Year: 2020

It was one of the first sites I visited when we arrived in Queensland, a Sunday outing with two new and now very dear friends Leonie and  Ellen.  Yesterday I returned to Natural Bridge to show hubby its sheer beauty and unspoilt setting. Its part of the Gondwana Rainforests, a world heritage area. A waterfall and…

 The leader of the so called free world gets Covid.  My neighbour is harvesting his coffee beans from his coffee bushes and is in the process of making coffee. He promised me some after he roasts them. I am impressed. It was lovely to see him and his daughter sitting cross legged in the garden…

Our tree is the first in the valley to flower and we worry about that because of climate change. Very soon we reconcile ourselves to its outstanding beauty and forget the year long moan about brushing up its fronds and fine petals from the swimming pool. The work is more pleasant these days and indeed…

The weather is warming up and lunchtimes are quiet on the walks in the hood. Its the best time to set out with an exuberant dog. Yes Dougall is back and I am happy to say he is as lively as ever. So setting out on one of our paths today I was struck by…

No bluffing here, more like BURSTING with colours and bees. A gorgeous day trip on a perfect spring day to Spring Bluff near Toowoomba probably Queensland’s prettiest Railway station. Its a heritage listed railway line between Ipswich and Toowoomba.  It all started some 150 years ago when Queensland Railways launched a garden competition for railway…

 The area of the Glasshouse Mountains was probably once quite forested. Matthew Flinders climbed  Beerburrum in 1798 and was the first European to do so. He surveyed the valleys below.  There are vast cleared areas now full of the most productive plantations – macadamia trees, passion fruit and pineapple, coffee and vegetables as well.  The…

My hubby has always loved railways and so when I found this bedroom in a railway carriage I knew I had hit the jackpot for an anniversary present.  We went down the Bruce Highway and loved seeing the dangling bright red bottle brushes gently swaying in the central reservations. They reminded me of the oleanders…

A weekend getaway to recharge, celebrate and explore all within 100 kms of Brisbane. Our destination the Glasshouse Mountains a strange and impressive site named by none other than Captain James Cook in 1770 who took one look at them and thought they looked like the glass furnaces of Yorkshire – I have no idea…

Red Hill is one of the oldest suburbs in Brisbane. Its name comes from its steep hills with red soil and rocks – many of which are found in our garden.   It has some interesting landmarks, the massive Catholic Church of St Brigid’s built in 1914, with imposing views of the city below, the Ithaca…

So it takes a long while to go from a cut top to a pineapple growing and we were delighted to have a sweet one looking ripe and ready for picking just recently. Yesterday however when we looked again we realised that our resident possums had got to it first. Dammit. Too late but I…