Just an update on a few weeks holiday.

Back to real life this week.

Back to lists, packed lunches, schedules and routines.

I wrote this post a week or so ago. I logged onto the computer this afternoon intending to write about something else and realised that I had never pressed publish on this one. So even though it's a bit out of date, I've just added a bit to the end and I'll write a scoliosis update another day. 

The last few weeks were a glorious mix of relaxation and activities. During the school holidays we managed to grab those few slow mornings that we craved where we just pottered around the house. Sibs came with me to my yoga classes and one morning we called back in the little French coffee shop around the corner to indulge (supporting a local business is very important!)

We drove up the coast where Sibs spent a bit of time with a school friend and I carried on a little further to Noosa. I packed a book and some crochet and prepared myself for silence and solitude. I almost ignored a text that invited me for a drink but decided last minute that I couldn't really turn down the words 'sundowner drink at Sunshine Beach'.... Could you?

Then followed a few days of girls time in Noosa where we got up early and visited Eumundi market and stayed out late and walked up and down Hastings Street. 

During the few days in Noosa we managed to fit in a late celebration of a few birthdays and managed a catch up with lovely L and the kids.

Afternoon picnics in my day were soggy cucumber sandwiches, warm orange squash and maybe a custard cream biscuit to finish. An afternoon picnic 'Noosa style' was a falafel salad, a grapefruit, avacado and goats cheese salad and a lamb and herb salad. There was also different types of bread and the best cheese platter outside of France. The cheese didn't last long enough for me to take any photos!

The cake was shared between the three birthday guests hence the number 95 - their combined ages!

The next day, as a birthday gift from her uncle, Sibs was treated to a hair appointment in a salon overlooking the river. It was almost like being on a boat looking out to the water at the pelicans flying past. 

That was definitely one of the slow and relaxing days of the holiday.

So what else did we get up to? There were a few shopping outings to spend the numerous birthday gift vouchers, a movie, some clearing out of accumulated stuff that seems to breed in my house and the expected holiday time baking to restock the freezer. The occasional meal out was another welcome perk of a no routine fortnight.

Towards the end of the holiday things got a little busier as Sibs was rehearsing for some dancing performances at one of the Southbank theatres. It was an exhausting but incredible experience for her but her smile on stage made every hour that she put in worthwhile.

I helped out a little backstage and got to experience that wonderful theatre camaraderie with the young performers all pulling together and supporting one another. Took me right back to my teenage years....

So after a houseful of people over the last weekend I am slowly getting myself back on track. The bed linen and towels have been washed, the floors mopped and meals have been prepared for the week ahead. 

Tonight it's netball for Sibs, tomorrow it's my choir night and Thursday there's piano for Sibs and singing group for me! (Why did I think it was going to be a quieter week!)

A few days in Manchester and some reflecting. UK trip Part 6

I thought that I would finish off my little mini series of UK trip posts with part 6.

I had hoped to blog during my trip but I was way too busy having too good a time! I did Instagram some photos so I suppose these last few blog posts have been about putting some words to the images. 

So my final destination was a couple of nights with friends in Manchester. 

If you read Part 5 and wondered about the answer to the last question - I did take a slight wrong turn off the M60 and was on the way to Chester via the M56! I do it every single time! I even recognised the little side road to do a u-turn to get back onto the right motorway.

Anyway, I pulled up within five minutes of when I planned to be there and was greeted by three little furry faces and waggy tails. Little Murphy was a welcome sight as he is now quite an old chappie and just keeps hanging on....and on....!

Those teeny tiny little legs now need a bit of help to get up the steps from the garden and it was a comical sight watching him stagger up the ramp. Amber got a little impatient with his doddery approach and would push him out of the way just as he got to the top. Keep going Murphy!

My first evening turned into a late night and I eventually had to drag myself away from the kitchen table. What an absolute pleasure it was to just sit and talk with old friends. Sometimes the simplest things give the greatest joy. There was a lot of sitting and talking and catching up on this trip.

I know that my last blog posts have been a bit repetitive with the story of - "went here, went there, ate, drank and caught up with family and  friends", but that's what I did! I completely indulged in it and it was wonderful!

I felt extremely grateful that I could take the time out to travel, to be there with my mum for her birthday and then have the luxury of some 'me' time to do as I pleased. How often does that happen....?

When I originally thought about this trip I toyed with the idea for quite a while. Mum's birthday didn't tie in with school holidays so I had to make a decision whether to visit for the actual date or just sometime during the year. The longest that I had been away from Sibs in almost thirteen years was 4 nights. How would I ever manage 4 weeks? 

After quite a bit of deliberation I made the decision that I wanted to be there for the actual birthday and consequently this meant a solo trip.  I had to work through my own mother guilt (it took a bit of time...) to eventually feel OK before I could then concentrate on getting a bit excited. 

I was excited to rediscover a little bit of independence and to get another glimpse of the person hiding behind mother, wife and worker.

I did find her, and I even quite enjoyed her company!

The morning after the late night around the kitchen table enjoying the best prawn risotto ever, I left the car and took myself off on the tram from the suburbs into the city of Manchester for a day of being a tourist. It was a bit of a contrast from the rolling Yorkshire Dales of the day before and there were lots of people and they all seemed to know where they were going and wanted to get there fast!

First stop for me was a coffee shop with free wifi where I tried to Facetime Australia. I say 'try' as there was so much noise and bustle that I was quite conscious that I was shouting into my phone. It wasn't a great look....

I pottered around the shops - some pretty fancy ones too. I also took my own advice whenever I'm in a city and kept looking up above the shop fronts.

Walking between Harvey Nichols and Selfridges I spotted this beauty to my left. The Old Wellington Inn is the oldest building of its kind in Manchester having been built in 1552. Apparently the writer John Byrom was born there. The Inn was sadly damaged during the Manchester bombing in 1996 and repaired and re-opened the following year. Now I don't see anything like that in Brisbane!

After a bit of retail therapy I indulged in some culture and mooched around the Art Gallery. Again, I often find that I love the buildings as much as the artwork and Manchester Art Gallery was no exception. 

After a full day it was off to a real pub for a quick drink before a meal at a local restaurant. (Yes, more eating and talking.)

The next day I took a walk around Fletcher Moss Botanical Gardens and had a look at the Parsonage. There were some cute cottages with pretty flowers in the front gardens and around the doorways and I felt that I was walking through a Jane Austen novel. I hope they didn't mind me photographing. 

This was quite a tranquil end to a fantastic few weeks. I really did try and savour every moment and make the most of my time.

I have written before about that feeling of disconnection when you first live away from familiar surroundings. (HERE) I don't think those feelings ever entirely go away. It does help that I am able to travel back home and re-visit all those important places and people though.

I guess it makes me realise that I've reached a point of understanding and acceptance and stopped trying to associate with just one place in the world.
I have two anchor points in different hemispheres.

On my first night home in Australia I opened a message from one of my oldest and dearest friends.
"Glad you're home safe. Whichever side of the world you are, there are those on the other side who miss you."

I have to write it in its original form as it sounds so beautiful in Welsh.

"Falch bo ti gatre'n saff. Pa bynnag ochr o'r byd wyt ti, ma rhai ar yr ochr arall yn gweld dy ishe"

I will admit to welling up when I read it. Having these two places I can call home does have its advantages but boy can it also mess with my head!

I'm already saving up for the next trip!

A little getaway to Isla de la Eterna Primavera - UK trip Part 2

One week after flying into Cardiff I was off again. This time leaving the flat green landscape of Bristol for rugged volcanic terrain 300 km off the coast of WestAfrica. 

Tenerife is known as Isla de la Eterna Primavera - the Island of Eternal Spring, and being on a latitude with the Sahara Desert it is warm all year around. It's also quite convenient being only a 4 hour flight from the UK. (When you consider the 30 hours it took me to get to the UK, 4 hours is a blink!)

This holiday was a girlie birthday celebration for 2 mums who became friends when they were eleven. Our families had grown up together so there are a lot of memories in that bank!

We started the holiday with duty free shopping. There were introductions to weird and wonderful Vodka flavours with the Zubrowka Bison Grass one winning the battle for a place in the shopping basket. Aunty R thought it actually tasted of silage...! but she does live on a farm so maybe she knows more than me?!

Then the lady at the Chanel counter told the mothers that the shades of lipsticks that they had chosen (and had been wearing forever) were completely wrong for their colouring and had way too much blue in them. I could only see pink - but again, who am I to know! Imagine - they had been wearing blue lipsticks for 50 + years!

Quick lunch and we were then on our way. Oh, there was a little incident of a chunk of glass in my sandwich....rectified by a complimentary large glass of wine as there was no time for a replacement meal, but apart from that all was good.

So we joined the golfers and the sun seekers  - all 20 of them on the plane. The air steward kindly asked us not to move seats as the weight distribution was important....

This was a last minute booking and with that comes the inevitable concern of the unknown. Not to worry, our apartment was great. 

 

If I was trying to impress then I would say it was a penthouse - well it was on the top floor with a large balcony! There were mountain views to one side and a sea view to the other. 

It was quiet and restful and warm. Just perfect.

This was never going to be a rush around, seeing everything holiday. It was all about the company. We lazed around the pool, ate lunch with our sangria, lazed a bit more, walked to dinner and ended the days sitting on the balcony watching the sun set. 

We made friends with this little bird who would come and join us for evening drinks. He was made quite welcome until he got a little too friendly and decided to take a fancy to one of us by marking his territory! Four out of the five of us found it funny...... (Sorry for laughing so much L).

There were many more memorable moments - one of the best being the evening that we ventured more than 100m out for dinner. We walked along the shore line and found ourselves in a spot that was quite a bit more lively than where we were staying. There was a man singing and we believed that he was an Elvis tribute act. That was until we realised that he was attempting to sing Tom Jones! Now being Welsh we thought we should stop and listen. We may have put him off as he soon began to forget his words and carried on with gyrating his hips at the old ladies in the front row -they enjoyed themselves immensely.  Again, sorry for laughing so much Mr pretend Tom Jones!

The final evening we booked a table for a birthday meal and were very well looked after by the staff at the restaurant just below our apartment. There was a bottle of bubbles on ice when we arrived and then everyone there including staff sang Happy Birthday when the desserts arrived. 

Coincidentally, the slightly inebriated lady on the next table then informed the waiter that it was her birthday too.... so we all sang Happy Birthday again!

Getting away for a few days is such a tonic for the soul. Add good friends and laughter into the mix and it's the best cocktail ever!

I've been home and now I'm home... UK trip part 1

Seven months ago I planned a trip - a secret trip.

Brisbane to Singapore, Singapore to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Cardiff.

I told a few key people and by some miracle it actually remained a secret. As a friend of mine said - "the jungle drums in the valleys can be quite loud".

My mum was celebrating a significant birthday and I thought it would be a good idea to surprise her. So on a Tuesday morning a few weeks ago I turned up on the doorstep with a "Hi it's me, please can I borrow £25 to pay Dai the taxi man as he doesn't accept cards or Australian dollars!"

The initial shock quickly morphed to utter disbelief that I was there and not on the other side of the world. We had teary hugs and I lost count of the number of times she said "I don't believe it"!

No time was wasted though, as a couple of hours after landing I was in the middle of a small family reunion. Mum was being taken out to lunch and so of course I now tagged along - bonus! It was a walk around the corner to a great place that was new to me since my last visit home. Such lovely company and thank you Aunty Glenys for a superb lunch.

Holm House

One of the things that I love about going back home is the fact that I can walk most places. Down through the park to the sea front, round the corner to the shops, across the road to the railway station to take me to the city. I have lovely memories of wrapping Sibs up in blankets, putting her in her pushchair and bumping her down the dolly steps in Windsor Park, past the little aviary, maybe a stroll along the pier and then up the hill the other side. It was all still there - so wonderfully familiar.

Windsor Park

Winsdor Park Aviary

The pier has however had a bit of a face lift recently and I have to say looks rather grand now. In fact the whole of the prom looked better than I remembered it. Maybe the blue skies and warm breezes made a difference as the last time I visited it was dark, grey and cold during December. The Bristol channel is always a mucky brown though, whatever the weather!

My first week home was spent doing everyday things. I will admit to getting rather wide eyed at the mundane, and if anyone saw me in Waitrose oohing and aaahing at things on the shelves - I apologise. (I was also a bit the same in Tesco and Marks and Spencer food hall!)

I stocked up on the essential under garments in M&S, bought some new shoes, paid a visit to Thorntons and had 'proper' fish and chips....twice!

I drank coffee and champagne in equal measures and ate half my body weight in real Jaffa Cakes...and that was just in the first few days!

Three wonderful friends came to see me a few days after I arrived and we spent the afternoon chatting and reminiscing. One of my favourite memories of this day was the speed in which we seemed to move from cups of tea to wine to cocktails....but then back to cups of tea! Maybe we are getting older and more sensible?

This little fellow came to visit most mornings during breakfast and would scamper around in the back garden. I managed to take this shot through the window just before he flew back up the tree.

I enjoyed walks up to the coffee shop in town and strolls along the promenade. It was all quite full on but also quite relaxing. We met up with some extended family one afternoon with some aunts that I hadn't seen for some time. Again, there was champagne....

The Saturday before the big birthday my sister and family travelled to Cardiff and we met up with Mum's closest friend and her two girls. Her friend had just passed the same birthday so it was a double celebration. It was an afternoon of pure joy and my sides were aching from all the giggling. You know that group of people that laugh a bit too loudly at everything? Well that was us!

During the lunch we told my mum that she was being taken away for a few nights to a little island in the sun for a girlie holiday. More champagne please!

Before she could think of packing we ended the Saturday with a family meal. Good job it was a two minute walk from the house as I was fit to burst by the end of that day.

So that was my first week away. A wonderful catch up with very important people. I was busy on top of busy but it was a good feeling flopping into bed at night knowing that I had filled my day.

I think that flute was stuck to my hand...!

I have always slightly regretted never recording and blogging about the last trip that I made home a couple of years ago. It's nice to have some words behind the photos to trigger the memories. So I'm rectifying that regret by capturing some of this one.

I'll be off to The Canaries next, then a few days back in Wales before heading up the M5 and M6 up North on a road trip. Care to join me?

Relaxing retreat weekend

So last weekend I spent a few days away from it all up the mountains for some serious switch off time. Goodness, how quick the week has gone.      

By the time I picked Sibs up from her ballet class and coaxed her away from the chatting that eleven year old girls are so good at, we set off a bit later that planned.

Now there are two ways of getting to this particular middle of no-where spot that was to be our weekend destination- the 'highway and then a bit of mountain' road, or the 'mountain all the way' road. On Friday night I decided on the highway. I hadn't tried this route to get there before.....

Picture the scene - it's dark, really dark, we're a little hungry and a little impatient to get there....

The sat nav only knows part of the way..... (it really is in the middle if no-where!)

So I take the wrong turn....!

Ok, technically I didn't take the wrong turn, I just didn't take any turn!

In my (slightly weak) defence every lake looks the same in the dark! Then after miraculously avoiding an enormous deer in the middle of the road, the dusty 8km dirt track that leads to the property appeared.

The fire was blazing, the casserole was being kept warm and the relaxing could begin!

We made it!

The Saturday morning started with a quick catch up hello with the animals and after a brief introduction to the new goats, off they trotted for a walk like two obedient little dogs!

The weekend was a get together with family to celebrate two birthdays. Two cousins born almost two weeks apart turning twelve in August. We celebrated their tenth birthdays here and they have loved every visit since. It's a place that they can wander and enjoy being outdoors. Apart from my slight paranoia about snakes, they are safe! Even on this winter weekend the daylight hours are all spent outside just exploring the surroundings.

These alpacas always make me smile. They would win any staring competition without a doubt!

Just as I was snapping away at the alpacas these three were watching the action, so of course they had to be included in the photo shoot too!

One of the highlights of this particular stay was to see two koalas close up. The last few times that I've visited I've managed to spot some in the trees in the distance but this time they were so much closer to the property. It's such a reminder that I'm in Australia and not somewhere back in the Yorkshire Dales!

They were so obliging looking directly at the excited woman taking a hundred photos of them!

On the Saturday afternoon Nana had us all in stitches of laughter when she brought out some old family photos. The kids had a real giggle at the fashions and hairstyles. Laughter is so infectious.

Then as the sun set it was back indoors to light the fire, enjoy another comfort food dinner and then curl up under my new blanket with a book.

Of course it's not a birthday weekend without cake and Aunty D produced this fantastic creation on Sunday afternoon for us all to enjoy. 

Presents were exchanged and Uncle S had the brilliant idea of giving the kids the same book complete with a beautiful little message on the inside cover. 

I think Sibs was very happy with this particular birthday present!

All too soon if was Sunday afternoon and time to pack up and head back to reality.

Quick goodbye to Stuart Little and Mr Jones the goats.

Thank you Nana and Papa for organising a lovely weekend.

Until next time....

We stayed at The Hollow Log Country Retreat website link  HERE, and Facebook page link HERE