In Geraldton again -

Back home again and it was so nice to catch up with friends and family again.

cuddles with lots of special girls

We looked after the Wenekes Kiddiwinks for a bit while their mum n dad were away... our frozen fruit ice cream was an unexpected success (phew)

and we were home to celebrate Reilly's birthday. Check that cake-blowing raspberry!

Dave went to an auction and.....

bought a block of land.....


actually he didn't buy it at Auction. This, and a couple of other blocks were passed in, and so we went back together afterwards and decided to put an offer in on one.


and we were successful....
this will be overlooking our backyard...

the wishing well.... lucky huh?
Overlooking our block.

Back in Perth - Laurens Birthday

For Laurens Birthday we went for a 'girlie' morning.
We went to a cafe for breakfast, coffee's and mini chinos all round (my kind of way to start the day)

We went shopping, looked at jewellery, stationary and went clothes shopping... (my kind of day)


and at the end of the day a tired happy girl had her birthday party...

lots of friends, lots of playing in the pool and finished off with a Birthday Pav (my kind of cake)

anyone'd think it was my birthday :)

Coochiemudlo Island (the home of carnivorous MOSQUITO)

After a lovely Christmas in Mullum, we all loaded up and headed off to stay at Coochiemudlo Island.
We caught a ferry, that took only 10 minutes to get us from the mainland to the Island.



We stayed at the most amazingly cute little cottages, they were called Quirky Cottages, (quirky by name and quirky by nature) each cottage had a theme, for example there was a cow themed cottage, a boat themed cottage and ours, was "Lamina Amour" (Read Lamina backwards... yep animal)

The Island being surrounded by lots of water seemed to be a mass breeding ground of massive amounts of mozzies! As soon as it was dusk we were inundated with them, it was insane. Luckily the back patio of our cottage was (almost) completely screened by flywire so we were able to be outdoors.

It was pretty hot while we were there so we spent a day at the beach, which happened to be very protected, shallow and tidal. The tree was great for sitting under in the water til the tide went right out leaving me stranded like a whale (not saying I resemble anything like a whale and nor should anyone else!)

The gang made their own waves



and if you too would like to see more of the cottages where we stayed and navigate the worlds most annoying website, try this site http://www.quirkycottages.com/ you might have to copy and paste into your browser

(seriously, it is annoying - you have been warned)

More Mullumbimby

Summer up at Robyn and Pauls place...

Nothing like a dip in the creek

Robyn's beautiful mosaic. It is in the concrete in the entryway to the front door.

Some of the boys playing Pong.... like Ping Pong, but more painful.

much more painful.
there is bruising.

(and if anyone spots Hazza's Crocs - please us know)

MULLUMBIMBY CHRISTMAS

The table is set,

The outfits are sorted


The tree is up,


and the happy snaps are taken


Now what??

The Trip from Tassie to Mullumbimby (via Sydney)

It was a quick trip from Tassie, through Victoria and up to Northern NSW..

We stopped only a couple of times, we found a great free camping spot next to a small waterway - it was starting to get warmer for us, so it was nice to be near the water.



Dave bought me some beautiful Roses in Albury-Wodonga (lucky me)

Another stop on the road brought us to Gundagai (you know how it goes, "there's a track, winding back to an old fashioned shack on the road to.....GUN DA GAIIIII")

On the road on the way out of there we found the famous "dog on the tuckerbox" (The statue was inspired by a bullock driver's poem, Bullocky Bill, which celebrates the life of a mythical driver's dog that loyally guarded the man's tuckerbox (lunch box) until death.)
And near Golbourn is the BIG MERINO... and yes he was big... inside was a bit of a museum about the wool industry.

Next stop Sydney, where we spent a couple of days catching up with Mick, Mel and Isaac who were visiting Sydney for Micks Christmas work party.. we even got to babysit Isaac.

Isaac delighted in introducing us to the enjoyment that can be derived from STAIRS!!! up and down and up and down and so on...

From then on it was a hustle to make it to Mullumbimby in time for Christmas...

en-route... the misnomer of the BIG banana..

underwhelming, I think we had bigger bugs 'go splat' on our windscreen.