Monday, October 29, 2018

Stitching and knitting....

I did do some stitching and knitting on my long train trip though I also enjoyed a couple of books. I started this cross stitch while at Corrimal and finished it on the trip. Just need a Santa to do between the trees.
 This is a tiny stitchery for the front of a little bag designed by Natalie Bird. Nice and easy to stitch on the plane.
 This shawl is a fun easy knit as all the stitches are plain!
 Since coming home, I have tried to get into the sewing room and have managed to put together these little cushions. Only 3 more Santa ones to make!

 A few of us bought this lovely pattern from AK Traditions last year and here is my felt rabbit and his little friend in his backpack. There is a little girl one to make too.

Tuesday, October 23, 2018

The Indian Pacific

We enjoyed our days on the Indian Pacific and were amazed at the huge country we live in. The scenery was amazing and even the Nullarbor was interesting too. The food on the train was great and it was interesting getting off at the various stops on the way. My only complaint was that I didn't sleep that well on the train. It certainly didn't rock me to sleep. Here is a map of the journey.

The first place we visited was Kalgoorlie at 9pm at night. It was a bit strange driving around the quiet town in the dark. We visited the mine and saw a play and some huge trucks!

 We then travelled overnight and had breakfast at Rawlinna, which is a large sheep station. It is hard imagining living here.






 In the afternoon we stopped at Cook which is now just a refueling stop for the train. It used to have a population of 200 and had a school, a hospital and prisons too.



We continued overnight and were in Adelaide for breakfast. We went on a walking tour in the drizzly rain. It was very good and the breakfast provided was yummy too.


 We did spot some wildlife from the train.
 We then stopped in Broken Hill and we chose to go to the lovely art gallery. We enjoyed the champagne, canapes and the art and then walked back down the street to the train.



On the last norning we were to go on a Blue Mountains walk but the weather forecast was chilly and rain so we decided to head back to Sydney. We had a quick lunch with Ma and then headed home. I must admit I slept very well in my own bed.

Sunday, October 21, 2018

Holidays continued

After out few days in Wollongong we headed to Sydney for one night and then got up at 4.30am to catch a flight to Perth. We enjoyed Friday wandering around Perth even though we were fairly tired after our early morning and also because of the time change in WA.


 On Saturday, we caught the train to Subiaco and enjoyed wandering along the main street and also visiting the lovely market at the local school.
 Our main aim though was to visit the Shipwreck Museum in Fremantle which was amazing. It has parts of the Batavia which sank in 1629 and it is a very gruesome story!



 Our other plan was to have fish and chips which is a definite must in Fremantle.

 We then walked around the town and visited the round house. They fire a cannon there every day at 1pm and we were there to hear the story and hear the cannon too. We were especially taken by this unusual art installation. These yellow lines are actually painted onto the buildings. It will be quite a job to clean it up one day!
Bruce got up early on Sunday to take these pictures of Perth.


We were in Perth as on Sunday we were going across Australia on the Indian Pacific train! We spent 3 nights on the train and it was a very interesting journey with amazing scenery. Here I am about to board. 

Saturday, October 20, 2018

Holidays....

We went away on Monday 8th October and headed to Corrimal to spend some time with our daughter and the little men. It was fun but it rained for most of the time we were there except for a windy time at the beach on Monday afternoon and on Tuesday when the weather was better. The boys loved the beach.














On Wednesday it was really wet so we went to Inflatable world for some fun bouncing!

Bruce and I also had to pack to go to a funeral on Tuesday afternoon. I want to write about it here as Uncle Alan was such a lovely gentleman. We celebrated his amazing life of 94 years.