Revolving Doors

July seems to be the month that everyone wants to head north to visit us, and why wouldn't they.  It is such a lovely time of the year.  With winter temperatures ranging between 25 - 13 degrees celsius it is indeed a perfect climate.
So it really has been revolving doors at our place.  No sooner one lot of visitors leave and we have another lot arrive.  However, we love it and wouldn't want it any other way.
In between visitors we have managed to fit in a few social events, the latest being our little Mossman Show.  We try to go along each year because if we don't support the local shows they will certainly be a thing of the past and none of us want to see them disappear.
We do all the usual things.  The first is a trip to the pavilion to look at all the exhibits.  There are cooking, floral, craft, vegetables, photography and school displays.  I think that this year was one of the best I've seen and it's great to see so many young folk entering the competitions.
The next thing we do is wander along side show alley.  We don't really stop here. We just look at all the courageous souls boarding some of the ridiculously speedy rides.  I'm afraid my courage stops at the Dodgem Cars!
We usually arrive at the show just before lunch so after we have looked through the pavilions and side show alley we go and found ourselves some of the food that drips grease, after all this is the show and IT is only once a year.  We feasted on chicken kebabs, deep fried potato spirals, kabanas and German Hot Dogs, and just to finish off on a sweet note we couldn't go past the chocolate dipped soft serve ice-creams.  Oh my god, I feel sick just thinking about it all.....needless to say we ate NOTHING for dinner that night!
We sat in the grandstand for many hours watching the wood chops that I absolutely love.  This love goes back a long way to my younger days when my Dad would get excited by the wood chop at the Ekka and I, of course, inherited the love.

But getting back to Mossman.......
In between the wood chops there was a Dog Jump competition that was hilarious to watch and then we had Guy McLean with his horses.  Oh boy does that man know how to train and control those horses.  It was amazing.

We eventually made our way home and both agreed that it was one of the best Mossman shows we had been to.
Another social night was the State of Origin that we hosted this year.  Our group is getting smaller and smaller with four of our friends moving on to greener pastures.  It was a great night though and fantastic to see Queensland win the third game.

Morning walks are still the best part of my week.  Sadly I don't get out every day because of other early morning commitments (Tai Chi and Yoga).  Would you look at the Jade Vine!  Since we have moved it to this spot it has flowered continually.  The flowers are well over a metre long!

And one last photo is my flower arrangement, this time it's roses and Thai basil flowers.  How lovely the roses are after their heavy pruning.

It's been a crazy six weeks!

That's how long it's been since my last post.  As I looked back through my photos I commented to my husband that I'm flabbergasted that we could fit so much into six weeks.  We, of course, make our own busy.  No doubt about that.
June was a whirlwind of tradies finishing the pool and rotunda.  Builder, Painter, Electrician, Sand Blasting the verandah and finally pressure cleaning the whole hole house.  We still have the landscaping to complete the picture but I am quietly pleased that he couldn't come for four weeks.  That will be next week!

Painting

And more painting....

A new backyard fence

The finished product

Loving this sick!

Sandblasting the slippery old verandah meant repainting!

In between all of that we have had back to back visitors.  I always enjoy having friends and family come to visit.  My mum came for two weeks that passed in the blink of an eye.  While she was here we ate at a couple of lovely restaurants.......Arabellas in Port, Blue Water Bar and Grill at Bluewater in Cairns and Obi's in Yungaburra.  The food at all three was fantastic but my favourite was Obi's.

We also went along to a Degustation at Harrisons Restaurant at the Sheraton Mirage in Port Douglas.  The guest chef was Adrian Richardson and together with the owner of Harrisons, Spencer Patrick, we were served four incredibly delicious courses with matching wines.  We were seated at a table with eight other diners who loved their food just as much as us!
Philip and I also had a night at Thala Beach Lodge where once again the food was exceptional.  We stayed the night here because the following morning Philip had volunteered for a water stop at the Thala Beach turnoff for the Ironman 70.3 triathlon.  There were six volunteers that made up the Port Douglas contingent and it was a fun day with plenty of laughs with this group of friends.

View from the Thala Beach Restaurant (cruise ship in the distance)

I very rarely order steak when I eat out because I'm always disappointed but not in this case!

Water Stop at Thala Beach for the Ironman 70.3

Another fun night was at a friends birthday party.  I don't actually know how old Russell turned.  No one would say :-) We ate, drank, told dirty jokes and completed the night around a bonfire in their backyard.  How good is that!

I have more guests arriving for smoko today, so I had better go and prepare.  Hopefully I will get to talk to you all next week.  How have the last six weeks been for you?  Busy?