Some friends gave me a hot air balloon trip for my birthday… what a great morning! Click on thumbnails to see a larger version.

When the Geelong Cats won the 2011 AFL Grand Final, there was a lot of luv goin’ around! Click on thumbnails to see a larger version.

I had a sleep-in this morning, and then a walk around the bushland that surrounds the lodge, and spotted a heath goanna, before a great BBQ lunch while watching “Shep” paint some fabulous artwork and sampling local wines from Bay of Shoals. We then did a 6km walk along the coastline to “Grassdale” for a [...]

The best sunrise yet followed by a busy day. We visited the Island Bee Hive, KI Pure Grain’s canola fields (with scones in the field for morning tea), followed by a tour of the KI Abalone farm. Lunch was a relaxing meal hosted by Lifetime Private Retreats. Snelling beach was the perfect setting for this [...]

Another spectacular sunrise, and a relaxing morning around the lodge, was followed by Tim’s Sour Dough and Marron master classes. The sour dough class ran over three days and was a huge hit, with many of us now making our own sour dough at home. We then had a very special treat. With piled into [...]

After catching the sunrise and a great breakfast at the lodge, we headed out to Island Pure Sheep Dairy to watch ricotta being made and sample their range of cheeses. The semi-hard style manchego is fabulous. It was then off to South Rock Lamb for a lovely lamb lunch. Our backdrop was cute puppies, yellow-tail [...]

We had a relaxing stay at ‘The Scarlet’ in Mawgan Porth including visits to Padstow and Port Isaac.

Paris in springtime. Click on thumbnails to see a larger version.

Thrilled with my first international recognition… not major awards but still exciting! Irish Shipwreck – Silver Award Little Austi Sunrise – Bronze Award Pink City – Bronze Award

Spring here is! The Illawarra escarpment is in full bloom from orchids and peas to gymea lillies and waratahs, a short walk revealed dozens of species in flower.