosts. 93.4kgs ....  ooops. That means I have put on 4kgs this trip. I am glad that I have been trying hard to keep my exercise up. Imagine what it would have been if I hadn't been!

Sunday Stash Report

No finishes this week but wasn't expecting any.

I did have a purchase though and I wasn't expecting that. I went to a little patchwork shop in the town my cousin lives at on Friday and bought 2 patterns and a ruler. I then bought enough white tone on tone to be able to do the embroideries from the patterns that I bought - .5 metre. Its not exciting fabric so I am not going to take a photo of it to share. I would have shared a photo of the patterns but... they are packed away in a box in the back of the car atm so can't get at them. The little shop was call Quilters Harvest, an appropriate name for a shop in a wheat growing area.

I am typing this as we drive along. I  tried to get this done yesterday but was having too much fun with my cousin and family. I don't see them very often and this was the first time we have visited them at their place. Who needs to take time to write a blog post when I had 4 gorgeous young children to play with a cousin and her husband to chat with!!! Jo isn't actually my first cousin... her dad Syd, is my double first cousin... his Dad Fred was my Mum's brother and his mum Doris was my Dad's sister. Just to add to the relationship tangle Syd's wife is the daughter of my father (and therefore Doris's) cousin Marge making her my 2nd cousin. I used to say that Jo and her sisters were really 7th cousins... double second (thats 4) and 3rd cousins... a total of 7.

My cousin Jo and her daughter NB

We spent the weekend playing with the kids, chatting to Jo and her husband and doing a few jobs for them. I spent most of Saturday sewing... but it was mending sewing and taking up hems not patchwork. I was glad to give Jo a hand. With 4 youngsters she doesn't get time to sew.

4 gorgeous Ozzykids... we do  breed them cute here in Australia. The oldest 4 had just finished school for the day so are in their uniform

We also visited the local park and fed some of the animals there, and went for a bbq picnic lunch at a nearby lake where the kids had a swim but the adults still thought it was a bit cool.

Now we are on the road to South Australia, the last leg of our epic holiday. We'll have one night with a friend tonight in Bordertown and then into Adelaide for a few days before heading north to the Flinders Ranges and then it will be a quick trip home to Central Queensland in time for some Christmas celebrations and the like.

Banksia Man, Little Desert National Park

Wimmera River in Little Desert National Park

So my stash numbers are

Used this week:                               0.00m

Added this week                              0.5m

Year to Date Used                       133.31m
Year to Date added                       91.97m
Net Used                                           41.34m

Friday Fitness

Friday again and its been a week or exercise and eating. Just hope I'm doing enough of the former to mitigate the latter

Saturday
We packed up our camp at Wingan Inlet in Croajingalong (don't yah just love Australian Aboriginal Place names) National Park -  and moved on to Lakes Entrance. Not a big drive but not a pleasant one either - wind and rain. We stopped along the way to buy some lunch despite have packed sandwiches. It just wasn't sandwich type weather and besides too wet to stop at a roadside stop. We had fish and chips - not a success for Fixit Guy as his was a bit underdone and not nice. Mine was fine.

Cold and Bleak day heading into Lakes Entrance for groceries

It was very windy to set up at Lake Tyers and we had to really rope and peg everything down but even so... it was a rough night. It was also cold... much colder than it had been. We had toasted sandwiches and soup for lunch. Some jogging on the spot required to get me over the line re steps Total steps for the day 10 085

Sunday we went into church at Lakes Entrance and had a lovely chat to some of the ladies there. They are currently without a minister - the 3rd one we have been to on this trip. Our own announces she was leaving just before we set out on our trip. We met a friend for lunch in Sale and had a delisicious seafood fettucini (all locally sourced produce) and a scrummy cake afterwards. Visited an historic homestead and walked about the grounds a bit and then came back to camp and walked along the beach front ... nearly got blown away but great walk.Steps for day 10 304

With my friend Ange after lunch... it was very windy

View of some of the Lakes from the Homestead

beautiful shells on the beach

The beach at Lake Tyers

Monday we drove inland. We visited an historic trestle bridge and then did a guided tour of the Fairy Cave at Buchan. Home again and another long walk along the beach. Not so windy and much more pleasant. Steps 12 678

The Historic Trestle Bridge at Stony Creek. No longer in use

Joey resting in the shade at the Buchan Caves

Late afternoon walk. Fixit Guy is 3.5" shorter than me. When my sister saw this picture she comment... Wow first time I've seen a tall (insert his name here)

Getting my arty on

Tuesday we drove around the forest area of Lake Tyers. We did several walks along the arm of the lake that becomes Boggy Creek (not a romantic or pretty name at all for a pretty spot) and another walk along the track to Lonely Bay. We had talked about going for a last walk along the beach but didn't get there. Instead I spent the rest of the afternoon working on my Jeans Jeans QUilt and got it finished. We did go across to the Waterwheel Pub, which was just across the road from our camping ground for dinner. The food was so good. I had calamari for entree and pork ribs for mains. If I had known how big the servings were or how good the ribs were I wouldn't have bothered with entree.. Best ribs I've ever had. We were glad of the extra quilt that night and for the next couple as the weather got colder again at night.steps 15 997

Beautiful Boggy Creek!!!

Getting arty again... reflections in Boggy Creek

Wattle in bloom

Me by the lake

View of the lake on our walk to Lonely Bay

Galahs by our campsite. Love galahs

Wednesday we packed up the camp and moved on to Duck Point, which is near Yanakie, the gateway to Wilson's Promontory, a national park area including the southern most tip of Australian mainland. It was pretty windy when we got in and we decided against putting the annexe up as it is a tricky job when the wind is blowing. For dinner we had a bbq, cooked on the electric bbqs at the camping ground. We didn't set up out gas stove at all, boiling our water in the camp kitchen (just a jug, toaster and microwave in the laundry... most basic camp kitchen so far on the trip) and making toast in their for breakfast.. FG was coming down with a cold and feeling rather miserable. We got the heater out and warmed up the inner tent quite nicely. We hunkered down in there and let the wind blow around us (after we had pegged down as securely as we could. We did go for a walk after we had set up camp along the foresure of the inlet (it was called Corner Inlet) We saw heaps of black swans out on the water and various other water fowl too. Steps 10 659

Duck Point, Corner Inlet

grassy Duck Point

Duck Point

Flocks of black swans were on the lake... no ducks but lots of swans

the lake at dusk

Thursday we had to head back into the nearest town to get some medication for FG who was coughing and blowing a fair bit. However we still went into the National Parks and did a couple of walks - one along a couple of beaches and over the headland between them and another billed as Wildlife Walk. We saw a mob of kangaroos and a flock of emus so it lived up to its name. Saw a couple of wombats earlier as we were driving along. steps 16 802

Picnic Beach on The Prom (Wilsons Promontory)

Emus

we saw the roos and the wombats but not the koalas.

loving the micro option on my camera

Rock Maze at Squeaky Beach

Squeaky Beach

Friday. Today its just been packing up and unpacking day. We packed up the camp at Duck Point and drove into Melbourne to our camping ground at Coburg, which is not exactly inner but not far out either from the city. The camping facility is not as cramped and crowded as many city camping grounds tend to be and there is lots of green lawns about and shady trees. We are VERY handy to the loos and showers so not many steps to be had getting to and from then. Think my step count today is going to be pretty low. Not any nice beaches or rivers or national park walking tracks nearby to tempt us out for some exercise and with FG still coughing and blowing I doubt he will want to go far. Might be some jogging on the spot for me tonight. Steps 5898 (so far)


So how about you? How have you gone with your fitness aims this week? 

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