Year: 2015

Yesterday I was at home with the windows closed, even the birds were taking refuge under the covered roof. I was wearing my thermal track suit bottoms and fleece and had my British Airways socks on with my flip flops. A right Chav, my boys would say, but the weather called for it. Winds  shook…

Today, the 25th of April 2015, is the 100th Anniversary of the Gallipoli landings, a disastrous campaign in Turkey which saw many Australians and New Zealanders lose their lives. However this marked a seminal moment in the history of these nations and while I cannot speak for New Zealand, I can say that this anniversary…

Bronzed bodies, slick surfers, aged but eager retirees, water babes, health aficionados and all weather swimmers but above all the iconic and ever present life guards in their characteristic red and yellow colours, ever ready to go out there and snatch someone back from the ferocious force of the waves and the surf.  Can you…

Over the weekend we watched Verdi’s opera AIDA which was set at the water’s edge, with a backdrop of Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera house. The setting, with a towering cast of Nefertiti was visually engaging. I enjoyed the music and the singing but I was very disappointed by all the rest. The costumes…

Our visit to South Australia was only a taster of what this state had to offer and in our few days there we understood that we need to return and explore so much more of it. Till now I have spoken about the Barossa Valley and the beautiful rolling hills with vineyards changing colour in…

There is something special about an area which is so into its produce and the lay of the land. The aboriginal tribes, the Kaurna, were certainly the first to recognise the abundance of the earth in South Australia.Then came the free Settlers and they struggled to settle among the eucalypts, the dry areas and the…

The friendliest face in SA but which SA I cannot say… This lovely expressive creature was in a field with some cows in the Barossa. He was as curious about me as I was of him and while the hubby was off chasing birds, with his binoculars, I took the opportunity of getting up close…

In my previous post I was out there trying to find colour in Queensland. A visit to South Australia satisfied that need and I have come back bursting with it – as was the area.  Autumn was turning the leaves and everywhere you looked the landscapes were ripe for artists. Of course one of the most…

Today is the first day I felt a shiver. Autumn may be finally arriving in sub tropical Queensland. Brisbane has a very steady climate – you could summarise it as Warm.  What it doesn’t have though is a marked changing of the seasons. In Europe and in the States, Autumn is all about the leaves…

I have just come back from a wonderful display of Orchids at Mount Coot – tha Botanical Gardens from the West Brisbane Orchid Society.  The variety is impressive, the colours and aromas breathtaking and the shapes amazing. Happy to share my amazement, starting with the strangest one I have ever seen called the Bat Flower…