I heart my bath and bed..

I am back from the wilderness and as always enjoyed an wonderful adventure. I shared some very beautiful moments of the past two days, a starry night and beautiful sun rise and kayaking down the Murray River with a gorgeous black swan and her cygnets in toe.

After a 13km walk and 23km kayak, I must say though, I am very happy to be home and couldn't wait to walk in the door to enjoy some delightful treats I often take for granted..

A cozy bed with warm blankets

and a hot bath with lots of bubbles...

images from weheartit

Wishing you a wonderful Saturday! I wonder what you are up to? I'm enjoying a lovely morning catching up on blogs and magazines. Perhaps a little trip to town later to potter around a few op shops and find something lovely for dinner. A lovely lazy Saturday indeed.

Much love and daydreams
xxx

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Into the wilderness...

Tonight I'm packing my back pack and I'm off on a little journey for a few days. This time last year I set off on my first Outdoor Ed Expedition with work and just had a wonderful time. I just had to put my hand up again this year for the two day trip that sees our little group walk 15kms, camp the night and then spend the following day canoeing down the Murray River. I'm really looking forward to wandering through the wilderness and enjoying the beauty of the river, although I wish my camping set up looked a little more like this.

image from weheartit

Wishing you a delightful midweek, see you on Friday!

Much love and adventures in the wilderness
xxx

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All Aboard!

So I have packed up my little studio and I am off to Brisbane for ten days for a little working holiday. I can't wait to spend some time with working on some new pieces and stocking up on supplies and of course seeing my wonderful family.

Packing up my little studio, buttons and all and a beautiful book about Shakespeare and Co.

I will be blogging my adventures from Brisbane and my little Etsy shop will be open and will be updated with some lovely new bits and pieces. I'm very much looking forward to visiting some lovely fabric stores and meandering through Paddington to the Antiques Centre. If you know of any fabulous places in Brisbane I should go to please leave a comment and let me know. I would love to hear from you.

I must go catch my flight. Hope you having a wonderful Monday and I will be back tomorrow with tales from (hopefully) sunny Queensland.

Much love and adventures

xxx

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Home again as Winter sets in...

I will dance wherever the wind takes me, in search for an adventure.

This weekend the cool winter breeze blew me south to Tasmania for a weekend of family, laughter and a need for warm coats. We had a beautiful celebration for Aunty Linny's 90th birthday high in the mountains of Beulah, meandered along the breath taking Table Cape and danced through the last of the Autumn leaves in Lauceston's City Park. All together a very delightful long weekend.

City park - Lauceston

Table Cape Lighthouse

My sisters and I very excited to find a road named after our family!

More tales and photos to come over the next few days. With the last few weeks of term two just around the corner my world is going into overdrive. A few crazy weeks ahead and then I'm looking forward to a nice relaxing two weeks holiday. I must be off to find a nice spot by the fire and get settled in for the night to mark a huge pile of English essays. If I haven't stopped by your blog today, I will be around soon I promise. So many lovely posts to catch up on.

Much love and chilly winter evenings (where is my hot water bottle?)
xxx

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Halls Gap Adventures...

What a wonderful, exhilarating and exhausting adventure I have been on during the week. Five days in the beautiful Halls Gap, the heart of the Grampians, with over one hundred students and ten other teachers for a week we will remember for many years to come. I tried my hand at a high ropes course, bush walked to 'The Pinnacle', met some lovely wildlife, rock climbed and the most adrenalin pumping of all, I took the plunge and went abseiling. What an amazing experience, the closest I have ever come to flying.

A few photos from my adventures, including the cliff I abseiled off (bottom right), the amazing Pinnacle lookout (middle) and a very cheeky kookabarra (bottom middle).

After a long week it is lovely to be back home and I'm very much enjoying hanging out by the fire, reading magazines, filling my inspiration journals and working on story ideas. We spent the morning at the botanical gardens which is fast becoming one of my favourite spots here in Mildura. It has been a misty overcast day and was the perfect weather for wondering through the beautiful winter landscape full of bare maple trees and pines. It was almost like being in Narnia.

My favourite photo from our outing this morning was of these two gorgeous Rosellas in the top of the beautiful bare trees.

I hope your weekend has been as delightful and relaxing as mine, I'm off to help my lovely hubby with dinner and to settle in for the evening with a spot of sewing by the fire.

Much love and winter gardens
xxx

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An adventurous week!

It's not quite the usual Sunday night at my place. I'm running around trying to find a torch, batteries, sunscreen, mittens and thermals. You see I'm going on year eight camp for the week!

Image from weheartit

We are off to Hall's Gap in the Grampians tomorrow morning for five days of ropes courses, absailing, rock climbing, bike riding and canoeing. Many fun and exhausting days ahead. Luckily this time we get to stay at a nice lodge instead of tents and I don't have to carry a 20kg pack on my back, so I'm really looking forward to this week's adventure.

My little Etsy shop will be open and orders will be shipped on Monday the 1st of June. I will be back on Friday night and will have plenty of photos and stories to share.

Wishing you a lovely week full of delightful moments. I'm off to continue packing and searching for all the strange bit and pieces I might need for the week. Hopefully it will not be too cold at night. Think I better pack an extra blanket.

Much love and adventures
xxx

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Happy May Day!

I kind of wish my day had looked like this:

image from www.victoriantraditions.com

But I have to say my May Day was just a little bit more crazy. My day, involved wearing fluorescent orange, standing on the side of the road (wearing said fluorescent orange) stopping traffic and cheering students, decorating tables, scooping rock hard ice cream into hundreds of tiny cups ( I now have great biceps!), eating yummy food, listening to fabulous music and unexpectedly dancing like a crazy women in front of the entire school. These are the days I just love being a teacher. I wish I had taken lots more photos to show you but I really did spend a good portion of the day with my arms in a giant ice cream bucket.

Now I am home totally exhausted, sipping red wine, sun burnt and smelling like chocolate topping and candy but I really did have a wonderful day!

Happy May Day everyone, I hope yours was as lovely and crazy as mine. I'm off to lay on the couch to watch reality TV and potentially find the energy to crochet a granny square. I will be back in the morning with my Saturday shopping list and I will be devoting my weekend to filling my shop with plenty of new goodies, so much sure you stop by!

Much love and May poles
xxx

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My Apple Isle Adventures..

I'm back and it feels like I've been gone such a long time! What a wonderful few days I've had away in the beautiful Tasmania, full of wonderful moments and adventures. I spent time with my beautiful extended family who I had not seen in over a decade, captured stunning scenery, played in Autumn leaves, danced along the beach, rummaged through amazing shops including Reliquaire, enjoyed yummy food and wine and had a all round fabulous extended weekend. I wish I could fly down every weekend, it is a place everyone must visit!

Me and my red shoes dancing with Daisies

Here are a few shots from my Apple Isle adventures..

Lots of flowers, pink and bubbles at my inspirational Great Aunt's 90th birthday.

Beautiful wildflowers in Latrobe

The amazing Autumn leaves at Belle's Parade in Latrobe

The beautiful view from the Bluff in Devonport

Hawley Beach, Devonport, the sky was just so beautiful and blue..

And of course my post would not be complete without sharing my purchases with you.. I just wish my suitcase had been bigger, there were just so many lovely things to buy!

I couldn't resist this gorgeous Gabee leather handbag, some lovely antique postcards and a very sweet 1940's copy of Alice in Wonderland.

It is wonderful to be back and I'm not doing any more adventuring for a little while so I'm looking forward to getting back to my little blog and shop and having a lovely catch up with all the wonderful people I have missed in blog land. I've had some fabulous ideas whilst travelling and can't wait to get into my studio and bring them to life over the next few weeks. A shop update to come over the weekend!

I'm off enjoy some blog reading and catch up on some orders, if I can drag myself away from staring at the beautiful pink sunset. Can't wait for Creative Space Thursday tomorrow!

Much love and happy adventures..
xxx

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Life on the Murray - a week in pictures...

What a delightful week it has been here in Mildura. My lovely in-laws have flown back to Queensland today after a very enjoyable week in which I got to play hostess and tour guide of our pretty little town, my husband was the chauffeur and fabulous chef. I was amazed at just how relaxing it was to spend the morning sight seeing and the afternoon pottering in the sunshine, crocheting, finding the answers to crossword puzzles and drinking tea. I was also inspired to create a few new pieces whilst watching the sun set which I will feature in a post tomorrow. It was beauitful to be able to capture my week in photographs and I just can't resist sharing some of our adventures.

Places...

A ride in a paddle steamer down the Murray River

View of the weir back towards Mildura..

Lunch and wine tasting at Trentham Estate Cellar Door

A visit to the Wentworth Gaol to see Palimpsest #7
Sculpture - Mortified Landscapes by Kate Vivian

A fossick through the lavendar for beautiful antiques..

Through the secret garden gate to Rose Harvest

...to find wonderful treasures

Flora and Fauna

My favourite shade of rose..

A very beautiful and vivid native wattle.

Some delightful little toadstools - I was secretly searching for the fairies..

A very friendly Pied Butcherbird.. they have the most delightful songs.

We couldn't believe our luck when we stumbled upon this beautiful snake-necked turtle whilst taking a walk through King's Billabong.

Just a little slice of my beautiful week.. Tomorrow's post will bring the lovely treasures I found whilst rummaging through some of our wonderful antique shops and even my favourite little find from the old goal. I will also be updating my shop with a few new pieces inspired 'autumn leaves and dust jackets'. It is so lovely to be back, I've missed my little blog everyone in blog land very much.

Until tomorrow,

Much love and delightful adventures
xxx

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My latest adventure!

Many of my adventures happen within the folds of a good book, hidden deep within the shelves of a second hand book store, sometimes they even happen in my studio when I am taken to another world full of beautiful buttons and fabric. My most recent adventure has been unlike any of these. It took me up an incredible group of mountains. When I got asked to go to the Grampians for the school's Outdoor Education trip I really had no idea what I was in for. The whole experience was just incredible, no words can really capture the amazing beauty of this incredible area. I hope my photos will give you a sense of what it was like to stand on the top of Mt Difficult (yes I know know where it gets the name from) and feel the accomplishment of walking with a 15kg pack 20kms up and around a mountain. So here is my adventure...

My favourite shot, near Brigg's Bluff at sunset

I was secretly hoping we were going to the tea rooms!

Our first sight of the mountain.. the highest point is Brigg's Bluff where we camped.

Here we are looking very happy before we started the climb!

Making our way to camp.
One of the only flat sections of the hike..

My pack...

Finally on the top of Brigg's Bluff!

A simply breathtaking view!

Finally set up for the night, my tent was the shape of an orange slice, and was just big enough for me and my bag. Nice and cozy!

The following day on the top of Mt Difficult!

Sunset at Brigg's Bluff...

What an amazing experience, now six days later I am still recovering. It just makes you realise how much you can push yourself and what you are really capable of. This adventure has got me thinking about all the other wild adventures I would like to go on around the world. Who know what will be next. I just adore be a wild explorer forever chasing beauty.

Looking forward to the weekend, plenty in store including a trip to Pleasentees with my dear friend Joelene. With only four weeks left of school we decided we need a break from marking to treat ourselves to a lovely morning of french homewares and hot chocolate! I'm also working on a new little project that I can't wait to show you!

Much love and Happy Thursday!
xxx

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