Adam Brand concert

The night before we left on our holidays, Craig & I went to see Adam Brand - woo hoo!!It was brilliant to hear his new songs live - I love Adam's concerts!! Afterwards I got some CD's signed and pics with Adam! We didn't get home till after midnight, then were up again at 3am - probably not the best decision to go to a concert the night before we have a car trip!! LOL

The silly season has begun...

The Sunday after we got back I joined the girls for Simply Crafty's Xmas break-up. It was a great way to finish off my holidays!! Cathie brought Mitchell in and I kept getting distracted by his gorgeous, gummy smile!! LOL I didn't get much scrapping done - 1 LO and started on a 2nd - just enjoyed catching up with everyone. I made these cute candy-cane reindeers for everyone. We also had our final swap for the year - journal spots. Thank you to my Secret Santa for the lovely gift!




While I was away two swaps arrived - Scrap The Girls star swap & White With 1 orange swap.




Craig & I went to our management Xmas get-together on Saturday night - lots of drinks, Singstar and laughs! Lots more celebrations planned for the month - woo hoo!

Day 20 - Holidays

Day 20 - We drove through The Great Dividing Range to Uralla - Craig had a look through the war museum there. Then we went to see the bush ranger - Thunderbolt - grave and statue. We stopped at Glen Innis for lunch and to see the Australian Standing Stones and the balancing rock. We crossed back into QLD at Tenterfield. Saw the Big Apple at Stanthorpe. We stopped at Hendon to have afternoon tea with my Pop, Uncle Joe & David - it's been years since we've seen them. I loved catching up with them, Uncle Joe showed us around their farm. We were going to stay the night at Toowoomba, but ended up driving all the way home - we tumbled into bed at 1am.

Day 18 & 19 - Holidays

Day 18 - We caught the train into circular Quay, then the ferry around to Darling Harbour. Wandered around for a bit, then hopped on the monorail to Chinatown. We went through the beautiful Chinese Gardens, then to Dixon Street for lunch - so many delicious meals to choose from. We all enjoyed our lunch, but I found out I don't like sea cucumber - eeewww!! LOL After Chinatown we caught the ferry to Manly - went past Fort Dennison and Garden Island. It was a bit rougher than usual, but luckily no sea-sickness! LOL After wandering around Manly and checking out the beach, we jumped back on a ferry to Circular Quay. Wandered around Sydney Opera House eating yummy ice-cream. Hopped back on a train back to camp - where I got to see more of the wildlife up close when a bandicoot decided to run around my feet and scare me!! LOL

Day 19 - Up early and got to Mailand. We did a bit of shopping and had lunch, then onto Tamworth. At Tamworth we saw the Golden Guitar, then spent a relaxing afternoon floating around in the pool.

Day 16 & 17 - Holidays

Day 16 - We left Batemans Bay crossed the border into ACT and headed to Canberra. We spent the day looking around - went to the War Memorial, Parliament House, drove past some of the embassies, we also went to the Australian Mint. We had lunch at Lake Burley Griffin and saw the National Carillon and Captain Cook Memorial Jets. We drove a bit further, crossed back into NSW, brought a 2kg box of cherries (yummo!!) and set up camp at Goulburn.

Day 17 - At Goulburn we went to Riversdale National Trust house - it's beautiful to wander through the old houses. Went to the Rocky Hill War memorial, an amazing Anglican church (the stain glass windows were stunning) and saw the Big Ram. We went to Katoomba to see the Three Sisters, then set up camp at North Ryde in the national park in Sydney. We were treated to a typical Sydney thunder & lightening storm - all show and no rain! LOL Lots of wildlife roaming around the campsite - we got to see a cute possum.

Day 14 & 15 - Holidays

Day 14 - We spent half the day wandering around the Coal Creek Historical Village at Korumburra - it was lovely to walk through all the old buildings and furnishings all set up in their original state. Then onto Sale to see Australia's only swinging bridge - unfortunately it only turns on the weekends. A bit more driving and we set up camp at Lakes Entrance.

Day 15 - We went for a drive around Lakes Entrance in the morning - admiring all the beautiful views at the lookouts. Along the river front there are 4 amazing statues carved from old tree trunks. We crossed back into NSW between Nowa Nowa and Eden. Stopped for lunch at Quarantine Bay - it was beautiful weather to sit by the beach and watch the fishing boats come in. We walked down to the jetty and watched 3 huge stingrays swimming along eating all the fish scraps the fisherman were throwing into the water. Drove on a bit further and had a look at the antiques at Oaklands Barn at Pamboola. We went to the cheese factory at Bega and got to taste a variety of delicious cheeses. We set up camp at Batemans Bay - we were right next to a swamp / wetlands and the frogs & bugs sounded like a "Sounds of the Rainforest" CD that unfortunately we couldn't turn off! LOL

Day 12 & 13 - Holidays

Day 12 - We went through Melbourne (via the tunnel) to Frankston where we looked around the pier & jetty. I loved the little beach sheds at Dromona - while taking pics one of the owners invited us to have a look inside and told us about the history of the sheds. We saw the Lt Flinders monument and the bay at Flinders. We brought a slab of the "world's biggest and best" vanilla slice - it was about the size of 3 normal slices put together - no wonder they sell it by the "slab"! LOL We crossed the bridge over to Phillip Island and set up camp. We went down to the beach to see the Penguin Parade. We sat in the grandstands watching the sunset while waiting for the penguins to arrive - very romantic, just Craig, me and the 1000+ other people! LOL To see hundreds of Little Penguins coming out of the water, getting into groups (safety in numbers) and waddling up the beach is an amazing sight! (Unfortunately you are not allowed to take any photos - but I was able to purchase some at the gift shop) After watching the parade for about 40 mins, we walked back up to the board walk and found you can see them up closer. They were walking under / next to the board walks to their burrows and it is chick season - so there were hundreds of baby penguins waiting for the adults to come home.

Day 13 - We went to Nobby's Point hoping to see the seals, but there was a heavy mist for most of the day. We did see the seagull nesting area - managed to walk around the the boardwalks without getting pooped on! LOL We were lucky enough to see 2 penguins - so I got to take some pics!! Woo hoo!! We went for a look at the Grand Prix Circuit, then to the Vietnam Veterans Museum and wandered around looking at the displays. After that we went to the Phillip Island chocolate factory - they have a giant Dame Edna portrait - made from 12,000 chocolate pieces!! There were lots of things to see & do - a 400kg chocolate waterfall, make your own chocolate, lots of displays made from chocolate, etc and of course lots of yummy samples to taste. We went for a drive across to Churchill Island for a look. Set up camp at Korumburra.