South West Rocks

The last thing I expected to see as we wandered into the gaol at South West Rocks was a kangaroo at the entrance - and a toddler about to pat it. The toddler's mum was looking fondly on as her little one was about to reach out to touch. I could almost hardly breathe when I saw it.

Have you ever seen a kangaroo rear up on it's tail and box someone? I have, and I've seen what those talons can do too. One of our dogs once got too close to a kangaroo many years ago, and had her neck sliced open. Luckily for her, the vet managed to sew her up again, and finally sent on her home to us 3 days later.

Needless to say, I didn't want that toddler to experience what I had witnessed previously. So folks if you happen to see a kangaroo, do take notice of the signs that are usually nearby, if you are in a tourist spot, that say that they are wild animals and to not touch them. If there are no signs, please remember this post!

Anyhow, problem avoided, we wandered on into the goal at a respectful distance from the kangaroo, to see the exhibition of Sculpture in the Gaol 2015.

Grass Tree

The eagle was one of my favourites, sadly the image hasn't come out too well. Lots of glare that day bouncing off gaol walls, and my iphone camera didn't seem to like that very much. Either that or it was my photographic skills - nah - must have been the glare.

I had a few fantasies about bringing this bell come home with me. The sound was just wonderful, and all through our visit it was so lovely to hear other visitors ringing it, over, and over again.

More highlights were the local school children's sculptures in the individual gaol cells.

The view from the watch tower is fantastic and we watched whales jumping and divers playing in the sea. What a spot for a tower - bit of a waste really, what a great house location it could have made.

We were ready for a stop off and headed to South West Rocks. We are always looking for pet friendly stop offs and discovered Malt and Honey Cafe. If you are passing through it is a great stop off - the food is really lovely and I had the best Chai tea I've ever had.

Magical Houses Made From Bamboo

"And when my father built Green School in Bali, he chose bamboo for all of the buildings on campus, because he saw it as a promise. It's a promise to the kids. It's one sustainable material that they will not run out of. And when I first saw these structures under construction about six years ago, I just thought, this makes perfect sense. It is growing all around us. It's strong. It's elegant. It's earthquake-resistant. Why hasn't this happened sooner, and what can we do with it next?" Elora Hardy....

You've never seen buildings like this. The stunning bamboo homes built by Elora Hardy and her team in Bali twist, curve and surprise at every turn. They defy convention because the bamboo itself is so enigmatic. No two poles of bamboo are alike, so every home, bridge and bathroom is exquisitely unique.

In this beautiful, immersive talk, she shares the potential of bamboo, as both a sustainable resource and a spark for the imagination. "We have had to invent our own rules," she says.

View Elora's amazing buildings: Ibuku.com
Ibu means "mother," and ku means "mine," so it represents my Mother Earth, and at Ibuku, we are a team of artisans, architects and designers, and what we're doing together is creating a new way of building.

Coffee and Klezmer

The power was out for the day, apparently the local substation needed upgrading.

So we set off to have our coffee at The Lighthouse Beach Surf Club Cafe...

it was a gorgeous morning and the little lemon curd tart was very delightful.

Isn't it nice when people put a little bit of love into their work?

OK you two where's mine?

Later on off to see The London Klezmer Quartet - I had no idea what to expect. The room was packed and a great night was had by all. If you've never heard Klezmer music either, here is a youtube video of the group playing...

Visit the London Klezmer Quartet.com website click here

Energy Bites - Almond, Date & Coconut Truffles

I don't know about you, but I've got a sweet tooth and my weakness is chocolate. Seriously don't leave one near my vicinity, or it will disappear. I don't know what happens to them, they are there one minute, and then gone the next. So it was with a great deal of thanks that I discovered date truffles also known as energy bites. They make a great alternative to chocolate or sweets, and they rapidly became one of our family favourites.

Almond and Date Truffles:

About 2 cups raw almonds - process in a blender till ground

15 or so dates - chop them and make sure you remove the pits

tahini - a couple of tablespoons

a couple of tablespoons carob powder

1 tspn vanilla extract

Coconut to roll the balls in

After grinding the almonds, simply add everything and blend together

Roll the date mix into small balls and then roll in coconut - keep in the fridge or freezer.

A while ago I discovered Deliciously Ella's Blog. If you love food, especially healthy food, she will inspire you to head off to the market for new ingredients. I enjoyed seeing the variations to the energy bites that she added.

If you haven't discovered Deliciously Ella's blog yet click here - you're in for a treat! I'm looking forward to trying out her recipe.

Don't send a man to the grocery store

I headed down to the beach this morning for my walk and on the way noticed a huge Woolworths van delivering food to a home. I think it's so great that we can now hop on the internet, order our week's shopping, and have it delivered. I haven't done it yet, but it must be so helpful if you're working or not well or just fed up of waiting in line at checkouts. And on the subject of shopping... have you seen Jeanne Robertson's comedy routines? If not, she is great fun...

Time for a giggle - Don't send a man to the grocery store. I think Jeanne needs to do another comedy routine... Don't send a woman to the hardware store... but that's another story.

2015 - Happy New Year

Youth is when you are allowed to stay up late on New Year's Eve.
Middle age is when you are forced to. ~ Bill Vaughn

Happy New Year!! I don't know about your area, but the streets around our area were so quiet. No noisy parties to be heard anywhere, however, I did wake up at midnight (we must be getting old we'd rather go to bed early on New Year's Eve and read a book than go out) to a frightened, shaking doggie scratching at my face - she'd woken up when she heard the distant fireworks and was having a bit of a panic attack. Happy New Year! Poor little sausage, we had a cuddle till the fireworks stopped and all was well again. So how was your New Year's Eve, as exciting as ours?

Our New Year's house sit bookings are already filling up, so the year looks like a lovely one with trips back to mind favourite puppies and houses. We decided to stay at home over Christmas this year, and just as well as my mum broke her hip at the end of November, and so we were busy running back and forth to hospital to see her. In between times, we enjoyed watching the kangaroos who visited at our back fence...

Photos taken at our back fence.

They can be quite comical to watch - having a good old scratch

I sometimes wonder how those large joeys fit in their pouches

And I wonder what they think when they look at us watching...

The Thong Christmas Tree - 2014 - Lighthouse Beach

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful. ~ Norman Vincent Peale

2013's Tree

The last couple of years we have been delighted to see the Christmas Thong Tree appear, in the dunes at the southern end of Lighthouse Beach. (If you're in Port and would like to see it, turn right where the camel rides are held, and keep walking - it's a way down the beach but the exercise'll do us all good after all those Christmas puds.)

Rudolf, Blinker, Daisy, Snotty and Spitty the camels at Lighthouse Beach

I was a bit late in going to see if it had been put up again this year. The end of November I had a phone call, at midnight, in the middle of one of the worst storms we'd had - it was my mum to say, she'd fallen and couldn't get up - she'd managed to drag herself across the room to the phone to call me for help. She'd broken her hip poor treasure, so what with going back and forth to hospital, combined with a rather large share of thunderstorms in our area, I hadn't been able to see if the tree was up this year.

The Christmas Thong Tree 2014

But today, I managed to wander down to see if it was there... and there it was in all it's thongy, Christmassy glory.