"Restriction creates yearning, you want what you cannot have." Portia De Rossi
The border opened for Queensland on the 1st of October. So that means we can travel to Northern NSW again. House sitting is once again open for us, in one of our favourite areas. Gosh we've missed the simple ability to go into NSW, there's nothing like restrictions to make you feel stuck. Or is that just me?
Whatever you do, don't try to invade Queensland right now, it could be very expensive. I'm wondering how they come up with the fine amounts.
Not my lock but I did indeed leave part of my heart in Lennox Head. View from the top of the headland. We had a lovely walk up from the Point Cafe all the way to the top of Lennox Headland. We saw whales but sadly, it was a bit sobering to walk up there and see all the notices to call lifeline.
Anyways, we've been down to NSW a couple of times now and have had some wonderful explores. Places we've never been before, now taking time to simply take the road less travelled and we're finding some gorgeous places.
The first weekend the border opened, I thought it would be a nice getaway for Kevin's birthday to travel down the coast. I tried to book into Lennox Head, but as that was already booked out. So I looked further afield, and found a gorgeous air bnb at East Ballina. It turned out even better than I'd imagined and we'll be going back again.
View from the back patio at our Air BNB at East Ballina. Here's the link if you're travelling through, tell Steve you saw this post on our blog. It was so peaceful, I didn't want to leave. Here's their info:
The home is set amongst tropical gardens in a quiet neighbourhood. The bird life makes more noise than the neighbours! Guests enjoy a spacious bedroom and separate lounge area, a bathroom with shower and bath and a separate toilet. There is a large undercover area where guests can relax and look out over our saltwater pool area and the adjacent river. River views are from most rooms.
Guests have private access via a side path.
It was such a gorgeous day to visit the Swell Sculpture Festival 2020. We headed down to Currumbin to see this year's offerings, and we weren't disappointed. Click on any of the images to see a larger view.
All of the sculpture is for sale so if something grabs your attention, contact Swell - click here.
How gorgeous is this sweetie pie? We had to have a pat.
A welcome stop at Currumbin Surf Club, for a coffee with a spectacular view, great coffee and really wonderful staff.
This is such a gorgeous beach to wander, and take in the beauty of the beach.
"Positano bites deep. It is a dream place that isn't quite real when you get there, and becomes beckoningly real after you have gone." John Steinbeck
2020 is the year of, 'oh about now, we would have been in Greece'. And 'oh about now we'd have been on the Amalfi Coast'. And, 'oh about now we....'. And so on and so on. Instead, we've been watching videos of places we had planned to travel.
But to my absolute delight we have found the next best thing. Nicki Positano's vlogs from Positano. For the last couple of weeks each day we watch one of Nicki's delightful posts from Positano and pretend that we are tramping around the mountain side, kayaking, looking at beautiful scenery, touring through wonderful ceramic and other art shops not to forget and eating at delightful cafes and restaurants.
If you like the idea of a soulful life with great food, a gorgeous homey home overlooking the sea, growing your own vegetables, having an adorable little dog, then I'm sure you too will love these vlogs.
I don't know why it's taken so long to find Nicki's vlog, but I am so glad I have. Here are the first two videos from Nicki's Positano Diaries Series... there are quite a few that will keep you busy for a while, we have been rationing ourselves so we don't binge watch too many all at once.
August already, no travel to speak of this year, but at least we can still get out and explore the local area. And listen to some lovely music on Classic Drive.
There are a few house sits coming through for Queensland, and there are still a lot of overseas ones advertised, we can't visit, but we can dream of new places to visit one day, hopefully in the not to distant future.
I've been watching the Sailing Magic Carpet videos, and have been delighted to see all the gorgeous French towns that Maya and Aladino have been exploring. They are motoring their yacht up the canals in France, so when I feel too Australia bound, I turn on their videos and escape for a while.
In case you'd like a slow trip along one of the canals in France too...
Ah France, we miss you.
If we can help you out with a house sit in Queensland, please get in touch. We simply adore dogs and look forward to our next time away.
Travel is opening up again, and soon we'll be able to visit new places and spaces. Queensland has been given the re-opening date of the 10th July, how they work the dates out for these things is beyond me. It's been a very interesting time hasn't it?
First we had the great toilet paper shortage. Could this picture be any cuter? Found it on FB.
I've noticed that the stores near us, are still a bit challenged in that department. Maybe this little hoarder above has taken all the rolls. We can have a little giggle now, but I found it very challenging at first. Trying to organise food with the thought that I may need a few weeks worth, in order not to go out, was a new learning curve. I'm a shop as you need it kind of girl, and have never had to shop for weeks in advance.
Life Happens, Chocolate Helps.
I mean how do you plan not to run out of chocolate? I was amazed that the chocolate aisle didn't get hit as badly as the TP one did. I think given the choice I'd sacrifice the TP. This is a sweet potato and cacao pie, I've been learning some new plant based recipes during lockdown, to stay sane. It's been a game changer for us.
Luckily I've been watching a few sailing vlogs and that has stood me in good stead, there's so much to learn from our sea faring friends online. Like how to provision for a long haul. So I went in search of info, and my favourites from SLV, helped out considerably. SO love this family.
You better cut the pizza in four slices, I'm not hungry enough to eat six.
Another recent learning, how to make a healthy pizza. I'm not really a pizza lover, until now that is. This is a whole food, plant based pizza, no cheese, no meat, who'd a thunk that my meat loving hubby would be salivating at the thought of this. Not me, but he's enjoying this experiment too. After watching Game Changers on Netflix, he was keen to give WFPB eating a go. It's kept us busy trying out new recipes.
If you're interested in healthy eating, you may enjoy this podcast.
Art is one of my hobbies and during lockdown, I haven't done a thing. LOL's. But today for the first time I ventured back into some painting. It was lovely to splash paint on paper again, here's a few of my works in place...
Today's artwork with collage. The collage pieces just happened to be at the top of my stash, so I went with those, I couldn't help but think it was an interesting synchronicity given all the images emerging from the US at present. I hope that things ease for all. It would be lovely to go exploring there soon, we are hoping to visit Vancouver Island and experience all the delights that the area holds.
Lennox Dreaming. We lived on the beachfront in a magic little old cottage at Lennox a few years ago. This painting is my dreaming of that time.
I think the hardest thing for us during lockdown, was the inability to see our family, it made the time seem very difficult. I came to deeply appreciate how much life is so much better with loved ones around us. To a degree that I haven't felt before. Maybe that's one of the gifts from this time.
We were able to visit the forest again, and this photograph was taken the on one of the first days that the National Parks re-opened. Everything seemed so intense, the colours, the sounds of the forest, it truly is a magical place.
Walking around the neighbourhood noticing the small things. Funnily enough writing things for this house sitting blog, has helped me notice more, and I find that I feel happier. So maybe we do need to sweat the small stuff after all.
Then the challenge of the virus was overtaken by the loss of our wee doggie. Sadly for us at the end of May, our beautiful little Sheltie passed away. It was another reminder to treasure beautiful moments while we have them.
Emma came to live at our house when my mum broke her hip in October 2017. I thought it was just going to be until my mum left hospital, but sadly complications set in and we lost my mum in the December that year.
She was a dear little dog, mum used to say, 'she's no trouble'. And she sure wasn't. She'd developed a heart murmur and was going pretty well, under the watchful eye of the vet. And then out of the blue she had a massive seizure as we were walking down the steps of our home. We rushed her to the vet, and made the awful decision to let her go.
These dear little creatures leave a big space in our hearts and our homes when they leave. Our house feels so empty without her. We've had a series of rescue dogs now over the years, and sadly because they come to us as elderly dogs, we don't have them for very long, but each and every one we've had, have made such an impact on our lives, I'm really grateful they came to be with us for a while.
